The Ole Miss Columnist for Rivals is HARSH on Freeze..... How quickly a Coach can be thrown to the Wolves..... 
October 17, 2015
McCready: Rebels lost in the wilderness
From the Ole Miss Rivals Site.....
Neal McCready
Columnist
Ole Miss is lost.
The Rebels headed to Orange Mound Saturday, scored the game's first 14 points and then ended the day in the wilderness, getting throttled by Memphis, 37-24.
USA TODAY
Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche is tended to by medical personnel after suffering a first-half head injury while serving double duty as a running back. Nkemdiche did not return to the game, one Ole Miss lost to Memphis, 37-24.
There's no explaining how, four seasons into Hugh Freeze's tenure, his team is this bad in so many critical areas.
Once again Saturday, Ole Miss couldn't run the football. Once again Saturday, the Rebels couldn't block enough up front to adequately protect the quarterback. Once again Saturday, Ole Miss' third-down defense was deplorable, allowing one critical conversion after another.
At this point in the season, that's Ole Miss' DNA. It is what it is.
What's more concerning is Hugh Freeze appeared to panic on Saturday. That's attempting to read a man's mind, always a dangerous thing. However, Saturday wasn't Freeze's best day. Instead of kicking a field goal up 14-7, Ole Miss tried to convert a fourth-and-1 from the Memphis 10 in the first half. Jordan Wilkins lost yards. In case you haven't noticed, the Rebels have no running game. It's non-existent. Gary Wunderlich, on the other hand, is pretty good. Take the points.
Later, with 1:56 left in the second quarter, Ole Miss forced a fourth-and-3 for Memphis. However, instead of making the Tigers kick a field goal, Ole Miss accepted a holding penalty, putting the Memphis in a third-and-13. The Rebels don't stop third-and-long (or third-and-anything). Memphis converted and scored a touchdown on the drive.
Freeze went for a fourth-and-inches from the Ole Miss 34 in the first half as well. Chad Kelly was stopped for no gain. Memphis took advantage of the short field and scored a touchdown 34 seconds later.
I could keep going, but it's hardly worth the trouble. There's no point in getting bogged down in the minutiae when the problems appear to be so enormous.
Let's start with the immediate future. Ole Miss, now 5-2, has five games remaining, starting with Saturday against Texas A&M. The Rebels go to Auburn, play host to Arkansas and LSU and then travel to Mississippi State. Anyone want to rule out six straight losses to finish the season? I'm trying not to be hyperbolic, but at this point, a bowl trip to Birmingham requires Ole Miss winning a game that is difficult to project as a victory right now.
"Our character will be tested for sure," Freeze said.
The bigger question is where is this program? After beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa a month ago _ it happened; I was there and saw it _ Ole Miss hasn't been the same team. The Rebels were lackluster in a win over Vanderbilt, lost in blowout fashion at Florida, defeated hapless New Mexico State and now got hammered at Memphis. Why? How? Maybe there's a dramatic turnaround coming over the next six weeks, but there's a better chance those are going to just some of the soul-searing questions to be answered with this campaign ends.
How, four years in, is there such a precious little amount of offensive line talent on a Southeastern Conference roster? How, four years in, is there no semblance of a running game in a division that features Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas? Is it time for a shake-up on the offensive side of the football? Should Freeze hire an offensive coordinator?
Those are all legitimate questions, and they'll very likely have to be asked and answered in the midst of a recruiting campaign that Ole Miss has long counted on to complete Freeze's rebuild of the Rebels' program. "I've got to do a better job," Freeze said. "Reality has hit you in the face. It's going to make you dig deep. Our character is going to be tested, that's for sure."
This was supposed to be Ole Miss' year and the Rebels emerged as a national storyline in Tuscaloosa. Technically, Ole Miss still controls its own destiny, but keeping it real, anyone watching this team week after week knows it's not going to compete for titles.
Laquon Treadwell, one of the stars of the 2013 class who raised expectations in Oxford, repeatedly said after Saturday's game that the Rebels had to "compete" in the coming weeks. Maybe it's that simple, but on Saturday, Ole Miss' woes felt bigger and more confounding than that.
The journey has been derailed, the compass broken. The wilderness, the Rebels are learning, can be a lonely, scary place. Unless Ole Miss can find its bearing and get back on the road soon, this trip into the wild will result in casualties. Bank on that.
Every crash has a moment of no return. I'm not saying Saturday was that for Freeze and Ole Miss, but he would be advised to take a long, honest look in the mirror over the next few days and weeks and diagnose what's wrong and why.
There's no room for loyalty, no time for self-deception. Saturday in Memphis was the biggest win in 50 years or more for the Tigers. It's a game fans of that program won't forget for a long time.
Unless Freeze can effectively diagnose what went wrong on Ole Miss' end and prescribe the proper antidote, it's a day he and Rebels fans will remember for decades as well.
