The Ole Miss Rebels – A Long History Of Incredible Actions

‘Ole Miss’ is affectionate and traditional slang for ‘Old Mississippi’ and is used to refer to the University of Mississippi. The university is represented by the Ole Miss Rebels in the I-A Division of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. The team is currently under the Southeastern Conference.

The University of Mississippi first created a football team in 1893. The move was encouraged by Dr. A. L. Bondurant who became the teams first coach and later the Dean of the school. The inaugural games saw Mississippi against 5 opponent teams. The first one they played against was the Southern Baptist University, now Union University, whom they shut off with a 54-0 score. This was in the same year the team was founded.

In 1897, owing to an epidemic of yellow fever, football was suspended. Again, before the outbreak of the Second World War, the game was banned making it a total of 2 years in all that the team was unable to play.

While the process of selecting the national champion in football annually is out of the hands of the NCAA, a number of polling organizations publish their own positions on the matter. In 1955, 1959,1960 and 1962, the Rebels were declared as National Champions by some polls of minor significance. With the major polls such as Associated Press and United Press, the team was either placed in second or third place. However, in 2003, Ole Miss finally won the title by vote.

The Rebels are noted for being the first football players to fly to the site of their game. The flight was to Memphis and it happened during the 1937 series. The team is also the first broadcast team in history. The occasion was their 1948 match with Memphis.

The team hired its 36th coach in 2007. The person was Houston Nutt. Several weeks before he was hired he had coached the Arkansas Razorbacks when they defeated the Rebels. In his first season, Nutt secured a 9-4 win for the Rebels. This happened during the 2009 Cotton Bowl classic. The Rebels routed the Florida Gators, the LSU Tigers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Later, the Gators were proclaimed the BSC National Champions.

The team engages in annual rivalry matches with old rivals. The Egg Bowl is a rivalry match between the Rebels and Mississippi State University. In these series, The Rebels lead with 60 wins as against State U’s 40 wins. The Magnolia Bowl is another such game, this time between the Rebels and Louisiana State University. LSU leads in this one with 55-39-4.

Another rivalry series is that played against the Vanderbilt University Commodores. The two teams are co-founders of the Southeastern Conference and this is one of the oldest rivalries of the Rebels. They have the lead with 42-13-2.

Among all football programs the Ole Miss Rebels is ranked third. It bagged 21 wins in 33 Bowl events. The College Football Hall of Fame includes ten of their members. The Pro Football Hall of Fame claims 2 players, the Helms Athletic Foundation has included 3 and the National Quarterback Club has one.

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