“They’ve got as good a defense as I think they’ve had in the past,” Rains said. “You may get something on them, but they do a tremendous job of pursuing the ball, they’ve got good athletes over there, and it’s hard to hit the big plays. I thought we had two or three long passes on them, but they’ve got some good athletes back there.”
Boyle had only 37 rushing yards in the first half, but the Rebels got another 111 in the second half even before reserve Jesse Mattingly ran for 60 yards on their final possession.
“They came in to shut the run down, and they did a good job in the first half, but in the second half we got free a few times,” French said. “But they’re an improving ball club, they played hard and they made a game out of it. They made us work for a win.”
