Tide expect a battle from Rebels

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The whisky bottles were whizzing toward the field, and Kareem Jackson wasn't sticking around to watch them land.

Alabama was finishing off Ole Miss 27-24 in front of a rowdy Oxford crowd in 2007 when the projectiles started flying.

"Coach (Nick Saban) told us it was going to be a crazy atmosphere," said Jackson, now a junior cornerback. "But I didn't expect anything like that. But once that happened, I was ready to get in the locker room."

He returns today with the undefeated Crimson Tide to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for another Southeastern Conference showdown. The stakes in the 3:30 p.m. EDT game are even higher this time.

Ole Miss (3-1, 1-1) fell from the national top five two weeks ago with a loss at South Carolina, so some of the luster has been stripped from this game. Still, a win over the third-ranked Tide (5-0, 2-0) would keep the Rebels in strong contention for their first trip to the SEC championship game.

In light of how the last two Tide-Rebels meetings ended, another tension-filled affair can be expected. The bottle shower of 2007 followed a late-game interception that preserved an Alabama victory. Then last fall, a last-minute Ole Miss drive fell short of the end zone in a 24-20 Alabama win in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Ole Miss won just two of its first four games last season before stunning the nation with a road win at Florida. The Rebels just kept going from there.

Two of their top skill players are due for breakout performances. Quarterback Jevan Snead and wide receiver Dexter McCluster have struggled at times, but they still are very much on the minds of Alabama defenders.

McCluster was one of the 31 Ole Miss players who battled the flu early in the season; the virus sent him to the hospital in September. He's now back at full strength, and Tide cornerback Javier Arenas said the 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster has the athletic ability to cause a lot of problems.

"He is just the type of guy who you just give the ball and just say, 'Hey, go do your thing,'" Arenas said. "It's tough playing against a guy like that because he is going to make catches and he's going to make a play. You've got to keep your poise and be ready to fight on the next one."

Following the national trend started by Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt's 2007 Arkansas team, McCluster also is a threat as the quarterback in the Rebels' wildcat offense. He has yet to throw a pass this season, but his ability to disappear behind linemen before hitting the afterburners can frustrate defenders. Through four games, he's run for 157 yards on 31 carries and caught 11 passes for 155 yards.