It will be a step up in competition for No. 5 Ole Miss when the Rebels visit Wake Forest on Saturday night.
Even with the way the Rebels have been rolling, there’s no telling what kind of challenge they’ll encounter for the game in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“I think it’s a really good measuring stick for where we’re at,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said.
The Rebels (2-0) will play their first road game and their first matchup with a power-conference team. This is the only power conference opponent on their nonconference schedule.
Wake Forest (1-1) is trying to recover from last Saturday night’s 31-30 home loss to Virginia in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener. The Demon Deacons led for most of that game.
The Demon Deacons aren’t uncomfortable being underdogs.
“We’re embracing the challenge,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “We know it’s going to be hard.”
Ole Miss destroyed Middle Tennessee 52-3 on Saturday after flattening Furman 76-0 in the opener. This matchup is bound to have a different feel for the Rebels.
“We’re going to have our hands full,” Kiffin said. “We have done a really good job of not having lapses, no looking at the scoreboard.”
The road assignment will provide a different environment for Ole Miss, which might be equipped to handle it.
“A veteran team that has played a lot of road games, haven’t necessarily played together so there’s a challenge with that,” Kiffin said. “You got to just weather storms when you’re on the road. The challenges will get harder, the opponents will get harder.”
The Demon Deacons will want to slow down Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was two completions shy of an NCAA record when he completed his first 24 throws of the game against Middle Tennessee. The effort did set a SEC record.
For Ole Miss, there’s not much emphasis in mid-September on the national ranking.
“That means nothing,” Kiffin said. “They’ve been talked extensively from me about how rankings mean nothing. … Guys are in the right mindset.”
That message seems to be clear and accepted by the players.
“Keeping our heads down and working, and not looking too far ahead and not looking too far back,” Ole Miss running back Henry Parrish Jr. said. “Grinding every day, putting work in day in and day out with my guys.”
The Rebels have rolled on offense by scoring on 20 of 27 possessions this season, racking up 17 touchdowns.
“A lot of good things we did to get to 2-0,” Kiffin said. “I think we’re relatively healthy and actually looked good.”
From Wake Forest’s perspective, it’s difficult to detect flaws in how Ole Miss operates on offense.
“As fast as they play and as wide open as they play, (they rarely have turnovers),” Clawson said. “They’re that efficient.”
Neither Furman nor Middle Tennessee have reached the 50-yard rushing mark against the Rebels. Yet Kiffin said there’s a need for Ole Miss to address some mental lapses that have been evident in pass coverage.
“This will be the best passing team, by far, that we’ve played,” he said.
Hank Bachmeier, a transfer who spent time at Louisiana Tech and Boise State, became Wake Forest’s starting quarterback last week after entering in relief in the opener. He has thrown for four touchdowns without an interception this year.
Clawson’s Wake Forest teams are 4-0 all-time against SEC opponents (defeating Vanderbilt twice plus bowl victories vs. Texas A&M and Missouri).
The Demon Deacons have won both previous meetings with Ole Miss, prevailing in 2006 on the road and in 2008 at home.
–Field Level Media