Ulysses Bentley IV's Potential Breakout Jackson Dart will continue to put up Heisman trophy level numbers and this week's victim is Middle Tennessee you are locked on Old Miss your daily podcast on the Old Miss Rebels part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to today's locked on Miss podcast I'm your host Steven Willis and today we are diving into the heartbeat of Lin's offense that is Jackson Dart after grading out higher than any other quarterback in the power four in week one jart is back and ready to do it all over again and with the weapons around him it's going to be tough for any defense to stop him honestly on offense Trey Harris might be the best player on the team but he's far for the only option for Dart in the passing game we also talk about the possible return of Jordan Watkins could this be the week this is the lock on Miss podcast your daily podcast on the most Miss Rebels your team every day we're free and available in all the podcast apps and YouTube and thanks for making lockon on miss your first listen every day and a special hello to the Insiders and every dayers who make the show what it is and don't forget to find the second listen on the network Chris Gordy at lockon SEC and Corey Burton at lockon Vandy gives other perspectives on college football the SEC and yes even old Miz so check them out as well today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase purchase terms apply download game time today what time is it game time speaking of game time it looks like you can get some pretty good deals on tickets for the Miss Middle Tennessee game so this might be the last chance to get good deals so you might want to look at that as well this is my favorite episode of the week this is the why Miss wins episode I'll tell you why I think Miss is going to win the game and why you should expect to be happy come Sunday morning morning let's look at the bullet points om Miss is going to play clean and make it to where their talent overwhelms Lan kein plays clean in games his teams traditionally do not turn the ball over do not have stupid penalties they are fairly well coached and they're going to do that and their talent is significantly better than Middle Tennessee and that isn't a shot at Middle Tennessee it's just the truth MTSU was also transitioning to a 34 defense and they don't have the Personnel right now needed to do that they've hit the transfer portal hard to try and make it happen but it's still a little bit clunky I think the running game should have some explosive plays in the game um on Saturday because of this and of course Jackson Dart will continue to put up Heisman level numbers that's not surprising to anybody honestly but we'll start with that third bullet point Jackson Dart putting up Heisman level numbers against Ferman on Saturday in the first half of the game Dart was 22 for 27 418 yards and five touchdowns he also ran for a touchdown as well he had about 450 yards of total offense in that game and that was in only one half of football it was a Heisman type level performance in that football game and Jackson Dart is looking to continue having performances like that and it's something that I expect him to have big numbers I'm not expecting 420 yards in the first half but I am expecting somewhere north of 300 350 yards in this game especially with the weapons that he has at his disposal he's a good player he just is Jaxson Dart's Heisman-Level Performance and because of that you can count on Jackson Dart to make plays and when you have Trey Harris out wide when you have juice Wells out wide Kaden prorn dayquan Wright the running backs that omz have that we're going to talk about in a little bit as well Jackson Dart has a lot of toys at his disposal and one guy that were eagerly waiting to see there was a rumor that came out it might not be true but you know how people talked during the week that Jordan Watkins was maybe seen in a red practice jersey at some point this week I don't know if it's true I can't validate that one way or another but this week we get to find out if this is the week that Jordan Watkins comes back at least in a limited role I do not expect him to return punts this year I don't Jordan Watkins was an excellent punt returner and Lane Kipping completely um trust him but the only way I think Jordan Watkins goes back and catches punts this year is if Michael Davis um for some reason can't do it but Jordan Watkins in the slot him and Kaden Lee that is an interesting combination Kaden Lee is going to be at re he was at re talk which is usually a signal of where he stands and how he's going to perform so maybe we're not going to see Jordan Watkins maybe they're going to rest him up for Wake Forest another week but Jordan Watkins coming back into the offense is important because he was Jackson dart's safety blanket a year ago he had 53 catches 700 41 yards and three touchdowns and that was with a broken hand for like a fourth of the Season or a third of the season so let's keep an eye on this that's something to watch for as well other things to watch for in this game is the running game again on Saturday was it a symptom of a problem or a product of the game plan so we'll find out what's going on there as well and you know if you look at ulyses Bentley I think he is the guy positioned to have the