No. 18 Mississippi and Oklahoma Meet With Both Slumping Teams Seeking Rebound Wins

Mississippi and Oklahoma are both coming off frustrating losses, but they happened in much different fashion.

The 18th-ranked Rebels (5-2, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) enter Saturday’s game having lost two of their last three games, by only a field goal apiece. The Sooners (4-3, 1-3) have dropped three of four, including two straight blowouts amid sputtering efforts that led to an offensive coordinator change.

It’s Ole Miss that is still harboring hopes of making the newly expanded College Football Playoff, even if there’s no margin for error remaining after a 29-26 overtime loss to No. 8 LSU and a 20-17 defeat to Kentucky.

“We’re just going to get ready to bounce back this week and go out there and play a dominant game against Oklahoma,” Rebels linebacker Chris Paul Jr. said.

The Sooners are trying to get the offense jump-started with a second change at starting quarterback and an offensive coordinator switch. Coach Brent Venables fired Seth Littrell the day after a 35-9 loss to South Carolina with the offense ranking last in the SEC, averaging 288.1 yards per game.

That followed a 34-3 loss to then-No. 1 Texas.

Co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley will take over as the primary play caller and face a big challenge. The Rebels lead the nation in rush defense, giving up an average of 66.6 yards a game, and are second in scoring defense (10.6 points per game).

“One of the most dominant defenses in all of college football this year,” Venables said, calling them “very disruptive, very well coached, disciplined.”

Arnold’s second chance

Quarterback Jackson Arnold is back as Oklahoma’s starter after Michael Hawkins Jr.’s turnover problems. Arnold was benched after starting the first four games and has 763 yards with eight touchdowns against three interceptions.

“The quarterback can really sling the ball,” Paul said.

Finley’s turn

Finley has a brief history with Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. Finley was the Rebels’ passing coordinator and tight ends coach in 2020.

“When you have a play-caller, ultimately everything goes through him,” Venables said. “He makes those decisions on what we either are or aren’t going to do, but there will be a real strong collaboration.

“Whatever we have been doing ain’t been working, so with a fresh start for everybody, we’re hopeful that we’ll get a little bit better.”

Kiffin doesn’t expect wholesale changes in play calls. “You can’t reinvent the wheel in six days,” he said.

Chasing win milestones

Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart (23-9) could tie for the most wins by a starting Rebels passer in the modern era going back to 1968. Kiffin would become the fastest Ole Miss coach to reach 40 wins, beating John Vaught by two games if he wins.

Turnover battle

In the Sooners’ four wins this season, they have outscored opponents 56-6 off turnovers. In their three losses, they have been outscored 41-0 off turnovers. The Rebels are among five SEC teams tied for 28th nationally in turnover margin.

Questionable receivers

The teams’ leading receivers are both listed as questionable for the game on the SEC’s availability report.

Oklahoma’s Deion Burks has been out for the past month with a soft tissue injury. The Purdue transfer still leads the team with 26 catches for 201 yards.

The Rebels’ Tre Harris, who is the nation’s leading receiver, exited the last game two weeks ago against LSU with a lower-body injury.

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