Ole Miss Rebels Dominate With 48-20 Win Over Oklahoma State Cowboys

State can rack up yards if Ole Miss doesn’t exercise sound tackling.

It was a night of highlights for the Ole Miss Rebels in New Orleans Friday evening as they demolished the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 48-20, in the Sugar Bowl. The Rebels survived the absence of defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche in the Sugar Bowl – he was suspended following being charged with possession of marijuana – with junior D.J. Jones and redshirt freshman Breeland Speaks and by having three down linemen at times.

One thing about the Rebels is that they’re a very talented bunch of football players, both in offense and defense.

Kelly’s four touchdown passes tied a Sugar Bowl record held by three other quarterbacks and was the most in a bowl game in school history. The Rebels finished with 207 rushing yards and 347 through the air.

MS wide receiver Laquon Treadwell (1) pulls in a touchdown reception in front of Oklahoma State cornerback Kevin Peterson (1) in the first half of the Sugar Bowl college football game in New Orleans, Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. With two losses, the Rebels still likely wouldn’t have been in the Playoff, but the season could have ended on an even higher note than last year’s New Year’s Six season did.

The rout was on from there. For the first time since 1970 Ole Miss won the Sugar Bowl.

The Rebels kept running away in the second half. Additionally, Kelly completed 21 of 33 passes, as well as running for 73 yards on 10 carries.

The Cowboys struggled with Ole Miss’ speed on defense early and were only able to muster a field goal on their first two drives despite great field position. Chris Carson leads the team in rushing with 504 yards, scoring four touchdowns…. behind Walsh’s scoring punch, Oklahoma State ranks No. 8 nationally in red-zone offense…. the Cowboys also rank No. 7 in the country in passing, No. 5 in turnover margin and No. 18 in total offense. The score brought the game to 41-13. Two plays later, Treadwell caught a 10-yard pass from Kelly to make it 24-3. Tunsil strolled into the endzone easily and sent the Rebels into halftime with a 34-6 lead and a lot of smiles.

Three times this year has OSU erased a deficit of at least 15 points to win a game. It puts the team’s final win tally for this season at 10, the first double-digit win campaign for the program since 2003.

Yards per game by wide receiver Laquon Treadwell against ranked teams (three opponents).

“We couldn’t slow them down from big plays on offense”, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.

Right Now the Oklahoma State Cowboys sport a record of 10-2, and have published a corresponding slate of 6-6 against the spread. Treadwell has been given an over/under of 105.5 receiving yards and 6.5 receptions for the Sugar Bowl.

“We all came together and played really, really well today”, Kelly said.

Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns, helping the Volunteers cap their best season in eight years with a rout of the Wildcats in the Outback Bowl at Tampa, Fla.

McCaffrey was sublime in his debut at the Granddaddy of Them All, breaking the all-purpose yards record set by Wisconsin’s Jared Abbrederis in 2012. After a tumultuous start to his college career, which began at Clemson, Kelly shined in his first season as starter for the Rebels.