No. 20 Ole Miss (2-0) heads to Atlanta Saturday to face Georgia Tech (1-1) at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT. It will be nationally televised on ABC.
JacketsOnline.com publisher Kelly Quinlan and RebelGrove.com publisher Neal McCready exchanged questions and answers to provide a detailed preview of the Rebels' showdown with the Yellow Jackets.
Neal McCready: 1. I’ve always been a fan of Geoff Collins, especially as a defensive mind. He did a fantastic job at Mississippi State before leaving for Florida, but things haven’t gone his way at Georgia Tech. You’re there on the ground. Why hasn’t he been able to build any momentum? Is his seat getting hot?
Kelly Quinlan: The seat is hot, he has to win this season and the leadership of GT saddled him with one of the worst schedules in all of college football that includes this game, opening with Clemson in a Chick-fil-A kickoff game, a trip to UCF and a trip to Athens to face UGA at the end of the year. Even if the program was rolling that is a tall task with three pretty intense non-conference games plus the rivalry games with Clemson and Georgia. A bowl game should buy him more time, but he has to survive this opening gauntlet as well which also includes a trip to Pitt after the UCF game.
As to why it hasn't worked, there are various reasons. They've had terrible luck and a lot of misfortune around the program. I've been covering college football since 2001 and GT had two players die in the course of less than a year including an NFL-prospect veteran defensive tackle. Collins made some mistakes with his first staff as well bringing in his offensive coordinator from Temple who Owls fans disliked and the guy was in over his head at this level. They hired Chip Long the former Notre Dame OC in the offseason and he has fixed some of the issues, but the player development piece wasn't moving along as well as it should have and the first full recruiting class he signed missed half a year because of covid. It has been a pile-up of mistakes, misfortune and also some bad coaching. Tech has losses to the Citadel, a bad Syracuse team, a bad Temple team that Collins talked up like they were the Dallas Cowboys of the early-1990s and all of that has led to a loss of faith from the fan base.
Collins' vibe is the anthesis of all the GT coaches of the last 30 years as well because he is overly positive and reluctant to criticize or be transparent with where the issues were with the program when he speaks publicly. GT had George O'Leary and Paul Johnson who were on the complete opposite end of the scale in the past so it was refreshing at first and then the fans have been annoyed by it over the last 12-15 months.
Neal McCready: 2. Collins shook up his coaching staff after going 3-9 last year? Have you noticed a difference schematically or attitudinally in the early going this year?
Kelly Quinlan: There is a much more professional and focused energy around the team now. It is a combination of no-nonsense coaches like Long, Chris Weinke the former FSU QB, and long-time SEC DL coach David Turner. They've brought some strong coaching and I think toughened up the locker room and those guys demand respect as well.
The team seemed to be pretty mentally fragile the last few years and now they have a little edge to them for the first time since Collins has been here.
Neal McCready: 3. I know the final score didn’t reflect it, but it looked like Georgia Tech hung with Clemson through three quarters or so before things fell apart in the fourth. Was that an encouraging sign in any way for Georgia Tech or was it just another lost opportunity in the ACC. Obviously, Clemson is highly ranked and a contender for the league crown and Georgia Tech isn’t, so I was wondering what the emotional fallout from that game has been.
Kelly Quinlan: There was a hangover early in the Western Carolina game which they played five days later on Saturday after playing on Monday. They let the Catamounts jump up 14-7 giving up touchdowns on the first two drives and then they went on a 28-3 run the final 55 minutes with the offense intentionally dialed back to run the clock.
The Clemson game was close, but it blew up on one drive in the third quarter where there was a pass interference call on a play where two Tigers OLs had false starts that were not called and then the best all-around player on the defense Charlie Thomas got a targeting ejection on a borderline call a handful of plays later. Tech had two punts blocked in that game as well. The Tigers offense and OL got shredded for much of the game, but it is hard to recover from the punt blocks and that sealed the deal. I think playing week one impacted both teams a lot as well.
Neal McCready: 4. Give me a synopsis of what you expect from Georgia Tech offensively on Saturday. Jeff Sims threw it 36 times against Clemson and Georgia Tech struggled to establish the running game. Do you expect a different strategy against Ole Miss?
