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The University of Mississippi Athletics
FRIDAY FLASHBACK: Ole Miss - Florida 1989
9/26/2008 | Football
FRIDAY FLASHBACK rewinds to some of the memorable Ole Miss games from this week's all-time series. As the Rebels travel to Gainesville to face Tim Tebow's Gators, we step back two decades to another battle between the SEC foes in the Swamp. Florida star Emmit Smith put on an offensive showcase, but it would not be enough against the opportunistic Rebel defense. The following is the Clarion-Ledger's account of the events of Sept. 9, 1989.
Rebs go 2-0, top SEC
By Mike Knobler
Clarion-Ledger
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Even Ole Miss coach Billy Brewer had a hard time comprehending his team's shocking 24-19 nationally-televised victory Saturday over Florida.
"Oh, Lord have mercy," Brewer said, shaking his head.
By any traditional measure, Florida dominated. The Gators led 25-9 in first downs and 379-128 in total offense.
Ole Miss countered with a lot of heart and three gigantic plays that quieted the Florida crowd of 76,014 in the Gators' opener.
Sophomore cornerback Chauncey Godwin intercepted two passes, one for a touchdown and the other to set up a touchdown. But the play of the game was a fake punt, possibly the gutsiest call of Brewer's career.
Ole Miss was at its 40 leading 7-6 five minutes into the second half. The Rebels were also getting kicked all over the field. If the fake punt worked, Ole Miss would keep the momentum. If not...
"I was repeating to myself, Billy, you're either going to look good or you're a real dummy,'" Brewer said. "the next line is, You have no choice.'"
Punter Charles Childers threw a 28-yard pass to Gerald Vaughn. Nine plays later Randy Baldwin ran into the end zone on fourth down from the 1. The Rebels led 14-6. Florida never recovered.
For the first time since 1982, Ole Miss is 2-0. For the first time since 1976, the Rebels won their Southeastern Conference opener.
For the second time in two weeks, a Mississippi team came to Florida and pulled off an upset on national TV. Last week, it was Southern Mississippi shocking Florida State 30-26.
And for the third time in four seasons, the Rebels pulled a major upset on the road and on TV. First came a 21-19 win at LSU in 1986, then a 22-12 win last season at Alabama.
"I hope it's a pattern," Brewer said, "because we've got some more road games coming."
Quarterback John Darnell doesn't want anymore like this one.
"That's probably the poorest game we ever played on offense," Darnell said. "As far as I'm concerned, that's the poorest game I've ever played."
Darnell completed 6 of 14 passes for 48 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Baldwin, the Rebels leading rusher, had just 38 yards on 13 carries. One 66-yard drive, the one with the fake punt, accounted for more than half of the Rebels' offense.
"We didn't get the signals. We didn't block anybody. We didn't throw the ball," offensive coordinator Red Parker said.
In the other locker room, the Gators were trying to figure out how they lost. Emmitt Smith had run for 117 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. Kyle Morris had thrown for 216 yards. The difference was turnovers.
Seventeen of Ole Miss' 24 points came off Gator turnovers. Godwin's first interception gave the Rebels the ball at the 15. Three plays later, Baldwin caught a 9-yard touchdown pass. Godwin returned his second interception 58 yards for a touchdown. Ricky Richardson recovered a muffed punt at the 25 to set up Brian Lee's 40-yard field goal.
"We self-destructed and helped them," Florida coach Galen Hall said. "I credit Ole Miss for taking advantage of our mistakes and credit us with making mistakes that cost us the football game."
Morris, reputed to be improved, looked like the same quarterback Florida fans loved to hate last season. Morris, a native of Clinton, missed open receivers, made bad pitches and found a way to fail. Less than one half-game into the Florida season, the hometown fans booed Morris loudly. They repeated the boos at the start of each Gator possession the rest of the afternoon.
One Florida drive went 77 yards in 15 plays and 6 minutes, 17 seconds. And the Gators didn't score. Florida kicker John David Francis missed a 29-yard field goal.
The first Florida drive of the second half went to the Ole Miss 29 before Morris pitched the ball high and behind Willie McClendon. Tony Bennett recovered for Ole Miss.
"Anytime you can let them drive the football and not get any point on the board, that took a lot out of them," Brewer said. "We were getting stronger defensively."
Bennett's recovery started the Rebels' 66-yard, fake-punt assisted scoring drive. Childers said Ole Miss meant to try the fake earlier but called it off because of a change in Florida's alignment. This time, to Ole Miss' surprise, Mike Billins dropped back to cover Vaughn.
"I got worried," said Vaughn, a sophomore who was academically ineligible last season. That was the first time the dude picked me up."
But Vaughn, who played running back at Lafayette County High, still managed to get behind Billins and make the catch. The call was perfect.
"We've had (the play) in always," Brewer said. "We just didn't have enough guts last week to use it."
Ole Miss scored, and Florida got frustrated. The Rebel defense, which spent 36 minutes and 86 plays on the field, had the motivation it needed to preserve.
"They've got a hell of a football team," said Rebel defensive coordinator Robert Henry. "They didn't get us quick. We just went after them and went after them and went after them."
Smith scored Florida's first touchdown on a 5-yard run with 13-16 left. But even that wasn't a complete success for the Gators. On the two-point conversion attempt, Morris threw incomplete for Terence Barber. It was 24-12. The Gators would still need two scores, and time was running out.
They got another touchdown on a 2-yard run by Smith with 1:37 left, but the drive took 4:31. The last Gator possession started at the Ole Miss 45 with 30 seconds left. One fourth-and-2, Morris badly overthrew Stacey Simmons in the end zone.
The Ole Miss victory came despite two key injuries. Nosegurad Darryl Smith couldn't start because of an ankle injury, and free safety Todd Sandroni watched the second half on crutches because of a sprained knee. Sandroni is scheduled to undergo further diagnostic tests today.
"I have trouble cutting on it," Sandroni said. "They didn't want to take any chances. I don't think there's anything wrong."