After Ole Miss’ route of Texas Tech, this website offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of what appeared to be an improving defense. In Houston, the Rebels prevented big plays, made stops when they needed to and, for the first time in two years, looked generally competent on that side of the ball. At the time, it appeared to be a good sign for things to come.
Wipe all of that off the board.
The defense was an absolute disaster in Saturday’s win over Southern Illinois. A trio of turnovers and the offense’s aerial bombardment made the final score 71-46, but Ole Miss was losing this game 38-35 at halftime.