Rebel Rebirth Has ‘Em Aroused in Mississippi

There’s major bowl talk again at Ole Miss, where the Rebels -- unaccustomed to much attention recently -- are having their best football season in 15 years.

A preseason pick for the lower rungs of the Southeastern Conference, Mississippi not only has an outside shot at the SEC title but may even get a trip to the Sugar Bowl.

“We’ve rekindled some of the interest around here and a lot of people are excited,” Coach Billy Brewer said. “When we beat LSU in Baton Rouge, we really started opening some eyes.”

When the Rebels beat Louisiana State, then ranked 12th, 21-19 last Saturday, it marked their first victory in Tiger Stadium since Archie Manning & Co. won in 1968.

Winners of four straight, the team is 3-1 in the conference and 6-2-1 overall, perking along just below the nation’s Top Twenty-ranked teams for the first time in a decade.

“We haven’t seen that for so long that it’s kind of hard to handle it,” free safety Jeff Noblin said.

Ticket sales have increased as have requests for interviews and media credentials.

“All the doubters are coming out of the woodwork now,” he said. “Now all of the papers are saying good things about us.”

And some other things, too.

Last Thursday, Mississippi declared an unspecified number of football players ineligible after determining that rules may have been broken.

The school has asked the NCAA for a quick hearing so the players might be reinstated as soon as possible. Although Mississippi would not say whether any stars on the team were involved, informed sources have said the investigation centers on the recruiting of star flanker J.R. Ambrose.

Ole Miss, home of Frank “Bruiser” Kinard, Barney Poole, Charley Conerly, Eagle Day, Jake Gibbs and Manning, has a shining football history.

Johnny Vaught coached the Rebels to 18 postseason bowls and a 180-53-12 record in 25 years. Vaught left in 1970, returned to finish out 1973. Ole Miss went 71-82-3 without him and made only two postseason bowl appearances -- the Peach in 1971 and the Independence in 1983.

That could change with either a victory over Tennessee Nov. 15 or the Rebels’ tough intrastate rival, Mississippi State, on Nov. 22.

If the Rebels win both games, they can finish no worse than second in the SEC. If those victories are combined with an Alabama loss to LSU Saturday or Auburn on Nov. 29, the Rebels could share or even win their first title since 1963.

“Victories in the last two games would say that our football team has really arrived. That’s what we’ve been after in our four years. We don’t want a simple resurgence, but a rebirth,” Brewer said.

“We had specific goals going into the season -- including a winning season, a bowl game, either 4-2 or 3-3 in the SEC and a finish in the top four in the conference -- and we’re pretty much on target,” he said.

And that’s with a team that Brewer thought was a year away. Sixty-six of his 95 scholarship players are freshmen and sophomores.

“All of us were just tired of losing,” said sophomore quarterback Mark Young, who began the season on the bench. “We made up our minds early last spring that we were going to do it if it meant coming to summer school, doing more work with weights and practicing harder.

“I think this year we all believe in ourselves and feel more together, and we’re not letting injuries or tough losses stand in the way.”