On Sunday night, Ole Miss will take center stage at Nissan Stadium for the fourth time in program history, which is only seven or eight showings behind David Cutcliffe’s Independence Stadium marquee run in Shreveport during the late ‘90s and early 2000s.
[puts hand to ear]
I’m being told those Shreveport numbers are incorrect, as Cutcliffe only took his Ole Miss teams to the Independence Bowl twice (1999 and 2002). Though he probably would’ve gone in 2001 with a 7-4 record, but the 1-3 finish was so depressing even the Independence Bowl was like, no thanks, fellas.
But enough about my lingering bitterness over self-inflicted mediocrity!
In Ole Miss’ previous three trips to Nashville and Nissan Stadium, we were treated to the following:
- 2000 Music City Bowl – West Virginia 49, Ole Miss 38
- 2013 Music City Bowl – Ole Miss 25, Georgia Tech 17
- 2014 Regular Season – Ole Miss 41, Vanderbilt 3
Let’s take a look at all of those in varying, non-petty details.
2000
Let me add:
And don’t forget:
And of course:
Can’t get humiliated in back-to-back lower-tier bowl games when you don’t go to a bowl game the following year. It’s science.
Ok, now I’m done!
2013
On November 16, Ole Miss was 7-3 with two games to play. They closed the season with a 24-10 loss to a good Missouri team at home (forgivable), and then delivered a Hugh Freeze-vomits-on-himself special, losing 17-10 in overtime to a 5-6 Mississippi State team in Starkville.
The Rebels rolled into Nashville at 7-5, and the excitement was not palpable! However, the team was somewhat motivated and dominated Georgia Tech for three quarters but couldn’t build on their lead.
With Ole Miss leading 23-10 early in the fourth quarter, Bo Wallace threw an interception in Georgia Tech territory. The Yellow Jackets were averaging 3.5 yards/play at the time, but that didn’t stop them from throwing a 72-yard touchdown pass on the next play to make in 23-17.
The Rebels went on to have a short field goal blocked, but thanks to said special teams disaster, Georgia Tech was backed up in their own end and promptly fumbled into their own end zone where Ole Miss tackled them for a safety.
And thus a thrilling 25-17 Music City Bowl basically came to an end. Of note, it was also 39 degrees on a Monday afternoon, which the assembled crowd of 52,125 had to love.
2014
Ole Miss destroyed a Vanderbilt team that would finish the year 3-9 and a perfect 0-8 in SEC play. The main takeaway from that day was Stephen Rivers, brother of Phillip Rivers, took all the snaps for Vanderbilt.
His final stat line was 6 of 25 for 60 yards and 1 interception. He didn’t play again until a month later in mop-up duty in a 44-17 loss to Georgia. He then took another month and a half off before going 0 for 2 in a 51-0 loss to Mississippi State in late November.
That kind of season is what the analytics wizards call GRIM.
Now, 12 years later, let us hope another opposing quarterback facing Ole Miss in Nissan Stadium is given the GRIM designation.
