BAMA-OLE MISS: Tide's win wasn't just a snap - it was two
Alabama and Ole Miss broke all sorts of records on Saturday but in the end, the Crimson Tide did just enough on defense to earn a win. (Alabama Media Relations)
By GRAHAM DUNN
OXFORD – Who thought two bad snaps could cost a team a ball game?
Ask that to the Ole Miss players, coaches and fans and they can say “we do.”
In a 63-48 loss to second-ranked Alabama on Saturday, a game filled with record-breaking offense means every snap counts.
In this case, Ole Miss needed all 86 to have a chance. But two of those went awry interrupting two scoring opportunities.
That was the difference.
“Only way to beat those guys is to do everything right for the entire game and we didn’t do that,” stated Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. “You have to finish games and all situations. They’ve been at this the last 12 years. We are just getting here.”
In what seems to have become Nick Saban’s “Waterloo,” Alabama survived another wild night in Oxford that included weird weather, odd calls from the officials and offensive production rarely achieved in SEC history.
“We’ve had some real crazy games over here and this was another one,” Saban said. “I think there are some lessons to be learned. We have to have great preparations to be successful. Obviously we need to do a better job of that as coaches so our players will have a chance to be successful on the field. I don’t think we tackled very well, I don’t know if it may have been the (wet) surface.”
The two snaps in question thwarted two drives for Ole Miss, one of which ended in a punt in the first half while the other ended a drive with a field goal when a touchdown was needed to keep serve.
But according to Kiffin, this is an ongoing problem for the Rebels.
“We struggled with snaps the first two games,” Kiffin said. “So this one caught us. We tried to change how (Ole Miss center Ben Brown) snaps but that got us something like minus-20 yards.
“If you are going to beat that team, you basically have to play perfect. We didn’t do that. we didn’t tackle well. We went 4 of 4 on fourth down. That was huge. It’s kinda a shame that we weren’t able to pull it off.”
Then again, Alabama wasn’t satisfied either, even if the Crimson Tide held serve, scoring six touchdowns in as many possessions in the second half.
“We do a good job with our coaching staff preparing us,” stated Bama quarterback Mac Jones, who set a few more records this week.
“Our offensive line gave us plenty of time. I don’t think I got hit tonight. Receivers made the plays and Najee (Harris) and B-Rob (Brian Robinson) did a great job, got good carries and set up play action, doing the things we wanted to do.”
For a second straight week, Alabama’s defense was maligned, giving up massive yards all night. Tackling was a problem, so stated Saban and senior linebacker Dylan Moses, who still sees the Bama “D” as solid.
“Poor communication,” Moses explained. “Our defense is really good. We have a lot of great players. We just have to communicate from one side of the field to the other.
“We just have to get better. Lane Kiffin is a great coach. He is not a pushover coach or (coaching) a pushover team. This is an SEC team. We have a lot of respect for them. We have the pieces, we just have to get better.”
Saban had plenty of praise for his team after the win, even if it was peppered with criticism.
“We struggled,” he said. “We really didn’t do anything well. Didn’t stop the run. Got picked. Couldn’t get the quarterback on the ground when we needed it. We just didn’t play very well. I am responsible for that.
“I think the biggest thing was our guys competed in this game for 60 minutes. We scored every time we had to score. We took the air out of it at the end of the game. The offense did a fantastic job. We had a good plan. Najee Harris was good. Mac Jones played really well. Our receivers played well. Great job on special teams, recovering both onside kicks that could have made a huge difference in the game.”
Meanwhile, Kiffin spent the night wanting the good old days when Alabama’s offense was as close to “3 yards and a cloud of dust” as any in the country.
“I was over there today, kept saying it about 10 times in the headset, wish Sark (Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian) wasn’t over there, saying I wish they were running the old offense,” Kiffin said. “The other time I coached against (Saban) and it was 12-10 and there was only one touchdowns scored… be careful what you do.”
The two teams combined for the most points scored in regulation in an SEC game (111). Harris suffered his first fumble in his career, a controversial one since his forward progress had been stopped at the goal line. Moses enjoyed his best night with 13 tackles and Jones became the first Alabama quarterback to throw for 300 or more yards in three consecutive games.
Kiffin may have had an answer for all of it.
“It may be COVID, tackling fundamentals, missing spring ball. (It all) may have something to do with it. I would never guess this. I joked with Coach afterwards, he was laughing afterwards about the defense.”