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FOOTBALL: Game notes for No. 5 Florida at Ole Miss

Neal McCready

All-Pro NFL
Staff
Feb 26, 2008
64,006
362,526
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Oxford, MS
From UM Media Relations:

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• This game will kick off the 126th season of football at Ole Miss and the first under head coach Lane Kiffin.
• The Rebels are 92-28-5 (.756 winning percentage) in season openers and have taken 19 of the last 23 on the field.
• Lane Kiffin begins his first season at Ole Miss and ninth overall as a head coach ... This will mark the third straight season opener that Kiffin has faced a top-5 team to start the season (No. 5 Ohio State [2019], No. 5 Oklahoma [2018]).
• This is the 25th meeting all-time between Ole Miss and Florida ... Ole Miss holds a 12-11-1 lead in the series, while Florida has a 5-2 edge in Oxford ... They last squared off in 2015, but haven’t faced each other in Oxford since 2007.
• As established by the State of Mississippi’s executive orders, Ole Miss home football games will be at 25 percent capacity in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to begin the 2020 season.
• Ole Miss is 64-164-2 all-time versus ranked opponents on the field ... The last win over a ranked opponent was a 31-28 win over No. 17 Mississippi State in 2017.
• Ole Miss is 154-91-7 (.625 winning pct.) all-time during the month of September after vacated wins.
• Preseason All-SEC selections Jerrion Ealy and Elijah Moore both return to help lead the Rebel offense in 2020.
• Eighty-five percent of last year’s production from the wide receiver position return in 2020, including Moore who led the Rebels last year in every receiving category last year.
• LBs Lakia Henry and MoMo Sanogo headline a deep and talented linebackers group ... Henry tallied a team-high 88 tackles last season, while Sanogo missed a majority of 2019 due to injury, but registered 112 tackles in 2018.
• DB Jaylon Jones was recently awarded the Chucky Mullins Courage Award and will wear No. 38 for the 2020 season.

OLE MISS HEAD COACH LANE KIFFIN
Lane Kiffin (Fresno State, 1998) is in his first season at Ole Miss, taking the reins for the Rebels as the 39th head coach in program history. Kiffin, who won two Conference USA titles in three seasons at Florida Atlantic, has more than 10 years of head coaching experience, including eight years at the NCAA level where he has posted an all-time record of 61-34. In December 2016, Kiffin took over an FAU program that had won a total of nine combined games over the previous three seasons. Kiffin proceeded to take the Owls to new heights over the last three years, including two conference titles and two 10-win seasons. In his head coaching stops at USC, Tennessee and FAU, Kiffin has shown a propensity in helping turn programs around. In his first season at all three locations, Kiffin’s team improved in win differential (+3.33), scoring (+10.2), passing (+34.5 ypg) and rushing (+51.3 ypg). Kiffin graduated from Fresno State in 1998 after playing quarterback for three seasons (1994-96) for the Bulldogs. He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Fresno State under Pat Hill in 1997 and 1998. He moved on to Colorado State in 1999 as a graduate assistant. He spent the 2000 season as defensive quality control assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars under Tom Coughlin.

FLORIDA HEAD COACH DAN MULLEN
Dan Mullen (Ursinus, 1994) is in his third year as Florida’s head coach and owns a 90-51 record in his 12 years as a head coach, including a 21-5 mark with the Gators. Registering an 11-2 mark in 2019, UF finished at No. 6 ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll, Florida’s highest finish in the AP Top 25 since the 2009 season when it finished third. Mullen is the first UF coach to repeat the feat in his second season. On the national stage, Mullen etched his name into the premier coaching ranks. He became the first head coach in FBS history to win BCS / New Year’s Six bowl games in each of his first two seasons with a program after Florida’s CaptialOne Orange Bowl Victory over Virginia in 2019 and their 41-15 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl win over Michigan in 2018. Another key aspect of Mullen’s turnaround is the ability to lead the Gators to victories against highly ranked opponents. Florida is 4-3 against Associated Press Top 25 teams under Dan Mullen, which includes a 3-3 record against AP top-10 teams.

