Live updates: No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide at Ole Miss
The game started on ESPN2, and after the first series they went back to ESPN after the odd finish to Arkansas-Auburn.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin had his team warm up inside, and not in the rain to try and mess with Alabama. We'll see if it works.
The rain is expected to ease up as the game progresses.
Alabama at Ole Miss: Fourth Quarter
• Through three quarters the teams had combined for more than 1,000 offensive yards.
• The Ole Miss possession seems to fall into a familiar pattern. Alabama's defense makes two stops and give up the first down. Rebels go for it on fourth-and-1 at the 11 and got it. On third-and-goal, Plumlee, the quarterback last year, comes in and Dylan Moses hits him at the 1. The ruling on the field is a fumble as he loses the ball while reaching for the end zone, Alabama recovering. Review has him down at the 1.
• On 4th and 1, Snoop Conner over the top. They give him it. That's going to be reviewed. The call stands. Barely made it, and I mean barely. Scoring Drive: 16 plays, 75 yards, 6:08, Alabama 42 ,Ole Miss 42.
• Ole Miss tries an onside kick and nearly pulls it off, although it didn't let the ball go 10 yards (really good call there). Alabama needs just four plays to reach the end zone as Najee Harris scores from 16 yards out. Harris has 18 carries, 145 yards and four touchdowns. Scoring Drive: 4 plays, 44 yards, 1:31. Alabama 49, Ole Miss 42
• Ealy 23-yard rush gets Ole Miss to the 50, and Matt Corral hits Kenny Yeboah for 23 yards with Moore in coverage to reach the red zone. Ole Miss has gone over 600 total yards. Drive stalls on a bad snap on third down. Lane Kiffin calls time out on 4th and 14.
• The Ole Miss center is in tears on the sideline. Luke Logan with 39-yard field goal. Scoring Drive: 8 plays, 54 yards, 2:59; Alabama 49, Ole Miss 45
• Alabama with the ball at 6:55 to go at its own 10. Here come the elephants ...
• Harris 15 yards. Robinson 17 yards. Tide has third-and-1 at the the Ole Miss 48. Tide tried to go quick-snap, but the officials called for a review after initially giving Alabama the first down. 4:50 left on the clock. Mac Jones with the sneak and gets the first down.
• Alabama seemingly running the clock, psyche - goes deep to Waddle for a back-breaking 45-yard gain.
• And as soon as I typed that, Alabama had a 2-yard loss when center Landon Dickerson snapped the ball not realizing Jones was in shotgun, followed by two false-start penalties. 3:22 on clock, second-and-goal at the 14. Devonta Smith on an end-around walks into the end zone. Great call by offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Scoring Drive: 8 plays, 90 yards, 3:39 Alabama 56, Ole Miss 45
• Mac Jones, 28-32, 417 yards, two touchdowns. Devonta Smith with 164 receiving yards, Waddle with 120. Najee Harris with 20 carries and 162 yards, and four touchdowns.
• Per ESPN: 1,274 total yards. We're 75 from the SEC record (1,349).
• Play-action bomb, complete 46 yards to Elijah Moore, and Jordan Battle called for targeting. He's out of the game and will miss the first half of the Georgia game.
• DeMarcco Hellams in the game.
• Ole Miss settles for a 29-yard field goal. Scoring Drive: 7 plays, 64 yards, 1:47; Alabama 56 Ole Miss 48
• Alabama recovers the onside kick: Metchie.
• The 630 yards allowed is an Alabama record. Rebels are at 646.
• Najee Harris scores his fifth touchdown. Joshua McMillon goes in at fullback and on third-and-short scores a 39-yard touchdown. Scoring Drive: 3 plays, 44 yards, 0:19. Alabama 63, Ole Miss 48
• Harris has 23 carries for a career-high 206 yards. The five rushing touchdowns tied Santonio Beard in 2002 and Shaun Alexander in 1998 for the Crimson Tide record.
• Alabama with 723 total yards. The five touchdowns by Harris ties an Alabama record.
• The highest scoring regulation game in SEC history ends with a sack. Final score: Alabama 63, Ole Miss 48.
Alabama at Ole Miss: Third Quarter
• Ole Miss goes with a squib kick to start the second half.
• Najee Harris with a 35-yard gain through the left side. Does it again for 33 yards on a counter for the touchdown. He has 13 carries for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Scoring Drive: 4 plays, 85 yards, 1:13. Alabama 28, Ole Miss 21.
• Freshman Brian Branch in at safety to start the second half.
• Bad coverage on the third play of the possession, Kenny Yeboah from Matt Corral for 68 yards. Safety Daniel Wright went for the pick and gave up the touchdown. Scoring Drive: 3 plays, 79 yards, 0:50. Alabama 28, Ole Miss 28.
• Another squib kick. Carl Tucker grabbed it and ran to almost midfield. On third down Ole Miss gets called for pass interference (good call despite the boos, the defender had Smith by the arm. Alabama comes back and gets a false-start penalty at the 20. Crimson Tide eventually scores a 3-yard touchdown throw to Miller Forristall. Scoring Drive: 6 plays, 52 yards, 2:21; Alabama 35, Ole Miss.
