OXFORD — The No. 11 Ole Miss football team used a fourth-quarter performance from its offense to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit against No. 3 Alabama on Saturday.
But it was the defense that kept the Rebels in the game in the first half and early in the third quarter and gave them a chance to stay in the game and pull the 23-17 upset in front of 61,826 delirious fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The Crimson Tide used a strong rushing attack and accurate passing from senior quarterback Blake Sims to roll up nearly 200 yards in the first half against a defense that gave up ground, but didn’t give up the big play.
On the flip side, the Alabama defense held Ole Miss’ high-octane, up-tempo offense to 105 yards, including only 39 rushing. The inability to run the football put extra pressure on the passing game and senior quarterback Bo Wallace, leading to an 8-of-16 showing (66 yards) in the first half.
The game seemed to be lock and key for the Crimson Tide when, leading 7-3 with 50 seconds to play in the second quarter, defensive back Cyrus Jones stripped running back I’Tavius Mathers of the ball at the 13-yard line and scooped it up for a touchdown that normally would have broken the back of a team playing against a Nick Saban-coached Crimson Tide team. The scoop and score gave the Crimson Tide a 14-3 lead at halftime.
It didn’t help Ole Miss’ cause that Alabama was set to receive the second-half kickoff with a chance to extend its lead. A score by the Crimson Tide to open the half would have made an extremely unlikely comeback by Ole Miss next to impossible.
In a game that had so many heroes for the Rebels, mostly on offense, the fact that the defense kept the team in the game and withstood attack after physical attack from a rugged Alabama running game with its huge offensive line in the first half and in the third quarter easily got lost in the shuffle. The big plays, the resilience, the determination showed by the Rebels’ defense on the opening drive of the second half kept the team in the game.
Alabama took the kickoff at its 25 after a touchback and moved 41 yards in 14 plays, including six-straight running plays to the left side behind the left side of freshman Cameron Robinson and preseason All-America candidate Arie Kouandjio. The Crimson Tide seemed to be imposing their will on a seemingly outmanned defense. In one of those moments that most people will forget, Alabama was poised to finish off Ole Miss with a first-and-10 at the Ole Miss 24.
On first down, Ole Miss super sophomore Tony Conner came on a blitz from the left side and made a big hit on Sims, who slipped away, only to be tackled for a 6-yard loss by All-America safety Cody Prewitt. After a dropped pass by tight end O.J. Howard on second down, the Rebels came up big on third down, as senior defensive tackle Bryon Bennett, of Madison Central, sacked Sims.
The negative plays resulted in a 52-yard field goal attempt that was wide and short by Adam Griffith. The Rebels then moved 66 yards in four plays, with Wallace finding sophomore wide receiver Laquon Treadwell for a 14-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-10.
“No doubt about it,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said when asked about the importance of the defensive play to keeping his team in the game. “We settled them down at halftime and we gave up some yardage, but we came up big there with a couple of plays for a loss that led to the missed field goal. Them not scoring there kept us in the game and we responded with a big drive to give us confidence. We knew Alabama wasn’t going to beat us running the ball the whole game. Eventually, they were going to have to throw, which I don’t think they wanted to do.”
When asked for his assessment of the game, Saban said, “You really have to give Ole Miss credit in the way they finished the game. We did not finish the game like we needed to. I think the momentum of the game really got in their favor in the second half based on things we didn’t do well. Ole Miss made some plays on defense. I think this speaks well of the way they are coached. They play extremely hard and are extremely aggressive on defense.”
The Rebels improved to 5-0 (2-0 in the Southeastern Conference) for the first time since 1962, while Alabama fell to 4-1 and 1-1.
Ole Miss will travel to College Station, Texas, next Saturday to battle Texas A&M, a 48-31 loser to Mississippi State, while Alabama will travel to Arkansas.
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