Ole Miss pulled off what might have been one of the biggest upsets in program history by beating number three Alabama in a 23-17 thriller. In a day that featured College Gameday and celebrities such as Katy Perry and Woody Harrelson attending the game, Ole Miss got a hard fought victory to put them at 5-0 on the season. A huge crowd of 61,826 people attended the game, the fourth most in school history.
The game started off on an exciting when Ole Miss running back Mark Dodson returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to give the Rebels excellent field positioning. A few plays later, kicker Gary Wunderlich connected on a 46-yard field goal to give the Rebels and early lead.
On the next drive, Alabama was able to pick up two first downs but then missed a field goal of 46 yards to turn the ball over. Quarterback Bo Wallace then was able to move the Rebels down to the Alabama 20-yard line, where Andrew Fletcher failed to connect on a 33-yard field goal. Fletcher’s miss would result in Wunderlich seeing more of the kicking duties than normal.
Alabama would struggle to move the ball after the change of possession and punt the ball back to the Rebels, who after a three-and-out would punt the back to the Tide.
On their next possession Alabama’s offense took a huge hit when running back Kenyan Drake suffered a gruesome leg injury that require him to be carted off the field. Alabama continued to struggle moving the ball against the Rebels defense and punted the ball away. Neither team scored again until three punts later, as both defenses were dominating the opposing offenses early on.
After the Ole Miss punt, Alabama began their drive, leaning heavily on running back T.J. Yeldon to move the ball. It looked like the Rebels might be able to get a red zone stop and hold the Tide to a field goal, but quarterback Blake Sims ran a beautiful play action run that fooled the whole defense and resulted in him walking into the end zone to record Alabama’s first score.
After that, both teams tried fruitlessly to move the ball until Ole Miss had possession with 51 seconds left in the half. On a handoff to I’Tavius Mathers, Alabama defensive back Cyrus Jones was able to force and recover a fumble and run it back to the end zone to extend the Tigers lead to 14-3 at halftime.
Alabama got the ball to begin the third quarter, and with some good downfield running by Yeldon and sophomore Derrick Henry they were able to set up a 51-yard field goal for kicker Adam Griffith. Griffith couldn’t connect, making that his second miss of the day.
On the ensuing drive, the Rebels started off with good field positioning that got significantly better after Wallace completed a 50-yard pass to tight end Evan Engram. Two plays later, Wallace found sophomore wideout Laqoun Treadwell for a 14-yard touchdown to cut Alabama’s to four at 14-10.
On the next drive, Alabama fought hard to quell the Rebels comeback with some power running by Henry and a 53-yard pass from quarterback Blake Sims to tight end O.J. Howard. Griffith ended up connecting on a 44-yard field goal with around four minutes left in the third quarter.
After that, both defenses kept up their impressive play and forced four consecutive punts. Both offenses played pretty well, and completed several passes, but overall the defenses had the upper hand and wouldn’t let either offense get into field goal range.
Ole Miss was able to break the scoring drought, as Wallace was able to connect on a 16-yard pass to Engram, followed by a 34-yard pass to senior receiver Vince Sanders. This tied the score at 17.
On the ensuing kickoff, Ole Miss defensive end caused a huge shift in the momentum of the game as well as a change in possession when he forced Alabama returner Christion Jones to fumble the ball. Ole Miss took over in great field position and was able to score on a 10-yard pass to running back Jaylen Walton on a wheel route.
This pass marked Wallace’s third touchdown on a day when he completed 18-31 passes for 251 yards. However, the Rebels were not able to convert the extra point, as Alabama blocked Andrew Fletcher’s attempt. This made the score 23-17.
Alabama took over on offense with 2:35 left in the game. Sims spread the ball around as the tide moved down the field quickly, a 17-yard pass to Christion Jones and a 30 yard pass to wide receiver Amari Cooper highlighting the drive. Alabama was able to move the ball to the Ole Miss 32 yard-line before Sims threw a game clinching interception to senior cornerback Senquez Golsun.
With the final score being 23-17, the Rebel victory marked the first time Ole Miss had beat Alabama since the 2003 season.