• Mac Jones so far: 21-25, 287 yards, two TDs, 206.8 passer rating.
• Second-and-22 after a pass-interference call, but Corrall scrambles and hits Elijah Moore for 27 yards. He made a really impressive shoelace catch. Corrall runs for a first down and Malachi Moore gets flagged for holding as the Rebels reach the 30. Jerrion Ealy runs in the 9-yard touchdown as the defense looks a little tired. Scoring Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 4:00; Alabama 35, Ole Miss 35
• Alabama methodically moving the field, and trying to give the D a little rest. A 24-yard pass to Najee Harris was followed by a 17-yard gain by Metchie. Mac Jones up to 25-for-29 for 347 yards, 209.5 passer rating. Harris runs in another touchdown, 3 yards, his third of the game. Scoring Drive: 7 plays, 72 yards, 3:35; Alabama 42, Ole Miss 35.
• BTW, the last time Alabama and Ole Miss played in basketball the score was 103-78. Alabama has punted once tonight, Ole Miss twice. Neither said has in the second half.
• Ole Miss quickly forced into third-and-long. Ole Miss calls a screen at the perfect time for the first down.
Alabama at Ole Miss: Halftime Notes
From Alabama sports information:
• The Crimson Tide had two student-athletes make their first career start in tonight’s game with Ole Miss. On offense, sophomore wide receiver John Metchie III earned his first nod while redshirt junior Christopher Allen got the start at linebacker on defense
• DeVonta Smith recorded 105 yards in the first half of tonight’s matchup at Ole Miss. With the senior’s 105-yard half, Crimson Tide wideouts have now totaled 100-plus yards in the first half of UA’s last four games and have gone over the 100-yard marker in the first half on eight occasions in Alabama’s last 16 games.
• Najee Harris’ fumble in tonight’s game was his first during his Crimson Tide career. Prior to his fumble, the senior had totaled 466 career touches (423 rushes, 43 receptions) without giving up the ball.
• With Najee Harris’ five-yard rushing score in the second quarter of tonight’s matchup, the senior has notched a rushing touchdown in 10 straight games dating back to the Oct. 19 matchup with Tennessee last season. Over the 10-game streak, Harris has accumulated 18 rushing touchdowns and two-or-more scores in six of those games. Harris has totaled 960 yards and 18 touchdowns on just 175 carries during that stretch. He has also contributed six rushing scores through two-and-a-half games this season.
Alabama running back Najee Harris with a hurdle along the sideline against Ole Miss.
Alabama Athletics
Alabama at Ole Miss: Second Quarter
• First play Ole Miss goes unbalanced line and tries to hit a tight end, but Alabama read it and Corrall threw the ball away. Rebels have third-and-27 after offensive pass interference. Rebels get most of it on a run play and Kiffin goes for it and hits a wheel route for the first down. Jerrion Ealy runs in a 3-yard TD. Ole Miss already has 207 yards of total offense. Scoring drive: 10 plays, 93 yards, Ole Miss 14, Alabama 7
• Alabama brings out the run-pass option, Mac Jones hits DeVonta Smith on a 20-yard slant. Goes back to him on a curl for 16 more. Jones up to 12-for-12 for 150 yards. He then misses wide to Smith. Jones sacked on third down. Think Leatherwood thought the play was something else. Johnson punts, it bounces into the end zone for a touchback.
• Alabama's defense finally stops Ole Miss, resulting in a 30-yard punt (couldn't tell if Mac Brown shanked it or he was that scared of Waddle having a return). Crimson Tide ball at its own 28.
• Brian Robinson with an 18-yard run up the middle. After a short loss, DeVonta Smith with a catch-and-run for 36 yards to the 20. Robinson to the 6. Robinson to the 1. Robinson scores on the left side. That was a roll-up-your-sleeves possession for Alabama. Scoring Drive: 6 plays, 72 yards, 2:31; Alabama 14, Ole Miss 14.
• Alabama to fourth-and-1, Kiffin has the receivers line up wide and runs a counter on the other side for a 26-yard gain. That and the tempo help lead to a 2-yard TD by Snoop Conner. Scoring Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 3:36, Ole Miss 21, Alabama 14.
• Josh Jobe called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play ended. Looked like he might have given an official a little shove when being separated, so he's fortunate to still be in the game. It'll be marked off on the kickoff, which was an easy touchback.
• Waddle limps off the field, kind of like he did last week.
• Metchie dropped pass. Think that was the first for Alabama this season.
• Waddle back on the field. Saw the replay. The defender twisted his ankle.
• Mac Jones runs for a first down and barely gets it. Next play the pass is behind Metchie and it's nearly picked. Jones shrugs it off and hits Metchie for 32 yards. First down at the 5. Najee Harris with the touchdown. Scoring Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards, 2:15; Alabama 21, Ole Miss 21.
