Long Standing Tigers-Rebels Series To Be Put On Hold

On Sunday many Ole Miss Rebel fans will be making that 90 minute car ride from Oxford to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium for the last time in the foreseeable future. The game between the Ole Miss Rebels and Memphis Tigers will end what has been a long standing tradition between the two schools.

 Since 1949, the Rebs and Tigers have met almost yearly on the gridiron, with the exception of one year and two year breaks.

The single season breaks came in 1953, 1957, 1961, and 1975. 

From 1976 to 1995, the red-and-blue played the blue-and-grey 20 consecutive seasons, then took a two year break.  The series resumed in 1998 and 1999 before taking another two year break, and they have been playing ever since.

To put that into perspective, Ole Miss has played Memphis more than any other non-conference team in the history of the program.

Both coaches hate to see the series coming to an end.

''I love this game,'' said Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt. ''But I don't have that much to do with the scheduling. Hopefully, one day we'll get the game back.''

''I like competing against Ole Miss, I like playing them and I hate to see it go away,'' Tiger coach Tommy West said. ''But they made that decision that we're not going to play. Hopefully down the road ... they can get it back because I think it's a good game.''

''It's easy on your fans, too,'' West said. ''Our people can drive there and their (people) can come here. There are no charter airplanes involved.

''It makes too much sense. And ESPN wants the game every year.”

For the third time in the last five years, ESPN will televise the game to a national audience, with coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. This year’s matchup will feature a Rebel team ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 1970, and a hungry Tiger team that is looking to put a halt to a six game losing streak against their neighbors to the south.

The Tigers last win against the Rebels came in a similar situation as the one that has taken shape this season.

Ole Miss was heading into the 2003 season with a Manning at the helm and many were thinking maybe this was the year they would finally be able to make that elusive first trip to Atlanta and play for a SEC title.

Few people gave much hope to Memphis in the game, but many Rebel fans were shocked when the clock hit all zeros, and the Tigers came away with a 44-34 upset win over Ole Miss.

So what do Ole Miss fans think about the ending of the series?

“We've dominated the series (46-10-2 all-time), but I really don't consider it the 'good

kind' of rivalry game. They go all out to beat us because for the longest time they were

independent and really had no league rivalries to focus on. I won't miss the series at all,” said

Oxford resident Robert Dalby.

“I can see the value of the game with Memphis being so close and it also has the most

Ole Miss Alumni of any city outside of Mississippi,” said Kelsey Taylor. “I’ve have seen

the ups and downs of the game over the years, and I think it’s overall good for both

sides.”

Ole Miss student Nathan Jabour says he’s ready for something new.

“I think the series is getting a little old. I would like to see us play some other teams

that we haven’t played before.”

Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone says there isn’t much of an opening in the schedule over the next few season so he doesn’t see an opportunity to renew the series any time soon. He is,however, open to renewing the series at some point.

 ''You know, it could,'' he said. ''I don't see it anytime in the near future because wealready have a lot of dates booked. If it did, it'd be later in the season. I really haven't had anydiscussions about any dates or years going forward, but you never can tell. Maybe cancellations or other things could happen."