Game Recap- Ole Miss- 23, Alabama-17
Tuscaloosa– Sometimes you just have an off day and Alabama definitely had an off this past Saturday. After leading throughout most of the game, the Crimson Tide’s defense fell short allowing 10 points and sealing Alabama’s fate with a final score of 23-17. As Ole Miss fans piled onto the field at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium, Head Coach Nick Saban calmly congratulated the Rebels and headed into the locker room. While this is the third loss for the Tide in the last 7 games Coach Saban still believes there is a chance for his team to make it back to the championship game.
“Every goal that we have as a team is still in front of us,” Saban said. “We must improve and respond the right way to losing.”
While this looks like a huge upset in the college football world, take nothing away from the Ole Miss Rebels. The Rebels were ranked 11th heading into this game as well as being a top five defense over the past season. The Rebels now become a top 10 team after their win and key losses in the SEC with Alabama as well as Texas A&M. While the road is still long ahead for the Rebels and anything can happen, Ole Miss definitely is sitting in the driver seat headed towards Dallas for the inaugural college football playoff.
We worked hard for this moment,” said Ole Miss receiver Laquon Treadwell “And as (the final seconds) happened, I thought, ‘This isn’t the end of it all. It’s just the beginning.”
From the get go, Alabama seemed to look strong on the offensive side of the ball. Led by Quarterback Blake Sims, Alabama took an early 7-3 over the Rebels heading into the 2nd quarter on a one yard touchdown run by Sims. For the rest of the day, Sims really under-played finishing the day off 19-31 with 228 yards passing and a final second interception to seal the dal. Sure this wasn’t Blake’s best performance, but he still believes that this team can find their way back on track.
“Our leaders need to hold our heads up high and just show everybody on our team that we still have an opportunity to win a national championship,” Sims said.
A huge positive from this game probably came with the appearance of tight end OJ Howard. While Howard still hasn’t found the end zone this season, he did have his best game so far with three receptions for 81 yards including a 53 yard pass from Blake Sims. Still, the sour test of defeat was all he really could think about after the game.
“I made some big plays, but I dropped alot of balls I should have caught, I just got to go out a have a complete game next time out.” Howard said. “We have to go out next week and bounce back strong…I know we will, we have a lot of leaders on our team.”
A huge positive was the emergence of the Alabama secondary. Combined in this game the Tides defense had a total of 27 tackles including a forced fumble and recovery by Cyrus Jones for a 13 yard touchdown heading into the half-time. However, the secondary still might be the most responsible for allowing 7 out of 8 passes be completed for 14 points. Even with all of those tackles, the secondary still showed their signs of weakness.
“It’s tough sometimes to keep your energy,” Jones said. “we have to have a short memory, we can’t get down on ourselves…when you win you can’t get too high, when you lose you can’t get too low.
Alabama will stay on the road next week and travel to another SEC West in Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks. Probably the biggest loss of the day is that of Kenyan Drake. Drake who started the day out strong was carted off the field in the second quarter with a gruesome leg injury. While things have happened in the past for Tide players, it seems like Drake’s season is likely over.
“Kenyan Drake has been taken back to Birmingham already and will most likely need surgery. He has been an explosive guy that’s made a lot of plays for us this year so far,” Saban said.
While this might be the end for Drake,, he managed to tweet out his thanks to the fans this morning.
“I appreciate all of the love & support via texts, calls & social media. I can’t begin to explain how thankful I am. God bless & Roll Tide, @KDx17”
From here on out there is no time left for Alabama to mess around. While reporters and fans might already be writing off the Tide, players still think they are alive and well. If Alabama can bounce back next week in Fayetteville, the bump in the road from Oxford might continue to get smaller and smaller. Probably star safety Landon Collins said it best on what has to happen for the Tide to make the playoffs.
“We got to win…plain and simple” Collins Said.
While Ole Miss fans may have gotten the win, Alabama still has a lot to look forward to for the rest of the season.
Cole Thompson is the Alabama beat writer for WVUA-FM. Follow him on Twitter at @ColeThompson32
