It’s understandably hard for anyone outside the Ole Miss football program to get up for this weekend’s cupcake game against FCS Southern Illinois. The end result will never be in question, and a strong start to the season in Houston only validates the sense that this Rebels squad is too competent for this game to get interesting.
But if the start to the 2017 season tells you anything, it’s that there’s plenty of opportunity to draw meaning from games like this. Uninspiring wins against South Alabama and Tennessee-Martin revealed that the leaky run defense was going to stick around another year.