SIDEBAR: Records Fall in Tulane Victory

OXFORD, Miss. – So make that nine games in Lane Kiffin's 13 at Ole Miss that the Rebels have racked up over 500 yards of offense. But the 707 total yards in the 61-21 win against Tulane doesn't necessarily tell the offensive story of this one.

There's quarterback Matt Corral, who was responsible for seven touchdowns in the game, the first time one Rebel has accounted for as many since Arnold "Showboat" Boykin scored seven rushing touchdowns in a 49-7 win at Mississippi State 70 seasons ago - in 1951.

In this game, Corral became the first player to pass for three touchdowns and rush for four touchdowns in a single game in Southeastern Conference history.

Corral was 23-of-31 for 335 yards in the passing department, three of them touchdowns to go along with four rushing ones in the game. He says he can be better.

"I can name many mistakes I made in that game," Corral said. "There are bigger plays that can be made if I don't make those mistakes."

The Rebels actually had 448 yards in the first half. They scored on six of their seven first-half possessions, and nine of their first 11 possessions in the game. And they ended the night with 41 first downs.

Forty-one. That's a school record for first downs and ties the SEC record.

The start of the game was delayed for an hour and 45 minutes because of torrential rains and lightning. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said he had been through those type of things before.

"You learn from them and they help you," he said, mentioning he'd gone through these kinds of storm situations at Florida Atlantic. "Being at a different place, that really helped us on that. This happens all the time (in south Florida), lightning delays and all that. We played really well from the start (tonight)."

It was also one-sided basically from the start. On the very first drive of the game, the Rebels set a tone, not through the air but on the ground. After one complete and one incomplete pass, the Rebels went to the rush on eight straight plays before a 17-yard pass from Corral to Jonathan Mingo set up a 19-yard rush by Henry Parrish, Jr., for the game's first touchdown.

The fireworks had just begun. The Rebels' first punt didn't come until the 2:22 mark of the third quarter. By then, they were up by 40.

Jerrion Ealy didn't score in the contest but had 103 yards on 15 carries and was big in the opening drive with six of his carries in that sequence.

Mingo was a highlight of the first half, with six receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Yet he wasn't the only buzz at halftime as far as receivers go.

Dontario Drummond caught a pass for the eighth consecutive game. In a search of stats, at least as far back as 1965, no Rebel had accomplished that feat.

"I just try to do better every week. I go out there and put my head down and try to forget about what happened last week," said Mingo, who finished with just those six catches.

Tulane scored a touchdown with 42 seconds to go in the first half to trail 40-21 at the break. As potent as the Rebels' offense was, it almost felt like a disappointment when they weren't able to answer in that short amount of time that remained.

Three touchdowns in the third quarter - two on rushes by Corral of 15 and 12 yards, and one on a touchdown pass of 45 yards from Corral to Braylon Sanders - and this one was on ice for Ole Miss.

"I know what this offense is capable of," Mingo said. "The goal is not to score a certain amount of points. It's to score every drive."

"We're just going to focus on the little things," Corral said of moving forward. "That's what's going to catapult us into next week."

Next week. The Rebels have an open date. Corral said there had been no mention yet of the Rebels' next opponent.

That next opponent. Alabama.

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Players Mentioned

Matt Corral

Dontario Drummond

Jerrion Ealy

Jonathan Mingo

Braylon Sanders

The University of Mississippi Athletics