This is one of the better and more interesting matchups in Week 5 of the college football season: Kentucky takes its top-10 national ranking to Oxford for a game which will also mark Ole Miss’s first true test of the 2022 campaign.
By Matt Zemek
Ole Miss has gulped down a bunch of cupcakes so far this year: Troy, Central Arkansas, Georgia Tech, and Tulsa. Now the challenge begins for Lane Kiffin’s team, which is trying to replicate the successes of last year’s group. Kentucky has already won an important SEC road game at Florida. If Mark Stoops can go into The Grove and score another victory in an enemy SEC lair, the Wildcats will not only justify their lofty ranking; they will begin to build the architecture of a resume which can lead the program to its first New Year’s Six bowl since the Bear Bryant era, at a time when the Korean War was being fought. This is a huge game for Big Blue. Let’s see what the Wildcats have to do to declaw Lane Kiffin’s crew:
1 – Will Levis, standing tall
Scoring only 31 points against Northern Illinois simply won’t cut it. The performance we saw from Kentucky’s offense in Week 4 was ordinary and pedestrian. That’s not good enough. Was this team looking ahead to Ole Miss? Yes it was. Has this team earned a certain degree of trust, based on what it was able to do against Florida in The Swamp, and also based on 2021’s track record? Yes. However, given the enormous opportunity Kentucky has, no one should assume a better game from the offense. This unit has to start from scratch – mentally more than anything else – and identify the many ways in which its standard of play is not where it needs to be. No one should be casual or overly confident that everything will naturally fall into place; no, this is a time to play with a chip on the shoulder. Do keep in mind that Kentucky’s offense was not particularly good at Florida. The defense won that game. This is a time for everyone in the offensive huddle to display leadership and take charge of a game against an Ole Miss defense which played poorly against Tulsa last week, allowing 27 points. If Kentucky can score more than 27, its defense will have a great chance to win this game.
2 – Action Jaxson
Ole Miss used its nonconference games in September to determine who will start at quarterback in this big SEC opener for the Rebels. Lane Kiffin has made his decision: Jaxson Dart, the transfer from USC, displaced Sugar Bowl quarterback Luke Altmyer (who filled in for an injured Matt Corral against Baylor last January).
Jaxson Dart showed at USC – and in this first month of the 2022 season for Ole Miss – that he can make plays outside the pocket. Dart is a good improvisational playmaker. He is creative and agile. Kentucky needs to rein in the action for Jaxson by keeping him in the pocket and shutting off running lanes. Kentucky showed it could handle a running quarterback when it smothered Anthony Richardson of Florida. Dart is a better passer than Richardson, but it remains that UK can’t allow Dart to get into the open field. Play assignments, hold up in man coverage, force Dart to patiently win this game as a pocket passer who throws lots of short and intermediate routes. Quarterbacks, even the best ones, can and do become impatient if they can’t run and the deep ball is taken away. Kentucky needs to execute that approach and see where it leads.
3 – Ball control
Don’t let Ole Miss control the tempo of the game. Kentucky’s offense will probably need a few explosive plays to ultimately win, but the true foundation of a successful game for Big Blue is a high rate of third-down conversions which keep the ball from the Ole Miss offense.
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