The team's head coach was Houston Nutt, who served his first season in the position and replaced Ed Orgeron, who was fired after accumulating a 10–25 record at Ole Miss from 2005 to 2007.

With an 8–4 regular-season record and a 5–3 mark in the SEC, head coach Houston Nutt revived a Rebel squad that was coming off four straight losing seasons and a 3–9 campaign with no conference wins in 2007.

This was also Ole Miss' first win over a Top 5 ranked team since 1977 when the Rebels defeated Notre Dame.

Never trailing Ole Miss by more than a touchdown, Florida came within an extra point of tying the game at the end of the fourth quarter.

Ole Miss had different plans in mind, however, as the extra point kick was blocked, and Florida was held to 30.

Florida opted to go for the first down, but the Ole Miss defense stopped QB Tim Tebow and he did not convert the one-yard run.

Florida won their remaining regular season games and went on to defeat #1 Alabama in the 2008 SEC Championship.

On more than one occasion, the Rebels had a chance to pull away, but South Carolina forced timely turnovers to keep themselves alive.

However, the Crimson Tide answered back on their next drive with a touchdown, giving Alabama a 7–3 lead to end the first quarter.

Ole Miss had limited offense in the second quarter as the Tide defense held a shutout for the remainder of the half.

Several minutes into the fourth quarter, Ole Miss again cut into Alabama's lead when Jevan Snead threw a 17-yard touchdown strike to Shay Hodge, as the Rebels trailed 24–17 after a Joshua Shene extra point.

A stalled drive forced Alabama punter P. J. Fitzgerald to give the ball to the Rebels with 3:03 left.

Pregame Line: Ole Miss –6.5 The Auburn rivalry had been running steady ever since Head coach Tommy Tuberville bolted Oxford for the Plains.

Mississippi Statewide receiver Brandon McRae was carted off the field after breaking his leg in the second quarter.

The teams also met during the 2002 and 2003 regular seasons with Texas Tech winning both games of the home-and-home series.