The Freeze Offense Goes Cold

[Deltamud77]

With the Hugh Freeze offense putting just 13 points on the scoreboard in the last two weeks of the season combined (10 against Mizzou and 3 against the State Defense - the other seven coming via blocked punt), are there any concerns in Oxford that the Hugh Freeze offense has been figured out?

I am not suggesting that it has been figured out (LSU sure didn't), but it seems that good defenses, such as Alabama, Mizzou and MSU, not only slow it down, but basically stop it (13 combined offensive points in those three games this year). However, teams with less dominant defense seem to really struggle against OM (see LSU as an example).

I think this will be an interesting story line going forward next season with teams having two full years to review and scheme for the Hugh Freeze spread offense. It seems that the three teams mentioned above have blueprinted how you stop it.

What do you guys think?

[davidees]

Hope so. Although I think it's more an execution issue right now than a scheme issue.

[hotty toddy]

I think alot of it has been execution but I personally see lack of personel as the bigger problem. O line play has been sketchy at best the last couple of games. Once Tunsil went out in the second quarter of the egg bowl it only got worse. Also the lack of a power back has been a big problem. Jeff Scott's absence, although he is definitely not a "power runner", had a big impact in my opinion.

Also when the starting QB has what apparently was the flu and plays Mizzou while running a fever and plays 5 days later while still not fully recovered its bound to cause problems in the offense. The ability to make reads and change the play at the line and also to go through progressions on recievers seemed to me to be affected. We were playing against a 3rd string freshmen QB starting his first game so not feeling well is really not an excuse though.

We'll see what happens and hope that the personel brought in and being developed can better run the offense but good defenses are going to be able to slow it, that is for sure. But, a good defensive team can scheme to stop any style offense not just the Ole Miss spread/fast tempo offense.

[ScottyLee]

has nothing to do with scheme, all execution. our ol couldn't stop a pin hole leak in a 5 gallon bucket the last 2 weeks, simply because we played competition with a superior dl. our ol has been/is the greatest weakness of this team. and it was magnified when we lost a starter on the ol, then lost tunsil in the state game. simply don't have ol depth. LSU was the only team IMO that we faced that a superior dl to our OL, but the got shreaded with one and three step drops by five wide. so it didn't show as much, although it was evident early in that game that we couldn't run the ball to start with, that was opened up with the 5 wide passing.

loosing evan ingram (the only true TE), albeit a true freshman midway through the season changed scheme some. that's when you saw ole miss shift a ton of focus to the 5 wide.

that's your daily dose of season ticket holder.... never coached, nor played college ball, so i don't know a great deal... just my 2 cents

[Po Monkey Lounger]

I think that the loss of TE Evan Engram was more costly than initially thought by many Reb fans.

With Engram, we had a potent big play/ scoring threat in the middle of the field which prevented teams from defending the vertical passing game with a cover two/safeties up top. After Engram went down, there were only a couple of passes caught from the TE position the rest of the season. And it was after this that our offensive game plans appeared to be different than what had previously been working.

Also, the injury to Jeff Scott at mid-season left us without one of our primary scoring threats, and one less thing for opposing defenses to worry about.


Against Alabama and Missouri, we were just physically outmatched at the line of scrimmage. The early season injury to OG Morris, along with some others who never really played fully healthy, made an already thin OL even thinner.

Against MSU, we were pretty evenly matched between MSU's DL and Ole Miss's OL, but after our starting OT went down with an MCL injury, MSU's defense was able to get a lot more pressure on Bo, particularly Chris Jones. When a QB is getting pressure from his blindside, he can't get comfortable. It resulted in some poor decisions by Bo. I thought that Freeze, at that point, should have called plays where Bo rolled out of the pocket to pass or run ( but, that is another topic).

To get better in the middle of the field ( which will help open up the outside running game and sideline and vertical passing game) the Rebs need a large, talented RB or two, who can rush well between the tackles and get those tough yards in third and short situations. This will also help solve our problems scoring in the red zone. And we need the TE threat.

Also, we really need some more big uglies on the OL. There will always be injuries at this position, and we have to obtain the depth to be able to withstand those injuries without a huge drop off in performance. We clearly are not where we need to be right now.

The good news for Reb fans is that there is help on the way to address all of these deficiencies. Whether the help is immediate enough to help matters for next year remains to be seen.

At TE, getting Engram back healthy will immediately improve our offense. And a talented TE we signed last year, Christain Morgan who was injured during spring practice, should be ready to go. And we appear to be poised to sign some talented players at this position --- eg Sammy Epps. Also, Jeremy Liggins may wind up at TE.

