Photo: Makhi Frazier runs against the Florida Gators, September 26, 2026, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images.
Ole Miss opens its bye week with one loss and one defensive question dominating it. Florida turned a fourth-down gamble into a 10-0 lead inside the first quarter, and the Rebels were within 24-21 in the third quarter before it got away. Florida attacked the edges of a 4-2-5 front with roughly eight new starters, most of whom arrived in January, and controlled the clock.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis reviewed the loss with former Rebels all week, and Wednesday brought Todd Wade. Willis argued that Ole Miss walked away from its identity. This team is pass-to-run and always has been, he said, able to run effectively only once an opponent fears the throw. Forcing the run stalled the opening drives.
Wade, a former Ole Miss offensive lineman, put the defensive failure in one place: the C-gap. With Blake Purchase at one end and Suntarine Perkins walked down to cover the other, Wade said he would have called it exactly as Florida did, attacking both ends for movement off the ball. “It was really indefendable for Ole Miss,” he said.
Tackling is the first repair, Wade said, pointing to missed tackles and diving at feet. He raised a personnel question he called undiscussed: if Florida’s answer is repeatable, the end spot may need a different body. He saw interior linemen hold up against double teams while the linebackers behind them failed to fill. Will Echoles called the film a lack of violence, language Wade said comes only from a defense that has talked among itself.
Vanderbilt waits in Nashville, and Willis warned it runs the same misdirection at that gap, leaving Purchase and Jonathan Maldonado to hold it. Wade countered that Vanderbilt’s freshman quarterback is the target for the aggressive pressure Ole Miss showed against LSU.
Adapted from the September 30, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.