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University of Mississippi Ole Miss Rebels
2010 Ole Miss Rebels football team
First season	1890
Head coach	2nd season, 18–8–0 (.692)
Stadium	Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (capacity: 60,580 Largest Crowd: 62,663 (Oct. 10, 2009 vs. Alabama))
Field	Hollingsworth Field
Year built	1915
Field surface	FieldTurf
Location	Oxford, Mississippi
League	NCAA Division I
Division	Western Division (1992 - present)
Past conferences	Independent (1890-1898) Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1899-1920) Southern Conference (1921-1932)
All-time record	614–464–35 (.567)
Bowl record	21–12–0 (.636)
Claimed national titles	3 1959, 1960, 1962
Conference titles	6 1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1963
Division titles	1 2003
Consensus All-Americans	54
Current uniform
File:SEC-Uniform-OLE.PNG
Colors	Yale Blue and Harvard Crimson
Fight song	Forward Rebels (Official) Dixie (Unofficial)
Mascot	Rebel Black Bear
Marching band	Pride of the South
Outfitter	Nike
Rivals	Mississippi State Bulldogs LSU Tigers Arkansas Razorbacks
Website	OleMissSports.com

The football history of the University of Mississippi (also officially known as Ole Miss), includes the formation of the first football team in the state and is 26th on the list of college football's all-time winningest programs. The Ole Miss Rebels posted its 600th win on September 27, 2008 when it defeated the (then ranked #4 and future 2008 BCS National Champ) Florida Gators 31–30 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.

Throughout the 115-year history of Ole Miss football, the Rebels have won six Southeastern Conference titles (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963), they also have a claim to 3 national championships (1959, 1960, 1962).

Early history

In 1890, Dr. A.L. Bondurant, later the dean of the Ole Miss Graduate School, rallied Ole Miss students to help form an athletic department to encompass the sports of football, baseball and tennis. The students brought this initiative to reality and in 1893, with Bondurant as the coach, a football team came to fruition. The first team won four of five games during that inaugural football season. One of those wins was the very first football game ever played by an Ole Miss team, a 56-0 victory over Southwest Baptist University of Jackson, Tennessee (now known as Union University). This was on November 11, 1893.

The next year, 1894, Bondurant passed on his coaching duties. Ole Miss Football, a book published in 1980 by Sports Yearbook Company of Oxford, MS, says J.W.S. Rhea was the first coach at Ole Miss having been hired part-time by Bondurant and having led the 1894 team to a 6-1 record. The annual Ole Miss media guide lists C.D. Clark as the coach of the 1894 team and further says about him, "Although it has never been documented, it is thought that C.D. Clark of Tufts was the first paid football coach at Ole Miss. His name appears as manager of the team as shown in the Ole Miss Magazine dated November 1894." The College Football Data Warehouse also lists Clark as the coach for the 1894 team.

Twice in its history, Ole Miss did not field a football team. In 1897, a yellow fever epidemic cancelled the football season. In 1943, football was abolished at all Mississippi state-supported institutions by the state college Board of Trustees due to World War II.

National Championships

While the NCAA's website states that "the NCAA does not conduct a national championship in Division I-A football and is not involved in the selection process," it goes on to say that "a number of polling organizations provide a final ranking of Division I-A football teams at the end of each season." Ole Miss claims three national championships based on other polls.

The major polls of the time (Associated Press & United Press) named Syracuse University the National Champion in 1959 (The University of Mississippi was #2 in both polls), the University of Minnesota in 1960 (Mississippi was #2 in AP and #3 in the UPI) and the University of Southern California in 1962 (Mississippi was #3 in both polls).

In 1955, the Rebels were declared National Champions by the Massey Ratings, though they are not considered to be a major poll and it is not claimed by the University.

Milestones

The Ole Miss football team was the first college team in the nation to fly to a game, having done so in 1937. The flight was from Memphis, Tennessee to Philadelphia.

