Tennessee Volunteers vs. Ole Miss Rebels Complete Game Preview

The Tennessee Volunteers will walk right into the Magnolia State maelstrom this week when they travel to Oxford to take on the No. 3-ranked Ole Miss Rebels.

College football is caught up in the surging start for Hugh Freeze's team as well as Dan Mullen's Mississippi State Bulldogs, who overtook Florida State as the nation's top-ranked team.

The sport is focused on the state of Mississippi for the first time in decades. Two of the nation's current top three teams hail from there.

Meanwhile, UT is just trying to break through for a win it has been so close to against its first two league opponents, losing by a combined four points to Georgia and Florida.

If the Vols are going to sneak up on the heavily favored Rebs, they're going to have to play the game of their season and grow up quickly. Considering the strength of Ole Miss and its "Landshark" defense and the fact UT can't find any answers on its offensive line, this looks like an uphill battle for the Vols.

Let's take a closer look at the matchup.

Date: Saturday, Oct. 18

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Place: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, Mississippi

TV: ESPN

Radio: Vol Network, Ole Miss Football Radio Network Sirius/XM 84

Spread: Ole Miss by 17 points, according to Odds Shark.

Tennessee Keys to Victory

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Break 'Em Big

Tennessee doesn't have the running game to keep defenses honest, and the Vols don't have a good enough offensive line to let plays develop downfield.

So, it's essential that UT gets the football to its dynamic receivers and for them to be, well, dynamic.

Von Pearson getting 100 percent healthy is a huge key to what UT wants to do offensively, and having him on the field should help open things up a bit for Marquez North.

After a relatively quiet couple of games, North got back in the end zone against the Mocs before exiting with an injury UT coach Butch Jones indicated to GoVols247's Wes Rucker wouldn't keep him out.

Asking the Vols to sustain long drives against Ole Miss' salty defense is too much. They've got to get some big catch-and-runs to win.

Bottle Up the Run

The Rebels have plenty of offensive weapons, but they've struggled to maintain any consistency on the ground so far. UT needs to keep them one-dimensional.

Ole Miss' top five rushers—Jaylen Walton, I'Tavius Mathers, Mark Dodson, Jordan Wilkins and Bo Wallace—all hail from Tennessee, so there's not going to be any shortage of motivation there. But none of those guys has been overly impressive this year.

Walton is the big-play runner, and he leads the team in rushing yards. If one of Ole Miss' running backs is going to make an impact against the Vols, he's the odds-on favorite.

If the Vols can shut down the run, the secondary is good enough to make things difficult on Wallace throwing. This is the first step in an upset.

Avoid the Back-Breaker

At this point, you almost wait for it.

When are the Vols going to make the blunder that costs them the game? It has come in all three of their losses this year. And that's not the kind of trademark any team wants to develop under a new coach.

Tennessee can keep this game close. If that's the case, the Vols simply cannot afford to make a crippling mistake. They've got to play a nearly perfect game to hang with the Rebels, and that means keeping Justin Worley's jersey clean and UT's quarterback keeping possessions spotless as well.

Ole Miss Keys to Victory

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Good Bo

When Bo Wallace is clicking, he's among the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation and a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate.

When he's bad, he's horrible. Like three-interceptions-in-the-first-half-against-Boise-State horrible.

The senior from Pulaski, Tennessee, has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes this season and tossed 15 touchdowns. But there are decisions he makes that'll make observers wonder where that came from.

He's heard the criticism, and it fuels him.

"That thing's the most annoying thing I've ever heard," Wallace told AL.com's Drew Champlin after the win over Alabama two weeks ago. "I also feel like I'm the only quarterback in the nation that throws interceptions. Hopefully I can be 'Good Bo' the rest of the year."

Ole Miss needs Good Bo. Good Bo wins games. Bad Bo keeps opponents in the game, and the Vols aren't the type of team the Rebels want to keep around.

Pin and Fin

The Rebels may boast the best defense in the nation.

They're big, physical and fast. They wreak havoc on quarterbacks and come up with huge turnovers.

That's awful news for a UT offensive front that just allowed five more sacks to Football Championship Subdivision opponent UT-Chattanooga on Saturday.

The Rebels need to unleash Robert Nkemdiche, C.J. Johnson and Co. on UT's struggling line. While they haven't finished with a lot of sacks this season, they terrorize signal-callers. Those sacks may come this week. 

Start Strong

Once Ole Miss got off to its torrid start against Texas A&M, even the high-octane Aggies couldn't come back against a defense as good as the Rebels'.

The Vols aren't strong enough and balanced enough to construct a comeback against a team this good. But after the two huge wins Ole Miss just got and with a date with LSU in Death Valley looming, this is set up perfectly to be a trap game.

The Rebs must guard against it.

If Hugh Freeze's boys get off to the same start they did against A&M, they'll cruise to an easy win over the Vols and into a huge showdown with rival LSU.

Tennessee Players to Watch

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Jalen Reeves-Maybin

Tennessee's sophomore linebacker has been all over the field so far this year, and he appears on the brink of stardom.

He leads the Vols with seven tackles for a loss and is second to A.J. Johnson on the team in total tackles. He's also got two sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery. 

The Vols need JRM's biggest game against the Rebels—the other finalist in his recruitment. Not only does he need to be everywhere, he's also got to bottle up Bo Wallace, who can be so dangerous in the read-option game. This is where JRM needs to take that next step in his promising career.

Von Pearson

When Pearson was injured against Arkansas State, he was just beginning to become familiar with the offense and be a weapon in it.

Then the high ankle sprain set him back.

Though he was extremely limited against Florida, the junior-college transfer looked a little more like himself against Chattanooga in a handful of snaps.

