Intro you are locked on Old Miss your daily podcast on the Old Miss Rebels part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks again for making the locked onus podcast your first listen every day we're free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube we are part of the locked on podcast Network your team every single day hello I'm step Willis from the locked on Miss podcast he is cats from Historical Context of Ole Miss's Victory the north Miss e East Mississippi Tupelo Daily Journal that's easy for me to say and how are you doing bud I'm good man how about yourself pretty good it is Saturday n morning as people are watching this so we're going to kind of pregame what is going on as well as looking back um to what is going to happen so at the game last weekend against Ferman what were your major takeaways and what do you think you can take away from that game to move into the middle Tennessee game I think for for me the biggest thing was they played a really clean game for the most part I think in these sorts of games like you might end up winning by a lot but it doesn't always feel good or look good but and I know there were some things that uh you know they want to do better that's that's how all coaching staffs work they they always have things that they can improve on I'm sure they like would have you know lik to have maybe gotten the running game going a little bit earlier when um the game was quote unquote in the balance which it never really seemed to be um regardless but I think that when you out gain a team by 600 yards you don't give up a score you don't turn the ball over um you I mean let's be honest Miss could have scored 100 points if they wanted I mean this was just they they were able to do anything they wanted in that game on both sides of the ball and I think you know when you look around the country um you know there's lot of teams playing these sorts of games uh early in the year um and yeah usually most of them end up being blowouts but not every team ends up feeling like good about the game um or even you know in the case of Oregon and Idaho you know yeah Oregon out gained them by 200 something yards but that was a 10-point game and that you know that's that's an Oregon team that people are expecting really really big things from um and that's an Idaho team that it's you know similar to Ferman a very solid FCS uh you know playoff teams so I think taking care of business the way they did was really important I don't think you ever like I I don't think whether Old Miss was focused or not in this game was going to matter because they were going to win big regardless but they looked really really focused like this was not this wasn't an FCS team like this was just it's just it's another game on the schedule don't look at the like don't look at the team name anything like that like we're just going to take care of business and do what we have to do um regardless of who it is so I think for me that was the biggest thing is they Ole Miss's Dominant Passing Game Strategy played clean they played hard and and um I mean it was it was a butt kicking there's there's really no other way to put it I think they said the in the last 40 years and that's probably as far back as they've looked Miss versus Ferman that was the first time the team had scored over 75 points um and also get had a shut out and gained over 750 yards and that is how rare that is and whenever people ask it's like hey Miss isn't playing anybody he's like yes okay go ahead and let me know the last time you beat somebody 76 to nothing anybody yeah and I mean again last year like yeah they beat Mercer 73 to7 or whatever it was but like everybody remembers the first play where Mercer's quarterback took it 75 yards for touchdown and yeah that was the only thing that they did the entire game but it was like something that you know they were like hey like this can't happen again there were like no moments like that in this game where you said oh that can't happen again it was just it was Ole Miss' Dominant Performance Against Furman dominant it was dominant well if you wanted to look at one thing that everybody kind of is nashing their teeth about and is probably the Run game um but even saying that every player on Miss Roster San Sans ulyses Bentley I think had over five yards per carry and was this a symptom of a problem or emblematic of the game plan yeah I mean it's it's it's funny um earlier in the week Lane kein had said that the running game was going to be a really big emphasis and of course the second he says that you know that they're GNA throw for like 8,000 yards um but uh you know I think this was just one of those games where like you understand you have a really big advantage in your passing game and your receivers and all of the things um that you can do take advantage of it get your numbers build up this lead you can run the ball later but this this seemed like a game plan thing I think if they had stuck to the Run they probably could have run for 300 yards you know in that first half too but they they didn't have to they just did what the defense was giving them the fact is they could not cover any of om miss' receivers and if they're not going to be able to do that why wouldn't you air it out yeah and it's expected