No. 1 Alabama embarrasses No. 12 Ole Miss, 42-21

Well. Quick and painful.

Things started fast and successful. No. 12 Ole Miss (3-1, 0-1) marched down the field to open the game and had Alabama on their heels. Then, they stalled out in the red zone on fourth down and the rest was history.

Alabama (5-0, 2-0) never skipped a beat, methodically running up-and-down the field with power runs and receivers sitting down in the Rebels’ zone coverage, setting things up for a disastrous 42-21 loss.

Matt Corral had little to no time to survey the field, and the Ole Miss defense had its worst showing of the young season, yielding 443 yards to the Crimson Tide. Corral did, however, keep his touchdown pass streak intact, throwing a late one to push it to 16-straight games. He’s chasing the mark held by former Rebel, Chad Kelly, that sits at 22.

The defense gave up 6.1 yards per play and had a tough time stopping the run to keep the Tide in unfortunate down-and-distance scenarios. The tackling left a lot to be desired and the early hole was tough to overcome for Lane Kiffin and Jeff Lebby’s offense.

Although it means nothing really in this one, Corral was good on Saturday, completing 21-of-29 for 213 yards and two total touchdowns. The offensive line was overwhelmed all day, but despite constant pressure, Corral avoided reverting back to his old ways and getting over aggressive and forcing things.

In the grand scheme of things, this game didn’t hurt his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

If there’s a nightmare script to a football game, Ole Miss checked every single box in the early going after the initial drive that stalled inside Alabama’s red zone. They went for it on fourth down twice in the first half in negative territory and Bryce Young and Alabama made them pay.

At least there was this sick catch by Braylon Sanders, right?

Also, Austin Keys might’ve sent someone to another dimension here with this collision.

Not much else to say about this one. Throw it in the trash and get ready for Arkansas who is coming off a thrashing of their own when Georgia disposed of them earlier in the day. Ole Miss returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with a chance to rebound and gather themselves before the gauntlet of the SEC marches on.

Saturday was probably more disappointing and frustrating for Rebel fans after Ole Miss went blow-for-blow with Alabama in a 63-48 loss. Alas, the upper echelon of the SEC was far too much to overcome for an overmatched Rebel defense that still has a ton of holes to fill depth-wise and an offensive line that was outmanned from the word “go”.