explosive plays over the course of the week um o over the course of this weekend because of the problems in the front seven in the MTSU defense and how explosive of a player he is and I also want to see Matt Jones get carries in the first and second quarter that's what I want to see but Jackson Dart is probably going to be the straw that stir the drink a little bit um in this football game whenever you have the weapons that he has and the way they operated the quickness that they operate when they have the helmet communication and the ways that they can make their situation even better calling into the teams Miss doesn't snap the ball usually under 15 seconds on the play clock they just don't they usually average at about 20 21 seconds whenever they're going really fast which means that they have time to point out some quick things about hey this is what the defense is doing and we talked to Bill flowers um on Wednesday about defenses and how they SK coverages and rolling over coverages and things like that designed to fool a quarterback this is the benefit of having a year three quarterback you have Jackson D coming in very focused very ready to go each and every week and honestly I have not seen a quarterback function at this level since Joe burrow in 2019 somebody this locked into football where football was all that mattered to him if you told me that nothing else mattered in this world more than football to Jackson Dart this season for the next four months I I believe it because this is the paycheck year you only get 12 opportunities in the regular season to do this and you only get what amounts to four preseason type games to do this because Ferman and then Middle Tennessee and then you raise up a level like preseason game three used to be think about that to Wake Forest and then you have um a warm-up game in week four against Georgia Southern it makes sense for Jackson Dart to completely sell out this year and because of that he's going to attack he Potential of Matt Jones in Ole Miss is going to use the weapons at his disposal and put up massive numbers and by the end of the year he is going to have the numbers that are saying hey you need to invite this guy to New York and not since SEI Manning has almost had a quarterback invited to New York so we will see how it goes I expect Jackson Dart to have a magnificent game maybe not necessarily yards like I said I don't expect 420 yards in the first half it's not like that but expect north of 350 yards for the game and this is with Middle Tennessee having a decent SEC secondary um we interviewed Sam dotton um from gobl raiders.com yesterday and he talked about how the strength of this defense is probably the secondary but most of these secondaries that miss is going to run into it's not going to necessarily matter because Miss is going to be that far superior to everybody they go up against with the exception of maybe Oklahoma and Georgia that going to have to strain a little bit they have an advantage over everybody else at the wide receiver position they're going to be a favor in 11 of 12 games this season we talked about that if you look at FanDuel for futures Miss is already a three and a half Point favorite over LSU after the first game so we'll see how it goes Jackson Dart has everything in front of him decent numbers I'm sure touchdowns are going to go up I I would like to see four touchdowns accounted for from Jackson dth this weekend I would like to see 350 yards plus passing and if that happens you're looking at somebody that's about 800 yards with um 10 touchdowns accounted for right on Pace to the direction he wants to go in that direction being New York we'll see how that goes as well you know coming up next Derek n Mason gave Lane k in Matt Corral headaches in 2021 when he was the DC at um Auburn but can his game plan hold up with a team still in transition stay tuned to find out how Miss plans to handle that challenge you know when you're hiring for your small business you need to find the right professionals the people that are going to truly fit your role and help your business grow that's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs I've personally used LinkedIn jobs to find some top-notch candidates and the platform really makes it easy to filter through and find quality people LinkedIn just isn't another job board it's a Network full of professionals you will not find anywhere else and what's great is even those who aren't actively searching for a job might see your role and realize hey this is exactly what I'm looking for and over 70% of LinkedIn users don't even visit other major job sites so if you're not looking at you LinkedIn you're probably doing this wrong you might be missing in out on your best candidates 86% of of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours that's fast and honestly you need that in today's market if you want to hire like a professional use LinkedIn post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon col that's linkedin.com lockon colge to post your job for free terms and conditions apply college football is back baby and it's not too late to catch up before the season starts the SEC ACC Big 10 and Big 12 like the SEC Squad shows that like aired last night on our Channel you can get it all from lockon stable of college football experts by subscribing