The No. 21 Ole Miss Rebels will look to avoid a major upset when they begin their 2022 campaign against the Troy Trojans on Saturday evening at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Troy is coming off a 5-7 campaign, leading to the dismissal of head coach Chip Lindsey after three years in favor of former Kentucky assistant Jon Sumrall. Ole Miss enters year three under Lane Kiffin after going 10-3 in 2021, losing in the Sugar Bowl to Big 12 champion Baylor.
This is the second-ever meeting between the programs after Ole Miss won 51-21 at home back in 2013.
A typically solid Troy program has now missed three straight bowl games, leading to a coaching change over the offseason with Sumrall coming over after serving as Kentucky's co-defensive coordinator in 2021. The Trojans were in decent shape for a bowl at the mid-way point, but dropped four of their last five to end the year as the schedule got a lot tougher late.
With Sumrall handling the defense, former Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock will call plays on the other side, bringing along the option-heavy spread offense he ran under Chad Morris for several years. Gunnar Watson is back under center after playing in eight games last year, completing 140 of 228 passes for 1,613 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions.
Kimani Vidal is the starter at running back after carrying the ball 152 times for 701 yards and five scores while adding 22 receptions for 134 ya rds in 2021. Tez Johnson is back as the top receiver, having reeled in 67 catches for 735 yards and four scores a year ago. Carlton Martial is the defensive leader as he piled up a whopping 126 tackles including 10 for a loss and two sacks last season.
Offense was the main issue for Troy last season with the Trojans ranking in the sub-100 range at 22.8 points and 326.1 yards per game. The defense was quite solid, allowing 26.1 points per game on 351.1 yards per contest, a top 30 mark nationally.
As is typically the case with most teams, there have been no official injury reports out of Troy camp.