Rebel Rewind: Eli Manning Gives Ole Miss 10-Win Season in 2003

The Ole Miss Rebels found their first 10-win season since 1971 in Eli Manning's senior season.

Feeling nostalgic? You've come to the right place.

Over the next three weeks, The Grove Report is taking a look back at the Ole Miss Rebels' football seasons from 2003 to the present day. Why begin with 2003? I'm glad you asked.

For one, it provides a nice 20-year baseline (give or take) from the 2023 season that just concluded. It also happened to be the senior year of Eli Manning, providing a nice look at multiple eras of Ole Miss football in the process.

With that out of the way, let's dive in. It's time to relive the 2003 Ole Miss football season.

© Paul Chapman-USA TODAY Sports

A Modest Start to the Season

The Rebels did not crack the AP Top 25 until Week 9 of the 2023 season, and that is due to an inauspicious start to the campaign. Ole Miss opened with a rare August Week 1 meeting against the Vanderbilt Commodores, coming away with a 24-21 win in Nashville.

That's all well-and-good, but a road trip to Memphis the following week quickly humbled the Eli Manning-led Rebels in a 44-34 loss. The Rebels did not have their home opener until Week 3 against Louisiana-Monroe, and while they cruised to a 59-14 win in that one, they would drop a home 49-45 shootout against Texas Tech following a bye week to fall to 2-2 on the year.

It seemed that Eli Manning's senior year was off to a rocky start.

Finding a Midseason Groove

The up-and-down start to the season finally hit a consistent climb beginning with an Oct. 4 trip to face the No. 24 Florida Gators in Gainesville.

The first Saturday in October marked the beginning of a six-game winning streak for the Rebels, putting them in prime position to challenge for the SEC West Crown in November.

Here are the games in that sequence and their final scores:

at No. 24 Florida (W 20-17)

vs. Arkansas State (W 55-0)

vs. Alabama (W 43-28)

vs. Arkansas (W 19-7)

vs. South Carolina (W 43-40)

at Auburn (W 24-20)

Some blowouts, some nail-biters, but all wins. The Rebels had quickly solidified themselves as an SEC contender, and sitting with an 8-2 record, that set up a massive home date against LSU on Nov. 22.

A win, and Ole Miss would likely represent the SEC West in the conference championship game, and Manning would have a legitimate shot at the Heisman Trophy. A loss, and the season would still be a good one, but it would miss out on a lot of its potential.

The Trip-and-Fall on Fourth Down

The game in Oxford was a close one throughout, but two missed field goals from Jonathan Nichols (previously 23-of-24 on the season) proved to be costly. 

With 2:15 left in the game and trailing 17-14, Manning threw three straight incompletions to open the deciding drive, and when backing away from his center on fourth down, he tripped over one of his own linemen and fell to the turf, thus ending the Rebels' hopes.

Manning would still end up in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, but one can only imagine how different the year could have been for Ole Miss had it pulled out a win over the No. 3 Bayou Bengals on that Saturday night.

The Home Stretch

The Rebels didn't have long to lick their wounds after the emotional loss to LSU, but they didn't have much competition waiting on them in Starkville on Thanksgiving night, either.

The 2003 season marked the final one at Mississippi State for head coach Jackie Sherrill, and it had gone rather poorly. The Bulldogs entered the Egg Bowl with a 2-9 record (1-6 SEC) and only had wins over Vanderbilt and (ironically) Memphis on their schedule.

Ole Miss rolled in Starkville to the tune of a 31-0 final score, and that would mark its last road win in the Egg Bowl until the 2015 season.

With a 9-3 regular season record now in tow, the Rebels earned a berth in the SBC Cotton Bowl Classic against Oklahoma State, giving Manning one last hurrah in a strong bowl game. Ole Miss captured a 31-28 win in Dallas, securing the program's first 10-win season since 1971.

It would also be the Rebels' last time securing 10 wins until (you guessed it) 2015.

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Year In Review

Overall, the 2003 season is remembered as one of Ole Miss' best in decades at the time, but it is also remembered for what it wasn't. That LSU loss still haunts Ole Miss fans, and while Eli Manning finished third in Heisman voting, the Rebels missed out on a chance to represent the West in Atlanta for the first time in school history.

Ironically, that was Ole Miss' only conference loss of the season after dropping a couple of non-conference bouts early on. Also somewhat-noteworthy is the fact that the Rebels' first two 10-win seasons of the millennium featured losses to Memphis. Go figure.

Final Record: 10-3 (7-1 SEC)

Biggest Win: vs. Oklahoma State (Cotton Bowl)

Worst Loss: vs. LSU

Key Stat: Eli Manning -- 3,600 passing yards, 29 TDs, 10 INTs