11-09-2003, 03:53 PM
Manning's arm, Auburn's hands hoist Rebels
E-mail Steve Hummer
Sports
Auburn, Ala. -- The cute little tale of a long-neglected football team and the son of a favorite son who quarterbacks it just grew a three-day stubble and a swagger.
It appears the rumor that was Ole Miss football now has a little reality behind it.
Like old man Archie before him, Eli Manning would do everything in his considerable talents Saturday to lift Mississippi to prominence. Unlike Archie on his quixotic quest, Eli enjoyed enough help. From both his bunch and an Auburn drop that can hardly be explained rationally.
First, the son of Archie and brother of Peyton took the Fightin' Secessionists on a fourth-quarter 80-yard drive that will be recounted around Oxford charcoal grills for decades.
Then, on third down with 37 seconds left, Auburn's Jason Campbell floated the winning touchdown pass to Ben Obomanu. Uncontested, Obamanu jumped, tried to pull in the ball and unaccountably gave it back to the ground. After that, Campbell's fourth-down incompletion and the Rebels' 24-20 victory seemed fated.
"I haven't dropped a pass in practice for two weeks," Obamanu said. But he is dealing with forces here he can't possibly understand.
"It's our time to win," said Ole Miss running back Tremaine Turner.
Guess the only SEC team that hasn't lost a conference game. One little hint: If the question comes up on Wheel of Fortune, you should definitely make the investment to buy an "i."
That's Mississippi, folks, 8-2 overall, 6-0 in the conference. Why, the next thing you'll try to tell me is that Duke won an ACC game.
"We haven't had any respect all season. Maybe we're starting to gain some respect. Teams that come to play us now don't think it's going to be an easy game," Eli Manning said.
In strengthening their hold on the SEC West, setting up an even bigger game at home against LSU in two weeks, all the Rebels had to do was beat a team they had beaten only twice in their last 20 meetings. The last time a Manning of any kind beat Auburn was Tennessee's Peyton in the 1997 SEC title game. Now, Eli is in prime position to play for one of his own. Poor Archie never had that chance, and he has run out of college-bound sons and eligibility.
Poppa sounds like he's OK with that. "My cup runneth over," he said. "I was talking to my wife just this week about how things are almost too good.
"It's been so long. I always said that just getting to big games is the goal. When you play in a big game and win it, that's like double-dipping."
Precisely between the death of William Faulkner (1962) and the passage of the Civil Rights Act ('64), the Rebels won their last SEC title. On many levels, Mississippi hasn't been quite the same since.
It is the only team in the SEC West that has not had the pleasure of playing in the conference championship game. Atlanta might as well be Xanadu, as unreachable as it must have seemed to generations of Rebels.
But the last of the Mannings seems intent upon changing all that.
Eli Manning didn't flood the stat sheet with yardage (218 on 19-of-30 passing). But he was so in control, he made so many good, tight completions when there was no other choice that Ole Miss had to win. He completed third-down passes of 16 and 48 yards on the last 80-yard drive like he was born to do it. Which, of course, he was.
Ole Miss certainly is not the perfect team. It has glaring holes on defense. I'm not sure if the Rebels could cover Louie Anderson running to the post. Ultimately, though, the Tigers were one completion short of exploiting that.
The Rebels would display other gifts on offense besides Manning. They don't have a Cadillac in the backfield, but a company fleet of Dodge Rams did gain them 84 yards on the ground. They've got receivers who never short-arm a ball in their vicinity.
They also have behind them now a breakthrough kind of victory. "This one isn't about me or the Mannings. This one's for the Ole Miss family. It's huge," Archie said.
[B]
E-mail Steve Hummer
Sports
Auburn, Ala. -- The cute little tale of a long-neglected football team and the son of a favorite son who quarterbacks it just grew a three-day stubble and a swagger.
It appears the rumor that was Ole Miss football now has a little reality behind it.
Like old man Archie before him, Eli Manning would do everything in his considerable talents Saturday to lift Mississippi to prominence. Unlike Archie on his quixotic quest, Eli enjoyed enough help. From both his bunch and an Auburn drop that can hardly be explained rationally.
First, the son of Archie and brother of Peyton took the Fightin' Secessionists on a fourth-quarter 80-yard drive that will be recounted around Oxford charcoal grills for decades.
Then, on third down with 37 seconds left, Auburn's Jason Campbell floated the winning touchdown pass to Ben Obomanu. Uncontested, Obamanu jumped, tried to pull in the ball and unaccountably gave it back to the ground. After that, Campbell's fourth-down incompletion and the Rebels' 24-20 victory seemed fated.
"I haven't dropped a pass in practice for two weeks," Obamanu said. But he is dealing with forces here he can't possibly understand.
"It's our time to win," said Ole Miss running back Tremaine Turner.
Guess the only SEC team that hasn't lost a conference game. One little hint: If the question comes up on Wheel of Fortune, you should definitely make the investment to buy an "i."
That's Mississippi, folks, 8-2 overall, 6-0 in the conference. Why, the next thing you'll try to tell me is that Duke won an ACC game.
"We haven't had any respect all season. Maybe we're starting to gain some respect. Teams that come to play us now don't think it's going to be an easy game," Eli Manning said.
In strengthening their hold on the SEC West, setting up an even bigger game at home against LSU in two weeks, all the Rebels had to do was beat a team they had beaten only twice in their last 20 meetings. The last time a Manning of any kind beat Auburn was Tennessee's Peyton in the 1997 SEC title game. Now, Eli is in prime position to play for one of his own. Poor Archie never had that chance, and he has run out of college-bound sons and eligibility.
Poppa sounds like he's OK with that. "My cup runneth over," he said. "I was talking to my wife just this week about how things are almost too good.
"It's been so long. I always said that just getting to big games is the goal. When you play in a big game and win it, that's like double-dipping."
Precisely between the death of William Faulkner (1962) and the passage of the Civil Rights Act ('64), the Rebels won their last SEC title. On many levels, Mississippi hasn't been quite the same since.
It is the only team in the SEC West that has not had the pleasure of playing in the conference championship game. Atlanta might as well be Xanadu, as unreachable as it must have seemed to generations of Rebels.
But the last of the Mannings seems intent upon changing all that.
Eli Manning didn't flood the stat sheet with yardage (218 on 19-of-30 passing). But he was so in control, he made so many good, tight completions when there was no other choice that Ole Miss had to win. He completed third-down passes of 16 and 48 yards on the last 80-yard drive like he was born to do it. Which, of course, he was.
Ole Miss certainly is not the perfect team. It has glaring holes on defense. I'm not sure if the Rebels could cover Louie Anderson running to the post. Ultimately, though, the Tigers were one completion short of exploiting that.
The Rebels would display other gifts on offense besides Manning. They don't have a Cadillac in the backfield, but a company fleet of Dodge Rams did gain them 84 yards on the ground. They've got receivers who never short-arm a ball in their vicinity.
They also have behind them now a breakthrough kind of victory. "This one isn't about me or the Mannings. This one's for the Ole Miss family. It's huge," Archie said.
[B]
:eek: 