No one actually thought Ole Miss had a real shot in Tuscaloosa Saturday, but there was a reasonable amount of hope that they’d at least put up a fight for some time until Alabama inevitably pulled away.
For this game to be competitive at any point, the Rebels needed to win the field position battle, take advantage of big plays, and have some turnover luck, because they sure weren’t going to move the ball as consistently as the Tide.
To have anything resembling a chance of upsetting Nick Saban, you have to put his team in a state of enough desperation that they deviate from their planned script.