Ole Miss diversity on offense catches TCU’s attention

The Ole Miss offense is going to provide a challenge unlike anything in the Big 12 because it is so diverse, TCU safety Sam Carter said.

In fact, that’s one of the things he admires about it.

“I told someone the other day, ‘I love the Ole Miss offense,’” he said. “If I ever become a coach, I’m going to use it. It’s different. You never key on just one guy. They make you account for everybody.”

Ole Miss ranked seventh in the SEC in total offense, averaging 365 yards and 30.4 points per game behind quarterback Bo Wallace.

The Rebels lost their best receiver, Laquon Treadwell, to a leg injury on Nov. 1. Since then Vince Sanders has emerged as the Rebels’ top receiver with 39 catches. Cody Core has 38 catches, and Evan Engram has 37.

“They’ve got a guy that plays tight end, No. 17, that plays wideout,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said, referring to Engram. “He really has had the most big plays that I’ve watched on film the last six, seven, eight ballgames. He’s a guy that’s made a lot of plays, so you better pay close attention to what he does.”

Jaylen Walton leads a group of four ballcarriers with between 583 and 249 yards, with 13 touchdowns among them.

“We want to come out as a defense and make a statement,” Carter said. “They beat two No. 1 teams in the nation. For us, it’s a challenge.”

TCU vs. SEC

Tight end Cliff Murphy didn’t disagree — not making the College Football Playoff field was a disappointment.

“Yeah, it was tough,” he said. “But you get over it. Things happen for a reason.”

Whatever the reason, the Horned Frogs will get a chance to measure up against an SEC team, and one from that conference’s vaunted West Division, at that.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I’m excited to play a good SEC opponent, excited to get the TCU name out there like the Rose Bowl year.”

TCU is 1-4 against the SEC in bowl games, including 0-2 against Ole Miss. Ole Miss took victories of 13-9 in the 1948 Delta Bowl and 14-13 in the 1956 Cotton Bowl.

Taking responsibility

Senior left tackle Tayo Fabuluje said the Horned Frogs take responsibility for not making the College Football Playoff.

“We knew that the committee had a tough decision to make, and they made it,” he said. “Like coach Patterson said, it’s on us. If we wanted to be in the playoffs, we should have taken care of business. We took the hand that was dealt. We’re happy. We’re not bitter at all. We’re just excited to play in a bowl game. It’s an amazing feat, this season that we achieved.”

Carter said the playoff committee simply did its job.

“I’m not going to say they did a great job or a bad job,” he said. “They did what they were supposed to do, and the chips landed where they landed. We’re still going to play one of the great teams in America. It should be a great game.”

Freeze on TCU

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said his team went through a “grind” in the SEC West, but that those teams aren’t necessarily better than TCU.

“You’re not going to put TCU on film and be unaware of their talent at every position,” he said. “Because you’ve seen that throughout the SEC West grind. That doesn’t mean that we’ve played better teams, because as a team, this TCU team is really good.”

Freeze said an opponent of TCU’s quality has held his team’s attention, particularly the offense.

“It’s very good schematically to begin with. But then you add the players, in particular the receivers and the quarterback, and it’s just very difficult to stop,” he said.

This story was originally published December 26, 2014 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Ole Miss diversity on offense catches TCU’s attention."