GATOR SCOUTING REPORT
Florida is ranked No. 5 in the Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the AP Poll heading into the 2020 season. Florida finished 2019 with an 11-2 mark and No. 6 ranking in the final AP Top 25 poll, Florida’s highest finish in the AP Top 25 since the 2009 season when it finished third. The 2019 season featured the most wins (11) in a season since 2012, and marked the eighth time in program history to reach that mark. The Gators would wrap up their 2019 campaign with the CapitalOne Orange Bowl victory over Virginia, the Gators’ first back-to-back NY6 bowl victories since their 2009 BCS National Championship and 2010 Sugar Bowl wins.

OLE MISS-FLORIDA SERIES HISTORY
• This game will be the 25th all-time meeting between Ole Miss and Florida.
• Ole Miss holds a 12-11-2 advantage in the series dating back to 1926.
• Florida holds a 5-2 edge in games played in Oxford.
• This marks the first time since 2007 that the Rebels and Gators have faced off in Oxford.
• The two teams last met in 2015 when Florida beat the Rebels 38-10 in Gainesville.
• Florida and Ole Miss have met once in a season opener ... The Rebels beat the Gators 14-0 to open the season in 1948.
• This will be just the second time Lane Kiffin has faced a Florida team ... Florida beat a Tennessee-led Kiffin team in 2009, 23-13.

OPENERS
The Rebels are 92-28-5 (.756 winning percentage) in season openers and have taken 19 of the last 23 on the field. This is just the third time in the last eight years that Ole Miss has opened the season in Oxford. The Rebels are 2-0 in those games. Of their 25 meetings, the Rebels and Florida have met in a season opener just once, a 14-0 Ole Miss win in 1948. It will be the 16th time that Ole Miss has opened the season vs. an SEC opponent. The Rebels are 9-6 in those contests.

OLE MISS IN SEPTEMBER
• Ole Miss is 154-91-7 (.625 winning pct.) all-time during the month of September after vacated wins.
• The Rebels are 46-49-1 (.484 winning pct.) in September SEC games.

REBELS RACK UP PRESEASON HONORS
Ole Miss players have garnered a bunch of preseason honors headed into 2020. The following Rebels have been recognized on watch lists for some of the biggest awards in college football:
• Ben Brown: Preseason All-SEC (Third Team)
• Mac Brown: Wuerffel Trophy, Preseason All-SEC (Third Team)
• Jerrion Ealy: Doak Walker Award Watch List, Paul Hornung Award Watch List, Preseason All-SEC (First Team [All-Purpose]), Preseason All-SEC (Second Team [All-Purpose, KR]), Preseason All-SEC (Third Team [RB, All-Purpose])
• Lakia Henry: Butkus Award Watch List, Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250
• Elijah Moore: Biletnikoff Award Watch List, Preseason All-SEC (Second Team), Preseason All-SEC (Third Team), Preseason All-SEC (Fourth Team)
• Royce Newman: Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250
• Jack Propst: Preseason All-SEC (Second Team)
• MoMo Sanogo: Preseason All-SEC (Fourth Team)
• Tariqious Tisdale: Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250
• Sam Williams: Preseason All-SEC (Third Team)

FLORIDA REBELS
The Ole Miss roster features nine players who hail from Florida: DB Derek Bermudez (Jacksonville), DB Marc Britt II (Carol City), DT Sincere David, WR Elijah Moore (Fort Lauderdale), DB Daniel Newman (Tallahassee), RB Henry Parrish Jr. (Goulds), DB Keidron Smith (West Palm Beach), TE Owen Stayer (Naples), WR Jack White (Destin).

REBEL-GATOR CONNECTIONS
• WR Elijah Moore and Florida’s Coleman Crozier, Trevon Grimes, Kyle Engel and Derek Wingo were all teammates at St. Thomas Aquinas HS in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• RB Henry Parrish Jr. and Florida’s WR Xzavier Henderson both attended Columbus HS outside Miami, Florida.
• Ole Miss’ Reese McIntyre and Carter Colquitt went to Buford HS in Buford, Georgia, with the Gators’ Riley Simonds.
• DT Sincere David and Florida’s Kingsley Eguakun both went to Sandalwood HS in Jacksonville, Florida.