- See more at: https://olemiss.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1815109#sthash.s6QxNgAh.dpuf
October 17, 2015
McCready: Rebels lost in the wilderness
From the Ole Miss Rivals Site.....
Neal McCready
Columnist
Ole Miss is lost.
The Rebels headed to Orange Mound Saturday, scored the game's first 14 points and then ended the day in the wilderness, getting throttled by Memphis, 37-24.
USA TODAY
Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche is tended to by medical personnel after suffering a first-half head injury while serving double duty as a running back. Nkemdiche did not return to the game, one Ole Miss lost to Memphis, 37-24.
There's no explaining how, four seasons into Hugh Freeze's tenure, his team is this bad in so many critical areas.
Once again Saturday, Ole Miss couldn't run the football. Once again Saturday, the Rebels couldn't block enough up front to adequately protect the quarterback. Once again Saturday, Ole Miss' third-down defense was deplorable, allowing one critical conversion after another.
At this point in the season, that's Ole Miss' DNA. It is what it is.
What's more concerning is Hugh Freeze appeared to panic on Saturday. That's attempting to read a man's mind, always a dangerous thing. However, Saturday wasn't Freeze's best day. Instead of kicking a field goal up 14-7, Ole Miss tried to convert a fourth-and-1 from the Memphis 10 in the first half. Jordan Wilkins lost yards. In case you haven't noticed, the Rebels have no running game. It's non-existent. Gary Wunderlich, on the other hand, is pretty good. Take the points.
Later, with 1:56 left in the second quarter, Ole Miss forced a fourth-and-3 for Memphis. However, instead of making the Tigers kick a field goal, Ole Miss accepted a holding penalty, putting the Memphis in a third-and-13. The Rebels don't stop third-and-long (or third-and-anything). Memphis converted and scored a touchdown on the drive.
Freeze went for a fourth-and-inches from the Ole Miss 34 in the first half as well. Chad Kelly was stopped for no gain. Memphis took advantage of the short field and scored a touchdown 34 seconds later.
I could keep going, but it's hardly worth the trouble. There's no point in getting bogged down in the minutiae when the problems appear to be so enormous.
Let's start with the immediate future. Ole Miss, now 5-2, has five games remaining, starting with Saturday against Texas A&M. The Rebels go to Auburn, play host to Arkansas and LSU and then travel to Mississippi State. Anyone want to rule out six straight losses to finish the season? I'm trying not to be hyperbolic, but at this point, a bowl trip to Birmingham requires Ole Miss winning a game that is difficult to project as a victory right now.
"Our character will be tested for sure," Freeze said.
The bigger question is where is this program? After beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa a month ago _ it happened; I was there and saw it _ Ole Miss hasn't been the same team. The Rebels were lackluster in a win over Vanderbilt, lost in blowout fashion at Florida, defeated hapless New Mexico State and now got hammered at Memphis. Why? How? Maybe there's a dramatic turnaround coming over the next six weeks, but there's a better chance those are going to just some of the soul-searing questions to be answered with this campaign ends.
How, four years in, is there such a precious little amount of offensive line talent on a Southeastern Conference roster? How, four years in, is there no semblance of a running game in a division that features Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas? Is it time for a shake-up on the offensive side of the football? Should Freeze hire an offensive coordinator?
Those are all legitimate questions, and they'll very likely have to be asked and answered in the midst of a recruiting campaign that Ole Miss has long counted on to complete Freeze's rebuild of the Rebels' program. "I've got to do a better job," Freeze said. "Reality has hit you in the face. It's going to make you dig deep. Our character is going to be tested, that's for sure."
This was supposed to be Ole Miss' year and the Rebels emerged as a national storyline in Tuscaloosa. Technically, Ole Miss still controls its own destiny, but keeping it real, anyone watching this team week after week knows it's not going to compete for titles.
Laquon Treadwell, one of the stars of the 2013 class who raised expectations in Oxford, repeatedly said after Saturday's game that the Rebels had to "compete" in the coming weeks. Maybe it's that simple, but on Saturday, Ole Miss' woes felt bigger and more confounding than that.
The journey has been derailed, the compass broken. The wilderness, the Rebels are learning, can be a lonely, scary place. Unless Ole Miss can find its bearing and get back on the road soon, this trip into the wild will result in casualties. Bank on that.
Every crash has a moment of no return. I'm not saying Saturday was that for Freeze and Ole Miss, but he would be advised to take a long, honest look in the mirror over the next few days and weeks and diagnose what's wrong and why.
There's no room for loyalty, no time for self-deception. Saturday in Memphis was the biggest win in 50 years or more for the Tigers. It's a game fans of that program won't forget for a long time.
Unless Freeze can effectively diagnose what went wrong on Ole Miss' end and prescribe the proper antidote, it's a day he and Rebels fans will remember for decades as well.
- See more at: https://olemiss.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1815109#sthash.s6QxNgAh.dpuf