Kelly Quinlan: I expect Tech to run the ball a lot. From what I have seen of Ole Miss they like to drop eight and cover the field so I think it will be a run-heavy game with both the running backs and Jeff Sims. They are rotating the three running backs including Dontae Smith who had his first 100-yard game and three touchdowns on Saturday a good bit so they can run and Sims runs really well. If Ole Miss stacks the box, then they have enough weapons to throw over the top with some success. The main thing I think you will see as well is a little bit of keep-away from Ole Miss on offense. Too many teams get caught up trying to take shots against Lane Kiffin teams after they give up a score and really the way I've seen teams have some success is going with more of a methodical approach. Whether that works or not is a different question though.
Neal McCready: 5. Georgia Tech did a really good job against Clemson’s running game in the opener. Give me a preview of how you expect the Yellow Jackets to attack Ole Miss. Do you look for Andrew Thacker and Jason Semore to try to take away the Ole Miss running game and force Dart and/or Altmyer to beat them?
Kelly Quinlan: They take a lot of pride in run defense and overall Tech has been pretty good against the run this season and getting QB pressures so if they can keep that up it will put some pressure on Ole Miss. The issue in the past for this defense has been a lack of four-man pressure when they try to play coverage so that is something I'll be watching closely as well and they sometimes get sucked into play-action on the backend with guys cheating with their eyes on the QB instead of their keys.
Neal McCready: 6. How do you see Saturday’s game playing out, and I’d love a prediction if you’re willing.
Kelly Quinlan: I think this is another situation where GT is a little overmatched. If they get the good Jeff Sims they will have a chance. Neither team has impressed me so far. I watched the Troy game and that was underwhelming, especially on offense. The two QB thing is something else that I think limits your offense unless the roles are really well defined like Chris Leak and Tim Tebow at Florida in the early 2000s or other run/pass QB rotations. Ultimately I think this is a 35-20 win for Ole Miss. I think GT falls short of the cover. I have not seen enough to make me want to pick the Jackets yet. I think if they played later in the season maybe it would be a more interesting game, but the Jackets' patchwork OL is still a little green for this type of game and I'm not sure how long the defense will keep them in the game.
Kelly Quinlan: 1. Many SEC teams have been tested through the first week of the season, but Ole Miss has played a more traditional schedule with two softer opponents before playing a P5 team for the first time this week. The Troy game wasn't much to write home about and Central Arkansas is not exactly a high-level FCS team either. How much concern are you sensing after the Troy game that was probably closer than Lane Kiffin would like and a creampuff before playing a real road game this week?
Neal McCready: I don’t know that there’s concern, per se, about the closeness of the Troy game. It wasn’t particularly close, though Ole Miss didn’t play a very good second half. The Central Arkansas game was a waste of time. The Bears, bless them, were awful. I suspect Kiffin is somewhat eager to see his team tested a bit. He’s probably ready to see how Ole Miss, a team very reliant on transfers and a handful of freshmen, handles a road trip, a different environment and a more talented opponent. After Georgia Tech, Ole Miss entertains Tulsa. Then the schedule gets real. Kentucky at home. At Vanderbilt. Auburn at home. Consecutive trips to LSU and Texas A&M. You get the picture. I suspect, in an ideal world, Ole Miss would be a little more battle-tested, but Kiffin, like most coaches, likes to accumulate wins.
Kelly Quinlan: 2. We all know the old saying about the two-quarterback system. I think Florida is the only program I can remember doing that more than once and having it work. What is the situation with the Rebels QB room and do you expect one of the QBs to emerge as the guy possibly starting this week?
Neal McCready: It’s been the dominant storyline of the spring, summer, preseason and early portion of the season. The Rebels brought in Jaxson Dart from USC in January and I think most, including the people inside the program, believed he’d just win the job. He was very inconsistent in the spring, leaving the door open for sophomore Luke Altmyer, who played very sparingly as a backup to Matt Corral in 2021. Altmyer is a game manager. He’s conservative, probably to a fault, but he protects the football. He threw an interception against Central Arkansas and subsequently left the game. Ole Miss said he had an “upper-body injury.” Two days later, he was back at practice. Dart has seemingly been the better quarterback, but he’s made his share of bad reads and whatnot. My suspicion is Dart will start in Atlanta, but I think Kiffin is waiting for one of them to just win the job outright, and to this point, apparently, that simply hasn’t happened.