whenever you're playing against an FCS team that they were going to struggle covering Trey Harris and Juice Wells and those guys and honestly if we're going to be real about this and being completely real about this other than Georgia and Oklahoma and maybe one other team everybody is going to struggle to cover these guys yeah no I mean this is not just gonna be a Ferman or a middle Tennessee or a Wake Forest problem there's gonna be a lot of teams that are gonna struggle to cover uh this receiving core that just seems to keep getting deeper and deeper when guys like Kaden Lee um have these great games he's again he's a guy you forget about but he came on really strong last year and every time he gets his opportunity he plays really really well and he did it again this past week there's just so many different guys I mean even when you don't have Jordan Watkins there's this embarrassment of w of of riches dcoin Wright you know catches his first career touchdown pass which I imagine was probably pretty cool for him because he's played a decent amount of college football uh at Virginia Tech and in his first game at all Miss he he gets that I there's just it's it's it's so hard to to key on one option or even two options with with with all that they have um in the receiving game so uh yeah I think there's there's going to be a lot of teams that are going to struggle to match up with what Miss can can can scheme up and and put out there you know one thing that's kind of interesting um to me is I did not expect laye kein to just name a backup quarterback before the season I thought we were going to do the aura thing the back and forth the Jackson dart stuff to try and keep them both happy I think this is probably an indication of how good Austin's been this fall yeah I was I was actually very surprised when there was no or um because that's just usually the gamesmanship that's usually the way it goes you don't want someone feeling a certain way uh when they look at the depth chart they see things online but um like like I know we've talked about it and and people have in the practices that we have seen Austin Simmons looked great I mean he has looked great all fall um they put him in the game and of course his first pass is just an Absol absolute Beauty uh you know his overall numbers didn't end up looking great you know things to work on but um you just see the talent and the zip that he puts on the ball uh we talked to him for the first time he's just a super smart Savvy kid too does not seem like someone who is as young as he is um yeah I I think it's one of those things when you look at the way that you know not just the depth chart looks but the way that the Reps were divided in the game I think Walker Howard only threw two passes um in that game I think it's pretty clear that uh you know if if the bullets were fired and they had to put a guy in it would probably be Austin yeah and I've been saying for six months you know I'm not claiming that I'm right or taking a Victory lap or anything like that but I've called him two or three inches this whole time and whenever you see him throw a football M that is pretty it's been since honestly since Eli Manning as a quarterback's looked as pretty as that throwing a football yeah no it's and again I know the Lefty thing like the first thing that comes to mind is like it's Tua right it's the way that the ball comes off his hand but there's just so much zip and it's it's it's effortless and again this is a guy who like just had a fairly major injury um on on his elbow that a lot of people were unsure of how that was going to look and here he is stronger and and better than ever it's um it's it's it's I I I imagine that arm is probably going to only look better as as the year goes on he gets healthier yes coming up after this break we are going to start talking Middle Tennessee and today's game this is Michael catch from the Northeast Mississippi T Tupelo Daily Journal I don't know why I can't say that but we'll talk about that coming up next you know LinkedIn just isn't a job board it's a Network full of professionals you won't find anywhere else and what's great about it is even those who aren't actually searching for a job might see your role and decide that hey that's exactly what I'm looking for over 70% of LinkedIn users don't even visit other major job sites if you're not on it LinkedIn you're probably doing it wrong and you might be missing out on your best candidates 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours that's fast and honestly that's kind of what you need in today's market if you want to hire like 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about what's going on in MTSU he says it looks like they might be down two offensive linemen in this game he yeah he said um they might be down a cornerback or two in this game and all in all I can I'm kind of understanding why this Line's at 41 right now yeah I mean look look uh you look at their game last week uh they barely beat Tennessee Tech and they were Middle Tennessee's Injury Concerns out gained in that by Tennessee Tech by 20 or so yards um it's it's going to be a struggle and again you talk about missing offensive linemen this is not the team that you really need to be missing offensive line against um with what all Miss brings to the table um on its defensive line it was already probably going to be an uphill battle but if you're bringing backups in that's it's gonna be pretty brutal yeah that that's not good and if everybody remembers Derrick Mason is now the coach of MTSU for those who do not know whenever Derrick Mason went to Vanderbilt and they transformed from what they did at Stanford from what James Franklin did at Vanderbilt it took time for a semblance of it to be okay and that first year I think H freze beat um that Vandy team like 54 to 14 or something ridiculous like that now I say that to say this so don't expect me I don't think this is any situation to where Miss is going to be threatened on the scoreboard but J um Derek Mason at Auburn he actually kind of had some of the secret sauce because he was the defensive coordinator at Auburn when Matt carral went into that town picked off carral like four or five times in the end zone he kind of had that secret sauce now I do not know if MTF MTSU is going to have the Personnel to make Old Miss hurt like they did at that Auburn night but one thing's for sure Derrick Mason's going to have the scheme and know exactly what needs to be done I just don't know if M Middle Tennessee is going to be able to do it no for sure and and you know their familiarity even goes back to their Stanford USC days when he was the defensive coordinator at Stanford I mean he's seen Lane obviously Lane is involved as a coach you know offensively since then uh Derrick Mason has changed since then but you know derck Mason is a very highly respected guy uh defensive mind around college football and just a really well-respected coach you know like you said I I don't know if they're GNA have the the pieces to hang with them but I think that the scheme at least will be something that you can have a matash with and even if you you're probably going to end up beating the scheme because you've got better dudes but at least it's something where hey this is at least it's something to challenge us mentally with and I think that's you know again in games like this where you're probably not going to be challenged at least it's something to be challenged with yeah and I think this game honestly Lane mentioned the run game again which means they're obviously gonna throw the football again but I do Transition at MTSU's Defense think with the transition that's going on at MTSU in the front seven that're they're transitioning to a 34 defense with 425 personnel which means there can be conky fits at certain positions which means in these first and second level you can make some damage in the Run game and ulyses Bentley the fourth he didn't have the best game against Ferman but he does have the explosive attack to where if he gets into that open space he can cause a lot of trouble for the blue Raiders yeah I mean he's the kind of guy that can make angles sort of irrelevant uh just with his with his speed and and bursts so um yeah again uh it's always sort of hard to know what to expect from from from Lane kein offenses on on a given week especially when uh they can probably do anything they want in a game like this but uh whatever it is it's probably going to look pretty good and it's probably going to be effective but I I do think though that you know again if you were going to nitpick something and I know running for 250 yards or whatever it was is a pretty good end result I think establishing the Run game early in this game um you know even if they don't stick with it I think getting that started early uh would probably you know be something that uh you got to think they want to at least try to do because you know you got your first road game coming up these games are going to start getting harder you're gonna have to start establishing the Run ear lean games you know sooner than later might as well start it here you know do you think Matt Jones deserves first half carries in this game it's hard because like every time he's played he plays well um you know and I understand that a lot of that is you know he and not to take away from his talent or anything like that but uh you know circumstantially like he doesn't always play against the top-notch guys you know when he's played against Vanderbilt it was sort of garbage is time and he's played really really well in his opportunities there's there's no you can't take that away from him and I know that that Ferman uh was trying their damnest to try to get him down they just couldn't um it's interest I think what's interesting for me is that he was the first guy he was be he started getting carries before Rashad Amos did I thought that was kind of interesting um because you know we talked about it being a three-headed monster and it's probably going to end up being a three-headed monster at some point um but really it was it was pretty clear that it was it was Bentley and Parish at the top of the hierarchy this past week and then it was Matt Jones and then amamos started getting his carries so I'm curious to see how that whole thing sort of sorts itself out and I imagine it will and I know it's week one and um you know you're going to give guys carries who have been in the program and and have earned it and all that sort of stuff but it was a little bit surprising