VIDEO: Bama Vs. Ole Miss: The Full Recap

By Robby Donoho

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI) — It can be said with confidence, Ole Miss and Alabama play entertaining games.

There’s nothing quiet or boring when the Tide and the Rebels face off, and once again, it went right down to the wire on Saturday in Oxford.

The Rebels had a 21-point first half lead, but Alabama erased that lead in a matter of minutes, with a big touchdowns of offense, special teams, and eventually defense as the Tide rolled to a close, crazy 48-43 win.

“We thought this was going to be a sixty minute game. That we would probably half to wear them down, and beat them in the second half”, Alabama head coach Nick Saban said.

“I didn’t think it would work quite that way, but I do think that the players knowing what had happened in the Florida State game, you know, when Ole Miss kind of jumped on them, made some big plays, got way ahead in the game, and Florida State just kept playing, showed a lot about the competitive character of the players to continue to do that.”

“…We know if we played for four quarters that we know how to finish…”, sophomore wide receiver Calvin Ridley said.

It was a tale of two halves for Ole Miss, much like it was in the Florida State game.

The Rebels got out to a 24-3 lead with 2:47 left in the second quarter, then Alabama rattled off 24 unanswered and took the lead, went back and forth, got crazy late, but the Rebels unable to fully get through at the end.

“We have the talent to compete with the best teams in the country…”, said senior tight end Evan Engram, “…for us to get up like that twice, and watch it wash away…we have to look ourselves in the mirror.”

“It’s on me”, said senior quarterback Chad Kelly,

“I gave them a free 14 points just like that. As a quarterback, you can’t do that. It stinks that I’m sitting here saying that it’s my mistake again but I got to correct it.

“Really proud of a lot of things, we’re playing a lot of young kids in a lot of areas, and thought, man, they competed”, head coach Hugh Freeze said.

The Tide remain the #1 team, offensively and defensively they were very strong in the second half, but most people were turn their sights on Ole Miss.

The Rebels once again squander a big lead in the second half, and head coach Hugh Freeze and the Rebels have to find a way to play a full 60 minute game and not their guard down when they get a big lead, and they’ll have to do that once again next Saturday when Georgia comes to Oxford.