OXFORD, Miss. – Alabama had to match the largest comeback of its storied football history Saturday afternoon to finally turn back Ole Miss.
Seeking to snap a two-year losing streak to the Rebels, the Crimson Tide rallied from a 24-3 deficit in the second quarter and roared back for a 48-43 win before a record crowd of 66,176 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The 21-point comeback equaled what Bill Curry’s Crimson Tide accomplished in 1989, when they recovered from a 21-0 deficit against Ole Miss in Jackson and rolled to a 62-27 win.
“You have to give a lot of credit to all phases of the game today,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “I thought we did a really good job on offense controlling the ball. Defensively, we didn’t play great and gave up too many big plays, but we scored on defense, and those scores were huge in the game. We scored on a punt return, and that was huge.
“So all phases and all players contributed to this, and it was a great team win.”
A 75-yard interception return by Jonathan Allen with 5:28 remaining capped a staggering 45-6 surge by the Crimson Tide that gave them a 48-30 lead. Ole Miss was far from finished, however, getting a 5-yard touchdown pass from Chad Kelly to Damore’ea Stringfellow, successfully executing an onside kick and getting a 37-yard scoring strike from Kelly to A.J. Brown that suddenly made it 48-43 with 2:51 left.