History of Ole Miss Rebels football

[15] Grantland Rice wrote “If Knox has been upon a Vanderbilt, Sewanee or Auburn eleven he would more than likely have been hailed as one of the greatest halfbacks of the decade.”[16] Nathan Stauffer served as the head coach for the 1909, 1910 and 1911 seasons.

On January 14, 1946, the University of Mississippi announced that it had signed Harold Drew to a three-year contract to succeed Mehre as the head football coach for the Ole Miss Rebels.

[31] That 1947 season also saw Ole Miss great Charlie Conerly become the first Rebel player to be a contender for the Heisman Trophy, placing fourth in the voting for the prestigious honor.

Failing health forced Vaught to resign his position in 1970 and the reins of the Ole Miss football program were turned over to Billy Kinard.

[71] After losing to archrival Mississippi State, 31–13 in the Egg Bowl,[12] the Rebels concluded the disappointing season with a 26–10 victory over Tulane in New Orleans, Louisiana, a game that had been rescheduled from September due to Hurricane Carmen.

[91] Ole Miss finished the season on a three-game losing streak, beginning with a 45-0 shellacking shutout at the hands of rival LSU in the Magnolia Bowl.

[97] That loss was the Irish's lone setback of the 1977 campaign, as Notre Dame finished the season with an 11–1 record and claimed both the AP and UPI national titles.

Following the 1977 season, Steve Sloan, the former All-American quarterback at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant, was hired as the new Rebel boss and began his five-year stint in 1978.

[115] Sloan's Rebels bounced back to win two of their last three games of the season; defeating Tulane, 13–3,[116] losing to Tennessee, 41-17[117] and beating archrival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, 27–7.

[168] But the Rebels fell to Tulane in a devastating 14–9 upset on homecoming and also suffered a very heartbreaking loss to a 5–6 Tennessee team at home before rallying to trounce Mississippi State 33–6 in a severe thunderstorm in Jackson.

The Rebels were banned from post-season play and live television for the 1987 season after a two-year investigation found that Ole Miss recruits had received cash and other gifts from boosters.

Most damningly, the NCAA alleged that Ole Miss officials knowingly allowed the violations to occur, demonstrating a lack of institutional control of the football program.

[177] Later that year, the NCAA, when announcing severe penalties against the Ole Miss football program, found Brewer guilty of unethical conduct.

[219] After a 17–0 shutout loss to Auburn,[220] the Rebels won three straight, defeating Vanderbilt, 30–6,[221] SMU, 48–41 in overtime after trailing by 22 in the game's third quarter, and South Carolina, 30–28.

He led the Rebels to a 10–3 record and a 31–28 SBC Cotton Bowl Classic victory over Oklahoma State in 2003 and then was selected with the top overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft.

[243] Orgeron took control of the Ole Miss program after serving the previous seven seasons as defensive line coach at the University of Southern California, and played a role in Pete Carroll's USC championship in 2004.

Until the 2007 season, he enjoyed the public support of the University of Mississippi's chancellor Robert Khayat and other administrators with oversight of the football program, including athletic director Pete Boone.

"[260] After a 41–24 victory over border rival Memphis to open the season,[261] the Rebels suffered a loss to the then-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 30–28, on a last-second field goal.

[285] Ole Miss was picked to play in the Cotton Bowl Classic for the second year in a row, where they defeated Oklahoma State, 21–7, to end the season.

[300] The 2013 Rebels defeated then-sixth-ranked LSU on a last-second field goal in Oxford[301] and capped off the season with a 25–17 victory over Georgia Tech in the Music City Bowl.

An investigation turned up evidence that Ole Miss employees and boosters arranged numerous "impermissible benefits" for players, such as car loans and cash.

[324][325] On February 22, 2017, Ole Miss announced it would self-impose a bowl ban for the upcoming season after the NCAA accused the program of numerous violations of organization rules, including a lack of institutional control.

As part of discovery for the lawsuit, Nutt's attorneys filed a Freedom of Information Act request for calls Freeze made on his university-issued cell phone during January 2016.

[328] While reviewing those records, Nutt's attorneys discovered a call to a number associated with a female escort service, and alerted Ole Miss officials about it.

[331] On July 20, chancellor Jeff Vitter and athletic director Ross Bjork gave Freeze an ultimatum: resign or be fired for cause for violating the morals clause of his contract.

After a four-year playing career at center from 1995 to 1998 and graduating from Ole Miss in 2000 with a Bachelor of Business Administration,[citation needed] he took a job with Murray State University as an offensive line coach.

[340] After a 45–23 victory over FCS opponent Tennessee-Martin,[341] Ole Miss suffered its first loss of the season in a 27–16 defeat at the hands of California,[342] the first time the Rebels faced a Pac-12 Conference team in football in program history.

[352] On November 27, 2017, one day after the thrilling upset over Mississippi State, it was announced that the interim tag would be removed from Matt Luke and that he would be the team's permanent head coach.

[354] On December 1, 2019, Luke was fired as Ole Miss head coach after three non-winning seasons and a heartbreaking loss to Mississippi State in the 2019 Egg Bowl.

[362] In his first season as Ole Miss head coach, Kiffin compiled a 5–5 record in an all-SEC Conference schedule, including a 26–20 win over Indiana in the 2021 Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida.