Alabama got the ball back with just under three minutes to go, having just given up the go-ahead touchdown to the Rebels after a fumbled kickoff. The drive started on the Alabama 13-yard-line after a penalty–Alabama’s seventh–for a block in the back nullified Christion Jones’ return. From there, quarterback Blake Sims engineered a 65-yard drive, finding Jones and receiver Amari Cooper with a 17-yard and 30-yard pass, respectively. Running back T.J Yeldon added a seven yard reception and eight yards on the ground. Another flag – holding this time, against tight end O.J Howard – moved Alabama back to the Ole Miss 32-yard-line, where the Crimson Tide had three downs and 45 seconds to win the game.
On second-and-13, Sims took the snap in shotgun, squared his feet, waited and hurled a pass, drifting towards Howard’s back shoulder in the end-zone, bouncing off the tight end’s fingers and into the waiting arms of Ole Miss cornerback Sanquez Golson. Sims took the blame for the pick after passing into double coverage and to his target’s covered shoulder.
“I made a mistake and threw the wrong throw,” Sims said. “I’ll learn from it and get better.”
The interception effectively ended the game, sealing a 23-17 upset win for No. 11 Ole Miss, but in truth, the drive was typical of the night for the Crimson Tide offense: plagued by penalties and stalling at the vital moment.
“Dropped balls, turnovers, penalties, those kind of things you cannot do and overcome against a good football team, especially when you’re playing on the road,” coach Nick Saban said. “We certainly weren’t able to do it today.”
After surpassing the 500-yard mark for offense in each of its first four games of the season, Alabama was held to 396 yards on the day. The Crimson Tide possessed the ball for more than 33 minutes, but only converted two out of 12 offensive possessions into a score. Alabama made it into Ole Miss territory six times, but only found the end zone on a one yard bootleg run by Sims. Adam Griffith missed two field goals from 46 and 51 yards, making one from 44 yards out. Defensive back Cyrus Jones added the second touchdown for Alabama on a fumble return.
“We controlled the ball, but we didn’t finish drives,” Saban said. “That was the point. We squandered scoring opportunities with missed field goals in the first half and not finishing drives in the second half. We’d get down inside the 30-yard-line and have negative plays that put you behind the sticks and give you difficult field goals.”
The Crimson Tide ran the ball effectively against the Rebels, frequently running behind first-year starters Cam Robinson at left tackle and Leon Brown at right guard. Alabama accrued 168 yards rushing on 44 carries and running back T.J. Yeldon recorded his 14th career game with over 100 yards rushing. Eight penalties for 52 total yards hindered Alabama’s progress, a symptom of the sloppy play that kept the Crimson Tide out of the end zone.
“We did not finish the game like we needed to,” Saban said. “We did not play as well as we would have liked today and that all starts with me. I am responsible.”
