September 28, 2013
Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
Perhaps the message was sent on the first series of the game when Ha Ha Clinton-Dix sent Ole Miss freshman Laquon Treadwell head over heels and inches short of a first down.
Or it could have been the next series, when on a third-and-two Alabama showed blitz, and the Rebels quarterback had trouble audibling with a frenzied Bryant-Denny Stadium thundering down on Bo Wallace's and his pass went incomplete.
Or maybe it was the next series, when freshman cornerback Eddie Jackson nabbed his first career interception.
There were many moments that portended Alabama's stranglehold on Ole Miss's hurry-up no-huddle offense that turned in to hurry-up no-points offense.
Alabama frustrated Bo Wallace all night, disguising coverages, knocking his passes away and generally letting him know they didn't appreciate the "disrespect" he showed its defense when saying the Crimson Tide could be scored on.
The simplest way to sum up what happened came from Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze: "They had the right call every single time when it seemed like we had an answer."
Senior cornerback Deion Belue returned, Jackson showed signs of being the answer at the other corner spot and senior linebacker C.J. Mosley was the emotional leader.
"He was really fired up about playing this game," Nick Saban said of Mosley. Yeah, no kidding.
The reserved Mosley, who would prefer to let his play do the talking, got pulled into the dramatics in the third quarter when he was driven to the turf well after the whistle on a key third and two play in Alabama territory. Mosley took exception to the extracurricular activities. He let the referees know about it. He let his teammates know about it. He let the crowd know about. And then he let Ole Miss know about it, when he slapped Wallace's fourth-down pass away.
"The play before that the offensive line kind of went after the whistle. So I kind of got riled up," Mosley said.
Clinton-Dix said Mosley got emotional.
"He started yelling. I saw it in his eyes. I caught the chills just looking at him," Clinton-Dix said.
The sequence took an already great atmosphere inside Bryant-Denny Stadium to another level and Alabama never looked back after turning the Rebels away.
In total, Alabama denied Ole Miss three times on fourth down and allowed just 4 of 14 third downs to be converted. It was the first time Ole Miss had been shut out since 1998.
It was a complete performance from a unit that was being questioned. The secondary fed off the return of Belue and the fast-learning freshman, Jackson.
"We finally found a piece to our secondary, so that we all can come together and mesh together, and that was a big deal in that situation," Belue said. "It came out to be a big deal when we added Eddie Jackson to our secondary."
Not to be overlooked the defensive line never let Ole Miss get into its rushing attack. The Rebels that averaged 250 yards a game coming in were held to just 46.
"Contain them, keep No. 3 (Jeff Scott) from catching the edge," Clinton-Dix said. "He's a great player. He's pretty fast, but we contained him and kept him in."
"It just means we came out played Alabama football," Jeoffrey Pagan said.
And when the run went nowhere, Ole Miss didn't fare that much better in the pass.
Wallace was hurried four times and had nine passes broke up.
"Well coming into the game we knew that he was leading the SEC in batted balls, so in practice and in the game we really stressed and strived to get our hands up to effective him as much as possible," Pagan said.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1555173
Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
Perhaps the message was sent on the first series of the game when Ha Ha Clinton-Dix sent Ole Miss freshman Laquon Treadwell head over heels and inches short of a first down.
Or it could have been the next series, when on a third-and-two Alabama showed blitz, and the Rebels quarterback had trouble audibling with a frenzied Bryant-Denny Stadium thundering down on Bo Wallace's and his pass went incomplete.
Or maybe it was the next series, when freshman cornerback Eddie Jackson nabbed his first career interception.
There were many moments that portended Alabama's stranglehold on Ole Miss's hurry-up no-huddle offense that turned in to hurry-up no-points offense.
Alabama frustrated Bo Wallace all night, disguising coverages, knocking his passes away and generally letting him know they didn't appreciate the "disrespect" he showed its defense when saying the Crimson Tide could be scored on.
The simplest way to sum up what happened came from Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze: "They had the right call every single time when it seemed like we had an answer."
Senior cornerback Deion Belue returned, Jackson showed signs of being the answer at the other corner spot and senior linebacker C.J. Mosley was the emotional leader.
"He was really fired up about playing this game," Nick Saban said of Mosley. Yeah, no kidding.
The reserved Mosley, who would prefer to let his play do the talking, got pulled into the dramatics in the third quarter when he was driven to the turf well after the whistle on a key third and two play in Alabama territory. Mosley took exception to the extracurricular activities. He let the referees know about it. He let his teammates know about it. He let the crowd know about. And then he let Ole Miss know about it, when he slapped Wallace's fourth-down pass away.
"The play before that the offensive line kind of went after the whistle. So I kind of got riled up," Mosley said.
Clinton-Dix said Mosley got emotional.
"He started yelling. I saw it in his eyes. I caught the chills just looking at him," Clinton-Dix said.
The sequence took an already great atmosphere inside Bryant-Denny Stadium to another level and Alabama never looked back after turning the Rebels away.
In total, Alabama denied Ole Miss three times on fourth down and allowed just 4 of 14 third downs to be converted. It was the first time Ole Miss had been shut out since 1998.
It was a complete performance from a unit that was being questioned. The secondary fed off the return of Belue and the fast-learning freshman, Jackson.
"We finally found a piece to our secondary, so that we all can come together and mesh together, and that was a big deal in that situation," Belue said. "It came out to be a big deal when we added Eddie Jackson to our secondary."
Not to be overlooked the defensive line never let Ole Miss get into its rushing attack. The Rebels that averaged 250 yards a game coming in were held to just 46.
"Contain them, keep No. 3 (Jeff Scott) from catching the edge," Clinton-Dix said. "He's a great player. He's pretty fast, but we contained him and kept him in."
"It just means we came out played Alabama football," Jeoffrey Pagan said.
And when the run went nowhere, Ole Miss didn't fare that much better in the pass.
Wallace was hurried four times and had nine passes broke up.
"Well coming into the game we knew that he was leading the SEC in batted balls, so in practice and in the game we really stressed and strived to get our hands up to effective him as much as possible," Pagan said.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1555173