to the lockon lockon college football podcast who has a chance to make the playoffs what teams will cause chaos in their new conference everything you need to know all in one place be sure to follow And subscribe to the locked onas podcast Channel part of the locked on podcast Network your team and every day so the head coach of Middle Tennessee is Derek Mason yes that Derek Mason the same Derrick Mason that was the head coach at Vanderbilt that caused headaches for Old Miss who was the defensive coordinator at Auburn who forced that four or five interception game by Matt caral um on the planes that Auburn eventually ended up winning that was the game that Matt Carell got hurt went of the locker room came back in that was Luke almers true freshman year that year the year that Old Miss went to the sugar ball that's the one I'm talking about Derrick Mason had a plan that completely befuddled um Matt carral in the Red Zone multiple Red Zone interceptions if Lane kein would have just kicked field goals in that night he would have probably won that game but Derrick Mason had an excellent plan that night and Derrick Mason do not forget made his bones as the defensive coordinator at Stanford and he was known as the Oregon killer he was the guy that made Matthew uh Matt me um Miota look very pedestrian he was a guy that could figure out how to stop the Oregon offense when nobody else could then he ended up going to Vanderbilt and they became a very sufficient defensive unit they had some problems on offense but he did take Vandy to a bowl game and as we all know as SEC fans that's nothing to sneeze at so Derrik Mason is at Middle Tennessee and he is going to take that knowledge of how to deal with Lane kein and how to deal with Old Miss offense and try and put it into use here's the problem that he is going to run into in this game though and that is MTSU is still a team in transition they were coming off of the 425 defense a year ago I think it was Tyrone Nicks if I'm not mistaken it might not have been he might have been the year before but I think he was at Middle Tennessee 425 and we all know that defensive players kind of fit differently depending on the scheme if you were a 34 person you want a different line than a 43 person or a 425 person for instance the defensive end position defensive ends in a three-man front are generally around 280 290 pounds there are three techniques in a four-man front defensive ends um in a fourman front is down closer to 240 250 on both sides of the field and that's just the way football is played with the way that you scheme things up and how you want to attack offenses Derek Mason is a three-man defensive coordinator Middle Tennessee State had Personnel to run a 425 which means somewhat undersized defensive ends um no true nose guard on the roster and the three techniques maybe you can play one out at end but you don't have enough of them Derek Mason attracted the attacked the transfer portal to try and solve this problem but the what this is going to lead to and the way they're trying to play the reason the size speed ratios happen in a 34 defense as opposed to a 4-3 is because of what they're asked to do and what you're likely going to see is undersized people or three techniques that probably aren't athletic enough to play on the end in order to try and fill those size speed re ratios that could lead to a hole in the first and second level and allow a running back for Miss to get out the gate it's one of the reasons I said I think ulyses Bentley could be somebody that could go off and everybody's going to say well he went six for 23 against Ferman why are you saying that I genuinely think the Ferman game was more of a product of the game plan than a symptom of a problem that that's genuinely what I believe and uiss Bentley he is a guy that is Jerry and elely plus a very explosive player and he's designed to take care of open space if he gets into the clear if it gets open and he's gone there's nothing you're going to be able to do he's so quick twitch of a running back he can make you pay and whenever you're looking at a defensive line that is transitioning from a three-man front or from a four-man front to a three-man front when you see the linebackers where you're used to having two and now you need four and they're going to be a little bit different as well you can see how in year one things can get conky and a transition similar to this happened in 20 12 2013 2014 maybe that may have been Derrick Mason's first year at Vandy Miss went up to Vanderbilt and beat them like 54-1 or something like that and that is because of the transitions that were happening on defense and on offense going from the spread offense that was run under James Franklin to a Stanford type um 12 Personnel line up play football in a foam Booth type formation that Derrik Mason was used to and from a Stanford days implementing that was tricky and at MTSU they're doing a lot of those same Personnel groupings as well so offensively even against Tennessee Tech they got to where it was a little bit conky as it was described by Sam dton it was conky so this transition is a very real thing now every football team gets most gets better from game one to game two that's an old football adage because it's true but this might be a situation with Derek Mason where it takes a