Alabama Keeps Rolling: Alabama 66, Ole Miss 3

Levi Wallace intercepted Shea Patterson twice and returned one for a touchdown as Alabama dominated Ole Miss 66-3. The lopsided margin marked the first time that Alabama topped 59 points in back to back SEC games since 1945.

The 66 points are the most given up by Ole Miss since a 66-31 loss to Texas in 2012, Hugh Freeze’s first season in Oxford and the most Alabama has ever scored against Ole Miss. The point total is also equals the most the Rebels have yielded since 1917.

Alabama’s offense continued their turnover free play and the Tide made few mistakes throughout the blowout. Alabama’s offense topped 600 yards on offense and held Ole Miss to just over 250 offensive yards.

The Alabama defense was so dominant (or the Ole Miss offense so impotent, pick your narrative as suits) that Ole Miss had seven three and outs, yielded no drives that went longer than seven plays or 66 yards and did not allow a third down conversion on 13 attempts.

The domination by Alabama’s offense started quickly also. After a three and out on their first series, Alabama scored touchdowns on four of their next five drives along with a missed field goal. By the end of the first quarter, it was 21-3 and by halftime the Crimson Tide had put 35 points on the board.

Jalen Hurts hit 66% of his passes in the first half with a pair of touchdown passes and only attempted a single pass in the second half before giving way to Tua Tagovailoa. The Alabama running game carried the load through most of the game as eight ballcarriers combined for 365 rushing yards led by Hurts with 101 yards on the ground.

If there was a bright spot for Ole Miss (other than the fact they do not have to face Alabama the rest of the 2017 campaign), the running game had some success with Jordan Wilkins. The senior running back who missed 2016 due to academic issues topped 100 yards on 12 carries and had several strong runs. The rest of Ole Miss backs combined for three yards on six carries so it is not as though the team had success running the ball at large. However, if Wilkins can maintain his hard nosed running and pick up yards, it could help Ole Miss maintain some balance in games later in the season.