📡 Michigan QB recalls 66-3 loss at Alabama before transferring from Ole Miss - AL.com

[Bama News]

Michigan QB recalls 66-3 loss at Alabama before transferring from Ole Miss

Shea Patterson was the quarterback at Ole Miss before heading to Michigan two years ago. His one trip to Tuscaloosa didn't end well.

www.al.com

Shea Patterson didn’t have much to say when asked about his last experience with Alabama.

The Michigan quarterback started his career at Ole Miss and that included a 2017 visit to Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“It didn’t exactly go my way,” Patterson recalled Sunday.

True.

Alabama ended a three-year string of dramatic games with Ole Miss, handing the NCAA-sanctioned Rebels a 66-3 loss on an ugly night for the road team. It was the most a Crimson Tide team had scored since 1979 with Jalen Hurts as the opposing quarterback.

Patterson’s numbers didn’t shine, either.

The sophomore was 14 for 29 passing with 165 yards and two interceptions. The first of his picks was returned 35 yards by Levi Wallace to give Alabama a 14-0 lead less than six minutes into the game.

It took the Rebels four possessions to get their initial first down and never drove deeper than the Tide 9-yard line. A Gary Wunderlich 26-yard field goal late in the first half would be the Rebels’ only points on a night the Hugh Freeze-fueled era clearly died a few months after his firing.

Patterson would transfer to Michigan after that season and start the next two seasons in Ann Arbor.

Michigan tight end Sean McKeon sees a difference between Patterson’s first Alabama experience and the one coming Wednesday in the Citrus Bowl.

“Obviously, they weren’t as good of a team as we are when they played Alabama,” McKeon said. “But he knows some of those guys and he knows how they play. Just got to focus and take everything really serious.”

Patterson completed 57.3 percent of his 344 passes this season for 2,828 yards. He threw 22 touchdowns compared to six interceptions but is coming off a rough day against Ohio State. The Shreveport native was 18 of 43 for a season-low 41.9 completion percentage in a 56-27 loss to the then-No. 1 Buckeyes on Nov. 30.

Still, the soft-spoken Patterson said his game has evolved since his time at Ole Miss.

“I was watching film my freshman and sophomore year,” he said Sunday, “and it's just ‑‑ I mean, it's completely different …”

Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis took it from there.

“I'll go to battle with this guy any day of the week,” said Gattis, the Alabama receivers’ coach in 2018. “This is Sugar Shea Patterson right here. Just to see his confidence throughout the year continue to rise each and every week, his preparation, his performance.”

 

[bama alum]

“It didn’t exactly go my way,” Patterson recalled Sunday.

Get used to it.

 

[mando]

Patterson will find it a little easier going with this version of the Bama D. I would love to be wrong.

 

[rick4bama]

I hope he has a flashback to that day!

 

[We All Bleed Crimson]

If we can get to him early, I think he'll be jumpy the whole game.
I just want Bama to bring it against Michigan. If we do, I think everything will be very good.

 

[rick4bama]

Now he will have this to think about!

 

[bama alum]

Now he will have this to think about!

Today, Patterson played his way down to a 5th-6th round QB.

 

[mando]

Not sure how he gets drafted honestly. His accuracy was very poor especially on throws down the field. Pretty sure Saban said ok lets stop the run and let him throw it. He knew he would not make enough throws to sustain the number of drives it would take to beat us.