Peach Bowl pits Rebels against Horned Frogs

Dec 27, 2014 - 5:52 PM Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Two national powers collide in the 47th annual Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome, as the ninth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels butt heads with the sixth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs on Wednesday, Dec. 31.

Ole Miss reach as high as No. 3 in the nation during the regular season, but crucial back-to-back losses against LSU and Auburn set the team back. The Rebels are making their 36th bowl game appearance (23-12 all-time record), and their third in three seasons under head coach Hugh Freeze.

TCU had some qualms about the way things ended up in the first-ever College Football Playoff rankings, as the Horned Frogs finished on the outside looking in with an 11-1 record and one loss to Baylor on their resume. This is the first time TCU will play in the Peach Bowl, though the program is making its 30th bowl game appearance overall (13-15-1 all-time bowl record).

Ole Miss and TCU have met on the football field just six times in their program histories, with this matchup slated to be the seventh. The Rebels own a 5-1 all-time lead over the Horned Frogs. It's the first time since the 1983 season the two sides will collide.

Ole Miss was a well-oiled machine this season, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Rebels averaged 30.4 ppg under the leadership of quarterback Bo Wallace, who had his name mentioned with the Heisman hopefuls for the better part of the year. Wallace threw for 3,085 yards and 22 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, passing for 257.1 ypg. He also carried the ball into the end zone five times.

Wallace was a clear proponent of spreading the wealth through the air. The quarterback found three different receivers for at least five touchdown receptions, connecting with Laquon Treadwell 48 times for 632 yards and five scores. Treadwell missed the team's last three games with a leg injury, and won't play in the Peach Bowl. Vince Sanders and Cody Core each hauled in a team-best six touchdown receptions during the regular season.

Like Wallace through the air, Ole Miss' running game was also about utilizing multiple options. Jaylen Walton led the team with 583 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 98 carries (Wallace was the only player with more totes, rushing 107 times), while Jordan Wilkins added 358 yards on the ground. The Rebels rushed for an average of 167.7 ypg.

While Ole Miss employed a strong offense led by Wallace, the team utilized a stifling defense that allowed just 13.8 ppg to opponents, headed by Mike Hilton and Tony Conner. The Rebels were able to limit the opposition to a mere 321.2 offensive ypg, and made sure strong challengers like Alabama (17 [points) and Mississippi State (17 points) were kept out of the end zone.

Hilton led the team with 66 tackles on the season, while Conner was just behind at 64 stops on the year. Conner tallied a team-best nine tackles for loss, while Marquis Haynes wasn't far off the pace with 8.5 tackles for loss and a team-best 7.5 sacks. Ole Miss registered 90 tackles for loss and 25 sacks on the season as a unit, which will come in handy when trying to defend speedy TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin and a high-octane Horned Frogs offense.

"It's an exciting time in college athletics, and we are thrilled to be one of the teams selected in the first 'New Year's Six' bowls," Freeze said. "We are honored to accept this great invitation and take on an outstanding TCU team. Atlanta is a place that is very dear to our program, and it's important to us that we represent our great university."

And what a season it was for Boykin and TCU offensively. The quarterback, who also had his named mentioned among Heisman hopefuls earlier in the year, led his Horned Frogs to a dominant 46.8 ppg, which included 332.8 passing ypg with 33 touchdowns through the air. Boykin accounted for 30 of those passing scores, tossing 3,714 yards on a 60.5 completion percentage, and he only threw seven interceptions all season long. Boykin averaged 309.5 passing ypg in 12 contests played.

He got it done in the run game too, gaining 642 yards with eight scores on the ground. But he wasn't the team's leading rusher - it was Aaron Green who topped the Horned Frogs at 854 yards and eight touchdowns on 111 carries. B.J. Catalon, who played in just eight games this season, led the Horned Frogs with 10 touchdowns on the ground. Catalon is questionable to play in the Peach Bowl with an ailing shoulder injury. The Frogs still averaged 209.3 rushing ypg this season.

Josh Doctson and Deante' Gray were Boykin's favorite targets. Doctson topped the team with 59 receptions, and came up just short of 1,000 yards at 959, and also hauled in nine receiving scores. Gray chipped in with eight touchdown catches in 34 receptions. One of Boykin's top targets (Kolby Listenbee) is questionable to play in the game with a concussion.

TCU's defense played a strong 2014 campaign, and was especially solid down the home stretch in the regular season against Big 12 Conference competition. The Horned Frogs enter this game allowing just 20.3 ppg to opponents, which was boosted by limiting teams like Iowa State (three points), Texas (10 points) and Kansas State (20 points) to minimal scoring late in the year.

Linebacker Paul Dawson had an absolutely dominant season for TCU, as he enters the Peach Bowl leading the team in tackles (128) and tackles for loss (18.5), adding in five sacks, four interceptions and three fumble recoveries. Between Dawson, Marcus Mallet (10.5 tackles for loss) and James McFarland (20 tackles for loss, six sacks), the Ole Miss run game should be well accounted for. Chris Hackett (six interceptions) and Sam Carter (four interceptions) will be spying Wallace to make sure the Ole Miss passing game goes nowhere.

"We feel like this is a playoff game," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "Ole Miss is a team that was as high as third in the nation, that played at a very high level, that could have been in the playoffs, lost a couple heartbreakers -- exactly what I would want as a coach. The kids are going to practice hard because they know the competition level."