Every week Red Cup Rebellion will simulate the upcoming Ole Miss football game on the EA Sports College Football 25 video game to see how well it compares to reality.
If you recall, we posted an article in the preseason that simulated the 2024 season for the Rebels 10 times and we provided the average output. In those simulations, more often than not, Ole Miss would start 0-3 in SEC play.
So when I hit sim on this week’s Kentucky game, I was a little nervous the game would give the Rebels its first loss on the season. The results were not what I was expecting.
The Kentucky Wildcats are currently the fourth best defense in the SEC, surrendering just 217 total yards per game. Yes, that includes a nail biter against Georgia and its blowout loss to South Carolina.
It is only 22 less yards per game than the Rebel defense, but it is the run defense for both units that are striking. Ole Miss leads the conference at 34.5 rush yards per game and Kentucky is third at 74.8.
It seems that the South Carolina game is an outlier as this Kentucky defense might be legit. Or is it more so that South Carolina’s offense is the best they have faced and Ole Miss could expose them?
With the Wildcats having a stout run defense, I was astonished to see that the EA Rebels ran the ball 48 times for 231 yards. I am not shocked at the attempts because if Kiffin finds something that works, he will keep going to the well until it is dry.
It’s the fact that this opponent gave up that kind of yardage, basically giving Jaxson Dart’s arm a rest.
Dart did have a Dart kind of game though. He completed 91% of his passes (11-12) for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He was also the LEADING rusher on the game. He carried the ball 10 times for 129 yards and another touchdown with a long of 61 yards.
Henry Parrish Jr. did his thing scoring twice on 13 carries, but was limited to just 35 yards. Bentley IV pitched in another 46 yards on 20 carries in garbage times. So yeah, the Kentucky defense was stout against the running backs but had no answer for the QB.
Tre Harris and Caden Prieskorn were on the receiving ends of touchdowns passes from Dart in this one while Juice Wells led in yards.
Princely Umanmielen and Suntarine Perkins combined for four of the team’s five sacks, but overall tackle numbers were down because Ole Miss controlled the clock with the run game.
Ole Miss doubled Kentucky’s time of possession and held them to just five first downs the entire game. The Wildcats ended the game with -3 rushing yards! Talk about a stout run defense.
Ole Miss ultimately won the simulated game 35-2. It’s an interesting box score because Kentucky relies heavily on their run game while Ole Miss can do whatever they need to do to win. If the Rebs can force the Wildcats to sling it, it could get ugly quick.
