Ole Miss is a team of perpetual promise and perpetual failure

The Half a dozen trips and the half a dozen slips
And the very latest bursting of the bubble. (Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel)

Every year Ole Miss is going to break through in the SEC. However, something holds the Rebels back. Often it is Alabama standing in the Rebels way.

Sometimes it has been decisions like firing a good coach (see David Cutcliffe). Other times it was hiring idiot coaches like Ed Orgeron. Oh, add another idiot to the list in the name of Hugh Freeze.

Hugh Freeze brought a very talented Ole Miss team into Tuscaloosa. (Ask Georgia’s coaching staff what they think of Freeze and Ole Miss recruiting.) Yet, once again, the Ole Miss bubble burst. Once again, Ole Miss found out that Tuscaloosa is a hard road to travel.

Alabama football players Jeoffrey Pagan and CJ Mosley wrap up the Ole Miss offense.
Alabama football players Jeoffrey Pagan and CJ Mosley wrap up the Ole Miss offense. Photo by Kent Gidley/UA.
Ole Miss found out that field goals count.

Ole Miss found out that talk is cheap.

Ole Miss found out that what works on the Playstation and Xbox does not work in big boy SEC football. You can’t go for it on fourth down every time and pass on those field goals.

Ole Miss found out they have a girl’s high school basketball coach leading all that talent amassed through its recruiting efforts.

Every trip into Alabama territory resulted in a slip.

And it was the very latest bursting of the Ole Miss bubble.

Alabama has issues, but the team has some positives too

While it was a big win for Alabama over a top 25 team and SEC West rival, there are issues for Alabama.

The biggest difference in this year’s Alabama and previous Saban teams? This year’s Alabama squad has too many mental lapses that yield too many unforced errors like all these false start penalties.

This trend has put Alabama into difficult down and distance situations. Going forward, this is something that needs to be corrected for Alabama to defeat top-level defenses like LSU.

Well, allegedly top defenses like LSU. (Though, fans should know that the LSU defense will be much improved and play a better game when the Tigers face Alabama.)

One good point was the Alabama defense. Ole Miss entered the game averaging 38 points per game and 490 yards of total offense. Tonight, Alabama surrendered only 205 total yards and zero points.

15 thoughts on “Alabama beats Ole Miss; Does Freeze know field goals count?”

  1. Ole Miss is was blown up by the media for beating a lackluster Texas team. They never were good in the first place. We have a good defense, but our offense has some problem areas, and we pretty much made Ole Miss ineffective because they could not run it between the tackles. Honestly I don’t know if Ole Miss can stay on the field with any top-tier SEC team. To me the 3 best teams in the conference are Alabama, Georgia, LSU. With South Carolina, Texas A&M and Florida lurking right behind them.

  2. Ole Miss is not a between the tackles type team. Their strength is on the corners with the speedy RB and running ability of Wallace. They run the corners and use the play action off of it. But Bama took the corners away from them early and forced them between the tackles. The offense did a 180 as soon as Lindsey replaced Kelly at center. Now we’ll find out if Saban runs a fair ship, or if there are players who get position with entitlement. Lindsey should have been the starter all along. Not glad anyone got hurt, but glad Kelly will be out a few weeks. I now have confidence that we will be in Pasadena in January. That defense can shut down anybody. Not worried about the Corndog’s or the Junkyard Dawgs any more. Their defenses suck. Doubt we will hear much from LMAO for a few days. Bwaa Haww Haww! RTR!

    1. I disagree with Lindsey being the reason for much of the success. Alabama simply was not executing, and Kelly can’t be underestimated. Both Kelly and Lindsey have talent, patience, size, strength, and confidence.

      Alabama missed some giant routes. Risks on man coverage weren’t taken often enough. When they were, the execution was flawed, both in the throw and the routes.

      I saw an Alabama team with incredible talent that still hasn’t made that talent shine. Execution has been a problem in every game, and the offensive line is still slowly climbing uphill.

      Maybe Alabama has had a bad day in every game. Or maybe they’re not the best they can be. Or maybe they just haven’t shown us yet what they are actually capable of in a complete game without so many fixable execution errors.

      It’s certainly not boring. Roll Tide.

    2. As usual you are wrong again crimsonut! Good thing you’re not worried about LSU or Georgia, because you better spend your time worrying about bama’s offense. LSU and Georgia were both playing top 10 ranked opponents, bama was playing Ole Miss!! Ole Miss is not even ranked in the top 25 of the current Coaches poll. And yet bama could only manage to put up 9 points on them at the half?!!! Yea you’ve got plenty to worry about besides LSU and Georgia. But hey at least bama’s easy ass schedule affords them the opportunity to get things corrected before you have to play the ONLY remaining ranked team on their schedule. Who does bama play this week? Georgia? Oh, wait, not Georgia but Georgia State!! LMAO! I bet your offense and defense looks great this coming weekend crimsonut. I check back in next week to see how much bragging you do.

      1. @LMAO

        You’re right when you say, “LSU and Georgia were both playing top 10 ranked opponents.”

        Not anymore, but at the time, sure, why not.

        By the way, the “only” ranked team on Alabama’s (regular season?) schedule is LSU. Do you really think they’re that bad? I don’t. I think they’re pretty good this year.

