“We allowed some big plays, made some errors and there are some things we need to work on”, said Alabama safety Eddie Jackson, who returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.
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Ole Miss packed Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in powder blue Saturday, as a crowd of 66,176 people set a record for the largest crowd to attend a football game in MS state history. He completed 20 of 40 passes but led one 92-yard drive in the first half and another march for three points in the fourth quarter. Nick Saban saw the victory he wanted: Alabama gets revenge after taking down Ole Miss 48-43.
Watch these poor Ole Miss fans get a reality check when they realize they’ll be carrying around the 2014 goalposts for at least a couple more years. “A hard game for coaches, definitely”. “When you get behind, you play with fire”.
1 game at No. 1 Alabama will kickoff at 7 p.m. ET and be televised on ESPN. Once again, Kelly – who threw for 421 yards and three touchdowns – led the Rebels to the end zone with 2:51 to play. A Rebels team with the talent to make an SEC run heads into the teeth of SEC play 1-2, looking up at Alabama and with a lot of discouraged faces in its locker room. “We were trying to run the ball on the perimeter to see if we could get them exhausted, which we did”.
MS took a 24-3 lead with 2:47 remaining in the first half after defensive end Marquis Haynes’ big hit on Hurts, forcing a fumble that fellow defensive lineman John Youngblood scooped up and ran 44 yards for a touchdown. That’s reason No. 1 why Alabama could have gotten tripped here: The Rebels have done it all before.
The first punt return of Jackson’s career went 85 yards for a touchdown.
Comeback: Alabama’s 21-point deficit is the largest under Saban since his arrival in 2007. The downside for Saban is the Tide was down that far in the first place and then allowed two touchdowns in the final 2:59 after getting ahead by 18 points in the fourth quarter. Ole Miss totaled 239 yards (216 passing and 23 rushing), along with converting 12 first downs and averaging 4.0 yards per play.
Alabama chugged along with 334 rushing yards, thanks to 290 combined from quarterback Jalen Hurts (146) and running back Damien Harris (144). The Rebels recovered an onside kick, and Kelly connected with receiver A.J. Brown for a 37-yard touchdown on the next play.
Ole Miss scored two late touchdowns but Alabama was able to run out the clock for the win. It does appear that Bo Scarbrough will be the designated short yardage guy and late game hammer, though fumbling the football with a minute to go in a one possession game won’t win him any favors. We knew that. We very well knew that we could get beat by these teams at the front end of the schedule.
Three straight losses to Ole Miss? Again, this Alabama team put up 48 points and wasn’t even playing its best football.
Ole Miss lost to Florida State, 45-34, in the season opener after leading by 22 points in the first half. The Crimson Tide run defense was stout, and you can bet those Rebels will be sore tomorrow.
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Alabama redshirt junior WR ArDarius Stewart is expected to miss several weeks due to a knee injury suffered in Saturday’s win over Ole Miss.