little bit longer um to get after if you look at the keys of the game I do think a fast start for Old Miss can cause a repeat of firman to happen I'm not talking about 76 to nothing I'm talking about getting the starters and the wear and tear off the body out of the game somewhat will Matt Jones get carries early in the game I talked about ulyses Bentley Matt Jones is another player that I want to see go against a fresh defense just to see whatas has give the guy three or four carries and see what he does and if he makes it work give him three three or four more carries and see what happens and of course play clean cut down on the bus that were about 70% of the Ferman offense over the course of the game if you do that you're going to be all right because you you have Superior talent in this game and it can't really be overstated like I said Matt Jones he had three carries 68 yards and two fairly long touchdowns in the course of the Ferman game I would like to see Matt Jones get a few carries against a first or a second quarter defense in this game with these starters on the field to see if he can do he obviously has Vision he obviously is very good at hiding behind the offensive line he's hard to see he's like 5 seven 5 seven 200 pounds um I'd like to see what this looks like and the problems that he can cause a defense I think Middle Tennessee would be a good place to start doing that for fans like me that want to see this player we've Ole Miss Football Strategy had somebody in my comments for essentially I don't know two years talking about how great Matt Jones is and until I see him in the first and second quarter I can't really talk about how great Matt Jones is so I want to see what happens I think he has earned carries in the first or second quarter just by big plays that he's made against Georgia teeken Ferman every time he's in the game he's made plays let's see if he can make plays against the starting units of this defense that's interesting type stuff anyway coming up on lock down Old Miss we're putting the final touches on our breakdown of Middle Tennessee State how do the rebels Stack Up and what's the score prediction I want to hear from you as well so don't miss it game time is the place to get your tickets they have killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seats and their lowest price guarantee game time actually takes the guest work out of buying tickets you know there's not a bad seat in VA himing way Stadium so it's refreshing though to know that no matter what it is you can see exactly what the view will be from that seat no matter where it is in baling way stadium before you buy the ticket so you know exactly what you're walking into they have the lowest price guarantee cancellation protection job loss protection all of the customer service site that you're looking for so take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time and with this being the most anticipated season in's history I might be able to help you out with tickets as well download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code l c k d o n c o l l e g that's all one word for $20 off download d game time today low last minute tickets lowest price guarantee so let's put the finishing touches a little bit on the Middle Tennessee State we have a pregame show tomorrow at like 10:00 Central we're going to do that with John Mak glesby we still have Michael catch we still have Tom vanderford that is going to air between now and that pregame show so we have a lot of stuff coming out for everybody over the course of the week the reaction round table is set up for Sunday night and of course our lockdown almost is live on Tuesday the live shows are going just a little housekeeping so to speak lot has asked me to keep my live streams at about 30 minutes um so the postgame reaction show is going to be about 30 minutes so the pregame show is going to be about 30 minutes lockdown almost live 30 minutes and the reason for that is the fast 247 streaming channel that lockon is doing they want to position my show um on that channel quite a bit so they needed to have a duration to where they can program to where it's not overly long so people that want to watch that 30 seconds nice nice little bite-size morsel of reaction and things like that so we're going to do that so it's going to look a little bit different and obviously before the SEC play we're working on sponsors all over the place everybody they're all fighting for that prestigious Monday advertising spot so we'll see how that plays out by the beginning SEC football as well should be pretty great so this game is interesting when you look at the lineup date right now miss is favored by 41 and a half points over Middle Tennessee State the over under is up to 63 and a half um they're probably thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 52 to 10ish is kind of the score that they're thinking of maybe a little bit higher maybe a little bit lower and honestly that looks about right um this this is like I said and as I've said this whole week this is probably the largest line I've ever seen almost have in an FBS game I've seen large lines I've seen huge numbers I don't think I've ever seen one this big and that a lot of that has to do with the fact that oh miss is number one in the SEC and heck I think number one