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As of this week, the “Sip” has become the top dog in the SEC’s rough and tumble Western Division.
After Alabama’s excruciating loss to Tennessee last Saturday dropped the Crimson Tide to 6-1, the state of Mississippi’s Ole Miss Rebels are quietly 7-0 and are alone atop the SEC West standings this week.
Just like perpetual underdog Rodney Dangerfield, the unbeaten 7-0 Ole Miss Rebels have been struggling to gain some national respect.
The Associated Press placed unbeaten Ole Miss one spot below a 6-1 Alabama team this week. Yes, the AP voted the Tide at #6 and Ole Miss at #7.
If you follow my SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 Rankings, I have Ole Miss ranked #4 this week and moved one-loss Bama to #11. My poll admittedly has a bias. Unbeaten teams are ranked higher than those which have already lost a game!
After losing to Tennessee on Saturday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban told his team to refocus quickly as all of their season objectives remain attainable. He is correct. However, Coach Saban’s team must play and beat Ole Miss in Oxford in order to get there.
The Ole Miss Rebels sport the perfect nickname for the team’s unpredictable and innovative head football coach, Lane Kiffin. The football coach has a play-calling style which might be considered a bit unconventional. The results prove that Kiffin’s style is working quite well.
During the Rebels’ home game last Saturday against Auburn, Ole Miss had just converted a field goal in the third quarter to take a slim seven point lead at 31-24. Coach Kiffin then surprised everyone in the stadium by successfully attempting an onside kick to regain possession of the football. Ole Miss went on to score a touchdown, take a 38-24 lead, and effectively put the game away.
Lane Kiffin (now in his third year at Ole Miss) even surprised himself with the onside kick call.
He refused to look at members of his own football team while the play was unfolding in order to keep the opposing coach from suspecting that something unusual was about to happen.
“I always think the other coach is going to look and be like, ‘oh he’s talking to special teams, maybe they’re doing something,’ so I was actually pretending I was talking to the defense down there about the next series.”
The 47-year old football coach knew that the onside kick play call was a big gamble, but it fits his personal style. Kiffin has a long history of taking risks in order to keep his players motivated and focused on the moment.
After Saturday’s win against Auburn, Coach Lane Kiffin told the assembled press, “I probably overthink things”.
He may be overthinking things, but the Ole Miss football team has been responding well in 2022. Since taking the head coaching position in 2020, Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss teams have improved from 5-5 during his first season, posted a 10-3 record last year, and are 7-0 thus far in 2022.
Though the Rebels are unbeaten through the first seven games, the rest of the SEC is still talking about defending national champion Georgia, Nick Saban’s Alabama team, and this week’s newest media darling, the 7-0 Tennessee Volunteers.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss has remained below the national media’s radar for most of this season. The Rebels will be road tested for two consecutive weeks with difficult back-to-back games in Louisiana and Texas.
This Saturday at 2:30PM on CBS, Ole Miss visits long-time SEC nemesis LSU (5-2) and their raucous home stadium environment featuring 103,000 very enthusiastic fans. The following week, the Rebels travel to College Station, Texas to face a 3-3 Texas A&M team which was a preseason SEC favorite but has struggled to meet those expectations.
Ole Miss and LSU have been playing football against each other since 1894. LSU holds a 64-41-4 all-time lead in the series.
During the late 1960’s and into the early 1970’s, former Ole Miss All-American quarterback Archie Manning (the father of future Super Bowl champion quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning) became the personal symbol of a hate/love relationship with Louisiana’s football fans.
In 1969, Archie Manning’s Ole Miss Rebels spoiled LSU’s perfect record with a 26-23 win in Oxford. The following season in 1970, LSU and its revenge-seeking home crowd sent Archie Manning’s Ole Miss team limping home to Mississippi. The Tigers routed the Rebels 61-17 to clinch the SEC title.
Archie Manning had become so popular that a recording company produced a 45 RPM record titled, “The Ballad of Archie Who”, which was played on radio stations around the South at the time.
After leaving Ole Miss, quarterback Archie Manning would be welcomed back to Louisiana after he was the #1 overall NFL draft selection by the New Orleans Saints.
LSU has won five of the past six meetings with Ole Miss. On Saturday, unbeaten Ole Miss comes into the game sporting one of the most balanced offenses in the nation. The Rebels average 500 yards of offense per game. Ole Miss is #3 in the country in rushing with a gaudy 270 yards per game. The Rebels’ passing game adds another 230 yards per contest.
If that wasn’t enough for the LSU defense to be concerned with, the Ole Miss Rebels are one of the fastest teams in the nation in getting to the line of scrimmage to run the next play. Ole Miss takes just twenty seconds between the conclusion of one play and snapping the football to start the next one.
The Ole Miss defense has excelled this year, too. The Rebels defense ranks #16 in the country this week in fewest points allowed per game (17.3). That is one point per game less than Alabama’s vaunted defense has allowed.
If Ole Miss should win Saturday’s game at LSU and move their season record to 8-0, the last time that the Rebels won their first eight games was during the school’s last national championship season in 1962.
Led by legendary Ole Miss head football coach Johnny Vaught, the 1962 squad finished 10-0 for the first time in school history. That season’s defense allowed just 53 points (5.3 points per game) for the year.
If the Ole Miss Rebels should successfully get past both LSU and Texas A&M in the ensuing two weeks, the team will return home to Oxford, Mississippi to face Alabama. Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide has won the last six meetings against Ole Miss. Rebels fans would like nothing better than to exact a little revenge on Bama this season..
Speaking of the Ole Miss fans, the game day environment in Oxford is legendary. Thousands of people descend upon ten acres of oak, elm, and magnolia trees in a scenic area of campus called “The Grove” for a unique tailgating experience.
A mass of humanity descends upon The Grove on Ole Miss game days. The fans come early to enjoy the food, beverages, and the sights.
“Grovers” frequently brag, “We may not win every game, but we’ve never lost a party.”
Unfortunately, the Ole Miss Grove party crowd has been known to enjoy the festive atmosphere at little bit too much at times.
Early this season, Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin issued a stern reminder for ticket holding fans to please come inside the football stadium prior to the team’s kick-off. The coach wants the Ole Miss football fans to pack the stadium early and provide the same type of home field advantage which several other SEC teams enjoy.
After a 7-0 start to begin the 2022 football season, those post-game parties in the Grove have become even more enjoyable in Oxford.
If…Ole Miss should defeat its remaining SEC schedule at LSU, at Texas A&M, Alabama, at Arkansas and the annual Egg Bowl match-up in Oxford against intrastate rival Mississippi State, the Grove in Oxford is going to be a very wild and crazy place this fall!
If…Ole Miss somehow navigates its way to an SEC West title in 2022, they must still face either Georgia, Tennessee or, perhaps, Kentucky to play for the SEC title in early December.
If…that game occurs, you can count on Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin devising a few surprises in order to seize the game’s momentum and provide a boost to his team and the Rebel fans.
In 1970, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and ABC broadcaster, Dandy Don Meredith, responded to one of analyst Howard Cosell’s lengthy commentaries which also featured several “if” statements.
Meredith replied, “If if’s and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a very Merry Christmas!”
Ole Miss football fans are dreaming about making it into the College Football Playoffs for the first time in school history this year.
If they should make it, Santa himself may show up as a Guest of Honor to celebrate at the Sip’s wildest Christmas party ever in The Grove!