Rankin: Alabama shows character in rally over Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. — Nick Saban plans to give his players two days off for “recovery.”
He could use a little R&R; after this one, too.
Top-ranked Alabama had to rally from a 21-point deficit and sweat out the final three minutes of a four-hour game to outlast No. 17 Ole Miss (No. 19 AP), 48-43, Saturday before a sellout crowd of 66,176 fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“I was telling some players that I lost about five years off my life,” Alabama junior linebacker and Montgomery native Shaun Hamilton said.
Eddie Jackson’s 85-yard punt return touchdown right before halftime gave the Crimson Tide (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) a necessary emotional jolt. Add two defensive scores by defensive lineman Da’Ron Payne of the short variety (3-yard fumble return), Jonathan Allen (75-yard interception return) of the long variety and 100-yard rushing efforts by Jalen Hurts and Damien Harris and Alabama survived its SEC opener.
“We’re going to fight,” Jackson said. “We knew it was going to be tough. We knew we had to come in and play four quarters of football. We allowed some big plays and made so many errors. Things we need to work on, but it was a good win. We came out and fought.”
In avenging losses to the Rebels (1-2, 0-1) the previous two years, Alabama showed the perseverance and fortitude championship teams exhibit. It’s still September. Alabama has many more SEC road challenges ahead, but proved in a game that clearly wasn’t going its way the character it can build upon.
“People who quit can’t overcome burdens,” Saban said. “We’ll have burdens in this game and we’ll have to overcome them. That was the message coming here. I said, “If you really love each other, you’ll be able to overcome whatever we have to.’ I never dreamed it would be like this, but it turned out to be a pretty timely message and the players really responded to it.”
After the game, Saban bragged about not needing an IV like some coaches and players did, saying, “They don’t make them like they used to.”
The “old fella” would have needed more than an IV had Alabama lost this one.
Instead, Saban left Oxford smiling as Alabama tied a school record for largest comeback in any game the 1989 Tide set in its 62-27 win over who else — Ole Miss.
“We definitely had to grind it out,” Harris said. “We made enough plays and we were able to come out with the victory.”
Alabama erased a 21-point deficit, built an 18-point lead, but found itself only up five with 2 minutes, 59 seconds left in the game. Chad Kelly threw two touchdowns in a span of eight seconds that sandwiched a successful onside kick to put the Tide in a very uncomfortable situation.
A lesser team folds in those conditions, but Alabama knew Ole Miss failed to close out Florida State in the season opener. Up 22 points, the Rebels lost to the Seminoles, 45-34, in Orlando, Fla.
So even though things looked bleak for Alabama after John Youngblood returned a Hurts’ fumble 44 yards for a touchdown to put Ole Miss up three touchdowns in the first half, after second thought, you knew the Rebels would let Alabama back in the game.
Safe to say Alabama has something to do with that scenario. Down 24-3, Alabama scored 45 of the game’s next 51 points to take a 48-30 lead with five minutes, 28 seconds left in the game.
“Give them credit,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “They are a fine football team.”
Hurts is still a work in progress, but Alabama will always be in a game with him behind center because he can run when nothing is there, can shake of bad plays and keep coming. Not too many quarterbacks period bounce back from that turnover, let alone being a true freshman, but he did and finished with a team-high 146 yards rushing.
Beyond that, Hurts’ positive attitude when all seemed lost was instrumental in the comeback.
“He was saying, ‘Hey guys, we’re still in it,’ Hamilton said. “I like how he was looking when we were down 24-3.”
Saban sure wouldn’t want to trail by 21 points again. Next time, the Tide may lose and the “old fella” will need more than an IV to recover.
Duane Rankin, Advertiser sports columnist, can be reached by emailing him at dmrankin@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @DuaneRankin.