☕ Morning Coffee
Three weeks ago Ole Miss played the most emotional game it will play all season. LSU in Oxford. Lane Kiffin back in Vaught-Hemingway. College GameDay in the Grove. A 32-24 win and a jump to No. 4 in the country.
Seven days later: Florida 52, Ole Miss 28.
The 62 missed tackles are real, and Pete Golding volunteered that number himself. A hangover does not explain the tackling. It explains the timing. You spend everything you have on a Saturday night in Oxford, and the next Saturday you are on the road in the SEC with a tank that never got refilled.
Here is how you know it is not an Ole Miss problem. Florida beat the No. 4 team in the country, its biggest win of the year, and seven days later lost 45-17 at Missouri. Same cycle, different jersey.
🔄 Saturday, It Flips
Ole Miss did not play last weekend. Two weeks, no high to come down from, no low to climb out of, and full pads and live on Sunday night, which almost nobody does coming off an open date.
Vanderbilt has played two straight SEC road games: a 21-15 loss at Auburn, then a 38-14 loss at No. 2 Georgia in which Georgia outgained the Commodores 256-59 after halftime. Five-star freshman Jared Curtis did not play. That is a team coming home sore, and 0-2 in the league.
The honest part: 0-2 at home makes a team desperate, and Missouri comes to Oxford the week after. The job this week is simple. Don’t look at Missouri.
🗳️ The Poll Doesn’t Count
| Team | AP Week 6 | Last result |
|---|---|---|
| Ole Miss | 9 | Open date |
| Missouri | 14 | Beat Florida 45-17 |
| Florida | 16 | Lost at Missouri |
The poll is not math. It is a room full of voters with a room full of standards. Some vote on right now, some vote the résumé, some are already ranking where it ends up in December, and some vote for the reaction. The AP Top 25 is the original engagement farm.
And none of it counts. The AP poll is not part of how the College Football Playoff picks its field. No. 9 does not get Ole Miss into anything. No. 16 does not keep Florida out of anything.
🧱 Right Tackle Is A Depth Story
Pete Golding was asked Monday about the rotation at right tackle and described depth, not a problem:
Getting Tommy back healthier … obviously he’s been banged up … But obviously having Connor getting meaningful snaps, right, and playing really well at times.
Pete Golding
That is Tommy Kinsler IV and Connor Howes, No. 65. On Tuesday, left tackle Terez Davis backed it up: Howes “was ready for the moment when his name got called.” Davis also gave the scouting report on Vanderbilt’s defense, which he said likes to “bring 7, 8 on 3rd down to confuse you.”
👉 Seven Or Eight On Third Down: Terez Davis Knows What Vanderbilt Is Bringing
💪 Ninety Percent Want-To
Golding gave the number: 62 missed tackles for 482 yards. Linebacker Tah’j Butler answered with a number of his own.
You can’t teach someone how to tackle for real. Like, it’s really more like 10% technique, 90% want-to.
Tah’j Butler
He also named the defense’s problem all season: “We always start off good in the first half but … we’re not coming out swinging.”
👉 Ninety Percent Want-To: Tah’j Butler On What The Florida Tape Can’t Teach
🔧 One Little Thing
Why hasn’t the run game clicked? Per Josh Pate’s numbers, Ole Miss ran it 25 times for 63 yards against LSU and won anyway. Tight end Luke Hasz kept the diagnosis small: “It’s been just like one little thing.” The fix was pads. Tuesday and Wednesday practices are “the most physical part of the week.”
👉 One Little Thing: Luke Hasz On Why The Ole Miss Run Game Hasn’t Clicked Yet
🎯 The One Unranked Team
Pete Golding is the first FBS head coach ever to beat four AP-ranked teams in his first six games. Count the unranked opponents he has faced as a head coach and you get one: Charlotte, 41-9. Saturday is the second.
| After Nashville | AP |
|---|---|
| Missouri (Oxford) | 14 |
| at Texas | 1 |
| Auburn (Oxford) | — |
| Georgia (Oxford) | 2 |
| at Oklahoma | — |
| Wofford (Oxford) | — |
| Mississippi State (Oxford, Friday) | 17 |
The math is simple. Win out and the reward is a December game in Oxford. Drop one more and it is a December game on an airplane. Ole Miss has answered whether it can win big games. Saturday asks whether it can win the one that does not feel big.
📻 On Locked On Ole Miss Today
The LOOM Flagship: “The Hangover Hit Ole Miss, Then Florida.” The seven-day cycle, why the poll doesn’t count, right tackle, and the game that doesn’t feel big.
On the site this morning: Terez Davis at 9, Tah’j Butler at 10, Luke Hasz at 11.
🔗 Five Clicks
1. Vanderbilt’s own recap from Athens
Georgia 38, Vanderbilt 14, and the second-half split that tells you how they come home.
2. Berlowitz starts after the Curtis injury
Who Ole Miss actually saw on tape last week, and why Golding is planning for both.
3. The AP Week 6 poll
No. 9, No. 14 and No. 16, all in one table. Then remember it doesn’t count.
4. Connor Howes, No. 65
The right tackle Golding said is getting meaningful snaps. Six-six, 315, a sophomore.
5. Ole Miss at Vanderbilt game page
Saturday, 2:30 p.m. CT / 3:30 p.m. ET, FirstBank Stadium, Nashville.
💬 Join the Everydayers
The Vanderbilt thread is open in the LOOM Private Discord, free to join. Today’s argument: is the seven-day hangover real, or is it an excuse? Ole Miss after LSU, Florida after Ole Miss, and now Vanderbilt after Georgia. Pick a side.
Everything else lives at olemisshub.com, and if you want the show ad-free plus the members-only room, take your fandom to the next level with the Everydayer Club.
Hotty Toddy. 🦈
