Mississippi

The story of Ole Miss football is the story of decades of frustration surrounding a single golden era.  The state of Mississippi doesn't have as many people as its neighbors, and it has to support two SEC schools -- Ole Miss and Mississippi State.  The result is that most of the time Ole Miss has simply not had enough talent to compete with schools like Alabama, LSU, Georgia, and Florida.  Of course, the Rebels have not helped themselves with their recruiting efforts.  Look at some of the great football players from Mississippi who never played for Ole Miss:

Walter Payton (Columbia, Miss.) went to Jackson State.
Jerry Rice (Crawford, Miss.) went to Mississippi Valley State.
Steve McNair (Mount Olive, Miss.) went to Alcorn State.
Brett Favre (Kiln, Miss.) went to Southern Mississippi.

My guess is that Ole Miss football would look a lot different today if guys like Brett Favre and Jerry Rice were hanging out on the sidelines in their Rebel gear.

Nevertheless, the Rebels do have one great golden era to celebrate.  When Johnny Vaught took over the program before the 1947 season, the Rebels were 9th in the all-time SEC football standings.  By the time he retired after the 1970 season, Ole Miss had moved up to third.  Vaught had an all-time record of 190-61-12, and he won the SEC championship in 1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963.  Ten of his teams finished ranked in the AP top 10, and two of them (the 1959 and 1960 teams) finished at number 2 in the AP Poll.

Vaught's departure from Ole Miss coincided with the end of segregation in the SEC.  With their rebel flags and mascot, and their overall preppy image, it is easy to conclude that the Ole Miss football program was particularly hurt by integration.  But they didn't do well before Vaught came to campus, despite segregation.  It takes a truly great coach to overcome the disadvantages resulting from Mississippi's relatively small population, and Ole Miss hasn't had such a coach.  The Rebels have not won the SEC since Vaught's departure.

But a few years ago, Ole Miss hired Huge Freeze, who quickly jump-started the Rebels' recruiting, and this year -- Freeze's third in Oxford -- the Rebels got off to a very hot start.  They beat Alabama in early October, and were ranked number 3 in the country when they went to play LSU on October 25.  But their shot at the national title was ruined by two heart-breaking losses -- 10-7 at LSU, and 35-31 at home against Auburn.  Ole Miss was a banged-up football team after those two losses, and they were later blown out 30-0 at Arkansas.  However, in the last game of the season, the Rebels rallied to upset Mississippi State 31-17, thus killing the Bulldogs' chance of reaching the college football playoffs.  Ole Miss is currently 9-3 and number 9 in the country.  If they can win today, they will finish in the AP top 10 and take the UCFC.  That would be quite a season.

Ole Miss has only played for the UCFC on 11 occasions.  On October 14, 1967, the Rebels beat Georgia 29-20 to take the crown, and held the title for three more games with wins over Southern Miss and Houston, and a tie against LSU.  But on November 18, 1967, the Rebels were beaten 20-7 by Tennessee, and they have never regained the crown.  They are 0-5 in UCFC games since 1967, and their all-time record in UCFC play is 3-7-1.