        But if you want to blame someone for Alabama not playing any other top-ten teams this (regular) season, blame LSU for losing to Georgia. It could have been Alabama vs South Carolina in the SEC title game, but no.

        If you want Alabama to play the #1-ranked team in the country during the regular season to feel better, they already do.

        Every day in practice.

        Roll Tide.

      2. It’s not me who has to worry – Shit for brains. Bama’s second string can score enough on either one of your pathetic defense’s to win the game, cause neither of your offenses is gonna do much scoring on our defense. Your ass just got beat by the team we beat for the SEC Championship, and when we beat them they actually had a defense. The mighty team you scored 41 points on is giving up 38 a game or 93rd out of 120 FBS teams. Bwaa Haww Haww! And they lost to Clemson. How embarrassing. But – Oh wait! You already know what that’s like! Bwaa Haww Haww! And LSWho? Well your pathetic defense is giving up 25 a game and ranked 61st. But if you had played Clemson and So Carolina instead of TCU and Awbie, your defense would be ranked just as low as JawJaw! And what has happened already is much more important than what lies ahead. In respect to that you have played 5 games and only the one you lost was against a ranked team who was already beaten by a damn ACC team. Your other Bwaa Haww Haww marquee game with TCU – They have won 2 out of 4 against SMU and SE Louisiana. Bwaa Haww Haww! Meanwhile Bama has played 4 games and two of the 4 were and ranked after losing tu us still are ranked and a 3rd, VT is now leading their division, ranked 27th and moving up fast. Based on what has transpired to date LSWho’s book of work pales in comparison to Bama’s; and you just lost to a team we beat in the SECCG when they were a much better team. Your offense is nothing. You could only score 35 on a pathetic Awbie defense, and you only scored 3 more than a pathetic JawJaw defense gives up to everybody. And the Ole Miss team you tried you best dis? Well even after getting ass raped by Bama, their defense is still ranked 5 spots ahead of LSWho’s. So me? Naw dip shit, I’m not at all worried and neither is the Bama football team. But your ass is big time worried cause you lost and now even if you beat Bama you cannot afford to slip up against Florida, Ole Miss or Texas A&M. Basically, you are fucked! I stand by my prediction that I made even before our defense bitch slapped Ole Miss. RTR!

      3. lamo, in your opinion what was more impressive the whole 50 or 60 yards rushing (whatever it was)lsu had against the feared Georgia running D or the fact the lsu D gave up more yards and points than any other game in the last five years, and that was to Georgia’s 2nd string running back. No wonder you’re mad “your” team sucks. Maybe you arent doing enough to help. Thats it, keep on stinking it up and I bet CLM finds a new….. well whatever you do to contribute, since it is “we” right? Anyway, poor losing corndog reply in 3.2.1….

  3. Oh, by the way, I’m really proud of South Alabama holding their own with a Brand Name SEC team. Congrats on a tough game Jags! RTR!

  4. Maybe the LSU and Georgia defenses will be improved when we play them and maybe not. Unlike Bama’s defense which has had only one lapse, and that while playing in a completely different one game scheme – LSU and Georgia’s defenses have sucked the entire season. Our offense has shown what it is capable of when necessary. Our o’line unlike LSU and Georgia’s entire defense’s is all that needs to improve. It may have already took a giant step in that direction by discovering who Chad Lindsey is last night. He will now have 2 or 3 easy weeks to surplant Ryan at center. I couldn’t believe how much better the line and RB’s performed after he came in. RTR!

  5. Freeze knows you ain’t gonna beat BAMA with field goals…I admire his guts to go for it…I bet their fans were screaming go for it…
    As far as the center thing goes…don’t be so quick to dismiss Ryan…He is the starter for a reason…The adjustments at half are what made the difference in the “O” Line…Coach said so…In the post game stuff…

    Good Team win and almost a complete 60 min. game.

    RTR
    Protect America, Build Submarines

    1. I agree. If Ole Miss had pulled off any of those 2-yard 4th-down plays and scored a touchdown in the first half, all of a sudden the Alabama game would be the “breaking news” Sportscenter lead-in like it was AJ McCarron wearing a boot in a 5th-story cell phone photo. Freeze took risks, it defines his culture, and if it worked he would have looked like a genius.

      Make absolutely no mistake—-when it came to defense, Alabama absolutely executed against Ole Miss.

      Zero is my favorite number. Sure, the Rebels took risks, but zero is a hard number to get, especially against a ranked rival conference opponent. Roll Tide.

  6. I disagree! You cannot make any real adjustments in game as to how the offensive line blocks. They simply read the d’line and do their job. But it is the center’s job to do that reading and communicate it to the others. Now just what the hell has been the complaint during the previous 3 games and the first half of last nights game? Wrong reads and improper communication. But as soon as Kelly left the game the o’line started whupping Ole Miss’s defense’s ass. It wasn’t adjustments at the half. It was more talent, the ability to read correctly and communication of those reads. I don’t remember who it was, but the interview of someone last night reiterated the same.

    1. K, all I’m saying is don’t discount Kelly. I don’t expect any of us to be a better judge of talent than Saban. Two guys like that at center, it’s a good problem to have. If the throws were there, the center issue simply isn’t noticeable, for example.

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