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    • What We Learned From Ole Miss Football’s Beating Of Furman
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    What We Learned From Ole Miss Football’s Beating Of Furman

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    OXFORD — Under Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss football doesn’t involve food.

    In 10 games against FCS or Group of Five programs, Kiffin is a perfect 10-0 at Ole Miss. Only one of those wins has been decided by a single score. After the Rebels’ 76-0 drubbing of Furman on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, their average margin of victory in those games is 36.4 points.

    The Rebels couldn’t relate when they saw teams like Oregon and NC State narrowly defeat teams like Idaho and NC State this week.

    “I’m really happy with the performance,” Kiffin said after the game. “That’s not always the case in these types of games, where they’re going your way early, or maybe you’re happy with one side of the ball and not the other. I thought these guys, our players, really came out with a lot of intensity. We really challenged them to not have to deal with the opponent, but with them.”

    But why does this matter? Why is it notable that the Rebels (1-0) punished a group of FCS players in the Paladins (0-1) who, by Kiffin’s own admission, were less competitive than Ole Miss’ own scout team in a mock game last week. In a game bereft of takeaways because of the level of competition along the line of scrimmage, it’s a window into what Kiffin has built.

    It’s evidence that this group, filled with players plucked from transfer programs around the country — some of whom have NFL aspirations and came to Oxford thanks to the zero compensation offered by Ole Miss’s excellent collective — can accept what Kiffin and his staff ask of them.

    What lesson from this punishment could be more weighty than this one, for a program that has itself struggled with culture problems in the past?

    “It was like, ‘OK, this is the first message you can send as a team,'” Kiffin said. “‘It doesn’t matter who you play next week, or Week 5, or any of those things. This is the only thing that matters, this game. You can say that, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to work. It’s good that they responded the way they did. They played like it was an elite SEC game.'”

    WE ARE: Why Lane Kiffin Chose Austin Simmons as the Backup Quarterback for the Ole Miss Football Team

    Here’s a taste of the dominance that came from that mentality: Ole Miss outrebounded Furman 772-172 in total yards. It allowed 26 rushing yards in the entire game. It committed just three penalties, had 16 tackles for loss and broke up 19 chunk plays to the Paladins’ five.

    The roster construction was probably more instrumental than any pregame speech Kiffin or his staff could give. There are only 10 underclassmen on the two-deep Rebels between offense and defense.

    This is a smart, experienced team, and the Rebels acted like one on Saturday.

    “One of the reasons we took this game so seriously … we have a lot of guys that have played a lot of football,” star Tre Harris said. “A lot of guys that know how the game is, how the game flows and how everything is supposed to be. Just so many guys with so many games under their belt and so much experience with everybody and the team, everybody just clicked.”

    Not much of Saturday’s romp will translate to the key SEC games that will define Ole Miss’ season. But mindset? It means everything.

    David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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