Cal is looking to repeat what they did in 2017 against Ole Miss, as they head down to Oxford for an 11 AM (9 AM Pacific) start against the Rebels.

RebelGrove.com's Neal McCready answered some questions about the state of Ole Miss, as Matt Luke's team comes into this matchup in a much different place than in 2017.

(The companion to this piece, where five questions about the Golden Bears were answered, is here)

TT: 1. Matt Luke brought in two coordinators that Cal is familiar with in Rich Rodriguez and Mike MacIntyre, what changes have they made in their tenures so far?

NM: The changes have been pretty apparent. On defense, MacIntyre has scrapped the 4-2-5 for a more conventional 3-4 scheme that focuses on stopping the run and funneling plays back into the middle of the field. Rodriguez inherited an inexperienced/young unit and has switched from the pass-happy attack of former offensive coordinator Phil Longo to an offense far more reliant on the running game. I think Rodriguez would like to do more in the passing game, but he’s got a redshirt freshman quarterback who is still developing as a decision-maker.

More than anything, both coordinators are trying to instill a new attitude. MacIntyre is trying to get his defense to play smarter football, and so far, it appears to be working. Rodriguez is pushing for that “hard edge” he’s always talked about throughout his career, and while the effort’s clearly there, it’s a work in progress that might be limited by a thin offensive line that isn’t as talented as some of the units that have been at Ole Miss the past several seasons.

TT: 2. QB Matt Corral has been productive over the last couple games and he's a west coast kid, what does he bring to the table that's different from Jordan Ta'amu or Shea Patterson?

NM: Corral is fearless. He’s athletic. He works hard. He’s conscientious. He wants to be great. For the most part, he’s off to a pretty solid start. Against Memphis, the Rebels had a horrific first half on offense, but he responded with a couple of third-quarter drives that got Ole Miss back into he game, one it eventually lost, 15-10.

Against Arkansas a week later, Corral was very good, getting the ball out of his hands and making the Razorbacks pay for blitz calls that didn’t get home. Corral wasn’t perfect against Southeastern Louisiana, holding the ball too long at one point and floating a few passes that a better defensive secondary would’ve punished him for, but he was pretty good.

He’s better in the pocket than Patterson ever was but he’s still developing some of the play-making skills Patterson has. He’s a different quarterback than Ta’amu. Corral is potentially the best of that trio. In fact, I think he almost certainly will be. However, this is just his fourth game and it’s easily his toughest test yet.

TT: 3. The Ole Miss run defense has been particularly stingy statistically this year, what's changed with that unit to make them successful over the first quarter of the season?

NM: This sounds elementary, but they’re lined up right. They’re coached better. MacIntyre has made it a point of emphasis to take the run away. Ole Miss has some talent up front in Benito Jones and Josiah Coatney, among others. Qaadir Sheppard and Charles Wiley, among others, have benefited from the switch to the 3-4. The Rebels’ linebacker play is much improved and there are a few defensive backs who have provided good run support. They’re tackling better and they swarm to the football better than in years past. There is still work to do, and it’s debatable if the emphasis on the run has made Ole Miss more vulnerable to the pass, but all in all, the Rebels’ defense is significantly better than it’s been in years.

TT: 4. The talent at the skill positions has changed considerably since these teams last met, who stands out among the RB and WR groups?

NM: Two years ago, Ole Miss had DK Metcalf, A.J. Brown, DaMarcus Lodge, Van Jefferson, Dawson Knox and others in that receiver group. Metcalf is in Seattle now, Brown is with the Titans, Knox is in Buffalo and Jefferson is starring at Florida. Lodge hasn’t found an NFL home yet, but it’s likely a matter of time.

Elijah Moore has been terrific in the early going this year. He’s one of the more underrated players in the SEC. Braylon Sanders injured his hamstring against Memphis, but I expect him to at least give it a go against Cal. Donterio Drummond has shown flashes. So has Jonathan Mingo. Tight end Octavious Cooley has been very good with the ball in his hands, and converted quarterback Jason Pellerin has been surprisingly efficient as a tight end as well.

Where Ole Miss is really good is at running back. Scottie Phillips has been a consistent workhorse for a season and a quarter now. Freshman Snoop Conner has been very good late in games, and freshman Jerrion Ealy is a future star who is capable of being a game-changer every time he touches it.

So it’s different than when the Rebels went to NorCal. They’d prefer to keep it on the ground more and they have the horses to do it. The question _ and we keep coming back to this _ is are the Rebels’ offensive linemen good enough to allow Ole Miss to use the weapons it has.

TT: 5. Two years ago, these two teams were in interesting positions, with Wilcox in year one and Luke taking over for Hugh Freeze. How different of a position is the Ole Miss program in?

NM: It’s much different. When Ole Miss went to Berkeley, Luke had spent the first part of that very week in suburban Cincinnati, appearing in front of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions. He wasn’t named in any of the NCAA stuff, but the bylaws required he be there.

Fast forward two months and Luke, surprisingly, gets the interim tag dropped following a 6-6 campaign. He then makes a mistake, keeping the staff intact. Ole Miss was 5-7 a year ago, and in the eyes of many in the fan base, wasted a lot of talent.

Now the NCAA bill, if you will, has come in, and Ole Miss is having to function on a diet of ramen and canned tuna, and people are pissed. There’s no one person to direct that ire at, so Luke takes the brunt of it. It’s not really fair, and it’s not all that rational, but that’s the way it is.

Saturday’s game is big for Luke. If Ole Miss wins, the prospect of a postseason bid remains viable. Ole Miss still plays Vanderbilt and New Mexico State at home, and it’s conceivable the Rebels could steal a win at Missouri or Mississippi State or possibly knock off Texas A&M in Oxford. A loss to Cal, however, likely kills any hope and brings apathy to Oxford for the rest of the season. Ole Miss travels to Alabama next week, and assuming the inevitable there, attendance (again, assuming a loss to Cal in this scenario) would become a story line leading up to the Oct. 5 home date with Vanderbilt.

Many Ole Miss fans are, at least in my opinion, looking for a reason to get behind Luke and his program. A win over Cal, thanks to the Bears’ win at Washington and their national ranking, would encourage that support, at least temporarily. A loss, fairly or not, would be, at least to a degree, crippling from a public relations standpoint.

From the outside looking in, Wilcox has turned Cal into a stable program capable of contending in the Pac 12. Luke would kill to do the same at Ole Miss. He would tell you he needs time to get there. Beating Cal would go a long way towards giving him that time.