Well, well, well…we might want to put the Sabanfest on hold for another few weeks. He’s a great coach and he’s probably getting more out of that team than reasonably should be expected, but the talent level just isn’t there yet to really take advantage of some weaknesses in the UGA offense and defense. Of course, many of those holes appear to be closing, as this team will continue to get better and better. Another solid SEC road win for Richt and some validation on the season.

About the Bama game

Was it a perfect game? No, not at all, but it was a really, really good one from this group of young road pups. Considering the OL situation, I don’t know how you could have asked for anything more than what we got. No sacks…Stafford had time all night…RBs had more holes than not…minimal OL penalties…just a great effort by a unit that’s rapidly gelling into something that isn’t a liability. It’s hard to believe you can say that about a group with 2 true frosh, 1 RS frosh, and 2 seniors playing at new positions. Just a great job of coaching by our new OL coach…simply phenomenal.

Would it have been nice to see the defense make a stop on Bama’s last two drives? Sure, but in some ways it made the win that much sweeter. It gave Tripp Chandler a chance at atonement. It gave Scott Howard a shot at immortality. It nearly gave me a heart attack.

There’s really not much to say that you haven’t already thought. Our defense played great (aside form the two 4th qtr drives) and really rose up in OT. The offense was efficient and showed some real unexpectedness to it that should pay off down the road when teams try to scout us. Great game all around to the coaches, players, etc. Hard to believe that we lost the turnover battle, missed two FGs and still pulled out a win.

OM Offense

This is a weird team to figure out. They benched last year’s starting QB Brent Schaeffer after he struggled mightily last season, even managing to have Coach Orgeron admit he made a mistake handing the job to Schaeffer in the first place. They generally have taken on the persona of their coach, pound the rock and every once in a while, blow up. They played really well last week in the loss to FL and displayed some serious big-play ability, so this is a dangerous 1-3 team.

Taking over for Schaeffer at QB is senior Seth Adams. Adams is a big, 6-4, 225 lb kid that is a whole different animal than we saw last year in the mobile Schaeffer. Adams is completing just under 60% of his passes on the season and has been remarkably consistent in that regard, with his low being over 56% and his high being under 64%. He’s thrown 7TDs to 3 INTs and has been sacked 9 times on the year. He’s not a real threat to run, with his long being a 9 yard scamper against Vandy.

At RB, BenJarvus Green-Ellis returns for his senior season after falling a yard shy of 1,000 yards in 2006. He’s a bruising RB at 5-11, 225. He’s not a tremendous breakaway threat like we saw last week in Terry Grant, but he’s the kind of back that just gets better the more carries he gets. On the season, he’s averaging 4.6 ypc and he’s averaged over 100 ypg. Both of those stats are buoyed by his 33 carry, 226 yard performance in week 2 against Missouri. That was the only game he averaged over 3.4 ypc. He doesn’t have a reception on the season and averaged under a catch per game last year. His 88 carries on the season far surpass any other RB on the team, but he’s started to catch some heat from the coaching staff for running tentatively. Last season, he had his best game of the year against us in Oxford, when he went for 135 yards on 24 carries.

The Ole Miss WR corps has 3 solid options, but Jr. Mike Wallace has stepped to the front in a big way so far with 16 catches (4 for TD) and 400 yards on the season including a 77-yd TD last week against FL. He has 3 catches of 50 or more yards on the season and 6 of 30 or more. Shay Hodge and Marshay Green (a pair of sophomores) aren’t quite as explosive, but each has more catches than the speedy Wallace. They also both have Shay in their first name. Converted QB Robert Lane lines up at TE and has 9 grabs on the year.

The Ole Miss OL is headed by LT Michael Oher, a big 6-5, 325 pounder who will likely be in the NFL for a long while. He’s their best player on either side of the ball. Their starting unit is large, likely the biggest we’ll face all season. The right side of their line features 2 guys that weigh 340 or more. RT Maurice Miller is a little bit of an oddity in that he’s 343 but is only listed as being 6-3. OL coach Art Kehoe headed up Miami’s OL for years and knows what he’s doing.

Bottom Line: Ole Miss is a weird team. They WANT to pound the ball with Green-Ellis and work in some play action stuff over the top to their WRs, but so far they haven’t proved overly successful at it. They’re barely managing 100 ypg rushing, but their 250+ ypg through the air is solid. Think of this offense as Bama-lite. They are probably a notch below Bama at most every offensive position save RB perhaps (although Grant could ultimately prove better than Green-Ellis, he’s too young right now). Given our ability to largely contain Bama, I think we should have similar results this weekend, but they certainly have the pieces in place to hurt us if we don’t come out playing well again.

Key Matchup to watch when they have the ball: They are going to run the ball, or at least give it the ol’ college try. If Green-Ellis is as successful as he was last year in Oxford, we might be in for a much stouter challenge than anyone thinks. They were successful against FL without Green-Ellis playing a significant role, so if they get him going, watch out. We’ve been getting some increasingly good play out of the interior of our front 7 (which is better than UF’s), so watch to see if that continues. Guys like Owens, Atkins, Weston, Ellerbe and Washington versus that beefy Ole Miss interior and Green-Ellis will be just old-fashioned football.