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Read: Top recruits set to attend Bama/Ole Miss game | Game preview
SCOOBA, Miss. — The goal posts were torn down and a rivalry arose.
It’s been two years, 11 months and 25 days since Bo Wallace led Ole Miss to its first win over Alabama in a decade. Nevertheless, the former quarterback now turned assistant coach remembers the moment like it happened last week.
“I took the knee and then gave the ball to my family, they sit in the first row for every game,” said Wallace, who now serves as the quarterbacks coach at East Mississippi Community College. “I actually ran into the tunnel. Then I started thinking, my time here is getting short. It was my senior year so I went out and celebrated with everybody.”
Moments before, with Ole Miss up 23-17, Rebels cornerback Senquez Golson out-jumped Alabama tight end O.J. Howard to come down with an interception in the back of the end zone with 37 seconds left in the game. The play was reviewed to determine if Golson landed inbounds but was later confirmed, sending a sea full of blue and red into a frenzy inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“If you watch the TV copy, they start rushing the field a little early,” Wallace said. “All of our players are like ‘No, no, no. Not yet.’ Then we took that final knee and it was mayhem.”
Wallace brushed aside charging fans the same way he slipped past Alabama defenders in the pocket during the game. After all, it was the senior quarterback who led the Rebels to victory, completing 18 of 31 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns, including what would be the game-winner on a 10-yard pass to running back Jaylen Walton with 2:54 remaining.
“It was a play we had just put in for that game,” Wallace said. “It was a fake tunnel-screen to the outside. Our running back was supposed to go out like he was going to block the corner and then he slipped them. (Alabama safety) Landon Collins was just kind of put in a bad position, and luckily Jaylen was able to catch it.
“I just remember when I threw that ball, seeing Landon Collins and hoping that ball got over him. Luckily it did.”
Fortunately for Wallace, he and the rest of the Ole Miss players made it back to the locker room well before the chaos on the field got out of control. He says he wasn’t present when the crowd tore the goal posts down and paraded them across the field but remembers watching the moment on TV.
Wallace calls the state of euphoria one of his favorite college memories. The upset of Alabama signified the arrival of Ole Miss as a premier SEC team and marked the Rebels’ first 5-0 start since 1962. More importantly, it turned a once dormant rivalry into one of the hottest in the conference.
Ole Miss fanned the flames further the following year when it upset Alabama again, this time in a thrilling 43-37 shootout that featured a stellar performance from Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly.
“I was a freshman in the first loss, so I really didn’t take it too hard,” Alabama safety Hootie Jones said. “But the second one, I really was like man, I’m really starting to get some type of not hatred but just some type of rival toward them.”
The Tide exacted revenge last year, storming back from a 21-point deficit to beat the Rebels 48-43 in Oxford. Still, the two losses to Ole Miss represent Alabama’s only conference defeats over the past two-plus seasons.
“Obviously, this is a team that two out of the last three times we've played has gotten the best of us,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said during his Wednesday news conference. “I think the ultimate disrespect sometimes is when someone quietly thinks they've got your number. Our players need to understand that and do a great job of preparing for a totally different type of game this week than what we played a week ago.”
In the three seasons prior to the 2014 victory, Alabama defeated Ole Miss by a combined 89 points. The past three games have been decided by a combined 17 points. Wallace shrugs and flashes a humble smile when asked if he feels he played a major role in sparking the rivalry.
“Nah,” Wallace said while shaking his head and adjusting his hat. “I think we were the first team to beat them, but I think Coach (Hugh) Freeze and Coach (Dan) Werner always had a good plan against them.”
Neither of those coaches will be present on the Ole Miss sideline when the Rebels take the field against No. 1 Alabama this Saturday at 8 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Freeze resigned as head coach in July following reports that he made a phone call to a number associated with a female escort service, while Werner was fired as Ole Miss’ co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in December and was later hired by Alabama as an offensive analyst in the spring. Wallace still calls Werner a mentor and talks with him regularly. However, the two have not discussed Saturday’s game.
Despite Werner’s familiarity with Ole Miss, Wallace believes this year’s offense has changed under interim head coach Matt Luke and first-year offensive coordinator Phil Longo.
“I think it’s mostly the new OC’s offense,” Wallace said. “If Coach Freeze was there, I think (Werner) would have a better insight to what they were trying to do. Obviously, they are going to do things that worked in the past. That’s something (Werner) might be able to help them with, but I don’t think he knows the new OC’s offense as well as Alabama would want him to.”
Of course, Wallace said Alabama doesn’t need Werner to reveal any secrets Saturday. The former quarterback believes the way to beat Alabama is pretty clear.
“There’s no margin for error when you play them,” Wallace said. “I think you have to hope that they make a mistake... They’re always going to be deeper than you. They’re three deep everywhere, so they’re always going to be fresher than you. The biggest thing is you can’t make a mistake, especially a critical mistake.”
Turnovers have played a key role in all of the past three meetings. A fumble on a kickoff return by Alabama receiver Christion Jones set up Wallace’s game-winning touchdown in 2014. The following year, Alabama committed five turnovers while Ole Miss didn’t give up any.
Last year’s Alabama victory was a tale of two halves. A fumble by Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts on a sack led to a 44-yard touchdown return to put Ole Miss up 24-3 in the second quarter. However, a strip sack of Kelly in the third quarter led to a 3-yard touchdown return from Alabama defensive lineman Da’Ron Payne which tied the game at 24. Defensive lineman Jonathan Allen later put the game out of reach for the Tide with a 75-yard fumble return to give Alabama 48-30 lead late in the fourth quarter.
This season, Alabama has yet to turn over the ball on offense while forcing eight turnovers (six interceptions and two fumbles) on defense. That creates an extra emphasis on Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson’s ability to take care of the ball. Patterson leads the SEC with 1,281 passing yards and 11 passing touchdowns over three games. However, the sophomore quarterback has already thrown four interceptions, including three in a loss to California two weeks ago.
“I think Shea’s the best that’s been at Ole Miss since Eli,” Wallace said. “I think he’s a kid who is built for this. He just can’t make mistakes, that’s the biggest thing heading into the game.”
Saturday’s matchup lacks the hype of recent years. With its season already clouded by impending NCAA sanctions and a self-imposed one-year bowl ban, Ole Miss enters the game as a 27.5-point underdog according to VegasInsider.com.
While Wallace admits times are tough for the Rebels right now, he knows firsthand how sweet a win over Alabama can be.
“I think it gives the fans something to be excited about,” Wallace said. “If they can win this game, I think it would make the season for the fans.”