to see the way the carries were distributed you think this is the week that Jordan Watkins comes back I don't know I mean I I don't know why you would it's it's probably not even worth it um you know if if it's even if it's even a question why you're probably not going to need him um you know you might not need him against Wake Forest either um get him healthy um you want him at full strength when it really starts mattering um you know we we were not able to to go to practice this week and that that's usually indicative of of guys being on the fence in terms of of being available or not but I just know like for me I don't know if it would be worth it but uh that means he's probably GNA have Speculation on Player Health and Usage like 20 catches for 200 yards this week so yeah I don't know if it's AB absolutely true or whatever but fans talking and everybody knows somebody that knows somebody and they there's like hey we saw Jordan Watkins at practice in a red jersey and it's like okay but where's that confirmed from you know I could have said I saw Jordan Watkins at practice in a purple jersey you know it that really doesn't matter what about jquan Scott is he getting close uh again I I I think so but again it's it's hard to know just with with how limited um you know the access is right now but again at the same time like you're not going to need them my you know you've got so many new pieces as it is like why not why not try all of them out why not try some of the young guys too so uh again i' I've never been under the impression that that impression that either of those were particularly serious or that they were things they were worried about lingering uh and I don't think anything's really changed my mind I think that like the circumstance of opponent would probably determine more whether these guys would play rather than like where the health is actually at okay and I'm I'm going to Injury Reports and Gambling rant real quick before we get out of here for a second and I'm going to rant about injury reports because all we heard whenever we heard that injury reports were coming as how it's a good thing this was the talking point it was a good thing because CD people were trying to find injury information out behind the scenes and this all of this stuff was the talking point and then at the beginning of the season when it happens they only doing it on conference games so obviously it wasn't important enough to do it in the non-conference game obviously this is all Spin and this is for the gambling sites right for sure no I mean that's that's it's kind of where it all is these days right um but yeah no it's it's it's it's GNA be very fascinating um to see how these reports end up um unfolding I'm very curious to see Miss's first injury report and uh and the sort of depth or lack thereof that uh we end up getting I I I will gladly admit I could give two rats patootie about South Carolina and Kentucky but I looked at the injury report of course yeah no no 100% 100% yeah so it's it's it's it's weird times I I I don't imagine Lane is probably super thrilled with with this development uh just given how Miss likes to play things pretty close to the vest but uh you know it's just sort of where things are why why play things acoss the the first time you have to do as an injury report for the first SEC game you play all your non-conference games what does it matter what just act like the injury report is going right now and it will affect nothing no yeah you preached to the choir here I I I I don't think it's uh I don't think that's GNA be the reason uh Miss wins or loses games this year I'll say that yeah pretty confident that one yeah I I'm ready to see the first time an injury report happens to where Lane has to answer questions about the St of a player in the I want to find out what is said there and I guarantee you it's G to say we hope he plays he's questionable that that's going to be what it is yes 100% yes yes can't wait anyway thanks again for making the oon podcast your first listen every day we're free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube we are part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day today Miss takes on the M middle tennessy blue Raiders Michael what kind of content do you have planned for blue Raiders coverage uh you know I actually I talked to the same gentleman you did over at Middle Tennessee I I did a Q&A with them I also Insights from Middle Tennessee Coverage went on a podcast over there so we've got some Cross coverage stuff going on with trying to learn a little bit more about the program uh this is actually the week we finally got to talk to to juice Wells and Walter noens so we've got stuff on that we talked to Austin Simmons too uh all these guys that we've been waiting on we got them all this week which is which was kind of nice so uh stories on those guys they've all got really interesting stories it was just really cool to uh to finally hear from them after they finally played a game so uh lot of cool stuff going on that's another thing Austin Simmons going into the press conference this this this quarterback competition's over oh yeah yeah yeah pretty good anyway Michael um have a safe trip over to Oxford and we'll talk to you next week bud thanks man appreciate you