MAC BROWN RAISES OVER 100K FOR ALS RESEARCH
When he was in seventh grade, Ole Miss punter Mac Brown had a modest goal of raising $500 for a childhood friend’s dad who had been diagnosed with ALS. Along with a group of neighborhood friends, Brown started a lemonade stand, Awesome Lemonade Stand, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to help his friend’s family. Eight years later, that $500 goal has ballooned to over $100,000 raised by Brown and his friends for ALS research. The Awesome Lemonade Stand is held on a late day in June, and this year’s fundraiser raised more than $30,000 alone.

TOGETHER INITIATIVE
Ole Miss and the other 13 SEC schools-athletes will participate in the “TOGETHER. It Just Means More.” campaign prior to the start of games on Saturday. The TOGETHER theme was first introduced by the SEC in 2017 when it celebrated the 50th anniversary of the integration of Southeastern Conference athletics in 1967. The SEC honored trailblazing individuals in public and private celebrations and recognized them with public messaging under the theme “TOGETHER. It Just Means More.”

PLUMLEE IN RARE COMPANY
Despite just playing in nine games last season, John Rhys Plumlee became just the sixth Ole Miss player – first quarterback – to go past 1,000 yards rushing. It marked the eighth time in Ole Miss history for a Rebel to reach that mark. BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Kayo Dottley both accomplished the 1,000-yard mark twice in their careers.

CHUCKY MULLINS COURAGE AWARD
DB Jaylon Jones became the 30th different Rebel to be awarded the Chucky Mullins Courage Award, which goes to a standout defensive player each year. The award honors the late Chucky Mullins, who had his Ole Miss career come to an end during the 1989 Homecoming game against Vanderbilt when he was paralyzed after making a tackle. After returning to his studies at Ole Miss, Mullins passed away May 6, 1991. Jones wears the No. 38 jersey in Mullins’ honor this season.

EALY-SIVE
RB Jerrion Ealy was a force for the Rebels on the ground in 2019. Ealy did an excellent job of making defenders miss routinely and maximizing his carries. Ealy led all SEC RBs with a missed tackle rate of 0.38 forced missed tackles per carry. He ranked tied for eighth among all players in the SEC with 35 missed tackles forced. To go with his outstanding rate of forcing missed tackles, Ealy also consistently gains yards after contact. Of Ealy’s 6.9 yards per carry, 4.6 of them have come after contact. Ealy’s 4.6 YAC/carry are tied for third best among SEC RBs.

COVID CAUSES ATTENDANCE CHANGES
As established by the State of Mississippi’s latest executive orders, Ole Miss home football games will be at 25 percent capacity in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to begin the 2020 season. Ole Miss’ attendance plan is based on guidelines from the state and the Southeastern Conference in response to COVID-19. Key components include face covering requirements throughout the stadium, social distancing between households and no tailgating on campus.

KIFFIN’S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW ON THURSDAYS
RebTalk, the official weekly radio show of Ole Miss Athletics, is moving to a new day and location for this season. Beginning Sept. 24, RebTalk will be broadcast each Thursday this fall at Bouré in downtown Oxford from 7-8 p.m. The show, which is hosted by the “Voice of the Rebels” David Kellum and includes special guests, will air live on the Ole Miss IMG Sports Network. Ole Miss Football head coach Lane Kiffin and select players will join the broadcast each Thursday throughout the season.

THREE REBELS EARN PRESEASON ALL-SEC HONORS FROM COACHES
The Ole Miss football team landed three Rebels on the preseason All-Southeastern Conference team voted on by the 14 league head coaches. Sophomore Jerrion Ealy earned second team honors as a return specialist and third team accolades as both a running back and at the all-purpose position. Wide receiver Elijah Moore and punter Mac Brown were also both named to the third team.

SEC CREATES COUNCIL ON RACIAL EQUITY, SOCIAL JUSTICE
The Southeastern Conference recently announced the creation of the SEC Council on Racial Equity and Social Justice, a league-wide body consisting of a diverse group of student-athletes, administrators, coaches and SEC staff. LB MoMo Sanogo and punter Mac Brown will represent Ole Miss on the council that will identify resources, outline strategies and assist with implementation of efforts that, when taken together, will promote racial equity and social justice. The council will also foster diversity, helping overcome racism and pursuing non-discrimination in intercollegiate athletics.
 
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