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The football history of the University of Mississippi (also officially known as Ole Miss), includes the formation of the first football team in the state and is 31st on the list of college football's all-time winningest programs[3]. The Ole Miss Rebels posted its 600th win on September 27, 2008 when it defeated the (then ranked #4 and future 2008 BCS National Champ) Florida Gators 31–30 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida[4]. Throughout the 115-year history of Ole Miss football the Rebels have won three national championships (1959, 1960 and 1962), six Southeastern Conference titles (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963), and since the SEC split into divisions, one SEC Western Division title (2003 - Co-champions[5][6][7] with LSU but LSU represented the SEC West in the SEC Championship Game because of its win over Ole Miss that year). [edit] Early historyIn 1890, Dr. A.L. Bondurant, later the dean of the Ole Miss Graduate School, rallied Ole Miss students to help form an athletic department to encompass the sports of football, baseball and tennis. The students brought this initiative to reality and in 1893, with Bondurant as the coach, a football team came to fruition. The first team won four of five games during that inaugural football season. One of those wins was the very first football game ever played by an Ole Miss team, a 56-0 victory over Southwest Baptist University of Jackson, Tennessee (now known as Union University). This was on November 11, 1893. The next year, 1894, Bondurant passed on his coaching duties. Ole Miss Football, a book published in 1980 by Sports Yearbook Company of Oxford, MS, says J.W.S. Rhea was the first coach at Ole Miss having been hired part-time by Bondurant and having led the 1894 team to a 6-1 record. The annual Ole Miss media guide lists C.D. Clark as the coach of the 1894 team and further says about him, "Although it has never been documented, it is thought that C.D. Clark of Tufts was the first paid football coach at Ole Miss. His name appears as manager of the team as shown in the Ole Miss Magazine dated November 1894."[8] The College Football Data Warehouse also lists Clark as the coach for the 1894 team.[9] Twice in its history, Ole Miss did not field a football team. In 1897, a yellow fever epidemic cancelled the football season. In 1943, football was abolished at all Mississippi state-supported institutions by the state college Board of Trustees due to World War II.[10] [edit] MilestonesThe Ole Miss football team was the first college team in the nation to fly to a game, having done so in 1937. The flight was from Memphis, Tennessee to Philadelphia.[11] Ole Miss' first game to ever be broadcast on television was in 1948 against Memphis.[12] [edit] Houston Nutt On November 27, 2007, Houston Nutt was hired as the new head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels.[13] Nutt's hiring made him the 36th head football coach at Ole Miss. The next day, November 28, 2007, just five weeks after having defeated Ole Miss as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Nutt was officially introduced as the new Ole Miss head football coach at a press conference at the Gertrude Castellow Ford Center for Performing Arts on the Ole Miss campus.[14] During the press conference, Nutt stated, "One thing I love about Ole Miss is the tradition," naming past players such as Archie Manning, Jake Gibbs, Frank "Bruiser" Kinard, Deuce McAllister and Eli Manning. "It's about tradition. That's the reason I am here. I feel like this place can be successful. I feel like this place can win. I can't wait to tell our players this afternoon. That's how you spell fun. The way you spell fun is “W-I-N.” That's what it is all about."[15] During Nutt's first season, he guided the Ole Miss Rebels to a 9-4 record with marquee victories over the eventual BCS National Champion Florida Gators squad, the reigning BCS National Champion LSU Tigers, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic. At the end of this season, the Rebels were ranked in the Top-15 in both major polls. It was announced on April 16, 2009 that Nutt and his wife Diana had committed to give a gift of $100,000 dollars to Ole Miss. Half of the contribution will create scholarships for student-athletes. The other half of the gift will be used toward the university’s Indoor Practice Facility, which opened in 2004 and cost $17 million to build.[16] [edit] 2007 seasonThe 2007 season was a historic one for Ole Miss. The Rebels went winless in the SEC for the first time since 1982 – 25 years. The Rebels, under head coach Ed Orgeron, ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play). Orgeron's talent as a recruiter created a buzz among Rebel fans and drew national attention when Ole Miss' 2006 signing class ranked as high as fifteenth in the rankings. His 2007 recruiting class was also listed among the best in college football (#31 according to scout.com). However, his recruiting success did not translate to on the field performance. In 2007, Ole Miss was last in the SEC in scoring offense, turnover margin, rushing offense, rushing defense, punt returns, opponent first downs, red-zone offense, opponent third-down conversions, field goal percentage, time of possession and kickoff coverage. The 2007 season culminated with the firing of Orgeron on November 24, 2007. Three days later, Houston Nutt was hired as the next head football coach. [edit] 2008 seasonMain article: 2008 Ole Miss Rebels football team The biggest change for the Rebels going into the 2008 football season was the head coach. Houston Nutt began his first season as head coach of the Rebels, replacing Ed Ogeron, who was fired after his 2007 team failed to win an SEC game. With a new head coach also came new assistants, including Tight ends/special teams coach James Shibest, Running game coordinator Mike Markuson, Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, Recruiting coordinator and Safeties coach Chris Vaughn and High School Relations director Clifton Ealy, all of whom were assistants at Arkansas under Nutt the previous season.