Pete Golding summed up Ole Miss’s 31-3 win over Missouri with one line: “When you stop the run, you can have fun.” Defensive tackle Will Echoles, who had a sack in the game, explained what that means from the inside.
For [Golding], it’s a lot more fun calling a play on 3rd and 10 than 3rd and 2. We stopped the run, you get to go rush. And you get to go rush, you have fun rushing. Stopping the run in the SEC, teams are going to try to run the ball on you, so you got to stop the run. It’s point-blank simple.
Echoles finished with five tackles, two pass breakups and a sack, according to Ole Miss Athletics, as Ole Miss held Missouri to 39 rushing yards and out-rushed the Tigers 257-39.
“We didn’t put the best product on tape”
Asked whether the defense took the criticism after the Florida loss personally, Echoles did not hesitate. “Oh, absolutely,” he said. He said Golding “made it more simple on defense” and the group got back to “attacking blocks, getting off blocks and making plays.”
The plan against Missouri was built around running back Jamal Roberts and receiver Cayden Lee, who Echoles called Missouri’s most-targeted player on third down. “We knew we had to try to eliminate him,” Echoles said of Lee, before describing how the front went after Roberts: “Get pressure on the front side of the stretch game to eliminate the running back. That’s what we did.”
“It felt good getting home”
The sack came against Austin Simmons, his former teammate. Echoles said he had been close to quarterbacks all season without finishing. “I’ve been there to the quarterback, around the quarterback a lot. I just haven’t got home. So it felt good getting home.” He said he had talked with Chris Graves Jr. the day before the game and was happy for all three former Rebels.
He also praised Landon Barnes, whose late red-zone interception kept Missouri off the board in the second half. “He can easily pout, get mad about people who are in front of him and stuff like that. But he come in every day, same person, ready to work.”
“Offense come out slow a little bit second half, but defense got their back,” Echoles said. “We held them to 0 points in the second half. So that’s what it’s all about, picking each other up.”
Ole Miss (5-1, 3-1 SEC) plays at Texas on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC. Hotty Toddy 🦈
Quotes from Will Echoles’s postgame press conference, Oct. 17, 2026. Statistics via Ole Miss Athletics. Photo: Will Echoles, October 17, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.