in the country and offense both scoring and yards um defensively if it wasn't for Two Carries at the end of the Ferman game they would have given up about six yards rushing to the Ferman paladins and about 150 yards total with about 80 yards worth of bust thrown in there as well this team is complete it's full and other than brt MC Murphy deciding that okay after the Ferman game winning 76 to nothing and dominating the way you did you need to drop down from six to number 10 it makes no sense all these media haters with all their bias I I'm I'm just done with you um so we'll see how it goes and this is a situation to where I see Miss scoring a good number of points I see Jackson dart playing into the third quarter it's not going to be a halftime taken out type situation but he is going to play into the third quarter of the game and I think Austin Simmons is going to take it from there and Walker Howard's probably going to get a um garbage Ser series at the end of the game at like two minutes left to go whenever gets the ball last that's the way I think this is going to look I think ulyses Bentley is going to be the running back star of the game and I think juice Wells is going to have the passing stats even though as we saw against Ferman Jackson Dart likes to use Trey Harris he he's been identified so like we've talked about for the better part of eight months the whole goal of this team is to take double teams off of Trey Harris ifas can do that they will win this game a lot more than if they can't do that that's what it is because Trey Harris is perhaps the best football player on this entire team even with what they're doing on the offensive line even with what they're doing on the defensive line everybody on the team Trey Harris is a special level player for Old Miss and the defenses are going to realize that that's the reason it was important to recruit people like ju Wells um dayquan Wright people that make it to where you cannot double team Trey Harris and on the defensive line we also talked during the whole offseason about the need to have to double team Walter Nolan and JJ pages and ifas can do that it's going to set up Prince Ley and Mellen and Jared iy in positions that they can win and when you look at the depth chart moving Saran Perkins to back up Jared Ivy to go with a prince Ley am man Mellen that that is that looks to be the plan they're hoping that JJ J PGE can demand that double team because Walter Nolan you know is going to demand that double team and make it to where sanan Perkins and Prince Ley and Mellen can get after the quarterback on third down that is something we notice I want to see linebacker um and if Chris Paul moves up above K Coleman I mean that's kind of the battle there I want to see if key Lawrence dresses this week I want to see if lewi Moore and Jaden Kennedy are kind of the dudes um Trey Washington he's obviously the Al Mel back in that defense and the cornerback play Isaiah Hamilton and Trey Amos um Middle Tennessee has a stronger armed quarterback a better quarterback than what they've seen was what we saw last week against Ferman a mirage or a symbol of things to come there's a lot going on and of course the Run game stuff you know with the Nate kpo and Julius buo with um Jeremy James being out apparently for a couple weeks with a broken hand as well there's a lot of questions there's a lot that Old Miss people can learn and the goal to this game just like last week is the playoff it's not about beating M Middle Tennessee you're a 41 and a half Point favorite in the game you need to do what you can to make sure you're better for Georgia than to win this game I don't care if you cover or not if you are doing the right things that make it better and easier to beat Georgia that should be the goal win this game do do what needs to be done get ready for the playoff and Georgia if you do that you're going to be all right you want to look at the prediction for the game I'm going with Miss 52 Middle Tennessee seven that's a 45-point win so yes I'm calling an Miss cover I'm laying the points um It's a situation that where I think that Middle Tennessee scores at the end of the game I think the defense is equally as dominant I think this defense has a chance to look like Alabama and Georgia's those Peak defenses back in the day to where they're just hard to deal with with situation and if you look at this we've called all of this and with Miss now a favored in Tiger stadium according to FanDuel Miss is currently favored going to be favored in 11 of the 12 games of their season should be pretty interesting stuff thank you for making lockon miss your go-to source for all things om Miss Sports we pride ourselves on offering the most comprehensive po perspectives which is why we're the number one podcast out there anyway you're support means the world to us thank you for making lockon all miss your first and listen every day now go check out lockon college football podcast from nil deals to the never ending conference realignment R rumors Spencer MC golin get you ready for an exciting season on the grid iron you can find the link down in the description you don't even need to search part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day also we have um if you want to hear from John 4K 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