Now, he has to be an X-factor against a Rebels team that can smother opponents. Pearson has that next-level gear when he gets in the open field. UT needs to design plays to get him there and let him go.

Cameron Sutton

It would not be a stretch to say Sutton is emerging as the SEC's top cornerback.

He doesn't get the publicity of Vernon Hargreaves III, but all Sutton does is make plays. Perhaps the only other defensive back who has made as many plays as him will be on the opposing team Saturday in Senquez Golson.

Sutton has three interceptions and seven passes defended so far this season. He also is physical enough to be a weapon in the running game (four tackles for loss) and regularly baits quarterbacks into poor decisions. UT needs a couple of huge plays from him.

Ole Miss Players to Watch

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Senquez Golson

He's second only to Louisville's Gerod Holliman nationally with five interceptions, and none was bigger than his game-clincher to cap off an historic win over Alabama.

The senior from Pascagoula was a two-sport star who played football and baseball as a freshman before realizing his future was on the gridiron. After starting 10 games as a junior, he has become an elite talent who's blossomed late in his college career.

"I have said it in past interviews, but it took about three years to get it right," Golson told Ole Miss athletics media relations' Austin Miller. "I had to get my off-the-field life right first, so I can just focus all the way on football, and that's what helped me." 

On a defense full of stars, Golson has shone the brightest so far.

Laquon Treadwell 

Amari Cooper is faster and flashier, but there may not be a more complete receiver in the entire SEC than Treadwell.

The SEC's defending Freshman of the Year has a team-high 30 catches for 415 yards and four touchdowns so far. While those numbers are impressive, it's his blocking that sets him apart. Treadwell is a selfless player who can beat teams with catches or by doing things that won't show up in the box score.

It's just a matter of time before he's an elite NFL player, but the Rebels have at least this year and the next to enjoy him in Oxford. Look for Treadwell to get a healthy dosage of Cameron Sutton on Saturday.

D.T. Shackelford

Way back in the class of 2008, Vols coach Phillip Fulmer had a linebacker commitment from Decatur, Alabama, who'd flown under the radar until high school all-star games.

Several teams wanted Shackelford after that. 

Then Fulmer was fired, and UT brought in Lane Kiffin, who slow-played Shackelford, allowing Ole Miss and then-coach Houston Nutt to creep in and ultimately steal him away.

The road for Shackelford hasn't been easy with a promising career being derailed for two full seasons due to serious knee injuries, as chronicled by the Decatur Daily's Cliff Kirkpatrick. But after waiting, working and rehabbing, his senior season is storybook.

Shackelford isn't a star, but he's the force in the middle of the Rebs' defense, fourth on the team with 26 tackles, including two for a loss and a sack.

What They're Saying

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There's no real way to sugarcoat Tennessee's offensive line struggles this year, and GoVols247's Wes Rucker isn't one to mince words, anyway.

So, pardon the candor when Rucker rehashed the fact that the Vols allowed their quarterbacks to get pounded again against UT-Chattanooga and failed to muster much of anything in the run game:

"

Second-year Tennessee coach Butch Jones said his O-line wasn’t to blame for all five of Chattanooga’s sacks, and the Vols played most of Saturday’s game without their top three tailbacks, but the facts are the Vols allowed five sacks and rushed for less than 3 yards per carry against an FCS opponent, and the rushing statistics got a little bit better in the fourth quarter, when both teams had reserves on the field.

And the Vols have to face third-ranked Ole Miss on the road next week. So…good luck with that.

"

After watching Ole Miss' dismantling of a very good Texas A&M offense during Saturday night's 35-20 win over the Aggies, ESPN.com's Greg Ostendorf had seen enough of the Rebels.

Hugh Freeze's defensively dominant group is for real, per Ostendorf:

"

Mississippi State might be the best team in the country after Saturday’s win over Auburn, but Ole Miss isn’t far behind. The Rebels have the best defense in the SEC, if not the nation, and when Wallace is playing well they’re hard to stop.

 

"

Despite UT's offensive struggles this year, the Vols were extremely hamstrung in the offensive backfield this past weekend. 

Jalen Hurd was held to two carries as he rested his injured shoulder suffered against Florida. Senior Marlin Lane didn't play at all. Fellow senior Devrin Young broke ribs and will miss some time. So, the Vols were down to their fourth-string running back.

A situation like that showed Jones he needs several more bodies, according to The Tennessean's Matt Slovin:

"

I've never been in a game like that where you're down three running backs like that. That's why you need running backs. Football is a game of depth, and that was never illustrated more so than (Saturday).

We need much, much more depth. A lot of that will be addressed in recruiting.

"

Prediction

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The fans won't storm the field. The goal posts will stay intact. Katy Perry will stay out of the Grove and the bars. 

Saturday's scene in Oxford will be much different than the last time the Ole Miss Rebels played in Vaught-Hemingway, when Senquez Golson intercepted Blake Sims to seal a massive win over Alabama that put Hugh Freeze's Rebels squarely in the national spotlight.

One thing will remain the same, though: a Rebels victory on home soil.

Tennessee eventually is going to break through and win one of these games it isn't supposed to, and it's going to make a bowl game.

But with so many problems on the offensive front hindering a running game and failing to give Justin Worley time to throw the football, there's no way to pick the Vols to win a game against Ole Miss or next week against Alabama. The defenses are just too stout.

While Ole Miss is going to struggle to move the football consistently against defensive coordinator John Jancek's surprising Vols and their "Third Down for What" unit, Bo Wallace is going to make enough plays on offense to get it done.

The Rebels defense will do the rest.

Prediction: Ole Miss 27, Tennessee 10

All statistics taken from CFBStats.com. Quotes gathered firsthand and all recruiting information taken from 247Sports.com, unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.