At RB, redshirt frosh Jordan Wlikins, who is now fully recovered from his injury sustained during his senior year in high school, could be the answer for the bigger back we need. Also, Akeem Judd, a current Reb JUCO commit, who started this season slow due to injury, is getting back to form and could be a boost for the Rebels in this area of need. Hugh needs to sign at least two other talented big backs, IMO. We will know in Feb.

On the OL, Tunsil and Golson will return, along with our starting center. Morris will return from injury, and we will get the transfer from UCLA. There were two highly thought of frosh from last year's class that redshirted this season --- Bouldin and Johnson. I look for each of these guys to make a big impact. Hugh needs to sign at least a couple of immediate impact OL in Feb to add depth --- one such player is already committed. Bottom line: we need a bigger push from our OL at the line of scrimmage.

Yes, the better SEC defenses exposed these deficiencies. But, IMO, it is a personnel problem more so than a scheme problem ( although I thought we could have made some better adjustments in scheme to overcome our personnel issues). Talent-wise, the Rebels are still probably two years away from seriously challenging for the SEC West title. But, we should be talented enough next year to continue to improve ( 8 regular season wins would be improvement).

[Deltamud77]

Very well articulated Po Monk.

How do you guys feel about Bo Wallace moving forward? Obviously he is the entrenched starter. At times he looked like the next Peyton Manning (like against my hapless LSU secondary) and at times he looked like he had smoked some really strong weed just prior to kick off.

If he were to go down, does Devante Kincade (sp?) get the nod or will it be the kid from Jackson Prep? Who is the next starter for OM?

On another note, as interesting as this SEC season has been with two cellar-dwellers from one year ago playing for it all in Atlanta, I think next year will be even more interesting.

State and Ole Miss return starting QBs (which is HUGE). Auburn returns its starting QB as well as 19 other starters if I am not mistaken. LSU, Bama and Texas A&M will be breaking in new starters. LSU will have to replace the two best receivers (IMO) in the league this year in Beckham and Landry. If State or Ole Miss were ever to make a run at Atlanta, I think 2014 is the year.

Early SECw Prediction:

(1) Bama (because they are Bama and Nick is good at revenge)
(2) Auburn
(3) OM (because the Egg Bowl is in Oxford)
(4)(tie) State and Texas A&M
(6) LSU
(7) Arkansas

[Po Monkey Lounger]

With regard to Bo Wallace, every Ole Miss fan should be very thankful that he is a Rebel. Without Bo, we don't win 6 regular season games last year, or 7 this year. While Bo is not, and will never be, as athletically talented as the better QBs in the nation, he is talented enough to win with a good supporting cast. But, his best attribute, IMO, is his toughness. He played most of the season last year with a throwing shoulder that needed surgery, playing through a lot of pain. This season, he was not 100% to start the season due to still recovering from his surgery. And by the time he got truly healthy, we had lost a lot of his supporting cast to injury. The bottom line is that Bo is likely not the QB to get Ole Miss to the promised land, but he is the bridge to the next great Ole Miss starting QB, Devonte Kincade.

Kincade, from all accounts, is the real deal. He is an athletic, dual threat QB, who should be better suited to run Freeze's offense (think Barry Brunetti with a better arm than Wallace). I think he has grown a couple of inches since we signed him. Unless Buchanon makes a dramatic move in the off-season, then Kincade will likely be the backup QB next season. I think the coaching staff is still high on Buchanon's future, but he was more of a project than the much more polished Kincade, who played in an offensive system similar to Freeze's in the highest classification of Texas football. Buchanan will most likely be more of a pocket passer --- different style QB than Kincade.

[mshunter77]

Ole Miss passing game without Ingram was limited to two plays. Deep to Moncrief or screen to Treadwell. I don't understand why they did not utilize Tredwell more over the middle he has a big body and seems to be able to catch most every pass. Maybe some Ole Miss fans can elaborate more such as was he no picking up the offense fast enough or needs to work on route running? I know those are two key problems with you g WRs. Also as mentioned before they have work to do with on the OL that makes a huge difference.

[Deltamud77]

Ole Miss passing game without Ingram was limited to two plays. Deep to Moncrief or screen to Treadwell. I don't understand why they did not utilize Tredwell more over the middle he has a big body and seems to be able to catch most every pass. Maybe some Ole Miss fans can elaborate more such as was he no picking up the offense fast enough or needs to work on route running? I know those are two key problems with you g WRs. Also as mentioned before they have work to do with on the OL that makes a huge difference.

