Ole Miss safety Cody Prewitt provides bulletin board material for Alabama
There’s something about Alabama week that seems to cause Ole Miss players to say something to antagonize the Tide.
This year, that bulletin board material came from safety Cody Prewitt following last week’s 24-3 win against Memphis.
“We understand that we haven’t played a team that’s going to be as good as Bama,” Prewitt said, according to Fox Sports’ Brandon Speck. “But we don’t really think Bama is as good as they have been. And we’re better than we have been. We’re looking forward to getting to the game plan and really nailing down all the tweaks and stuff that we’re going to have to put into Bama.”
OK, it’s not that insidious, but it is blowing up the Internet the way things tend to do whenever there’s a perceived slight toward the Tide. But it’s also the kind of confidence you’d expect from an undefeated Ole Miss team.
In fact, it was quarterback Bo Wallace who got a little too amped about the Rebels’ 3-0 record heading into last season’s Alabama game and provided some choice bulletin board material for that contest.
“Yeah, I think we can put points on them,” Wallace said last year, according to AL.com’s Michael Casagrande. “I think we can put points on anybody. We just have to show up and play. It’s the same thing every week, let’s stay on schedule, control the tempo and don’t have any turnovers.”
Again, not a disrespectful quote, but one the fired up Alabama enough that it went on to shutout the Rebels 25-0 in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The defense also sacked Wallace for a safety late in the game as an exclamation point to their effort.
“After hearing all the trash they were talking in the media, it just really played a big role for us to come out and dominate these guys,” junior defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan said following the game.
The moral of the story here is that it’s better not to poke the bear. We’re not sure that’s what Prewitt was doing when he made his comment, but it’s going to be perceived that way, and depending which Ole Miss team decides to show up on Saturday, the Rebels could get flattened.
Even though Ole Miss is 4-0, it’s had some major struggles to get there. It had abysmal first halves against Boise State and Memphis, and Wallace has had a lot of trouble holding onto the ball.
But it will have to be on its game against the Tide because, unlike Prewitt said, this is actually a better Alabama team than we’ve seen in the past, at least offensively. Under new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, the Tide is averaging 42 points and 594.25 yards per game. Both of those numbers are better than any Alabama put up during the years it won the national title.
But Ole Miss has the best secondary the Tide has faced this season. It already has nine interceptions, which leads the SEC. On the flipside, Ole Miss has not faced a receiver as good as Amari Cooper, who is second in the country in receiving yards with 655 yards and five touchdowns.
A place where Prewitt is correct is on defense. The Tide is allowing 14 points per game, but has faced only one really dynamic offense (West Virginia). Ole Miss currently ranks 23rd nationally in total offense with 496.3 yards per game and 39 points per game. So if Wallace and his cast of stellar receivers can get on the same page, this is a place the Rebels could exploit.
And Ole Miss is going to need every bit of its offensive firepower, especially if the Alabama offense decides to use Prewitt’s words for motivation like the defense used Wallace’s a year ago.
For more Ole Miss news, visit RebelGrove.com.
For more Alabama news, visit TideSports.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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