So naturally, Rebel quarterback Bo Wallace was chomping at the bit Monday to discuss ... Texas A&M's wide receivers?
"I think we have better receivers than A&M," Wallace said per al.com. "They want to talk about Mike Evans being so good, but we have Donte [Moncrief] and I think Laquon [Treadwell] is going to be that way.
"We have better players on the outside than A&M does."
OK then, Bo Wallace! To be fair, Wallace was responding to a comparsion between the Aggie offense -- which you might have noticed enjoyed a good bit of success against the Crimson Tide, thanks to Evans' career day -- and the Rebels' attack, which like A&M's prefers to operate out of the spread, without a huddle, and at maximum tempo.
But is it fair to compare to the two teams' receiving corps -- of, if you're Wallace, declare Ole Miss's the better of the two? Unfortunately for the Rebels (and fortunately for the Tide), it's just not fair when discussing Moncrief and Evans head-to-head; Moncrief enjoyed a highly successful 2012 but has yet to get on track in 2013, totaling just 173 receiving yards in three games and notably struggling to make an impact against Andre Hal and the outstanding Commodore secondary. Evans, meanwhile, outdid Moncrief's yardage for the season by more than 100 yards in the Alabama game alone.
But even if Moncrief isn't quite in Evans' uncoverable stratosphere, it doesn't mean he doesn't have a point when it comes to the Tide secondary matching up with the Rebels' wideouts as a whole. Five-star freshman Treadwell has nearly matched Moncrief's production, and seniors Ja-Mes Logan and Jordan Holder and dependable targets as well. (And though he doesn't qualify as a "player on the outside," freshman tight end Evan Engram has been a revelation, leading the team with 175 yards and two touchdowns.)
Are the Rebels wideouts, overall, better than A&M's? Given the start to the season enjoyed by the Aggies' Malcome Kennedy and Derel Walker, no, not yet. But Wallace is correct that the Rebels' receivers are good enough to cause the Tide secondary similar problems if the issues that surfaced in College Station aren't repaired. Wallace also said that he "think[s] we can put points on them" in Tuscaloosa, and on the evidence of two weeks ago, he might be right.
Of course, will Kevin Sumlin, Evans, Kennedy, and the rest of the Aggies wideouts care about that when they travel to Oxford on Oct. 12? Not in the slightest. The guess here is that Wallace's little bit of smack finds its way to the Aggie bulletin board sooner rather than later.
