In a state devastated by destruction and power loss due to Hurricane Helene, the Ole Miss Rebels came into South Carolina and turned South Carolina’s lights off in a 27-3 domination of the Gamecocks. The Rebels took advantage of two Carolina turnovers in the first quarter to start the game and jumped out to a 14-0 lead and were never challenged on their way to the win.
Rebels’ defensive tackle JJ Pegues lined up as the Wildcat quarterback and ran for two short touchdowns as No. 12 Mississippi bounced back from its first loss of the season last week against Kentucky. It was Pegues’s fifth career offensive score, four of those coming on the ground this season. He also had a TD catch in 2022.
South Carolina Head Coach Shane Beamer talked about the turnovers putting the defense in a bad position.
“We put the defense in some tough spots in the first quarter field position-wise, with the fake punt, the turnovers, but for the most part, I thought they did okay,” he said. “I don’t think we got any, so that was obviously disappointing. You know, we knew that the turnover margin was going to be critical in this game … and we lost that. So, I wish we could have gotten takeaways. But for the most part, I thought they did a good job. But obviously, when you lose the game and you give up 27 points, not good enough.”
Mississippi Coach Lane Kiffen felt that the Rebels’ defense impacted the game early with the two takeaways.
“It was really good,” he said. “Credit to our special teams and defense. We had a feeling they would fake a punt today. We saw Walter rushing and stuff like that, just to be safe in the first part of the season. Thought they might do something like that on the running side. Really glad that our coaches did well, and the players made the plays. It was big momentum.
“I thought it was a really clean game for the most part, especially how we haven’t been clean. We have been the most penalized defense in America through five games. It’s exciting when the players respond to what we have spent all week harping on and they did a really good job right from the beginning.”
South Carolina finished the game with 313 total yards and showed flashes at times. But that’s all they were — just flashes. Nothing more. The offense, which drove into Ole Miss territory on six different drives, only came away with three points and turned the ball over twice plus two additional turnovers on downs.
There wasn’t just one singular thing that stood out as to why the offense couldn’t score. It was a mixture of everything. LaNorris Sellers, making his first start since Week 3, had an up-and-down day. His receivers couldn’t get open consistently. And the protection around him wasn’t great as he took a season-high six sacks.
Beamer summed up the game by saying, “I really appreciate the effort. Having said that, this is the most disappointed I’ve ever been as a head coach. We were undisciplined to say the least today. And that starts with me as the head coach.”
“The first quarter, to be frank – excuse my language – sucked.” He continued. “The fake punt that didn’t work… we’re driving on offense, we fumbled; we turned the ball over… they go down the field and score. I think we had two offside penalties on defense in the first quarter alone. We just got to be better, for sure.”
The South Carolina defense held the Rebels to only a field goal in the second half second half, but the offense could never put anything together.
“You can learn from losses,” Beamer went on to say. “And what did we learn from the LSU game? We cost ourselves with penalties in that game, Clearly, I haven’t done a good enough job of helping those guys learn from that one because it cost us a game today, as well.”
South Carolina will head on the road for the first of two matchups against ranked opponents before another bye week. The Gamecocks will take on No. 1 Alabama at noon in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 12.
Next week, Mississippi travels to LSU for a key SEC match-up with possible playoff chances on the line.
