OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss had another gear.

The Rebels found it in the second half Saturday and outscored UCA 35-7 in the final half to win 49-27 at Oxford.

The Rebels, picked in the lower echelon of the SEC, still has SEC speed, power and size and it showed as they wore down the Bears, particularly the young linemen.

In the end, the form chart held. Ole Miss, as it should, defeated an NCAA FCS team going away. UCA, as a good FCS team, was competitive, managed to throw a bit of a scare and gave a good account of itself.

Interestingly, the UCA offense played better than expected and the defense not as well as expected.

It was a big paycheck game, a lessons-learned game.

From now on, the Bears play teams on their own level.