Aggie defense prepares for run-first Rebels

QB: #10, John Rhys Plumlee (Fr.; 6, 192; ProFootballFocus season score of 68.5) OR #2, Matt Corral (RS-Fr.; 6-1, 206; 69.9)

#14, Grant Tisdale (Fr.; 6, 205; 90.5)

RB: #22, Scottie Phillips (Sr.; 5-8, 211; 70.7)

#9, Jerrion Ealy (Fr.; 5-9, 180; 70.5)

#24 Snoop Connor (Fr.; 5-10, 215; 64.2)

WR: #1, Jonathan Mingo (Fr.; 6-1, 218; 59) OR #13, Braylon Sanders (Jr.; 6, 190; 67.6)

WR: #8, Elijah Moore (So.; 5-9, 184; 79.3)

#4, Tylan Knight (So.; 5-6, 171; 50.9)

#5, Dannis Jackson (Fr.; 6, 170; 54)

WR: #11 Dontario Drummond (Jr.-TR.; 6-1, 209; 57.5)

#3, Demarcus Gregory (Fr.; 6-1, 217; 63)

#17, Jadon Jackson (Fr.; 6-1, 187; 83.2)

TE: #7, Jason Pellerin (Sr.; 6-4, 235; 53.3)

#15, Octavious Cooley (Fr.; 6-1, 270; 62.6)

LT: #52, Michael Howard (Sr.; 6-4, 280; 48.7)

#64, Nick Broeker (Fr.; 6-4, 298; 59.9)

LG: #72, Royce Newman (Jr.; 6-5, 305; 60.4)

#50, Jalen Cunningham (Fr.; 6-4, 365; 51.9)

C: #61, Eli Johnson (Jr.; 6-1, 303; 55.1)

#75, Bryce Ramsey (Fr.; 6-1, 355; n/a)

RG: #55, Ben Brown (So.; 6-5, 320; 66.8)

#68 Chandler Tuitt (Jr.; 6-4, 328; n/a)

RT: #67, Alex Givens (Sr.; 6-6, 308; 66.5)

#71, Bryce Matthews (Jr.; 6-6, 297; 60.7)

DE: #91, Micheal Clemons (Jr.; 6-5, 272; ProFootballFocus season score of 64.8)

#8 DeMarvin Leal (Fr.; 6-4, 290; 63.1) OR #15 Jeremiah Martin (So.; 6-5, 244; 57.7)

DT: #52, Justin Madubuike (RS-Jr.; 6-3, 304; 81.8)

#92, Jayden Peevy (Jr.; 6-6, 298; 66.6)

DT: #5, Bobby Brown (So.; 6-4, 325; 74.7)

#99, Josh Rogers (RS-So.; 6-5, 290; 63.9)

#55, Adarious Jones (Fr.; 6-4, 310; 57.3)

DE: #3, Tyree Johnson (RS-So.; 6-4, 250; 65.8)

#93, Max Wright (So.; 6-4, 262; 53.9) OR #40 Tyree Wilson (RS-Fr.; 6-6, 260; 78.1)

BUCK: #19, Anthony Hines (RS-So.; 6-3, 226; 56.2)

#32, Andre White (Fr.; 6-3, 225; 60)

MIKE: #1, Buddy Johnson (Jr.; 6-2, 228; 54)

#12, Braden White (Jr.; 5-11, 224; 69.2) OR #33 Aaron Hansford (RS-Jr.; 6-3, 240; 73.8)

ROVER: #20, Ikenna Okeke (RS-So.; 6-3, 225; 64.7)

#24, Chris Russell (Fr.; 6-2, 220; n/a)

NICKEL: #27, Roney Elam (RS-Sr.; 6-2, 195; 79.0)

#21, Charles Oliver (RS-Sr.; 6-2, 196; 64.2) OR #22 Clifford Chattman (RS-Jr.; 6-5, 192; 54.1)

CB: #10, Myles Jones (Jr.; 6-4, 185; 62.1)

#7 Devin Morris (RS-So.; 6-1, 192; 56.4)

S: #9, Leon O’Neal (So.; 6-1, 206; 35.5)

#14 Keldrick Carper (Jr.; 6-2, 200; 56.4) OR #25 Brian Williams (Fr.; 6-1, 218; 60.1)

S: #26, Demani Richardson (Fr.; 6-1, 210; 62.8)

#4 Derrick Tucker (Jr.; 6-1, 202; 62.8) OR #11 Larry Pryor (RS-Sr.; 6, 211; 61.3)

CB: #29, Debione Renfro (Jr.; 6-2, 198; 63.4)

#2 Elijah Blades (Jr.-TR; 6-2, 185; 64.4)

#21, Charles Oliver (Sr.; 6-2, 196; 64.2)

Both sides enter the game relatively healthy. The major questions are whether true freshman CB Erick Young (broken arm) will make his Aggie debut and if Roney Elam (legal) will play.

