LOOK: First Ole Miss touchdown surrendered in nearly 200 minutes enraged Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul
The Ole Miss defense finally gave up its first touchdown of the season.
What a smothering, opening stretch it was.
The No. 5-ranked Rebels held opponents out of the end zone for the season’s first 195:48 — the longest for Ole Miss since 1959. The Rebels were the first team in SEC history to score 150 points and allow fewer than 10 through three games.
The nation’s top offense in yards per game added another 607 in a 52-13 win over Georgia Southern. Ole Miss is 4-0 and next opens SEC play at home against Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC) Saturday at 11 a.m. CT on ABC.
“It infuriated us,” leading tackler Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul said afterwards. Paul racked up his most tackles (10) as an Ole Miss Rebel and led the team in tackles for the third time.
Paul is a transfer linebacker from Arkansas. He was signed in an off-season portal class ranked No. 3 nationally, according to On3. Paul had two tackles for loss to increase his season total to 6.5 so far. He’s just 1.5 shy of already setting a new season-high.
Paul continued, “That’s not how we play. We know we’re better than that. Once we got to the sideline we had to lock into adjustments, see what went wrong and what we need to fix going forward. Once we got to that sideline, I could just see that really hit everybody and fired them up even more. That’s not our standard.”
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JJ Pegues shifted from defensive tackle to strong-side defensive end and started in place of an injured Jared Ivey.
Pegues was removed from the game after recovering a fumble on Georgia Southern’s very first play. He returned, though, and played the rest of the way after an in-game x-ray came back clear.
Khari Coleman started in place of TJ Dottery at linebacker and tallied a career-high nine tackles. It was Coleman, a one-time transfer from TCU, who forced the fumble.
“I thought the defense did really well, led by (Paul),” fifth-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “TJ (Banks) out, Jared Ivey out. TJ probably could have played; he just decided against it even though he wanted to.
“Pooh Paul stepped up. That’s what he’d done against us at Arkansas and why we were excited about getting him. Not that he’s not a great practice player; I’d say he’s a great practice player. But he plays great on game days and shows up.
“So, outside of his late hit penalties that he seems to get, he does a good job.”
The included photos were provided by Bruce Newman, special to the Ole Miss Spirit.
Tre Harris
Lane Kiffin
Henry Parrish, Jr.
Trey Amos
Jaxson Dart
Tre Harris
Jaxson Dart
Jordan Watkins
Tre Harris
Henry Parrish, Jr.
Jaxson Dart
Domonique Thomas