Kelly Quinlan: 3. Defensively the season seems to have started well with a new DC with DJ Durkin leaving for Texas A&M. I thought the Rebels were a pretty good defense a year ago. How has that unit looked so far and who are some key playmakers to watch for and have they changed much schematically from 2021?
Neal McCready: Ole Miss was a very underrated defense in the second half of 2021, and so far this season, they look even better on that side of the football. They’ve added Auburn transfer JJ Pegues, an Oxford native, at defensive tackle, and he’s emerging as a star. Two transfer linebackers, Troy Brown (Central Michigan) and Khari Coleman (TCU) have turned a spot of great worry into an apparent strength. True freshman Davison Igbinosun, the New Jersey Player of the Year in 2021, has given them a true playmaker in an already loaded secondary. Iowa State transfer Isheem Young brings physicality and senior AJ Finley provides veteran leadership. Defensive coordinator Chris Partridge has been fairly vanilla so far, but I expect to see a pretty aggressive scheme emerge over the coming weeks. Durkin was pretty conservative, keeping the ball in front and making offenses drive the field. I expect Partridge, who has a much more fiery personality, to be more of an attacker as the level of competition increases.
Kelly Quinlan: 4. Offensively Kiffin is a great offensive mind and he has Co-OCs so do they have a defined guy calling plays from the Co-OCs or Kiffin and have you noticed anything in particular about how the offense differs with Jeff Lebby in Oklahoma now?
Neal McCready: I think the offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis Jr., is fairly similar to Lebby in terms of style. And look, it’s Kiffin’s offense. Weis organizes and calls most of the plays, but it’s Kiffin’s offense. He’s on the headset. He sees things in real time that most coaches don’t. He communicates with the quarterbacks and other offensive players. Lebby is terrific and a rising star in coaching, but I haven’t noticed much of a difference on offense.
Kelly Quinlan: 5. Aside from the QB room, who are the key guys to watch on the offensive side of the ball?
Neal McCready: Ole Miss has a trio of running backs who can do damage. TCU transfer Zach Evans gets most of the publicity, and it’s deserved. He’s a dangerous running back. SMU transfer Ulysses Bentley IV is a change of pace back with home-run speed. However, freshman Quinshon Judkins, an Alabama native who somehow didn’t get pursued by Alabama or Auburn, has looked the part of a rising superstar. He’s fast, makes great cuts, is incredibly physical and has drawn rave reviews from Kiffin for his vision as a ball-carrier. Ole Miss has a plethora of receivers, but I think the two who seem to be emerging as primary targets are Jonathan Mingo and Mississippi State transfer Malik Heath. USC transfer tight end Michael Trigg Jr. caught three touchdown passes against Central Arkansas, and he is wildly talented. However, he’s young, and Ole Miss has been frustrated by his lack of consistency. Up front, the Rebels have been a mixed bag. They’ve been pretty solid in the run game but a bit leaky in pass protection. Frankly, I sense more overall concern about the line than I do the quarterbacks.
Kelly Quinlan: 6. How do you see this playing out and a prediction would be great?
Neal McCready: There’s really no way to truly know what to expect from Ole Miss Saturday. They’ve played a back of the pack Sun Belt team and an FCS opponent that is going to struggle to win games. That said, Ole Miss is very talented and Kiffin’s teams tend to improve as the season wears on. This one, I suspect, will follow that pattern. Georgia Tech will easily be the best team Ole Miss has played. It’s on the road. I wouldn’t be shocked by a slow start and a game that’s pretty close heading into the third quarter. I believe Ole Miss is more talented than Georgia Tech, and I would think that becomes apparent as the game wears on. I think Ole Miss wins somewhat comfortably. I haven’t settled in on a score as I write this early on a Tuesday morning, but something in the 34-17 range is where my mind goes when I’m asked for a prediction.