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OLE MISS-ed Opportunity
- Updated: September 18, 2016
The Ole Miss Rebels came into Saturday’s game against the number one team in the nation having beaten them the last two contests. They had home field advantage on their side and plenty of talent to go toe-to-toe with even a behemoth like Alabama. They got off to a great start early, opening up a 24-3 lead and looking well on their way to a huge upset that would’ve launched them right back into the College Football Playoff picture. However, things took a turn quickly late in the second quarter as the Tide scored two quick touchdowns, most notably an 85-yard punt return TD by Eddie Jackson to pull within 7, bringing the score to 24-17 at halftime. The Rebels might have went into the break with the lead, but ALL of the momentum was rolling with the Tide (pun intended). I’ve always said that football is a very momentum-based game. Things can be going absolutely horrid for a team and thing 1 thing goes right, then another, and next thing you know, the entire complex of the game changes. That is exactly what happened in this roller coaster of a game as the Tide came out to start the 2nd half and took complete control of the game in the 3rd quarter. Alabama won the 3rd quarter 17-3 and essentially the game. Ole Miss had no answer for the Alabama offense, getting completely gashed both through the air and on the ground. It definitely didn’t help that the Rebel offensive attack suddenly went completely cold being rendered almost useless by the Tide defense in the 3rd quarter.
But as I stated earlier, football is a momentum game and the momentum was back with the Rebels in the 4th quarter. It started late in the 3th quarter where the Rebels were finally able to get something going on their final drive of the quarter. Even though they didn’t end up getting a TD, Ole Miss was able to drive all the way down the field to the 1 yard line and if not for some questionable replay decisions, the Rebels maybe could have walked away with 7 instead of a field goal. Or maybe if Hugh Freeze’s balls weren’t the size of BBs, they could’ve gotten in the end zone (I’ll have more on that later). The Rebels defense would go on to give up another TD before the quarter ended, but Ole Miss had already started to regain a little momentum as the 4th quarter begun. They drove down for another field goal to come within 4 bringing the score to 34-30. However, the Tide essentially dealt the Rebels a death blow scoring 14 points in about a 2-minute span thanks to a 75 yard interception return that followed their 5-play, 58-yard TD drive. The Rebels would go on to make a last-ditch effort, scoring back-to-back TDs in less than a minute thanks to a successful onside kick. However the defense just wasn’t able to hold up. Once the Tide got the ball back, they successfully ran the clock out and kneeled to win the game.
This makes the second time this season the Rebels were up big in the 1st half against a top 5 team only to blow it by getting manhandled in the 2nd half. But the bigger story in this game was the coaching of Hugh Freeze. I thought Freeze was piss poor as a coach in this game and it cost Ole Miss big time. Let’s start in the 1st half. After the Tide scored that 2nd TD and made it a 24-17 game, the Rebels got the ball back with over a minute left in the half and time outs to work with. Yet Freeze took the coward’s way out and basically just ran the ball and looked to escape the half, despite having an opportunity to negate some of the swelling momentum that the Tide had accumulated. They scored 2 TDs in less than 2 minutes and all of sudden Freeze looked like a child about to pee his pants. I guess he knew deep down his team was inferior. Freeze’s cowardliness didn’t end there, instead it continued into the 2nd half at a crucial point in the 3rd quarter. The score was 27-24 and Ole Miss had just taken it’s 1st lead of the game. Ole Miss responded by driving down to the 1 yard line and with the Rebels facing a critical 4th and 1 at home, Freeze sends out the kicker instead of lining up and going for the TD that gives them the lead and maybe forces a different outcome. And it turned out not to matter, because the Ole Miss defense was too weak up front to do anything about the Tide running game, but I felt Freeze’s clock management after they scored their final TD and kicked it back to Bama was just horrible. Overall, the Rebels lost the game because they simply aren’t good enough to beat Alabama, but Hugh Freeze certainly didn’t do anything to give his team a better chance to win the game.
Alabama Passing
Ole Miss Passing