[17] Tyrone Nix left his position as Defensive Coordinator of the South Carolina Gamecocks to join Nutt's staff at the same position. Before his time at South Carolina, Nix spent 10 years at Southern Mississippi.[18] Former Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee originally agreed to follow Nutt from Arkansas to Ole Miss, however, he later accepted an offer to become the Quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins. Upon Lee's resignation, former Ole Miss quarterback star Kent Austin was hired as offensive coordinator. Projected to place 5th in the SEC Western Division in the pre-season, the Rebels finished 2nd in the West, knocked off the last 2 national champions on the road in No. 4 (at the time) Florida and No. 18 (at the time) LSU and ended the regular season on a five-game win streak. The 20th ranked Rebels then beat the 8th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl Classic. [edit] 2009 seasonMain article: 2009 Ole Miss Rebels football team The Rebels began the 2009 season ranked #8 by the Associated Press Poll and #10 by the USA Today Coaches Poll. In week 3, the AP poll had the Rebels at #4, and the Coach's poll at #5,the team's highest ranking since 1970 before losing 16-10 to unranked South Carolina on September 24, 2009. Also in week 3, the Rebels had the nation's second longest winning streak (national champion Florida having the first), having won 8 straight games dating back to the 2008 season which was snapped when South Carolina beat them on September 24. [edit] Rivalries[edit] Mississippi State Main article: Egg Bowl The Battle of the Golden Egg (nicknamed the Egg Bowl) is an annual college football game between the Ole Miss Rebels and in-state fellow SEC team Mississippi State University (MSU) Bulldogs. While the 2 teams have played each other since 1901, with 2003 being the year in which the 2 teams had played each other 100 times and now having played each other a total of 105 times, the first game officially known as the "The Battle of the Golden Egg" was in 1927.[19] While it is called a "Bowl", the game is not a postseason bowl game, but rather a regular season Southeastern Conference (SEC) game for both teams as they are both SEC members in the West Division. [edit] LSUMain article: Magnolia Bowl Ole Miss' traditional SEC rival is LSU. Ole Miss first played LSU on December 3, 1894 winning 26–6 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Throughout the fifties and sixties, games between the two schools featured highly ranked squads on both sides and seemingly every contest had conference, and at times national, title implications - most recently in 2003 as LSU was the only team standing in the way of the Eli Manning-led Rebels being able to play for the SEC Championship.. A trophy has now been named for the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry known as the "Magnolia Bowl" which began in 2008 with a 31-13 victory by the Ole Miss Rebels. The 2009 game was also won by Ole Miss 25-23.[20]. LSU leads the overall series over Ole Miss 55-39-4. [edit] ArkansasMain article: Arkansas–Ole Miss rivalry Ole Miss first played Arkansas in 1908, with Arkansas winning that game 33–0. They would play each other many times, though sporadically, over the next several decades, including two meetings in the Sugar Bowl in 1963 and 1970; Ole Miss won both Sugar Bowl matchups. In 1991, Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference, and was placed in the same division as Ole Miss when the conference split into two divisions in 1992. The two teams have played each other annually since 1981 yet the intensity of the rivalry pretty much died from the early 1970s until 2007. The 2001 Ole Miss-Arkansas game set a NCAA record for most overtime periods played (7). It has since been tied, but never broken. Arkansas won that game 58–56. 2007 saw the rivalry return to a heated one when after Houston Nutt resigned as the head coach for Arkansas, Ole Miss hired him as their new head coach a week later. 2008 saw the first game between Ole Miss and Arkansas in which Nutt returned to Arkansas in his first game against his former team. Ole Miss, and Houston Nutt, won 23-21. This of course only made the rivalry that much more intense. The following season, 2009, Arkansas went to Oxford to take on Ole Miss. Ole Miss again won, 30-17. Arkansas currently leads the series 29–26–1. [edit] "Team of the Century"1883–1992
[edit] Bowl history Ole Miss has participated in 32 bowl games with a record of 20 wins and 12 losses. Notably, Ole Miss' win percentage of 0.625 ranks third all-time among football programs that have played in 25 or more bowl games (behind USC and Penn State). Twenty bowl wins also ranks 12th all-time.