Ole Miss' first game to ever be broadcast on television was in 1948 against Memphis.

Recent history

Houston Nutt

On November 27, 2007, Houston Nutt was hired as the new head football coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Nutt's hiring made him the 36th head football coach at Ole Miss.

The next day, November 28, 2007, just five weeks after having defeated Ole Miss as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Nutt was officially introduced as the new Ole Miss head football coach at a press conference at the Gertrude Castellow Ford Center for Performing Arts on the Ole Miss campus. During the press conference, Nutt stated, "One thing I love about Ole Miss is the tradition," naming past players such as Archie Manning, Jake Gibbs, Frank "Bruiser" Kinard, Deuce McAllister and Eli Manning. "It's about tradition. That's the reason I am here. I feel like this place can be successful. I feel like this place can win. I can't wait to tell our players this afternoon. That's how you spell fun. The way you spell fun is “W-I-N.” That's what it is all about."

During Nutt's first season, he guided the Ole Miss Rebels to a 9-4 record with marquee victories over the eventual BCS National Champion Florida Gators squad, the reigning BCS National Champion LSU Tigers, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic. At the end of this season, the Rebels were ranked in the Top-15 in both major polls.

It was announced on April 16, 2009 that Nutt and his wife Diana had committed to give a gift of $100,000 dollars to Ole Miss. Half of the contribution will create scholarships for student-athletes. The other half of the gift will be used toward the university’s Indoor Practice Facility, which opened in 2004 and cost $17 million to build.

2007 season

The 2007 season was a historic one for Ole Miss. The Rebels went winless in the SEC for the first time since 1982 – 25 years. The Rebels, under head coach Ed Orgeron, ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play).

Orgeron's talent as a recruiter created a buzz among Rebel fans and drew national attention when Ole Miss' 2006 signing class ranked as high as fifteenth in the rankings. His 2007 recruiting class was also listed among the best in college football (#31 according to scout.com). However, his recruiting success did not translate to on the field performance. In 2007, Ole Miss was last in the SEC in scoring offense, turnover margin, rushing offense, rushing defense, punt returns, opponent first downs, red-zone offense, opponent third-down conversions, field goal percentage, time of possession and kickoff coverage.

The 2007 season culminated with the firing of Orgeron on November 24, 2007. Three days later, Houston Nutt was hired as the next head football coach.

2008 season

The biggest change for the Rebels going into the 2008 football season was the head coach. Houston Nutt began his first season as head coach of the Rebels, replacing Ed Ogeron, who was fired after his 2007 team failed to win an SEC game.

With a new head coach also came new assistants, including Tight ends/special teams coach James Shibest, Running game coordinator Mike Markuson, Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, Recruiting coordinator and Safeties coach Chris Vaughn and High School Relations director Clifton Ealy, all of whom were assistants at Arkansas under Nutt the previous season. Tyrone Nix left his position as Defensive Coordinator of the South Carolina Gamecocks to join Nutt's staff at the same position. Before his time at South Carolina, Nix spent 10 years at Southern Mississippi.

Former Arkansas offensive coordinator David Lee originally agreed to follow Nutt from Arkansas to Ole Miss, however, he later accepted an offer to become the Quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins. Upon Lee's resignation, former Ole Miss quarterback star Kent Austin was hired as offensive coordinator.

Projected to place 5th in the SEC Western Division in the pre-season, the Rebels finished 2nd in the West, knocked off the last 2 national champions on the road in No. 4 (at the time) Florida and No. 18 (at the time) LSU and ended the regular season on a five-game win streak. The 20th ranked Rebels then beat the 8th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

2009 season

The 2009 season was one of ups and downs for the Rebels, as the team entered the year with some of the highest expectations of any Ole Miss team in almost half a century. Ultimately, the Rebels failed to meet those lofty expectations. The Rebels finished with an 8-4 (4-4 SEC) record and an invitation to the Cotton Bowl, a respectable showing but far short of the results that the team, its fans and the national media had anticipated before the season.

