It might already be time to raise Ole Miss football's ceiling after Mercer win. Here's why
OXFORD — Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin has spent the past 18 years leading offenses. None of them — not at USC, Alabama, Tennessee, FAU or the Oakland Raiders — matched the passing production the Rebels had in a 73-7 win over Mercer on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Ole Miss threw for 524 yards against the Bears (1-1), carving out a new career-best for Kiffin. More than 330 of them belonged to Jaxson Dart, who looked every bit like a quarterback who has taken the jump the Rebels have been hoping for. Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard came off the bench to contribute effectively, too.
Now for the caveat: Mercer probably doesn't have a player anywhere on its defense who can match up with what the Rebels threw at it athletically. If Saturday's season opener were played on "Madden," they would have been on easy difficulty.
Nevertheless, Kiffin's previous offenses filled their stomachs with plenty of cupcake opponents, too. His Tennessee team obliterated a Western Kentucky squad that went winless in 2009. His Alabama offenses encountered titans like Western Carolina and Charleston Southern. The Rebels took on a losing FCS team in Central Arkansas last season. You get the gist.
"Our players played really well today," Kiffin said. "I told them that. Obviously, there's things to get better and we all know that, but I commend them for how they started the game. I also commend them — at halftime, a lot of times when you have leads like that, you come out flat in the second half."
That the Rebels did whatever they wanted in the passing game doesn't necessarily teach us anything about how good this team can be. But how they achieved that dominance just might.
Take a look at Quinshon Judkins' stat line from Saturday. The SEC's leading rusher from last season carried the ball 13 times for just 60 yards (and, it should be noted, two touchdowns). That did not happen by accident. The Bears planned to limit him in that way.
"When you got the best running back in the country, I would hope they would do that," Rebels wideout Tre Harris said. "We definitely knew that their safeties were going to be more aggressive. We seen it on film. They're really aggressive on the perimeter and the back, and so we knew they were probably going to stack the box at some point and try to stop the run."
Credit to Mercer: It succeeded. Ole Miss ran for 143 yards after averaging 256.6 yards on the ground last season.
The Rebels scored 73 points anyway.
Ole Miss made the Mercer defense choose which weapon to stop. The results were devastating.
That dynamic, more than any of the ridiculous numbers, is the takeaway from this game that could have long-term implications.
If Dart — or whoever Kiffin ultimately selects to lead the offense — is good enough to thwart defenses that sell out to stop Judkins, then it might be cause to reconsider what the Rebels' ceiling can be.
JUICE'S NEW JOB: See Ole Miss football unofficial mascot Juice Kiffin collect the kickoff tee vs Mercer
Ole Miss' passing game options will have a say in that, too. With Zakhari Franklin and Caden Prieskorn sidelined due to injuries, the Rebels' weapons still looked electric. Making his debut after transferring from Louisiana Tech, Harris broke the Ole Miss single-game receiving touchdown record with four to go along with 133 yards. Jordan Watkins also hit the century mark with 111.
"I'm sure we're going to see a lot of people stop the run with (Judkins) returning and leading the SEC in rushing," Kiffin said. "That was kind of expected that you would have to throw people out of that defense."
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Is it time to raise Ole Miss football's ceiling after winning opener?
