Alabama Football: The Ole Miss Rivalry Put in Perspective, Past and Present

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) While it's fair to say Ole Miss is not what it used to be and is the bottom feeder in the SEC West, that doesn't necessarily mean that Ole Miss is a bad team.

One of my favorite sayings has always been, you'll see whatever you're looking for. If you look for the best in people, that's what you'll find. If you only look for the worst in people, that's what you'll find too.

The same could be said about football teams.

Yes, there's a lot of bad on the surface. Yes, they only won four games last season and they're not on track to go to a bowl game this season either. In fact, their loss to Vanderbilt may have them saddled with the title of worst team in the SEC.

But let's look at things a different way, is the guy who finishes last in the finals of the 100-yard dash in the Olympics a slow runner? Of course not.

That person would perhaps outrun 99 percent of the fastest men on any college in the country, but he finished last in that event because he was running against the very best of the best.

Someone has to finish last in the SEC West, but when you think of just how strong that division is, does that really mean that they're that bad of a team?

Not really or perhaps better said, not always.

Unlike the SEC East, who usually always has Vanderbilt standing at the bottom looking up, the SEC West has had a run of teams that have made themselves felt in national standings.

In fact, just two seasons ago in 2008, Ole Miss finished the year No. 2 in the SEC West, had a final ranking of No. 14 in the nation and didn't lose a game that year by more than seven points. In fact, they beat the No. 8 team in America, Texas Tech, in a thrilling Cotton Bowl.

If you take the time to look at all the games they lost over the last seven years for example, you'll see that almost all of their losses were by SEC teams and a very low percentage of them were losses by more than seven points.

Ole Miss has always had the reputation of being the most dangerous team you could play if you dare think you can look past them or not take them seriously enough.

Looking at the series numbers, it would appear that Ole Miss has been Alabama's doormat for a very long time with a series lead of 48-8-2 on the field, and 44-9-2 on the record books. (Due to Bama having to give up wins to NCAA penalties)

But then as we have been saying the entire story, that doesn't always tell the other side of the story if you're not looking for it.

Ole Miss, since 1941, or the "modern age" of college football, has been ranked 21 times out of those 69 years, that's almost one third of the time and they did share a national championship in 1960 after having come in as second in 1959.

In the past ten years, the records will reflect five wins for Alabama and two for Ole Miss with three being vacated by NCAA penalties, so that may reflect a more than two to one margin and look like Bama usually has nothing to worry about.

But if you're looking for good in all that, four of those Alabama wins on the field were by less than seven points.

If you look at it that way, for the last ten years, Ole Miss has been a rough game for the Tide to try and handle and many of the games could have gone Ole Miss' way with just one lucky bounce in a few games.

This week's game won't be that close for many reasons, the biggest is the suspension Thursday of their best running back, Brandon Bolden and starting center, A. J. Hawkins. However, it will be an SEC opponent and anything could happen. Look for Houston Nutt to try some trick plays or something to try and throw off Alabama's planning.

So don't take this Ole Miss team for granted, they are their most dangerous when you do and have some respect that while they may have been in the bottom of the SEC West last season, that still puts them in very good company.