Ole Miss has one critical advantage that should destroy Wake Forest in their Week 3 College Football Matchup

If any one aspect of the 2024 Ole Miss Rebels football team is going to carry them to the first 12-Team College Football Playoff it's not going to be Jaxson Dart . It's not going to be their elite quartet of receiving weapons . It's going to be their unbelievable set of pass rushing weapons off the edge.

Ole Miss is the only team among all power conferences that has five edge rushers with at least three or more pass rush pressures through the first weeks of the season. Princely Umanmielen and Jared Ivey have been absolutely devastating off the edge as the team's two primary starters. But emerging young superstar Suntarine Perkins, Chris Hardie, and true freshman phenom Kam Franklin have all three made their mark through the first two weeks too.

If Wake Forest wants to have any hope against Ole Miss this week they have to begin with stopping Princely Umanmielen. He already has seven pressures, a sack, and three more hits on opposing quarterbacks on just 41 pass rush attempts so far. And as you can see in Ian Cummings' post below, his first step is monstrous.

Jared Ivey and Suntarine Perkins haven't gotten home for a sack just yet, but both have been impressive. Perkins is eventually going to win over the majority of the edge defender reps opposite Umanmielen if he keeps up his absurd 20%+ pressure rate off the edge. That's the kind of number you usually see associated with first round pick edge defenders.

And when when the top three come off the field, Chris Hardie and Kam Franklin can't be stopped either. Both of them have a sack, 3+ pressures, and run stops to their name already.

Related: Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin have found their Quinshon Judkins replacement at RB as the Rebels destroy MTSU

The kicker for Ole Miss this week is that their most elite strength off the edge gets to face off against Wake Forest's greatest weakness. Wake Forest has already surrendered seven sacks in the first two games this year and 30 total pressures. That's good for just about the worst among all power conference teams.

Hank Bachmeier has historically had some issues avoiding pressure in the past, but never like this season. He's taking a sack on over 29% of his pressures so far, which ranks him 60th among qualifying power conference passers. Bachmeier is holding on to the ball way too long (over three seconds per drop back on average). If he tries to do that against Ole Miss the game will be over by the end of the first quarter. The Rebels might not have a more obvious advantage in any remaining game on the schedule this season.

Related: Ole Miss offense looks like they have their next A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf, Elijah Moore, and Dawson Knox

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