The Rebels began the 2009 season ranked no. 8 by the Associated Press Poll and no. 10 by the USA Today Coaches Poll. Ole Miss started the season with wins over Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana, and after some key early season losses by other top-10 schools, the AP poll put the Rebels at no. 4 in week 3—the team's highest ranking since 1970.

The Rebels didn't play up to the ranking, however, and a lethargic Ole Miss squad was defeated by the University of South Carolina in Columbia, 16-10, on a Thursday night before a national television audience. The Sept. 24 loss snapped an 8-game winning streak for the Rebels dating back to the 2008 season and sent them tumbling in the polls, never to rise higher than no. 20 for the rest of the year.

The Rebels bounced back to beat Vanderbilt on the road, but then fell to #3 Alabama at home the next week. Ole Miss recovered to win consecutive home games against UAB and Arkansas in impressive fashion before losing at Auburn in another uneven performance, establishing what would become a signature pattern for the Rebels in 2009: strong play at home but weak efforts on the road.

Following the Auburn loss, the Rebels won three straight home games, including quality wins over Tennessee and LSU. Entering the final week of the season, the team was back in the rankings (no. 20) and seemed set for another winning record in the SEC and a trip to the Capital One Bowl, the SEC's highest-paying bowl destination outside of the BCS. Those plans were dashed, however, when Rebels lost to Mississippi State in Starkville, 41-27, finishing the regular season at 8-4 overall and 4-4 in conference play.

One week later Ole Miss accepted an invitation to play in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, marking the team's second-consecutive trip to Dallas and the program's first back-to-back January bowl births in 40 years. Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma State 21-7.

2010 Season

Ole Miss opened their 2010 season by losing to Jacksonville State 49-48 in double overtime.

Uniforms

The Ole Miss Rebels currently have four combinations of uniforms that they are known to sport. All combinations involve gray pants with stripes of red and blue. The Rebels use blue jerseys for their primary home uniforms and red jerseys as alternates; both have bold white numbers and white shoulder stripes. White jerseys with red numbers and stripes are used on the road.

On October 30, 2010, the Rebels wore all-gray uniforms for the first time in their annual bout with the Auburn Tigers. The gray jerseys are adorned with blue and red shoulder stripes and blue numbers outlined in red. Although worn at home, Mississippi's all-gray uniforms are considered white jerseys (rather than colored); consequently, visiting opponents will wear their home, colored jerseys while the Rebels wear all-gray.

Rivalries

Mississippi State

The Battle of the Golden Egg (nicknamed the Egg Bowl) is an annual college football game between the Ole Miss Rebels and in-state fellow SEC team Mississippi State University (MSU) Bulldogs. While the 2 teams have played each other since 1901, with 2003 being the year in which the 2 teams had played each other 100 times and now having played each other a total of 105 times, the first game officially known as "The Battle of the Golden Egg" was in 1927. While it is called a "Bowl", the game is not a postseason bowl game, but rather a regular season Southeastern Conference (SEC) game. Ole Miss leads the series with 60 wins to MSU's 40 wins. There have been 6 ties. Mississippi State won the last game 41-27.

LSU

Ole Miss first played LSU on December 3, 1894 winning 26–6 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Throughout the fifties and sixties, games between the two schools featured highly ranked squads on both sides and seemingly every contest had conference, and at times national title implications - most recently in 2003 as LSU was the only team standing in the way of the Eli Manning-led Rebels being able to play for the SEC Championship.. A trophy has now been named for the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry known as the "Magnolia Bowl" which began in 2008 with a 31-13 victory by the Ole Miss Rebels. The 2009 game was also won by Ole Miss 25-23.. LSU leads the overall series over Ole Miss 55-39-4.

Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt-Ole Miss rivalry is an annual college football rivalry between the Vanderbilt University Commodores and the University of Mississippi Rebels. The Rebels are the Commodores' second-longest, continuous football rivalry. Both teams are founding members of the Southeastern Conference, and their universities have the smallest and second-smallest, respectively, student body populations among SEC schools. This similar size, the schools' proximity to one another (Nashville is less than 4 hours from Oxford), and the similar culture of Greek life (both schools' student bodies have high percentages of participation in fraternities and sororities) led them to choose to be one another's inter-divisional non-rotator when the SEC grew to 12 teams for the 1992 season. The schools have lately been rather evenly matched. In the last ten years, Ole Miss leads the series, 6-4, but Vanderbilt has won 3 of the last 5. The series has also been marked by close games, with the average margin between the teams since 1999 only 7 points. Ole Miss leads the series, 47-35-2 Although, since 1950, Ole Miss leads the series 42-13-2.

Arkansas

Ole Miss first played Arkansas in 1908, with Arkansas winning that game 33–0. They would play each other many times, though sporadically, over the next several decades, including two meetings in the Sugar Bowl in 1963 and 1970; Ole Miss won both Sugar Bowl matchups.

In 1991, Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference, and was placed in the same division as Ole Miss when the conference split into two divisions in 1992.

The two teams have played each other annually since 1981 yet the intensity of the rivalry pretty much died from the early 1970s until 2007.

The 2001 Ole Miss-Arkansas game set a NCAA record for most overtime periods played (7). It has since been tied, but never broken. Arkansas won that game 58–56.

2007 saw the rivalry return to a heated one when after Houston Nutt resigned as the head coach for Arkansas, Ole Miss hired him as their new head coach a week later.

2008 saw the first game between Ole Miss and Arkansas in which Nutt returned to Arkansas in his first game against his former team. Ole Miss, and Houston Nutt, won 23-21. This of course only made the rivalry that much more intense. The following season, 2009, Arkansas went to Oxford to take on Ole Miss. Ole Miss again won, 30-17.

"Team of the Century"

1890–1992

Bowl history

Ole Miss has participated in 33 bowl games with a record of 21 wins and 12 losses. Notably, Ole Miss' win percentage of 0.636 ranks third all-time among football programs that have played in 25 or more bowl games (behind USC and Penn State). Twenty-one bowl wins also ranks 12th all-time.

This September 2009 contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (September 2009)

v t e The University of Mississippi
Located in: Oxford, Mississippi
Academics	People Glenn Boyce (chancellor) University of Mississippi Academics Divisions Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College University of Mississippi School of Law University of Mississippi School of Engineering University of Mississippi School of Business Administration Croft Institute for International Studies National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law Center for the Study of Southern Culture
Athletics	Teams Ole Miss Rebels Football Basketball Men Women Baseball Softball Tennis The Pride of the South (marching band) Football rivalries Egg Bowl (Mississippi State) Magnolia Bowl (LSU) Arkansas Vanderbilt Alabama Facilities Vaught–Hemingway Stadium The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss Tad Smith Coliseum Swayze Field Ole Miss Soccer Stadium Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center William F. Galtney Indoor Tennis Center Ole Miss Track & Field Complex Ole Miss Softball Complex Gillom Athletics Performance Center University Golf Course
Campus	Main University, Mississippi Barnard Observatory Confederate Monument The Grove Kennon Observatory Lyceum–The Circle Historic District Museum Rowan Oak Statue of James Meredith Other University of Mississippi Field Station University of Mississippi Medical Center University of Mississippi School of Medicine
Student life	The Daily Mississippian WUMS Radio Alumni
History	History 1962 race riot 2008 Presidential debate
Traditions	Forward Rebels Hotty Toddy! From Dixie with Love
Outreach	Mississippi Teacher Corps

• Articles with trivia sections from September 2009
• Ole Miss Rebels football
• Sports clubs established in 1890
• American football teams in Mississippi