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The University of Mississippi Athletics
FRIDAY FLASHBACK: Ole Miss - Vanderbilt 1990
10/2/2009 | Football
FRIDAY FLASHBACK rewinds to some of the memorable Ole Miss games from this week's all-time series. After seeing Vanderbilt dominate the series for the first half of the 20th century, the Rebels eventually took control and from 1953 to 1990 lost only four times to the Commodores.
However, Billy Brewer's ranked Rebels faced a battle in Nashville with the upstart Dores in 1990. Ole Miss was aiming for a second straight season with at least seven wins for the first time since 1970-71 but was without starting QB Tom Like with a leg injury suffered during practice the week before. The following is the Commercial Appeal's account of the events of October 27, 1990.
Rebels defeat Vandy
By Ron Higgins
The Commercial Appeal
NASHVILLE - Its offense sputtered. Its star runner was bottled up most of the day. Its defense had trouble figuring how to break a wishbone offense.
Yet the 17th-ranked Ole Miss, living up to its 1990 "do whatever" philosophy did enough things right Saturday to escape with a 14-13 Southeastern Conference football victory over Vanderbilt before 38,704 fans at Vanderbilt Stadium.
An 89-yard clock-killing drive by the Rebels, which started on the Ole Miss 3-yard line with 5:50 left and ended on the Vanderbilt 8 at the final horn, kept Ole Miss (7-1 overall, 3-1 in the SEC) in the hunt for its first SEC title since 1963. Vanderbilt is 1-6, 1-4.
"It doesn't matter if it's by a point, a half a point or a tenth of a point," Ole Miss defensive end Kelvin Pritchett said of the Rebels' close call. "We're 7-1."
The Rebels, who play at LSU next Saturday, had to overcome the pregame loss of starting quarterback Tommy Luke and a week of mostly uninspired practices.
Luke sustained a hyper-extended left knee in the second half of Ole Miss's 42-13 victory over Arkansas State on Oct. 20. Neither he nor Ole Miss coach Billy Brewer said anything about the injury after the game, and Luke did not practice last week. Russ Shows replaced Luke, but he was not sharp.
The Rebels' blasé workweek was pepped up by Vanderbilt sophomore running back Carlos Thomas's comments Wednesday that he hates Ole Miss.
Although Brewer denied Thomas's statements had any effect on the game - Thomas apologized to Brewer afterward - Rebel nose guard Victor Lester disagreed.
"He (Thomas) had a big mouth and we wanted to shut him up," Lester said. "All 11 of us wanted to put a helmet on him every play."
Thomas finished with 57 yards rushing as the Commodores gained 314 yards.
The Rebels' defense - with Pete Harris' recovery of a Thomas fumble at the Ole Miss 40 with 10:39 to play - snuffed out Vandy's last threat as it moved near a potential game-winning field goal attempt.
Defense was needed because the Ole Miss offense couldn't cash in its drives. Ole Miss produced 446 yards - 291 rushing - but the Rebels managed just two first-half touchdowns.
Ole Miss placekicker Brian Lee missed field goals off 44 yards in the second quarter and 47 yards in the third quarter as Vandy shut out the Rebels for nearly 34 minutes.
"Offensively, we just didn't have the rhythm we had in the last several games," Brewer said. "I don't know whether that's because Tommy didn't play or what. I told our players last night (Friday) that everybody's going to play their best against you when you're the 17th-ranked team."
Shows, who started the first two games this year and missed two others with a pulled abdominal muscle, struggled.
He completed 8-of-24 passes for 155 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was also sacked four times.
Ole Miss running back Randy Baldwin was held in check for most of the game, but a 38-yard run late in the fourth quarter enabled him to finish with 121 yards on 18 carries.
But as Brewer said, Shows "did enough" on one play - a 45-yard scoring strike to flanker Vincent Brownlee with 3:55 left in the second quarter for a 14-7 halftime lead.
Ole Miss scored first on a 1-yard TD run by fullback Ed Thigpen with 9:22 left in the first quarter. Vandy tied the game with a 20-yard scoring pass from quarterback Mike Healey to split end Clarence Sevillian with 14:53 left in the second period.
Vanderbilt's third-quarter drives of 63 yards and 66 yards resulted in placekicker Jeff Owen converting field goals of 30 yards and 22 yards, narrowing the Ole Miss lead to one point.
"We knew what we had to do," Baldwin said. "It was just a matter of concentrating and getting the job done."
