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The Ole Miss Rebels have enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon dust off their road jerseys. Ole Miss and the Mississippi State Bulldogs will face off in an SEC battle at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. With a combined 1,189 yards of offense in their previous games, we can expect a fast-paced contest.
The oddsmakers predicted a rough matchup for Ole Miss last week, and boy were they were right. They ended up on the wrong side of a painful 58-37 walloping at the LSU Tigers' hands. The Rebels might have lost, but man -- QB John Rhys Plumlee was a total machine. He rushed for 212 yards and four TDs on 21 carries. One of the most memorable plays of the game was Plumlee's 60-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter. Not surprisingly, Plumlee's sharp performance set his single-game rushing touchdown high for the season.
Meanwhile, when you finish with 336 more yards than your opponent like MSU did on Saturday, a favorable outcome is almost sure to follow. They steamrolled past the Abilene Christian Wildcats 45-7. MSU's success was spearheaded by the efforts of RB Kylin Hill, who picked up 153 yards on the ground on 16 carries and caught three passes for 84 yards, and QB Tommy Stevens, who picked up 88 yards on the ground on seven carries and threw two passing touchdowns. One of the most thrilling moments of the game was Hill's 88-yard TD reception in the second quarter.
Mississippi State's win lifted them to 5-6 while Ole Miss' defeat dropped them down to 4-7. A couple offensive stats to keep an eye on: MSU comes into the contest boasting the 19th most rushing yards per game in the league at 228.5. But Ole Miss is even better: they rank seventh in the league when it comes to rushing yards per game, with 261.5 on average. We'll see if that edge gives the Rebels a route to victory.
