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The University of Mississippi Athletics
FRIDAY FLASHBACK: Ole Miss - UNLV 2000
11/6/2009 | Football
FRIDAY FLASHBACK rewinds to some of the memorable Ole Miss games from this week's all-time series. The Rebels have never faced Northern Arizona and rarely matched up with any team from out west, including no Pac 10 schools. One exception occurred in 2000 when Ole Miss hosted UNLV in an exciting battle of Rebels on homecoming. The following is the Clarion-Ledger's account of the events of Oct. 28, 2000.
McAllister pleads case; Makes most of chance
By Robert Falkoff
Clarion-Ledger
That trump card was named Deuce McAllister, and he wasn't bluffing.
Just when it looked like Ole Miss was about to take a lamentable dive to mediocrity, McAllister made four dives to rescue his team from a homecoming nightmare. With Ole Miss trailing by three in overtime, McAllister demanded to be on the field despite a severely sprained left ankle. Jumping off his right foot, McAllister converted two first downs on his patented dives over the top. Then, on third-and-goal at the 1, he went up and over for a 43-40 Ole Miss victory.
"I told the coaches that they kept me out of regulation, but they weren't going to keep me out of the overtime," McAllister said.
With McAllister pleading his case and running backs coach Rich Bisaccia serving as the intermediary, the scene was set for some Deuce drama. McAllister came on with Ole Miss facing third-and-1 at the UNLV and dove for two yards.
Later in the drive, it was third-and-1 at the UNLV 5 and McAllister dove for two. At second-and-goal from the 1, McAllister was stopped. But he came back on the next play with a touchdown leap over the left side.
"McAllister looked about 12 feet tall," UNLV coach John Robinson said. "I'm glad I don't have to face him again."
Robinson said he once had a similar situation coaching a college All-Star team when he used an injured Sam "Bam" Cunningham, who couldn't do anything except dive over the top. Cunningham fumbled.
"He told me that story after the game," McAllister said. "He said I should have fumbled."
McAllister's appearance was worth more than some tough yards. He turned the negative energy of the crowd into positive energy.
"People were angry we had let UNLV come back on us," quarterback Romaro Miller said. "But when they saw Deuce, it sort of changed the focus. The crowd got caught up in it and we could feel it as a football team."
In a wild and crazy game, Ole Miss was sharp offensively but sorry defensively.
Ole Miss, which lost senior defensive end Shane Elam early, allowed a staggering 378 rushing yards.
"We're not real big up front or at linebacker," Cutcliffe said. "People can see that."
With Miller and split end Grant Heard having particularly big plays, the Rebels appeared on the verge of blowing UNLV away several times. But the Ole Miss defense could never close the deal.
When UNLV went 99 yards in the final 5:02 of regulation, the boos at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium were coming fast and furious.
"For some reason, they couldn't stop our delay draw," Robinson said.
That delay draw was what UNLV called on the final play of regulation from the Ole Miss 17. Needing one simple tackle, Ole Miss blitzed right into the play but couldn't stop Jeremi Rudolph from blasting past the line of scrimmage.
Anthony Magee had a clear opportunity to make the tackle at the 5, but former Southwest Mississippi CC star Rudolph ran through him to the end zone, symbolizing the type of day it was for the Ole Miss defense.
The two-point conversion, on a late option pitch from Jason Thomas to Kevin Brown, forced overtime.
"If we can't get that (rushing defense) addressed, we're going to have serious problems," cornerback Ken Lucas said. "We have to correct that real quick."
