Ole Miss plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday, and Vanderbilt settled its quarterback question a day early. Five-star freshman Jared Curtis will start ahead of Blaze Berlowitz. The Rebels bring a run defense that surrendered 302 rushing yards in its last outing; Vanderbilt’s lead back has gained roughly 200 yards all season. A tropical depression is tracking toward middle Tennessee, and the kickoff wind forecast has already fallen from 45 miles per hour to 35.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis argued Curtis starting is the matchup Ole Miss should have wanted. Willis said the freshman is a better draw for Pete Golding than Berlowitz, because misdirection option football run at a defense struggling to fit gaps is a larger problem than a pocket passer picking a coverage apart.
Willis said a strong arm cuts through wind, and expects gusts between 15 and 25 miles per hour by kickoff. The system should sit over Alabama by then, leaving Nashville playing around outer rainbands. Willis called that luck, not a plan.
The show’s guest, a Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal beat writer, said Curtis has elite arm talent but a smaller playbook, and that Golding can show a young passer looks he has no answer for. The writer’s reporting found Ole Miss missing nearly five more tackles per game than a year ago. Tahj Butler, he said, called the fix the want to rather than scheme.
The writer put the final margin between 10 and 17 points, and framed it plainly: Curtis can play well and Ole Miss still win, but Curtis playing poorly and Ole Miss losing is not a game he can picture. Willis predicted 38-24. Missouri and Texas follow, and Saturday is the first test of whether the run defense is still the one Florida ran through.
Photo: Pete Golding, July 22, 2026, at the Tampa Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 9, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.