Red Zone Rewind: Looking back at the history of Alabama versus Ole Miss

The No. 13 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide will welcome the No. 15 ranked Ole Miss Rebels to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday afternoon in both teams’ first SEC matchup of the season.

The rivalry began in 1894 in Jackson, Mississippi, with the Rebels winning 6-0. Since then, Ole Miss only has nine more victories over Alabama with the Tide leading the all-time series 54-10-2.

For this week’s Red Zone Rewind, let’s take a look back at the previous three matchups and at the last time the Rebels knocked off the Tide.

 

Tough test in Oxford

On Nov. 12, 2022, Bryce Young and the Number 10 ranked Tide traveled to Vaught Hemingway Stadium.  The Rebels jumped out to an early 10-0 lead behind running back Quinshon Judkins.  Young would find Burton for a 19-yard touchdown and Judkins would answer with another rushing touchdown of his own to make it 17-7.

The Alabama offense would score on their next four possessions over the second and third quarters while Jaxson Dart added a touchdown pass to Jonathan Mingo to make it 24-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

Will Reichard knocked in a 23 and 49-yard field goal to give Alabama a 30-24 lead that would become the final score. Jaxson Dart’s pass to the end zone fell to the turf and the Crimson Tide would move to 8-2 before finishing the 2022 season 11-2.

 

Popcorn, anyone?

It was Oct. 2, 2021, and the number one ranked and undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide was hosting the number 12 ranked, and 3-0 Matt Corral-led Ole Miss Rebels.

This game was not a close one, despite Kiffin’s now infamous “get your popcorn ready” statement before the game. After a 13-play 94-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter, the offense would explode for three touchdowns in the second quarter to give the Tide a 28-0 lead heading into halftime.

Brian Robinson finished with 171 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. The defense stymied the Rebels rushing attack holding it to just 78 yards on 34 carries. They also made three fourth down stops and held Ole Miss to 5/14 on third down.

The final score was 42-21 as the Rebels added two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter. Alabama would finish the season with a 12-2 record and Ole Miss would finish 10-3.

 

111-point thriller

On Oct. 10, 2020, in only the third game of the season for each team, the two met in what would become the highest scoring game in the series.  The two combined for over 1300 total yards of offense and 111 points.

The teams would trade touchdowns in the first half with Ole Miss getting on the board first with Matt Corral finding Kenny Yeboah for his first of two reception touchdowns that day. Mac Jones would answer back with a strike to Devonta Smith to knot the score up at 7-7. Both teams would rush for two touchdowns each in the second quarter to make it 21-21 at the half.

The Tide would match their first half total in the third quarter alone with two Najee Harris rushing touchdowns and a Jones passing touchdown to Miller Forristall.  Corral would answer with another pass to Yeboah and Jerrion would add another touchdown on the ground to make it 42-35 at the end of the third quarter.

Snooper Corner would kick off scoring in the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run to give us our final tie of the game at 42-42.  Harris would give the Tide the lead that they would hold with his fourth touchdown run of the game. The Rebels would kick two field goals in the fourth quarter, but Alabama would add two more touchdowns to win their third game of a perfect season, 63-48.

Mac Jones finished the game with 417 passing yards and two touchdowns both to Devonta Smith who had 164 yards receiving, and Najee Harris ran for 206 yards and five touchdowns. Matt Corral threw for 379 yards and the Rebels combined for 268 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Devonta Smith would go on to win the Heisman Trophy and Alabama would defeat Ohio State in the National Championship. The Rebels would finish the season 5-5 after defeating Indiana 26-20.

 

One loss doesn’t end the dream

Finally, we flash back eight years to Sep. 19, 2015, when Chad Kelly led the Rebels into Tuscaloosa to face Derrick Henry and the Tide.

After both teams traded field goals early in the first half, Ole Miss’s Trae Elston intercepted Alabama Quarterback Cooper Bateman to set up the Rebels in excellent field position.  Jordan Wilkins would finish off the drive with a one-yard touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Ole Miss forced and recovered a fumble and Chad Kelly ran for a four-yard touchdown and just like that it was 17-3 Rebels.

Jake Coker would then come in to replace Bateman and lead a touchdown drive capped off with a touchdown pass to Richard Mullaney to make it 17-10 heading into halftime.

On Ole Miss’s opening drive of the second half, Kelly dropped back to pass and threw up a prayer that miraculously landed in the hands of wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo who scampered 66 yards for a touchdown.

Down 30-10 with four minutes left in the third quarter, Coker slowly began to find his rhythm.  He would lead a 69- and 46-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 30-24.  The momentum was clearly on Alabama’s side until Kelly found Cody Core for a 73-yard touchdown. This was followed by a C.J. Johnson interception of Coker and a touchdown pass to Laquon Treadwell to extend the Rebels’ lead to 43-24.

Alabama would then answer back once again with a 75-yard touchdown drive, an onside kick recovery and a Coker touchdown pass to Mullaney to once again make it a one possession game 43-37.

They would get the ball back twice with a chance to take the lead, but the Rebel’s defense would make two stops to walk out of Bryant-Denny with a wild 43-37 victory.

That would be Alabama’s only loss of the season and they would go on to win the National Championship over Clemson. Ole Miss would finish 9-4.

 

Next up

Ole Miss and Jaxson Dart will look to upset the Tide and get their first victory in the rivalry in eight years this Saturday. The game is set to air on CBS. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT.

 

Nazario Pangallo is a contributor for WVUA-FM and is a co-host of Gameday on 90.7 FM from 8-10 a.m. CT Saturday mornings.