OXFORD, Miss. – Alabama running back Trent Richardson rushed for a career-high 183 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Crimson Tide to a convincing 52-7 victory over Ole Miss on Saturday before a crowd of 61,792 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. With the victory, Alabama improved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in Southeastern Conference action, while Ole Miss dropped to 2-4 overall, 0-3 in the SEC.
The 52 points scored by Alabama is the most by the Crimson Tide in an SEC game since a 59-28 victory over Vanderbilt on September 29, 1990. Richardson scored on runs of 8, 7, 8 and 76 yards in the game while moving into 10th place on the Alabama career rushing yards list with 2,363 yards. The Alabama defense limited Ole Miss to 141 total yards in the game and smothered the Rebels offense after allowing a touchdown just 2:32 into the game.
Trent Richardson continued to make a strong statement as to why he is a Heisman contender Saturday against Ole Miss.
After the Rebels stunned the Tide with an early 72-yard drive to a touchdown that was capped by a 1-yard run by Jeff Scott, Alabama stormed back by responding with a 79-yard march in nine plays to even the score on an 8-yard run by Richardson with 8:24 left in the first period.
The teams traded punts for the remainder of the period with the Alabama defense asserting its dominance and the Tide offense slowly showing its muscle. After the Rebels’ initial 72-yard drive, the Alabama defense did not allow a single yard of offense for the duration of the first half as Alabama outgained the Rebels by a 228-72 margin by halftime.
Meanwhile, the Tide moved ahead in the second quarter when Richardson capped a 62-yard drive in 10 plays with a 7-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 lead with 14:11 left in the half. Alabama mounted another drive late in the quarter, marching 35 yards in seven plays to a 24-yard field goal by Jeremy Shelly with 1:14 left in the second period for a 17-7 halftime lead.
A 28-point explosion in the third quarter salted away the game for Alabama. The outburst began as the Tide took the second half kickoff and drove 73 yards in six plays to a touchdown on an 8-yard run by Richardson for a 24-7 lead with 12:30 left in the third quarter. Alabama extended the lead to 31-7 on its next possession, driving 92 yards in just two plays as Richardson raced 76 yards for a touchdown, the longest run of Richardson’s Alabama career.
The Tide offense didn’t slow down. After an Ole Miss fumble at the Rebels 15, Jalston Fowler raced eight yards for a touchdown and a 38-7 edge. Brandon Gibson capped a 41-yard touchdown drive with a 10-yard pass from AJ McCarron late in the third quarter and Fowler added a 69-yard burst for a score in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring. Fowler ended the game with a career-best 125 yards on just nine carries.
McCarron had an impressive night of passing for Alabama, completing 19-of-24 attempts for 224 yards and one touchdown without throwing an interception. McCarron extended his streak of passes thrown without an interception to 151, the third-best streak in Alabama football history. Darius Hanks led all receivers with four catches for 63 yards.
Linebacker Nico Johnson led the Alabama defense with six tackles, including two for losses of nine yards and had one quarterback sack for a 5-yard loss. Linebacker Courtney Upshaw had two sacks for 15 yards in losses and safety Robert Lester nabbed his first interception of the season, the ninth of his Alabama career.
(Release and Photo Courtesy UA Athletics)
Freshman at The University of Alabama. I'm a sports journalism major from Denver, CO. Aside from writing about Alabama baseball, I also write for the Arizona Diamondbacks for venomstrikes.com on the Fansided network. If you like sports, then we can be friends. Follow me on Twitter @realcmoff18