Rushing: Phillips, 110 carries for 471 yards (4.3 YPC), 5 TD

Rhys Plumlee, 73 carries for 470 yards (6.4 YPC), 4 TD

Ealy, 42 carries for 304 yards (7.2 YPC), 3 TD

Passing: Corral, 78-130 (60%), 977 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT

Rhys Plumlee 35-70 (50%), 425 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT

Receiving: Moore, 44 catches for 562 yards, 4 TD

Mingo, 9 catches for 144 yards, 1 TD

Drummond, 9 catches for 111 yards

Tackles: Buddy Johnson, 38

Richardson, 33

Hines, 28

Tackles for loss: Madubuike and Johnson, 6.5

Hines, 3

Sacks: Madubuike, 2

Seven players with 1

Interceptions: Elam and Jones, 2

Three players with 1

Passes broken up: Oliver, 4

Three players with 2

Ole Miss by the numbers

Scoring offense: 27.1 PPG (81st nationally, 10th SEC)

Rushing offense: 230 YPG (19th, 2nd)

Passing offense: 208.3 YPG (92nd, 10th)

Total offense: 438.3 YPG (43rd, 5th)

First downs: 152 (16th, 4th)

3rd down conversions: 39.1% (71st, 10th)

4th down conversions: 44.4% (83rd, 8th)

Sacks allowed: 12 (62nd, 7th)

Red zone offense: 86.4% (49th, 5th)

Turnovers lost: 7 (30th, 4th)

Turnover margin: +3 (38th, 4th)

Time of possession: 28:23 (99th, 12th)

Scoring‌ ‌defense:‌ ‌22.7‌ ‌PPG‌ ‌(44th‌ ‌nationally,‌ ‌7th‌ ‌SEC)‌ ‌

Rushing‌ ‌yards‌ ‌allowed:‌ ‌116.2‌ ‌YPG‌ ‌(31st,‌ ‌6th)‌ ‌

Passing‌ ‌yards‌ ‌allowed:‌ ‌208.3‌ ‌YPG‌ ‌(57th,‌ ‌6th)‌ ‌

Yards allowed: 208.3 YPG (57th, 6th)

Total defense: 324.5 YPG (29th, 5th)

3rd down conversion defense: 34.6% (43rd, 7th)

4th down conversion defense: 50% (62nd, 12th)

Red zone defense: 76.5% (31st, 7th)

Tackles for loss: 33 (51st, 6th)

Sacks: 9 (102nd, 13th)

Turnovers forced: 8 (68th, 11th)

Turnover margin: -2 (87th, 12th)

This looks nothing like the Ole Miss offenses of the past several years. Instead, it looks very much like the offenses Rich Rodriguez operated at West Virginia and Arizona.

The Rebels still run the spread, but now they are very much a run-first team. Rhys Plumlee has become at least a partial starting quarterback because of his ability to run, and he’s probably the best running quarterback in the SEC. When he’s in the game, Ole Miss runs a lot of RPO with him, Phillips and Ealy. And they do it well. When Plumlee has to throw, Ole Miss tries to make it simple and get the ball out quickly. But if he’s pressured, he will take off.

Corral, on the other hand, is the passer of the two. He can run, but he’s definitely better throwing the football. He’ll take a little more time and work the progression, but he (and Plumlee) always look for Moore first. He has five times more receptions than anyone else, which is just a ridiculous statistical split.

The Rebels still go up-tempo, so that’s one thing that hasn’t changed. But they are run-heavy and if they get behind the sticks, they’re in a position they don’t want to be in -- especially if you can cover Moore.

The Aggies are going to look to stop the run first, as they should. It’ll be tough for Ole Miss to get much going against the trio of Madubuike/Brown/Peevy, so it’s going to be very important for the defensive ends to hold up on the edges. Plumlee wants to get outside and that’s where they can hit the big plays, so Clemons, Johnson, Leal and Martin cannot lose containment. Alabama’s biggest runs last weekend came when A&M’s defensive ends slanted inside and took themselves out of the play.

Even though Ole Miss is going to have three wideouts on the field most all of the time, this could be a game where you see more of Aaron Hansford or Andre White as the Aggies look for a third, fast linebacker to impact the running game. Not falling for fakes in the RPO game is going to be critical, because if someone is out of position, they will take advantage of it and rip off a huge run.

The Aggies haven’t been as good as they were last year against the run, but they have been solid. The team that gave them the most trouble was Auburn, and that’s the unit Ole Miss looks closest to. They don’t run as many misdirection plays or use as much motion, but they have a quarterback who can run and fast backs who are looking to get outside.

If the Aggies can force Ole Miss to throw, they’ll have them where they want them. The Rebels passing attack is rudimentary and relies almost exclusively on one wideout. The haven’t done much better in terms of protecting their quarterback than A&M has -- 12 sacks in 202 dropbacks, compared to 15 in 245 for the Aggies. The Aggies should have some opportunities to apply pressure, but if they blitz, they can’t lose containment on the quarterback or he’ll be off to the races.