Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said it hasn’t been difficult getting his team refocused after the Rebels suffered their third loss of the season last week, virtually eliminating them from playoff contention.
“We don’t control who the playoff committee selects just like we didn’t control last year,” Golding said ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. “If your focus starts getting into the future, that’s where the fear component comes from. … The only thing that we can control right now is coming in and preparing for a really good Oklahoma team.”
No. 19 Ole Miss (6-3, 4-3 SEC) will try to rebound from last week’s 42-7 loss to Georgia against a Sooners team that comes in off an emotional 23-7 win at Florida in the wake of the firing of offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle the week before.
The Rebels beat Oklahoma 34-26 last season in Norman in a game where Kewan Lacy ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
Ole Miss won’t have Lacy this time around, as Golding said he will miss his third consecutive game due to a dislocated left shoulder.
The Rebels will have quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who threw for 315 yards and a touchdown against the Sooners last season.
“You’ve got video evidence, not theory on what this guy can do if we don’t do X, Y, Z,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said of Chambliss. “There you are, there we are not doing what we need to do, whatever that means. Our guys got great respect for him.”
Venables pointed out Oklahoma (5-4, 3-3) had success defensively in early downs in last season’s game, but struggled to get off the field as Ole Miss was a combined 11 of 24 on third and fourth downs.
After throwing just three interceptions last season, Chambliss has nine so far this season with five combined over the last three games.
The Rebels come into the game ranked 23rd in FBS, averaging 271.4 passing yards per game while the Sooners’ defense comes in 10th nationally in passing yards allowed at just 170.7 per game. Golding said he noticed some differences in Oklahoma’s offense since the change from Arbuckle to interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten.
That helped Sooners’ quarterback John Mateer cut down on mistakes against Florida, where he threw for 207 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while running for a season-high 54 yards.
“Taking more off the quarterback as far as from a progression standpoint and reads post-snap and being a little more specific in the run game based on formation, a little more alternative with a shift and a motion, which has kind of been the theme against us anyway,” Golding said.
Venables called Witten’s approach “intentional” and “purposeful.”
“I think the more you can get your players to think like you and talk like you and in our space act like us, whatever that looks like, I think the better they’re going to play and the more confidence that they’ll play with,” Venables said.
The Rebels will also be without offensive lineman Patrick Kutas.
Kutas has started every game at right guard this season before being injured in the loss to Georgia. Former Oklahoma offensive lineman Troy Everett figures to start in Kutas’ place.
The Sooners could get a significant piece back on their offensive line after Venables said the versatile Ryan Fodje could be ready to return against Ole Miss. Fodje was injured late in Oklahoma’s Oct. 17 loss to Kentucky and has missed the last two games.