FAYETTEVILLE -- The Ole Miss Rebels have to feel about as rested and refreshed as SEC football players can 10 games into a season.
Going into Saturday's game at Arkansas, the Rebels (8-2, 4-2) are coming off an open date that was preceded by their 48-0 victory over Presbyterian College, a Football Championship Subdivision team from Clinton, S.C.
Essentially, Ole Miss had back-to-back byes.
Before the Rebels played Presbyterian on Nov. 8, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said they should just call the game off and take an open date.
Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze didn't go that far, but he acknowledged the Rebels have gotten a nice break from SEC play.
"We approach each game the same, but I do think we were able to rest a lot of kids that [Presbyterian] game for sure," Freeze said Monday as his weekly news conference. "Some kids basically had two weeks off. The others had half a game plus a full week."
Freeze said he hopes the Rebels -- ranked 10th in the College Football Playoff rankings that will be updated tonight -- won't be rusty for the Razorbacks.
"I think our kids understand what's at stake, so I expect them to be ready to go," Freeze said. "We've got all the newest and greatest technology that measures the energy output on some of your kids that have to play a significant amount of snaps, and it seems like our monitors are telling us they're in good condition right now."
Ole Miss remains in contention to play in the SEC Championship Game for the first time, thanks to Alabama beating Mississippi State and Georgia beating Auburn last week.
"Everything that we needed to happen happened, so we're excited about that," Rebels senior quarterback Bo Wallace said. "But that doesn't matter if we don't take care of us."
The Rebels beat Alabama on Oct. 4 and finish the season against Mississippi State on Nov. 29. So if they win out and Auburn beats Alabama, they'll hold the tiebreaker advantage over the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs to represent the SEC West in Atlanta, where Ole Miss opened the season by beating Boise State 35-13.
"I think for that to be the case in Year 3 here, I don't know that I could be more pleased," said Freeze, who has led the Rebels to a 23-13 record after taking over a team that was 2-10 in 2011. "For us to be in the running for that I think speaks volumes for the job our kids have done, our staff and our administration.
"It's a cooperative effort. It's everyone."
While Freeze, who was Arkansas State's head coach in 2011, is known for his innovative offense and Ole Miss is averaging 33.4 points and 447.1 yards per game, the Rebels' strength this season has been their defense, coordinated by former Arkansas assistant Dave Wommack.
Ole Miss leads the nation in scoring defense (11.9 points per game) and ranks 10th in total defense (309.8 yards per game). The only time the Rebels have allowed more than 20 points in a game was in a 35-31 loss to Auburn on Nov. 1.
Rebels cornerback Senquez Golson ranks second nationally with 9 interceptions and has 7 pass breakups and 29 tackles. Linebacker Tony Conner and cornerback Mike Hilton lead the team with 54 tackles each, end Marquis Haynes has 6 1/2 sacks and free safety Cody Prewitt has 50 tackles and 2 interceptions.
"With the exception of the Auburn game, I would think their performance of keeping people out of the end zone has been as good as any in the country," Freeze said "I'm just really pleased with the job our defensive staff has done."
Wommack came with Freeze from Arkansas State.
"He's been a perfect hire for me, not only from his philosophy, but his demeanor," Freeze said. "He's a good balance for me.
"I'm a bit high-strung sometimes, and he's just very calm all along. I have great trust that I don't have to spend a lot of time worrying about what's going on in that room, knowing that the plan will be solid and that he has answers to issues."
Wallace has completed 190 of 297 passes for 2,554 yards and 22 touchdowns with 8 interceptions and has rushed 97 times for 233 yards and 4 touchdowns.
"I think Bo's had a solid year," Freeze said. "He's cut down on his turnovers, and if you take our a couple of halves, he's been outstanding."
Ole Miss lost its leading receiver, Laquon Treadwell, for the season when he broke his leg against Auburn, but Wallace's remaining targets include wide receivers Vince Sanders (37 catches for 647 yards and 6 touchdowns) and Cody Core (32-437-5) and tight end Evan Engram (27-410-2).
"We won't make any changes," Freeze said of adjusting to Treadwell's loss. "We'll be who we are."
Treadwell was injured as he was about to score a go-ahead touchdown against Auburn with less than two minutes to play. He fumbled as he was tackled at the goal line and Auburn recovered.
"It was a couple days of gut-wrenching feeling around here, but one of the tasks of being a coach at this level, you're going to lose some of those games against good teams," Freeze said. "You're disappointed and felt you played well enough to win it, so that hurts even more.
"Then you lose one of your better players to an injury, so the combination of all that certainly hurt. But if you don't have the ability to move on past a big win or a difficult loss, you won't be very good for the duration.
"I think we've bounced back quite nicely."
Sports on 11/18/2014