After back-to-back wins over Alabama in consecutive seasons, some fans might not remember the Ole Miss 31-30 victory over former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and the No. 4 Florida Gators.
The game was in front of a crowd of over 90,000 on September 27, 2008 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
The win put Ole Miss in the national spotlight. The Rebels were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and appeared to put Tim Tebow in tears.
But none of that would’ve happened had it not been for two key plays.
Ole Miss held onto a 31-24 lead with 3:28 minutes left in the game, until former Gator wide receiver Percy Harvin scored on a 15-yard run to cut the Rebels lead to one with a pending extra-point attempt. It looked as if Florida was going to tie the game, but former Ole Miss defensive end Kentrell Lockett blocked Gator kicker Jonathan Phillips’ extra point to hold on to the slim lead.
Lockett said he noticed a gap in the offensive line on all of Florida’s extra-point attempts throughout the game.
“Before the play, I told my special teams coach (Tracy Rocker), ‘I can block one of these field goals,’” Lockett said. “Coach Rocker questioned why I was just now bringing the gap up, and I told him I could do it.”
Sure enough, Lockett backed up his statement.
“The gap was open the whole game, and I just took advantage of it at that time,” Lockett said. “It ended up being a big play for us that my teammates and I still talk about today.”
Local Ole Miss media member Chuck Rounsaville of the Ole Miss Spirit covered that game in Gainesville. To this day, Lockett’s blocked extra-point still holds a special place in his heart.
“One of the greatest plays in my 35 years of covering Ole Miss took place when Kentrell Lockett blocked the extra point,” Rounsaville said. “That play gave Ole Miss a shot in the arm that propelled them to the win.”
“At that point in time, I didn’t really measure how big that play actually was because Florida still had a chance to score and beat us,” Lockett said.
The Gators had one last opportunity to take the lead if they elected to kick a 49-yard field goal on a 4th-and-1 play at the Ole Miss 32-yard line with 41 seconds remaining. Former Florida head coach Urban Meyer sent his Heisman winner back on the field to attempt a pivotal fourth down.
“On fourth-and-1, Tebow is a guy you think can convert that,” Rounsaville said. “Ole Miss was expecting a Tebow run and it surprised me that Florida didn’t see that Ole Miss was ready for it.”
Former Ole Miss linebacker Tony Fein, also known as the founder of the ‘landshark’ celebration, made a huge play that would give Ole Miss the upset. On fourth-and-1, Fein blocked and took out former Gator center Maurkice Pouncey. During the Tebow era, Pouncey was a pivotal figure on the offensive line that gave Tebow a lot of room to run.
Yet, Pouncey could not help Tebow on that play.
Fein made the block that allowed former Ole Miss safety Marcus Temple and former Ole Miss defensive end Greg Hardy to make the tackle on Tebow. Ole Miss took over, and the game was over.
Ole Miss won 31-30 and received their first victory over a team ranked inside the Associated Press top five since 1977 when Ole Miss beat Notre Dame.
Even though Florida would go on to win the national championship, Lockett credits the Rebels for having something to do with that.
“We made Tim Tebow cry on national television. Kudos to them for going on to win the national championship, but I like to think we were the M.O. for that,” Lockett said. “If we didn’t beat them, they might not have gained that fuel underneath them to win the championship.”
Ole Miss shocked the nation as bumper stickers and t-shirts surrounded local areas with the famous quote, “Ole Miss 31, National Champions 30.”
Kentrell Lockett said it was his favorite game that he ever played in, and he will cherish the victory forever.
“Florida won the title, but the Ole Miss Rebels will forever have the bragging rights as the Cinderella team that ruined their perfect season,” Lockett said.
