Sometimes it's hard to see exactly how good you are at something until someone else points it out. And after four weeks for college football, that seems to be the case with Lane Kiffin and understanding just how special his offense has been up to this point. And despite Kiffin's skepticism of his own success, there's one aspect to the Ole Miss offense that might just be the secret weapon in defeating Kentucky this week (and many SEC opponents here soon).
When asked about what he's loved to see so far (last week) Kiffin was much more complimentary of his defense, saying he'd like to see a few things cleaned up on offense. This, of course, came shortly after his team averaged nearly 60 points per game through the first three contests.
And then this week, when asked about his fast-pace scoring so far this year, Kiffin downplayed the Ole Miss offensive success yet again:
"I don't have the data in front of me on [the fast-paced scoring of our offense]. I think that you had a unusually high number of [scores]--no disrespect--but from, you know, four lower ranked defenses in a row. So we're obviously not going to slow down and you want to score. So sometimes that happens. And it would be awesome if it happened all the time, but I don't anticipate that happening as much as it has against the SEC schedule."
Lane Kiffin may be playing it coy, but a quick dive into the Ole Miss offensive numbers suggest that they might be the most difficult group to play against in the entire country. Yes, Ole Miss has largely played easier opponents, but what they're doing so far is absurd. They're not just fast. And they're not just efficient. They're potentially the fastest, most efficient nightmare of an offense to defend in the nation. And it's that efficient pace that might be their secret weapon all season long.
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Heading into Week 5 Ole Miss is averaging nearly 76 offensive plays per game which ranks eighth in the nation. But they're also the only offense logging more than 69 plays per game who is scoring a touchdown on more than 9% of their drives. And only Tennessee is logging a higher "total scores per play" rate (which includes field goals) among all faster paced offenses.
Usually teams who run a lot of plays do the "dink and dunk", "ball control" approach. And the teams who have a high touchdown and/or scores per play mark are the splashy vertical passing attacks that don't have too many plays overall because they don't think they need to. Ole Miss is the perfect combination of both worlds. They wear down defenses with a wild number of total plays, but also score at an unbelievable rate. If they keep that pace up against Kentucky this? It's likely over quickly.
Kentucky does have one of the most impressive defensive fronts in the nation so far led by future first round pick Deone Walker, tallying incredibly efficient pressure rates, sack totals, and limiting even the Georgia Bulldogs to just 13 points two short weeks ago.
However, most of Kentucky's success has come against slower paced methodical offenses who rank in the bottom quarter of college teams by most meaningful pace metrics. If their big bodies up front have to play 20% to 25% more total plays and see the average drive pace move 10-15% faster than they're used to all game long (which is what Ole Miss does on average) there's a great chance Kentucky's overall lack of top tier depth suffers. If then Ole Miss can take advantage of the tired, albeit talented, thick front of defensive linemen thanks to their highly efficient pace then Kentucky should end up allowing more points than they have to any offense this year by far.
Hopefully Lane Kiffin begins to see this fanatical pace and efficient blend of vertical passes for scores and deadly rush attack with a higher than expected success rate as the amazing secret weapon that it is. Most teams won't be able to keep up.
Be looking for more Ole Miss Football coverage here at A to Z Sports all year long! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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