Ole Miss Players ‘Hungry’ to ‘Dominate’ Vanderbilt to Prove Blowout Loss was One-Off – Sports Illustrated

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OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss players have had the time to ‘sit in their feelings’ regarding the team’s humbling, 52-28, loss at Florida in Week 4. Just as Pete Golding wanted and mentioned immediately following the Rebels’ first loss of the season. 
With the bye coming at what coaches and players framed as an ideal time for an open week, the Rebels believe their ‘hard practices’ have helped them get back to the basics.   
“It was a hard two practices,” left tackle Terez Davis said following Tuesday’s practice. “We really just put the plays away, game plan away and just went there and hitting people. Getting back to the basics, footwork — stuff like that. Just mental cleanups. It was definitely a good week for us to just get back on track and finish out the week.”
The ninth-ranked Rebels have another road trip to Music City this week as they look to not just beat, but to also dominate Vanderbilt to avoid having any similar feeling to what was felt in Gainesville.
Ole Miss is determined to do so.      
“I’d say we’re hungry. All of us as a team we felt how we felt in the locker room during Florida and we don’t want to feel it again,” Davis explained. “We just want to go out this week and just dominate, so that’s the plan.”
For Davis, and the rest of the team, it was rather tough to sit in those feelings for over a week, but necessary. 
“It’s tough, especially when you hold yourself to a standard. Especially in the o-line room. When we make a bad play we’re down, so it makes you want to go even harder. Guys in the o-line room when we have a bad play, we just pick each other up and we just try to go even harder. When I mess up, I know I’m better than that,” Davis added. “I just go 10 times harder the next play.”
Senior tight end Luke Hasz described the Rebels practices as ones with a noticeable uptick in intensity between the lines, but that the team now has its eyes forward. 
“I think definitely our intensity during practice and stuff is kind of that way. But with our confidence, that’s kind of in the past,” Hasz told reporters this week. “We’re focused on just playing with confidence and playing fast and physical and doing all the things necessary to win.” 
“I feel like we’ve come together more close than coming after that loss. Obviously it sucks, but I mean our season’s not over and we still have a lot to work for. I think this past week we put a lot of work in.” 
Trinidad Chambliss’ blindside protector expects to see heavy pressure put on his quarterback this weekend, particularly on third downs — an area Chambliss typically excels in. 
Vanderbilt is up to 14 sacks through five games.
“They’re physical. On third down they run a lot of blitzes,” Davis added. “They like to bring seven, eight on third down to confuse you. They run a lot of twists and stuff like that, so we just gotta be prepared. They have two pretty good edges that we also gotta prepare for. They’re good inside too. Good size and they play physical.”
Despite an 0-2 start in SEC play, Hasz sees no quit in the Commodores. 
“They play hard, especially just watching their defense. A lot of the guys fly around,” Hasz said. “It’s not always about who the person is, they all just play extremely hard and have no quit in them.”
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Bio: Tyler Komis is a beat reporter for Ole Miss On SI. He is a Biletnikoff Award and Lombardi Award voter from New Jersey with more than five years of sports reporting experience. Prior to joining On SI, he previously covered Ole Miss Athletics for 247Sports (2021-2026), chronicling the ascension of the football program and the beginning of its coaching transition to Pete Golding ahead of the 2025-26 College Football Playoffs. You can find Komis on social media channels, including X/Twitter @TylerKomis.
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