They Beat A Ranked Team With Their C-Game | What Ole Miss Fixes Before LSU

Ole Miss survived Louisville 41-38 on a Lucas Carneiro 48-yarder as time expired, and by Monday a fanbase that just beat a ranked team on a neutral site was talking itself into a crisis. Steven Willis joined The 24th Floor on ABC 24+ to make the case for calm — and to hand Saturday a scorecard.

The receipts first: Ole Miss came out of that weekend with the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week and the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week, 41 points, 31 of them in the second half, and a win over a ranked opponent. That was the C-game.

Then the honest part. Most of what Louisville did came on a handful of explosive plays, many of them busted coverages, and there is a roster explanation underneath it: Shareef Denson, the starter at strong safety, never played. Antonio Kite, the starting corner, was hurt six plays in. Half the back end was unavailable or shuffled. Pete Golding called it communication rather than a talent gap, and Steven takes him at his word — with the caveat that it has to be fixed or Lane Kiffin will have a field day in a couple of weeks.

Plus the offensive question nobody else is asking: the Ole Miss offense showed up the moment Kewan Lacy went out, and that is not a coincidence. The case is that John David Baker was scheming to get Lacy the football rather than folding him into an offense that already worked.

And four things that would make Saturday against Charlotte an actual step forward.

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📌 FOUR THINGS I WANT TO SEE AGAINST CHARLOTTE

1. Nobody gets hurt.

2. The defense holds Charlotte to single digits.

3. Every injured player rests — Kewan Lacy included.

4. Johntay Cook and Caleb Cunningham get more involved in the offense.