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The University of Mississippi Athletics
FRIDAY FLASHBACK: Ole Miss - Alabama 1988
10/17/2008 | Football
FRIDAY FLASHBACK rewinds to some of the memorable Ole Miss games from this week's all-time series. As the Rebels travel to Tuscaloosa to face the Crimson Tide, we step back two decades to a proud day for Ole Miss in its visiting state. Nationally-ranked Alabama was celebrating homecoming and held dedication ceremonies for the Paul W. Bryant Museum, but that energy would not slow down the upstart Rebels. The following is the Clarion-Ledger's account of the events of Oct. 8, 1988.
Rebs take historic win over Bama
By Mike Knobler
Clarion-Ledger
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. No more consolation speeches and talk of effort and hypothesizing about what might have happened.
This time, the Ole Miss Rebels finally did it.
After inspired but losing performances against three consecutive Top 20 teams, Ole Miss beat one. The Rebels scored 15 points in the final 46 seconds to upset 12th-ranked Alabama 22-12 here Saturday.
Never before in the 24 tried dating back to 1900 had Ole Miss beaten Alabama in the state of Alabama. Through six Southeastern Conference championship seasons and 473 football wins, that feat remained unaccomplished - until Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
"This was one of the biggest wins in Ole Miss history," said Rebels coach Billy Brewer.
"If there ever could be a bigger one, I'd be proud to be on the team that had a bigger one," said offensive coordinator Red Parker, who spent 23 years as a head coach.
Ole Miss, 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, had lost five straight to Alabama since 1976. The Crimson Tide fell to 3-1 and 2-1 before a homecoming crowd of 70,123.
After the game the Rebels ran over to the southeast corner of the stadium, where at least 3,000 Ole Miss fans reveled in a scene reminiscent of the 1986 LSU game.
Many players compared beating the Tide to that 21-19 win over the Tigers. Some said it was even better.
Ole Miss started the decisive drive at its 45 trailing 12-7 with 2:53 left.
"Everybody said, Hey we're going to make history today,'" said fullback Joe Mickles. "And we did."
"We just knew that we had to score on that one," said quarterback Mark Young. "If we didn't score on that one, we lost another close ballgame. We wanted to be on the other end and not have to say, You played em close.' We wanted to be on the other end and see how it felt to win a ballgame.
Shawn Sykes scored the game winning touchdown on a third-and-10 play from the Crimson Tide 12. It was the first time this year the Rebels scored in the fourth quarter. They scored on a strong-side trap the same play that produced a 53-yard touchdown run for Sykes in the third quarter.
"They got caught blitzing," Sykes said. "The trap was wide open."
On the third-quarter touchdown, Sykes had open field until the 5, where Alabama defensive back Kermit Kendrick of Meridian caught up with him. Sykes shrugged him off and went into the end zone standing.
"My leg was hurting," Sykes said. "I was going as fast as I could go. I tried to kick in, but I was already kicked in. I felt somebody on my back, but I just didn't want to go down."
The teams had played a scoreless first half. There were only five total first downs in the first quarter, then Alabama scored 12 points in just over 3 minutes.
Pierre Goode returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. Linebacker Tommy Cole sacked Young for a safety. And after Murry Hill returned the free kick 51 yards, Philip Doyle kicked a 21-yard field goal.
It looked like last week's Georgia game, in which the Rebels led 12-10 at halftime and lost 36-12. This time, though, was different.
When they finally got their chance, the offensive line game Young what he called the best protection he's had in his career.
"There was just emotion in the huddle," said Pruett, a sophomore from Mobile, Ala. "It was unbelievable. We were screaming, hollering, keeping everybody pumped up and just saying, Don't quit.'
"Every time we'd advance the ball a little bit we'd say, '25 yards fellas, 25 yards to a win.' It was just incredible."
After Sykes' touchdown, Darron Billings ran for a two-point conversion from the upback spot in the Wishbone. That gave the Rebels a 15-12 lead. Then, on third-and-28 from the Alabama 16, Tony Bennett jarred the ball loose from Alabama quarterback Jeff Dunn. Doug Jacobs recovered for the Rebels at the 13. After a penalty, Mickles ran 18 yards for the final touchdown.
"This is an indication on how we're headed," Young said. "We're headed back up to the top."