It was never out of the question for Ole Miss to have a slow start in conference play, but that doesn’t make witnessing the losses pile up any more palatable. There have been few comforting indications of progression as Rebel fans have watched Andy Kennedy’s squad plummet in the SEC standings. It’s a relief to see an easier stretch of games coming up, but the team doesn’t appear any closer to settling on a functional, confident rotation of players.
Enter Tennessee, whose 9-8 overall record might not come close to representing the team’s true quality. They’ve played the toughest schedule out of any SEC team, having faced the nation’s fifth and third best mix of offenses and defenses.