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No. 2 Alabama at Ole Miss
Where: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford
Kickoff: 5 p.m.
Television: ESPN2
Radio: Ole Miss Network, XM 220; Sirius 199.
Records: Ole Miss 2-3, 0-2 SEC, Alabama 6-0, 3-0 SEC
Series: Alabama leads 47-9-2
Coaches: Alabama – Nick Saban, 155-70-1, 18th season overall, college and pro, 44-11 in fifth season at Alabama (Five wins vacated in 2007). Ole Miss – Houston Nutt 135-89 19th season; 24-19 fourth season at Ole Miss.
Statistical Leaders: Alabama – RB Trent Richardson 115-729 11 TDs; QB A.J. McCarron 98-for-156 passing 1,156 yards, 8 TD, 2 INT; WR Marquis Maze 31 catches, 355 yards, 1 TD; LB Dont'a Hightower 34 tackles, 4.5 TFLs. Ole Miss – RB Jeff Scott 68-350, 5 TD; QB Randall Mackey, 14-for-30 passing, 320 yards, 2 INT, 1 TD; WR Ja-Mes Logan 16 catches, 229 yards, 0 TD; LB Mike Marry 51 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 2 sacks.
Trends: Alabama has won seven straight in the series. The Rebels' last win against Alabama was led by Eli Manning, a 43-28 decision in Oxford in 2003.
Notes: Brandon Bolden, suspended for this game, has 2,237 career rushing yards and needs 85 more to pass Dou Innocent for fifth place on the Ole Miss rushing list. … RB Jeff Scott leads the nation in punt returns with a 23.0-yard average and is fifth in the SEC in all-purpose yards at 144.6 yards a game. … Ole Miss ranks third in the SEC in kickoff coverage with a 48.3-yard net average. … Alabama is the second-least penalized team in the country, drawing just 2.83 penalty flags per game. … Eight Alabama players earned some sort of preseason All-America mention during the off-season. … The Alabama defense leads the nation in holding opponents to a three-and-out offensive series. It's happened 41 times.
Prediction: Alabama 35, Ole Miss 7
JB
Mackey has been OK. He's completed some passes and had some drops. After a 3-for-6 start, Mackey has hit just one of his last six attempts.
The run game has suffered, and that's not because Bolden is out. Ole Miss has rushed 10 times for 8 yards.
You could tell early that establishing the run wasn't something Ole Miss was trying to do, at least not between the tackles.
There has been more option with Mackey, as I expected, and there has been a real effort to get the ball to tight end Jamal Mosley, though it's worked just once.
At the half Alabama has outgained Ole Miss 228-72.
Richardson has 14 carries for 83 yards. McCarron is 13-for-17 passing for 132 yards.
Mackey is 4-for-12, 67 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT.
Mackey's four completions have gone to four different receivers, the long of 59 yards to Brassell setting up the 1-yard TD run by Scott, an option call to the right with extra blockers on the left.
Mackey is the Rebels' leading rusher with 3 carries for 13 yards. Scott has 4 carries for minus-5 yards.
Ole Miss had 1 yard of offense in the second quarter.
Can't say that Ole Miss looks more physical tonight. Bama backs breaking a lot of tackles.
Uriah Grant at defensive end is an interesting move and may help more moving forward.
Ole Miss doesn't have a history of throwing to the tight end under Houston Nutt. They were really happy to get Mosley, who played at Oklahoma State before playing last year at Northwest CC.
Sometimes there's a new wrinkle when you've had two weeks to prepare. I wonder if Mosley is it. We'll see.
Updates on Twitter during the game. I'll be back here at halftime and after the game.
Alabama 24
GO REBELS!!!!!!!
JB
OM-0
Bama-45
I hope we dont quit,show some character and finish strong. Show some Rebel Pride!
GO REBELS!!!!!!
JB