Talk of Champions

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Jayden Daniels is scary, but take Ole Miss and the under at LSU. Back to Powe Corner! Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

Ole Miss will have to pull off its first win at LSU since 2008 if the Rebels hope to remain undefeated and in control of the SEC West.

The Rebels are perfect (7-0, 3-0 SEC) through a season’s first seven games for just the second time since the 60s. But they’ll try to avoid the fate of 2014, when their streak was snapped, and season derailed, with a loss in their eighth game at LSU.

“I would like to see us run the ball and establish the run game and kind of milk the clock,” all-time Ole Miss football great Jerrell Powe said Wednesday. “Keep them off the field. We’re going to score 30 easily.

“But I think we need to do what we were doing Saturday (against Auburn). Run the ball (and) not go as fast. We need to have a four-minute mindset every time we take the field. We’re trying to milk the clock and go score.”

Powe made his comments in the latest edition of Powe Corner, a podcast in association with the Ole Miss Spirit and Talk of Champions.

Powe expects the Rebels to get LSU’s absolute best, especially after Ole Miss continued its climb in Top 25 polls this week. The Rebels, fresh off a 48-34 win over Auburn, are the consensus No. 7 team in the country.

They’re first in the SEC West, too, with Alabama and LSU, in that order, hot on their heels. The Crimson Tide lost to Tennessee and nexts hosts Mississippi State, Ole Miss’ in-state rival.

The Tigers, meanwhile, are 5-2 (3-1), including a 45-35 win at Florida over the weekend.

“Keep their offense off the field because I am a little concerned with the defense, and I don’t want to get in a pissing contest with them,” Powe said. “(LSU QB Jayden Daniels) is putting up numbers. He’s putting up points, and I feel like they haven’t really taken but one loss.

“This guy scares me. They’ve only taken one true loss, and this guy can beat you with his legs, and we’ve been struggling with running quarterbacks.”

Ole Miss opened as a 2.5-point favorite. However, Caesars Sportsbook flipped to LSU (-1.5) on Monday, and the Tigers held there a day later. The over/under sat at 66.0 points.

“I like the money’s starting to come down,” Powe said. “Take the under. Everybody’s going to take the over because we score a lot of points and LSU has been putting up pretty good points.”

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Ole Miss basketball is nearly whole again. Good thing. Games are coming quickly. Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

Kermit Davis is knocking on as much wood as he can find lately, ‘cause his Ole Miss men’s basketball team is as healthy as it’s been in a long, long time.

The timing couldn't be better, really. The Rebels are in their third week of preseason practices, and their season opener against Alcorn State is rapidly approaching November 7. They’ll hold a closed scrimmage Sunday with another Power 5 opponent before host West Georgia for an exhibition two weeks from Tuesday.

The overall health of the roster isn't all positive, but, first and foremost, star second-year point guard Daeshun Ruffin has been cleared for full contact. Same for true freshman guard Robert Cowherd.

First-year transfer Josh Mballa, formerly of Buffalo, is out after he “tweaked his hamstring again,” as Davis put it, but otherwise, Ole Miss is rounding into form.

“We’re going to have a Blue-White scrimmage, and (Daeshun will) go for like four minutes in that,” Davis said, adding Mballa is “out for about four or five days.

“He won’t scrimmage in our closed deal on Sunday. Hopefully by the next week we’ve got him back.”

Davis spoke extensively about the team's injury situation, Square Jam, recruiting and more in an interview with the Ole Miss Spirit's Talk of Champions podcast.

Clement: Jacob Gonzalez was in a ‘train wreck at second base.’ He's fine. Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

Star third-year Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez will miss the remainder of the fall intrasquad season following an injury suffered in a second-base collision in practice.

Long-time Rebel hitting coach Mike Clement, who joined the Ole Miss Spirit's Talk of Champions podcast on Tuesday, said there are no long-term concerns for Gonzalez, who has started over 130 combined games in his two Ole Miss seasons.

He's expected to be ready for the season. Ole Miss opens February 17 against Delaware.

“Him and (John) Kramer had a train wreck at second base,” Clement said. “A stolen base. They both stayed down. Gonzo stayed down a little longer than any of us would have liked.”

Gonzalez has an MCL sprain.

However, there is “no meniscus damage,” according to Clement, and no other ligaments were affected. He won't have surgery, instead focusing on rest and rehab.

Gonzalez is a career .315 hitter at Ole Miss, including 30 home runs and 107 RBI. He has 159 total hits and a career .424 OBP (on-base percentage).

