Alabama Football: Crimson Tide Thumps Ole Miss, Quarterback Eats His Words

Earlier in the week, Ole Miss quarterback Randall Mackey said that Alabama could be beat.  "They ain't Superman," he quipped.  Optimistic, or delusional? 

After being beat down 52-7 in their own stadium, the Ole Miss Rebels and Randall Mackey could probably tell you who their pick is to win the national championship.  

The 2011 Ole Miss defense is one of the worst in the SEC, and as such Alabama was a 27-point favorite.  Somebody, somewhere, was a little bit off.  The Crimson Tide put a lot more on the board than was expected.  

The Rebels came out swinging, scoring on the first possession of the game.  It fired a spark in the Rebels, and they hoped to carry that motivation to a glorious upset.  They didn't touch pay dirt again, and their only sniff was a goal line stand where Alabama denied them four times, and no field goal was attempted.  

Trent Richardson was far and away the star of the game.  With 183 yards on 17 carries with four touchdowns, Richardson has firmly entrenched himself in the Heisman discussions.  In addition, he finally created the "Heisman Run" we've all been waiting for, as if his previous runs in the year weren't already spectacular.  

On what looked to be a designed run through the tackles, Richardson stopped and cut left when every single whole was plugged, crossed the line of scrimmage, dashed to the—ah, just watch the video to the right.  Yeah, he went all the way.

With South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore possibly out for the rest of the season, Trent Richardson should become the undisputed best back in college football, and he will certainly be the best back in the 2012 NFL draft.  

Though overshadowed by Trent Richardson and his stiff-arm pose, A.J. McCarron once again put on a spectacular show.  He completed almost 80 percent of his passes, going 19-of-24 with 224 yards and a touchdown.  

Those are the kinds of numbers perennial Heisman contender Kellen Moore puts up every week against competition weaker than Ole Miss.  Yes, I'm going on the record saying that A.J. McCarron is a better quarterback than Kellen Moore.  He's taller too.  And he has nicer hair.    

The combined might of Richardson and McCarron helped Alabama steamroll Ole Miss for over 600 yards of offense, including 389 rushing.  

Third-string running back Jalston Fowler scored a pair of touchdowns to go along with his 125 yards rushing.  Alabama is about the only place you'll find a third string running back putting up those numbers.  Were people really concerned about depth in the backfield when Demetrius Hart tore his ACL and Demetrius Goode transferred?

The defensive side of the ball finally saw Robert Lester make his first interception of the year.  After his 2010 campaign where he picked off opposing quarterbacks a whopping 8 times, Lester has left us hanging before tonight.  

Courtney Upshaw made another bang on the field, after sitting out the first quarter.  He sacked Ole Miss quarterback Randall Mackey twice, and forced a fumble on one of them in the Rebels own red zone.  

Upshaw is still building a case about him being the best in the SEC at getting in opponents backfields.  

Once again, Alabama got off to a bit of a slow start, and once again, Alabama blew another team out of the water.

The slow starts need to end, and end soon, but coming away with a blowout win is good enough until next week.  

The only other glaring shortcoming is the terrible play of Cade Foster.  Renowned in high school as one of the best kickers and strongest legs in the nation, Foster came to Alabama with high expectations.  

Yet another game has gone by where Foster did not get one touchback on a kickoff, and he consistently gave the other team great field position, including several 40-plus-yard returns.  

Cade Foster is not even making the impact after the kicks that he had in 2010, where he lead the team in special teams tackles for most of the year.  

Foster could not even make a 53-yard field goal tonight. No, he didn't go wide right or wide left; he simply couldn't kick it far enough. He then got plastered by a blocker when Ole Miss caught the failed kick.  

The Alabama offense and defense has been carrying a very lackluster special teams this year. Fortunately, special teams is the one place you can afford to have a little baggage, unless you get another Tennessee-in-2009 situation.  

To be fair to Rebels quarterback Randall Mackey, maybe Alabama isn't Superman.  But on Oct. 15, 2011, in Oxford, Mississippi, those watching the game just might have seen a bird.  Or was it a plane?