Making the Grade: How did Ole Miss fare in its loss at Alabama?

Saturday started with promise and optimism within the Ole Miss locker room as all week the players felt this was the year to get that elusive road win over Alabama.

Then the second took place and what started out as a one-point lead for the Rebels quickly dissolved into a 14-point loss at the hands of the Crimson Tide. Ole Miss, a team that has been a was outscored 18-3 in the final two quarters.

Lackluster play by the offensive line played a big role in the run game continuing to be stifled as the Rebels managed only 56 yards on the ground against the Alabama defense.

For two quarters the Ole Miss defense was playing its best football of the season and continued to do so in the second half until eventually wearing down and giving up some big plays to Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe.

Still, if there are any gold stars to be given out from the Rebels performance yesterday it would have to go to defensive coordinator Pete Golding and his players.

For how the rest of the Ole Miss quad did, it is time to take a look at how the team graded out according to Pro Football Focus.

OFFENSE

RankPlayerOffense
GradePassing
GradePass-Blocking
GradeRunning
GradeRun-Blocking
Grade1Jaxson Dart69.167.9 ———63.360.02Quincy McGee67.2 ———88.7 ———60.53Dayton Wade66.667.9 ———55.559.8T-4Micah Pettus63.6 ———64.4 ———61.1T-4Ulysses Bentley IV63.663.173.462.259.56Victor Curne62.6 ———59.7 ———62.2T-7Jayden Williams62.359.375.2 ———59.1T-7Caleb Warren62.3 ———69.6 ———58.5T-9Quinshon Judkins61.666.881.758.358.7T-9Eli Acker61.677.360.011Jordan Watkins61.165.565.959.634.012Spencer Sanders60.960.6 ——— ——— ———13Ayden Williams59.060.0 ——— ———60.014Cayden Lee58.959.2 ——— ———60.015Kyirin Heath58.063.068.7 ———58.116JJ Henry56.257.1 ——— ———60.017Tre Harris55.556.6 ——— ———60.018Jeremy James55.128.088.8 ———59.219Caden Prieskorn53.856.168.4 ———58.120Zakhari Franklin52.754.2 ——— ———45.3

The offensive line struggled in pass protection against Alabama, giving up four sacks to Jaxson Dart. Jeremy James and Quincy McGee, who had the second-highest offense grade behind Dart, scored in the upper 80s for pass-blocking but no other lineman scored higher than Eli Acker’s 77. That is skewed slightly as Acker played five snaps out of the nearly 70 the Ole Miss offense played.

DEFENSE

RankPlayerDefense
GradeRun-Defense
GradeTackling
GradePass-Rush
GradeCoverage
Grade1John Saunders, Jr.75.071.564.865.472.62Deantre Prince70.378.082.4 ———65.13Cedric Johnson69.362.675.255.881.34Joshua Harris69.168.469.758.6 ———5Isaac Ukwu68.166.875.253.871.66Demarko Williams65.061.974.2 ———64.37Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste64.058.726.565.664.08JJ Pegues63.868.575.153.6 ———9Ashanti Cistrunk62.668.263.957.953.610Zxavian Harris62.563.534.156.9 ———11Jadon Canady61.560.0 ——— ———60.012Akelo Stone61.263.672.855.7 ———13Daijahn Anthony59.449.878.8 ———62.914Ladarius Tennison56.837.924.167.468.715Jared Ivey56.759.876.453.6 ———16Monty Montgomery54.164.344.446.565.617Teja Young52.660.022.3 ———60.0T-18Jamond Gordon52.357.872.962.6 ———T-18Zamari Walton52.349.557.3 ———54.020Suntarine Perkins52.052.144.564.747.621Isheem Young43.260.078.240.222Stephon Wynn, Jr.39.340.4 ———58.5 ———23Trey Washington39.042.155.3 ———40.024Khari Coleman36.335.134.5 ———49.5

What makes the PFF grading so puzzling sometimes is what number a player receives in certain categories compared to the overall performance that is seen on the field.

A perfect example would be Suntarine Perkins. The freshman linebacker finished tied as the team’s fourth best tackler and led the team in sacks with two. Perkins was all over the field, including the Alabama backfield, but grades out with the fifth worst overall defense grade.

Look for more of Perkins involvement with the Ole Miss defense moving forward, including next weekend against No. 13 LSU.

Below are the full snap counts for offense and defense.

OFFENSE

Micah Pettus – 67Quincy McGee – 67Caleb Warren – 67Jaxson Dart – 66Jordan Watkins – 65Jeremy James – 63Zakhari Franklin – 60Dayton Wade – 60Caden Prieskorn – 52Victor Curne – 52Quinshon Judkins – 48Ulysses Bentley IV – 19Kyirin Heath – 16Jayden Williams – 15JJ Henry – 5Eli Acker – 5Tre Harris – 5Ayden Williams – 2Cayden Lee – 2Spencer Sanders – 1

DEFENSE

Deantre Prince – 68Trey Washington – 64John Saunders, Jr. – 64Zamari Walton – 57JJ Pegues – 48Jared Ivey – 44Suntarine Perkins – 41Isaac Ukwu – 41Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste – 40Daijahn Anthony – 36Cedric Johnson – 36Khari Coleman – 36Ashanti Cistrunk – 32Zxavian Harris – 26Jamond Gordon – 23Akelo Stone – 21Isheem Young – 20Ladarius Tennison – 16Monty Montgomery – 16Demarko Williams – 15Stephon Wynn, Jr. – 13Joshua Harris – 8Jadon Canady – 3Teja Young – 2

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