“We’re going to wrap him in a big bubble for the rest of the fall and told him to show up when we open up,” next season, Clement said.

Clement also provided an extensive update on practices so far, as well as touched on mechanical adjustments for veteran infielder Peyton Chatagnier and a Party in the Sip for the national-champion Rebels in November.

Daytime Fireworks: Off to LSU, everything's there for the taking for Ole Miss football Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

David Brandt and Zach Berry are back for another round of Daytime Fireworks, and today they're wallowing in the positive fallout from Ole Miss' first win over Auburn since 2015.

Plus, a look-ahead to the Rebels' trip Red Stick, where they haven't won in 14 years, and a whip-around the SEC. We're in the end game now. Should be fun.

Rebel Yell Hotline: Undefeated Ole Miss football callin' Baton Rouge Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

In this edition of the Rebel Yell Hotline, Chuck Rounsaville, Gary Darby and Gordon Ford are joined by LSU insider Frank Duffy and Harry Harrison of the Ole Miss Radio Network.

With Trigg out, and now being used ‘kind of all over,’ welcome to Wat’s Life! Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Jordan Watkins transferred to Ole Miss from Louisville in January with the expectation he’d be a featured weapon in a high-powered Lane Kiffin offense.

He assumed he’d be used all over, too.

However, in preseason practices in the spring and early-fall, the 5-foot-11, 191-pound Watkins, a junior, was mostly worked in the slot and occasionally outside at wide receiver.

His role changed once starting tight end Michael Trigg went down with a likely season-ending collarbone injury in a 52-28 win at Vanderbilt.

“I’ve made some plays from the backfield,” Watkins said. “The touchdown I scored against Vandy, I came out of the backfield. With the injury with Trigg, you’re kind of seeing me move a little bit into the tight end role to kind of help Casey (Kelly) out. Kyirin’s still young, so he’s still developing (and) still learning.

“Kind of to put a guy who knows what to do a little bit and a guy who’s played a lot of ball along with Casey to kind of help him out a little bit. You’re seeing me in the tight end spot, you’re seeing me in the running back spot (and) of course in the slot. Kind of all over, really.”

Watkins is currently third on the team in receptions and receiving yards.

The raw numbers also don’t tell the whole story.

Watkins has totaled 13 of his 19 receptions and 209 of his 278 receiving yards in October alone. Ole Miss is 7-0 (3-0 SEC) for just the second time since the 60s and currently sits alone atop the SEC West.

The Rebels were ranked No. 7 in Top 25 polls released by the Associated Press and league coaches on Sunday. They next travel to rival LSU (5-2, 3-1) in five days for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff on CBS.

Ole Miss last won in Baton Rouge in 2008.

“We’re a very good football team,” Watkins said. “But we’re not great yet.”

Watkins details his emergence for the Ole Miss offense, as well as the trip to LSU and quarterback Jaxson Dart’s growing confidence, in this edition of Wat’s Life, an Ole Miss podcast in association with the Ole Miss Spirit (On3) and Talk of Champions.

Franchise Player: Overreaction Monday! Lane Kiffin, the most wanted man in football Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Ole Miss is one of just six teams still undefeated in college football.

The Rebels are also No. 8 in both the Associated Press and coaches Top 25 polls. They sit alone atop the SEC West following just their second 7-0 start (3-0 SEC) to a season since the 60s.

And it’s almost all because of Lane Kiffin.

The coaching carousel is already spinning, and the third-year Ole Miss head coach is arguably the most-wanted man in football at any level. The hype train will only grow louder should the Rebels continue to play like a College Football Playoff contender and/or reach the SEC title game for the first time in program history.

Forget potential college opportunities; Kiffin is a perfect fit for the modern NFL. Actually, then-Raiders owner Al Davis was ahead of his time when he hired Kiffin in 2007.

Despite it all, such a scenario would be best-case for Ole Miss, and a possible opportunity to break through the glass ceiling for good as an every-year top-tier contender.

Ben Garrett and David Johnson discuss in this edition of Franchise Player, a site-crossover podcast of the Ole Miss Spirit (On3) and Inside the Rebels (247).

Plus, the guys talk the very latest in Rebel football recruiting in a long-overdue Recruit Check, and Ben's scared to death of Ole Miss' upcoming trip to LSU.

ToC Postgame: Things got weird for Ole Miss against Auburn. They always do. Oct 15, 2022

Show notes

Things got weird, as they seemingly always do, between Ole Miss and Auburn on Saturday.

