Alabama-Ole Miss: Preview from a Tide Perspective

Tide fans weren’t worried about a letdown against Kentucky, just the “cycle” of John Parker Wilson. He was due for a down game.

Most figured the team was good enough to win without an "A" game from Wilson. Little did they know that most of the offense would follow suit.

This is the game cycle where JPW is supposed to be hot, and this time observant fans believe they will need it. Ole Miss plays strong against the run and are little softer on the pass defense. JPW needs to come through.

Ole Miss is one of those teams you better not let “hang around,” as evidenced by their late rally against Florida and subsequent defeat of them.

Playing Kentucky, the Tide was still not “on guard” against a letdown after such a big game as Georgia was. You'd better believe this is a team that better not be trifled with or you won’t leave with an ugly win.

And that’s what worries the fans. A three-loss Ole Miss may not get the attention of the team, despite the Rebs knocking off top 5 Florida. The Rebels are just waiting to play spoiler again, and in the past few years, they’ve played Alabama hard and down to the wire.

Remember last year’s thrilling 27-24 win, or the year before’s 26-23 overtime win? Who could forget 2005’s famous 13-10 defensive struggle won by the Tide? This is a team with a history of playing Bama tough.

Let’s hope the Tide isn’t looking ahead to end the “November Blues” and forget to take care of business in October. In this article, let me tell you why there's so much worry about this team, point by point, and get you to REALLY know the Tide opponent.

Ole Miss Defense

Not a dominating bunch, but a pesky bunch that can and may create turnovers. They have a defensive backfield that held Heisman Trophy Winner Tim “Superman” Tebow to just one touchdown pass, despite throwing for 319 yards.

They tackle well after the catch and play a really tough red zone defense. They could be like earlier versions of Alabama’s “Bend but don’t break” defense.

Jamarca Sanford, senior strong safety, is a guy you’d better watch. He may lead in tackles against us, can cause fumbles and has been known to blitz in certain packages. He gets after people and delivers a pop.

His partner, junior safety Kendrick Lewis almost plays like a strong safety himself and is second on the team in tackles. They have a senior linebacker, Tony Fein, who would start at Alabama. He’s a good one and leads all linebackers and defensive linemen in stops. This is a defense that gives up just over 100 yards rushing a game and about 229 yards passing.

Their strength matches up against ours, a run defense team against a run offense team and a softer passing defense against a team who has struggled with the passing game.

This team doesn’t blitz a whole lot, and they don’t get a lot of sacks. They play a kind of conservative defense that while giving up yardage between the 20s, always seems to get a stop when they need it.

They don’t try and trick you. they just hit you, cover all the holes the runners need, and cover receivers tight. There usually aren’t many “yards after catch” with this bunch. They have kept their team in every game. With just a break here or there, this could easily be an undefeated team!

The Ole Miss Offense

This team is resilient. They don’t give up. They are led by sophomore Jevan Snead, who transferred from Texas, where he was a highly sought-after prospect.

I tell you this to let you know that this kid is for real. He sat out last year due to the transfer rules, but as a true freshman at Texas, he came in cold off the bench against Kansas and threw for 190 yards; he’s quite a gamer.

Against Florida, he was beaten on all day, but when the game was on the line, he came back and threw a bomb to win that game. Don’t give this kid a chance to beat you, or he will. He completes over 55 percent of his passes.

His problem, though, is that he has thrown as many interceptions as TD passes. However, he doesn’t get gun shy if he’s picked and will come right back the next series and attempt the tough throws. If he’s hot, he’s hot. He hasn’t really had a bad game that killed a chance for a win. 

You can’t talk about Ole Miss’ offense without talking about their three- headed monster at running back. They run by committee with Bolden, Eason and McCluster. They average 5.4, 4.2 and 6.5 yards per carry, respectively. That’s some pretty respectable numbers. And each can pop one for big yardage if you let them.

This is not a flashy offense. Against the best teams, they’ve done just enough to win or keep them in the game until the end. They can move the ball on Alabama and they will. They can score against us and they will.  The Tide had better respect this offense and put them away Georgia- and Clemson-style to make them irrelevant later in the game.

Ole Miss Season Overview

They’ve beaten the teams they should have, beaten one they shouldn’t have, and all their losses have been so close, they could have won them all with a break here or there.

MEMPHIS Win 41-24 Should have won and did big
Wake Forest Loss 28-30 Wake beat a hot FSU team
SAMFORD Win 34-10 Should have won and did
VANDERBILT Loss 17-23 Heartbreaking last minute turnover
Florida Won 31-30 Stunned a top 5 team
SOUTH CAROLINA Loss 24-31 2 big fumbles and last drive int

So as you see, if the Rebels can hold onto the ball and not turn it over, they could be a BIG problem for the Tide or ANY team.

How I See It Playing Out

Boy, was I wrong last week, thinking the Tide would cure their up-and-down cycle or at least that John Parker Wilson would. But if you believe in trends, then it’s time for a great showing.

I believe Alabama will come out and try and make a statement that last week's poor showing on offense was an aberration. The defense was solid last week and there’s no reason to think that will change.

The Rebels put up 24 points on one of the best defenses in America, and if not for the turnovers, they may have put up more. So far this year the Rebs average over 29 points a game. The Tide will have to score more than last weeks paltry 17-point output to win this game.

The scariest part to me is that Ole Miss has nothing to lose and will just play lights out and throw all kinds of things at us we didn’t expect. They want respect and they know they’re a much better team than their 3-3 record would suggest.

I think Ole Miss will bypass a lot of “feeling out” and test Bama on some deep balls early hoping to get the Tide flustered early and getting them out of their game plan. Nobody so far has tried to burn Bama deep consistently, and I think Ole Miss is ready to try it. I think the Tide will be up to that challenge.

Bama will come out with their traditional smash-mouth style and seek to dominate early and set a tone. I think the Tide will dominate the first half in perhaps a 17-3 fashion. If history follows suit, the Rebs make a game of it when Alabama seems to let teams back in the game, but trench warfare and strength overall win out and Alabama finally wears them out.

Speaking of cycles, this is the game that JPW is supposed to be on, and he will be. In a way, this will only frustrate the fans even more wondering why he can’t be that way EVERY game.

The game ends with another long Alabama drive putting the final score somewhere around the 31–17 range.