Two days before Ole Miss’ historic 43-37 win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, former Ole Miss coach Billy Brewer talked about the last time – in fact the only time – Ole Miss had ever beaten the Tide as the visiting team.
Brewer’s 1988 Ole Miss team defeated Alabama, 22-12, in a stunning upset on Oct. 9, a day after his 53rd birthday.
When the Rebels walked off the field that day, it was widely perceived to be a turning point in the Rebels’ season. Ole Miss had lost three straight before the upset win over Alabama. A win over the 12th-ranked Tide surely meant for brighter days, the thinking went.
Nope. Ole Miss would have had another three-game losing streak and finished the season with a forgettable 5-6 record.
In retrospect, Brewer says, while Alabama didn’t beat Ole Miss that sunny October afternoon, the Tide beat the Rebels later.
“We never got over beating Alabama,” Brewer said. “It was hard to get our players to think of anything else after that game. We lost our focus.”
In the series, Ole Miss has visited Alabama 35 times now. Only Brewer’s ’88 team and the current Rebels came home with a W.
Aside from the distinction they share, there is little comparison to be drawn between the teams. In every way, the current Rebels are considered far superior. In fact, Brewer said this team is the best that ever traveled to Alabama. Few would argue that today, given the result.
What does remain to be seen, however, is how the Rebels will manage expectations. Ole Miss has shot from No. 15 to No. 3 in the national rankings. With nine games remaining, challenges remain, obviously.
But the greatest challenge may be the one that 1988 team did not meet.
Now, the burning glare of the national spotlight and the avalanche of accolades, the distractions, the unrelenting attention and the unfair expectations that accompany it, will fall squarely onto the shoulders of the Rebels.
If Ole Miss beats Vanderbilt this week by 30, there will be some who suggest they should have beaten them by 40.
There is, too, this. Ole Miss is good, of that there can be no question. But the Rebels are not a perfect team. They have their vulnerabilities, too, which is not an indictment. The same can be said of all teams.
Ole Miss is in the shadow of the No. 1-ranking. Any hiccup by No. 1 Ohio State or No. 2 Michigan State will vault the Rebels into that top spot – provided the Rebels can take care of their own business.
That’s never easy, especially, in the SEC.
If the four-team playoff began today, Ole Miss would be in that field, joining Ohio State, Michigan State and TCU. That’s heady stuff to think about.
A year ago, Mississippi State spent five weeks as the nation’s top-ranked team. By the end of that run, the Bulldogs were spent physically, but also emotionally. It showed. After starting 9-0, MSU lost three of its last four games.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, as noted football analyst Will Shakespeare once observed.
Ole Miss beat Alabama Saturday. But if the Rebels aspire to make something meaningful of that victory, something Brewer’s 1988 team could not manage to do, the Rebels will have to do something that conflicts with human nature.
They’ll have to get over it.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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