Even so, the Rebels kept rolling, picking up their seventh win (and third in the SEC) in as many tries to start a season for just the second time since the 60s.

Ole Miss, which entered play ranked No. 9 in the country in Top 25 polls, used its best-in-show running back stable to never trail in a game the Rebels led 21-0 after the first quarter.

Auburn (3-4, 1-3 SEC) fought back, even getting with four points at 28-24 midway through the third, but Ole Miss wore the SEC West rival Tigers down with three 100-yard rushers in Quinshon Judkins, Zach Evans and Jaxson Dart.

Ben Garrett and David Johnson have the full postgame breakdown in this edition of Franchise Player, a site-crossover podcast of the Ole Miss Spirit (On3) and Inside the Rebels (247). Plus, we're handing out helmet stickers, picking which Rebel won the week and previewing next week's tilt in Red Stick.

That's Suss! An appreciation for the completeness of Zach Evans in advance of Auburn Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

Vanderbilt last week sold out to slow down the Ole Miss rushing attack, which is ranked No. 1 in the SEC after six undefeated weeks for the Rebels.

It ultimately didn't matter. Sure, Ole Miss was slowed in the first half, resulting in its first halftime deficit of the season. But the Rebels went on to run for four touchdowns and 143 yards on their 28 combined attempts — good enough for 5.1 yards per carry.

The Auburn Tigers, an SEC West foe, who the Rebels (6-0, 2-0 SEC) host Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN, are free to try to replicate Vanderbilt's game plan.

But as Nick Suss (Clarion-Ledger) explains in this edition of Talk of Champions, they shouldn't expect to outright stymie a stable led by a still-not-appreciated-enough Zach Evans.

“I don’t think we’ve given enough credit to Zach Evans,” Suss said of Evans, currently ranked as the No. 2 running back prospect in the 2023 NFL Draft by Mel Kiper (ESPN).

“We’ve obviously given enough credit to Quinshon Judkins as a true freshman for doing what he’s doing, but having the two of them be as successful as they have, and really, with the exception of the one or two games where Evans clearly was not fully healthy, I think Evans has shown why he’s the feature back in this offense.”

Lane Kiffin hasn't yet conquered Auburn (3-3, 1-2) as Ole Miss head coach.

It wasn't for a lack of offensive output.

The Rebels on the ground alone had a two-game rushing total of 440 yards on 90 carries in their two previous losses. The Tigers also gave up 245 yards and five touchdowns and 292 yards and six touchdowns, respectively, to the two best rushing teams they’ve played this year in Penn State and Georgia.

“There’s a lot of talent (in the Ole Miss backfield), and I don’t think Auburn’s just going to shut them down because they schemed to shut them down,” Suss said.

“But if Auburn does keep packing the box, if Auburn continues the same strategy Vanderbilt did, we’re going to have to see Ole Miss throw the ball successfully. This is a good pass defense, so they may try to lean into that, but if Ole Miss can run the ball as successfully as Penn State and Georgia did, it’s not going to matter.”

Plus, Nick brings to the surface a scorching-hot Eli Manning take (the most consequential player in program history?) Ben Garrett didn't know he had, as well as throws Ben's words back at him in regards to the death of WAOM thinking.

‘We might see a clipboard flying’: Ole Miss and the over. Back to Powe Corner! Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

Lane Kiffin has never beaten Auburn going on three seasons as Ole Miss head coach.

All-time Ole Miss great Jerrell Powe expects that to change on Saturday, when the No. 9-ranked Rebels host the SEC West rival Tigers at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.

“He’s going to beat the (heck) out of them," Powe said, in this edition of Talk of Champions, an Ole Miss podcast in association with the Ole Miss Spirit.

“We might even see a clipboard flying.”

Powe has reason for confidence.

The Rebels are 6-0 (2-0 SEC) to start a season for just the second time since the 60s, while Auburn (3-3, 1-2) is reeling and potentially on the verge of firing head coach Bryan Harsin.

Ole Miss, a heavy favorite (+15), will have to play well, of course. The Rebels trailed at halftime for the first time all year in an eventual 52-28 win at Vanderbilt last week, allowing the Commodores to score on four of their five first-half drives.

However, Ole Miss flipped the script and outscored Vanderbilt, 42-8, from the last minute of the second quarter onward.

“I think we had an ‘Oh (crap)’ moment last week,” Powe said. He's taking Ole Miss and the over.

“They came out at halftime and they got back on script and did what they needed to do. I think we’re going to build off that and carry it over to (the Auburn) game.”

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