• The teams have already combined for 600-plus yards. Mac Jones 16 of 19 for 236 yards and one TD, far a passer rating of 205.9
• Kiffin opts to run out the final minute of the first half. Remember, Alabama gets the ball first in the second half.
• Kiffin says on way off field that they're going to have to play even better in the second half.
Alabama at Ole Miss: First Quarter
• Alabama won the toss and elected to defer to the second half.
• Ole Miss took the ball and immediately scored a quick touchdown. Lane Kiffin went right at Alabama's young guys in the middle with a 17-yard pass to Elijah Moore and a 52-yard completion to Kenny Yeboah. The TD was a play-action jump pass from Matt Corral to Yeboah. Scoring Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 0:54. Ole Miss 14, Alabama 7.
• Alabama answers with a very methodical opening drive, with Jaylen Waddle having three early catches for 44 yards. Devonta Smith gets the touchdown on a 14-yard catch-and-run play on the right side with some good blocking by John Metchie III. Scoring drive 10 plays, 85 yards, 4:37. Alabama 7, Ole Miss 7
• Ole Miss on the move again with a 17-yard pass to Yeboah with Hellams trailing behind on a crossing route. The drive stalls after a bad snap (maybe from not warming up in the rain?), with Anderson chasing down the quarterback on third-and-19. Ole Miss punts and it's a touchback.
• Najee Harris opened the drive with a 12-yard gain on the left side. Waddle follows with 11 yards on the right side. Screen to Metchie "only" gets 9 yard as Jones improved to 7-for-7 on the game. Harris with 14 more yards he does a hurdle for extra yards.
• Miller Forristall to the 1. Harris stacked up at the line and has first career fumble. Ole Miss ball.
• Note: For those screaming about forward progress, the problem is the officials didn't blow the whistle and end the play. Consequently, it's not reviewable.
• Rebels open possession with a Snoop Conner draw for 34 yards. Corrall buys some extra time for an 11-yard complete to Drummond to get to midfield. Ole Miss back in Alabama territory.
Pregame
Things are looking good despite the weather. The worst of the storm has moved on, and the later kickoff obviously helped.
Alabama at Ole Miss Warmups
- Alabama's captains for tonight are Mac Jones, Patrick Surtain II, and Joshua McMillion.
- The Crimson Tide just wrapped up warmups and there are no changes to the starting lineup from the previous two weeks.
- Saban and Kiffin just met at midfield before Kiffin headed back into the locker room.
- The Rebels' starting middle linbacker Jacquez Jones is out with an upper body injury and junior MoMo Sanogo will start in his place.
- Alabama's special teams unit took to the field first, lining up in the north end zone in front of the students. The students didn't take too kindly to this, and after two balls were thrown by the students outside of the stadium rather than back on the field, Alabama shifted its warmups to the south end zone.
- The special teams unit resumed warming up in the north end zone, but now is warming up at midfield thanks to another ball being thrown out rather than returned.
Game Preview
The hype has surrounded Nick Saban facing first offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, who knows a few things about revenge games.
When Kiffin got his first shot at his previous employer USC, when with Alabama for the 2016 season opener, he helped hand the Trojans a 52-6 loss at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
When he last faced Alabama, back with Tennessee in 2009, the game came down to a field-goal attempt, which was blocked by Terrence Cody. With the 12-10 win, the Crimson Tide went on to win the national title.
So there's some extra motivation this week between the coaches. Just don't forget that Sarkisian is back as Alabama's offensive coordinator.
Alabama is in the midst of a four-week stretch in which Saban is facing a former assistant coach. After defeating Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher 52-24, he's 20-0 against them.
That he's going from his offensive coordinator at LSU, to one of his coordinators at Alabama, makes it an interesting matchup alone.
Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Time: 6:30 p.m. CT (the game was originally scheduled for 5 p.m.)
TV: ESPN (Play-by-play Sean McDonough; Analyst Todd Blackledge; Analyst Todd McShay; Sideline Molly McGrath)
Radio: Crimson TIde Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Eli Gold, Analyst: John Parker Wilson, Sideline: Rashad Johnson) CTSN on Sirius/XM 132/192
Online: ESPN+
Series info: Alabama and Ole Miss will meet for the 68th time. The Crimson Tide leads the all-time series, 55-10-2 (52-11-2 NCAA) and won last year’s meeting, 59-31, in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 28.
Wide receiver DeVonta Smith had 11 catches for 274 yards and five touchdowns, both school records. He had 221 yards by halftime. The five scores tied the SEC record.
Nick Saban is 15-3 all-time (14-3 after vacations) and 11-2 at Alabama (10-2 after vacations) in his career against the Rebels. Kiffin is 0-1 against the Crimson Tide.
Keep an eye on: With its 38-19 win at Missouri to begin the 2020 season, Alabama has defeated 92 consecutive unranked teams, the longest streak in FBS history. The current streak began with a win over Colorado on Dec. 30, 2007 in the Independence Bowl. The previous record was 72 games, shared by Miami (Fla.) (1984-95) and Florida (1989-2000).