Bold statement here: I think Treadwell is already the better receiver over Moncrief...who may very well be a first round pick this coming spring. Treadwell is the most complete freshman receiver I have seen since AJ Green and Julio Jones. I actually think he may be as good and have a higher ceiling that those two in some respects.

[mshunter77]

Ole Miss passing game without Ingram was limited to two plays. Deep to Moncrief or screen to Treadwell. I don't understand why they did not utilize Tredwell more over the middle he has a big body and seems to be able to catch most every pass. Maybe some Ole Miss fans can elaborate more such as was he no picking up the offense fast enough or needs to work on route running? I know those are two key problems with you g WRs. Also as mentioned before they have work to do with on the OL that makes a huge difference.

Bold statement here: I think Treadwell is already the better receiver over Moncrief...who may very well be a first round pick this coming spring. Treadwell is the most complete freshman receiver I have seen since AJ Green and Julio Jones. I actually think he may be as good and have a higher ceiling that those two in some respects.

I agree that he is a great WR that is why I question why they did not use him more than just a bunch of bubble screens. Maybe they did in games I did not watch but the games I watched I did not see him used much over the middle or down the field. He already has the body of an NFL WR and I have seen him make some great catches so he seems to have very good hands. I noticed him just snatching balls out of the air with just his hands and not using his body which is what you want. I was not stating he did not pick up the offense or was not running the routes correctly I was questioning why they did not utilize him more and if some insiders had heard if he had issues with any those. That would explain why he was not used more.

[mshunter77]

Ole Miss passing game without Ingram was limited to two plays. Deep to Moncrief or screen to Treadwell. I don't understand why they did not utilize Tredwell more over the middle he has a big body and seems to be able to catch most every pass. Maybe some Ole Miss fans can elaborate more such as was he no picking up the offense fast enough or needs to work on route running? I know those are two key problems with you g WRs. Also as mentioned before they have work to do with on the OL that makes a huge difference.

Bold statement here: I think Treadwell is already the better receiver over Moncrief...who may very well be a first round pick this coming spring. Treadwell is the most complete freshman receiver I have seen since AJ Green and Julio Jones. I actually think he may be as good and have a higher ceiling that those two in some respects.

Sorry I originally miss read your statement. I thought you were calling my statement bold. Now I see you were talking about your statement.

[sab316]

It seemed at time that we didn't go over the middle of the field at all some games. We are still just really thin at some positions (O Line). We got some big uglies coming in to help that though. Getting Morris back, Rod Taylor, big kid out of Jackson and the #1 OG in the nation will see immediate playing time. Also we have signed a JUCO RT to replace Burton.

Losing Engram hurt alot more than most fans realized. Hence why he was named All-SEC while only playing half a season.

Jordan Wilkins is a man. 6'2 230 and still runs a 4.4. Hes our answer as a bigger back. Dodson showed good flashes this year, and Mathers and Walton are great backs as well. Mathers seems to have a bit of a fumbling problem though.

Losing Ja-Mes Logan hurts. Very sure handed guy, but plenty of guys to step up and take his spot. I hope Moncrief stays, but I doubt he does.

Losing CJ Johnson on the D-Line hurt as well. Teams just doubled RNK at that point. CJ is our spark on Defense, always seems to come up with a timely sack. Gross still played hurt the majority of the year as well.

Secondary will stay mostly intact besides losing Charles Sawyer (that guy has been playing at OM for 8 years now). Prewitt was named USA-Today All American so congrats to him. Conner is back, Elston, the young corners got some solid playing time this year, and I think they will only improve. Also have some very good safety and CB position players committed right now as well.

LB's will be back except for Mike Marry. His leadership will be missed, but guys like Bird Bryant, DNK, and Keith Lewis will step up and fill his spot.

I think Kincade will be the next Ole Miss QB and I think he's the real deal, but I don't think he'll start over Bo Wallace next year. I see him taking Brunetti's spot from this year. Bringing him in as the change of pace QB.

Think about this Ole Miss fans. Since when have we every had a QB controversy because we have 3 GOOD qb's?

[SWAG]

The lack of UM going over the middle is a direct result of the OL and not being able to run the ball. In order for an offense to throw balls over the middle, you need to be keeping the LBs honest with the running game. Ole Miss threw the screens and deep sideline passes because they were the only open areas of the field. Freeze said after the last game that teams were able to defend the run and apply pass rush with only 4 or 5 players. That is it in a nutshell.