Early bird gets the worm, and early Bears crush the Skyhawks. Saturday's test trial went as planned against UT Martin as Ole Miss curb-stomped their season opener 76-3. With Laremy Tunsil sitting out due to some very serious and important NCAA investigationism, the offensive line looked pretty, uh, alright against a squad that may or may not have scored a field goal at some point. Authorities are still looking into the three point matter.
The Rebs' first few possessions unfolded in predictably helter-skelter fashion, but fear not, Chad Kelly and the ramblin' band found their groove astride Jaylen Walton and the ever important battle of field position. If the Rebs' scorecard doesn't reflect a yardage gain commensurate with 76 points scored, please bear in mind that UT Martin's punter detests kicks past the 30 yard line. Starting offensive drives from the 40 is, like, very very helpful.
Anyway, Saturday's ripram featured a number of interesting playcalls from Hugh Freeze, not least this wonderfully crazy-ass-but-also-beautiful pass play to Robert Nkemdiche:
Robert Nkemdiche scored a 32-yard TD. On offense. pic.twitter.com/9U2odrV9bR
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) September 5, 2015
I'm crying. The GIF ... it's so wonderful that I'm crying.
Let's do some takeaways from the UT Martin game.
Chad Kelly did the thing.
The Ole Miss quarterback situation has been a bumpity-bump funhouse since April, and Saturday brought Chad Kelly to fists. Dude rocked 9-15 passing for 211 yards and two passing touchdowns. A good damn day, even aside from this aesthetic wonder:
[ESPN Video] C. Kelly pass,to L. Treadwell for 10 yds for a 1ST down: Chad Kelly pass complete to La... http://t.co/5JTnxrws2X #OleMiss
— Ole Miss Rebels (@BR_Rebels) September 5, 2015
Robert Nkemdiche would like to have a word.
Robert, will you please jack me in the face to cure Monday hangovers? Robert, will you please just kinda sub in at any position whatsoever and wreck shop as you feel? Robert, how do you football?
Robert Nkemdiche scored a 32-yard TD. On offense. pic.twitter.com/9U2odrV9bR
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) September 5, 2015
Honestly, there are no descriptors to urge Nkemdiche along. He is always already a grammatical superlative. YEESH.
Hello, special teams.
The punt return game looked good. Keep doing that, fellas.