This was a game of wild mood swings. At the end of the first quarter, the young Ole Miss Rebels had jumped out to a 10-0 lead and many thought that the Commodores had reverted to their former last place selves. In the second quarter, Vandy scored 21 unanswered points to take a 21-10 lead and suddenly Hugh Freeze was a fraud. Ole Miss won the second half 29-14 and in thrilling fashion snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Down 21-10, the turning point of this game came when Ole Miss got the ball back for the second time in the second half and they started to feed a true freshman. On this drive, the Rebels found WR Laquon Treadwell on four of five plays to start the drive as they marched down to the Vanderbilt 12 yard line. The Rebels then found another freshman, TE Evan Engram, for a nine yard pass before back-up QB Barry Brunetti found the end zone on a sneak. That would be a recurring theme on the night as the Rebels QBs found the end zone on three separate runs as Vandy struggled to defend the read option, but the real story was the emergence of Treadwell (9 rec, 82 yds) and Engram (5 rec, 61 yds) as key cogs in this offense.
After many had fallen asleep, this game got crazy. Down 32-28, Vandy launched a late comeback as they marched down the field with a 42 yard pass to star WR Jordan Matthews followed by a 34 yard TD pass to a wide open TE Steven Scheu to take a three point lead. Two plays later, Ole Miss scat back Jeff Scott took a hand-off around the end and went 75 yards for the game winning TD. Vandy got the ball back but saw their hopes bounce off of Jordan Matthews' hands and into the Rebels as Ole Miss started out the year with a win.
This game was a bit of the "good, bad and the ugly" for both teams. Neither of these teams is quite ready for prime time in terms of contending for a SEC crown but they both showed they had a lot of heart and they both showed that they will be difficult "outs" in the SEC and very well could ruin somebody's season. The heralded Rebels recruiting class lived up to their billing and Ole Miss should only get better as the season goes on.
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