TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Ole Miss has waited a long time for this, and for many different reasons.
While Alabama will be making its 30th appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay when it visits Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Mississippi is serving as the pregame show’s broadcast site for the first time. It hasn’t enjoyed a victory over the Crimson Tide since 2003, and has only beaten Nick Saban once, when he was with LSU in 2001.
Even due to a quirk in the Southeastern Conference scheduling, before a new regular rotation could be set up following the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M, Ole Miss hasn’t hosted its Western Division rival since 2011 (a 52-7 Alabama victory).
So yes, Alabama is once again the visitor at a venue in which the hometown fans are deservingly calling it one of the biggest games in program history (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS). Not only are the Rebels ranked 11th and trying to show that they’re ready to challenge for a spot in the SEC’s upper echelon, but would also like to get the Crimson Tide back for last year’s 25-0 shutout.
“We actually feed off it,” junior linebacker Denzel Devall said about big-game atmospheres like this. “We love it. We love going into environments that are pretty hostile. It makes everything sweeter. I’m looking forward to traveling there. It’s pretty exciting.”
As for that 2011 game, there aren’t too many players remaining on the Crimson Tide roster who made that trip. For example, junior center Ryan Kelly didn’t because he was redshirting his first season.
“I remember it being loud,” senior linebacker Trey DePriest said. “All SEC road games and home games are loud. And that was one of the first turf fields we played on.”
Trent Richardson was the star of the game by rushing for 183 yards and four touchdowns, including his 76-yard signature score featuring a late deke on freshman safety Senquez Golson – now a senior cornerback. However, on Alabama’s last possession the fourth-string running back entered the game and had five carries for 74 yards including a 45-yard gain before coaches called for three straight knees to run out the clock.
His name? Blake Sims.
“I remember Blake getting chased down by some guy when he had like a 15-yard lead on him,” senior tight end Brian Vogler said.
“We all make fun of him for that one back then. He’s hoping to make up for what he did last time.”
This time Sims is slated to be Alabama’s starting quarterback for his first true road test. He completed 24 of 33 passes for 250 yards during Alabama’s season-opening 33-23 victory against West Virginia at the Georgia Dome, which was filled with a lot more Crimson Tide fans than those rooting for the Mountaineers.
In contrast, Saturday’s game will feature non-stop harassment from hungry fans, following hours of getting worked up on the Grove and years of frustration.
“You have to deal with is the noise factor offensively in terms of being able to manage the game — silent count, those kinds of things are a little different,” Saban explained. “We practiced it when we played in Atlanta in the first game, did it some in the game, didn’t have to do it the whole time in the game because that wasn’t truly an away game. It was a neutral-site game. So I think that’s the biggest challenge.”
With Alabama going up-tempo at times the challenge becomes that much greater for the offense, although the Crimson Tide does use simpler pre-snap calls than in the past. So far through four games it’s executed 312 plays, the second most since Saban arrived in 2007 and only because the final 7:53 of the Florida Atlantic game was cancelled due to inclement weather.
Otherwise, it figures to be your normal, intense SEC game between two undefeated top-25 teams.
“We’re fired up, they’re fired up,” DePriest said. “It’s just a smash-mouth football game.”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