[edit] Halls of fameOle Miss has ten former players and coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ole Miss has two former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Ole Miss has three former players in the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.
Ole Miss has one former player in the National Quarterback Club Hall of Fame.
[edit] Active in the NFL
[edit] First round draft picksOle Miss has had 19 players selected in the first round of professional football drafts. [edit] National Football League
[edit] American Football League
[edit] Songs and cheers[edit] Songs[edit] OfficialThe school's fight song is Forward Rebels, also known as Rebel March.[21] Main article: Forward Rebels Another official song is called Alma Mater.[21] The song's lyrics are as follows:[21] Way down south in Mississippi, [edit] UnofficialA modification of the Elvis Presley song An American Trilogy, now known as From Dixie with Love or Slow Dixie, was also played during football games, both home and away. The song was officially dedicated to Ole Miss fans when it was played before the Ole Miss versus LSU football game in 2003, which was at the time, the largest crowd at a football game ever in the State of Mississippi.[21] Sometime in either 2004 or 2005[22], students started chanting "The South Will Rise Again!" at the end of the song which, after repeated warnings in 2009 to stop the chant, resulted in the song being officially banned by the University's Chancellor.[23] Another unofficial song is I Saw the Light.[21] [edit] CheersThe school cheer is entitled Hotty Toddy[24]: Are you ready? [edit] TailgatingMain article: The Grove (Ole Miss) [edit] Confederate symbols Since 1983, the administration has distanced itself from Confederate symbols, including barring faculty from displaying any Confederate imagery in their offices. In 1997, the university student senate passed a resolution requesting fans not to display the Confederate battle flag at university athletic events. Using this action as encouragement, the university then banned sticks under the guise of fan safety, to discourage fans from displaying the Confederate flag at football games and other athletic events. This controversy began when head coach Tommy Tuberville complained that the battle flag had hampered his attempts to recruit a few top-notch black athletes. A couple of coaches prior to Tuberville expressed concerns about the difficulty of recruiting top-notch black athletes. In 1972, Ole Miss' first black football player, Ben Williams, was signed and began playing. The defensive tackle, recruited out of a small school in the Delta region of Mississippi, eventually claimed All-SEC honors and had a long and successful NFL career following his stint at Ole Miss. In 2003, the school's mascot, Colonel Reb, was discontinued from official participation in athletic events by the school.[25] The school solicited ideas to replace Colonel Reb, but after an exceedingly lackluster response, decided to go without a mascot, and remains the only SEC school without at least one mascot. The Colonel Reb mascot still makes appearances in The Grove, Ole Miss' tailgating area, before home games. The Colonel Reb logo is still licensed by Ole Miss for use on merchandise and can still be found adorning hats, shirts, jackets and numerous other items for sale at various retail outlets. [edit] Retired numbers The numbers 18 for Archie Manning and 38 for Chucky Mullins are the only two retired numbers in Ole Miss football history. [edit] Trivia and pop culture
[edit] See also
[edit] External links[edit] References
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