On the night of October 4, 1969, the Alabama Crimson Tide played host to the Ole Miss Rebels in one of the first college football games to be televised in prime time.
When ABC Sports producer Roone Aldridge saw that his network would be going up against the MLB playoffs being televised on NBC, Aldridge persuaded his bosses to move the Ole Miss-Alabama game into primetime so they could get better ratings.
The network honchos and both head coaches, Alabama’s Bear Bryant and Ole Miss’ John Vaught, agreed to the terms paving the way for the game to be played under the lights.
Alabama was no stranger to playing under the lights as it had participated in the very first primetime college football telecast the previous season in a 14-6 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
The Crimson Tide entered the game as the #15 ranked team in the country after winning their opening two games of the season in wins over Virginia Tech and Southern Miss, while Ole Miss came in ranked #20 with a 1-1 record but with Heisman Trophy candidate Archie Manning at quarterback, the Rebels had a great chance to knock off the Tide in Birmingham.
Bama got the ball at their 24-yard-line to start the game and promptly drove to the Ole Miss 30-yard-line in eight plays, with quarterback Scott Hunter connecting with David Bailey three times totaling 34 yards.
But the last 30 yards of the drive belong to running back Johnny Musso as he carried the ball seven straight times with the last carry being a one-yard touchdown run to end the 15-play, 76-yard drive and put the Tide ahead 7-0 with 8:15 left in the first quarter.
Manning and the Rebels responded with a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that culminated with a two-yard touchdown run by Archie that tied the game at 7.
The game was still tied in the second quarter when Ole Miss was poised to take their first lead of the game as Manning led the Rebels on a drive from their 26-yard-line to the Tide seven-yard-line where they faced a 2nd-and-6.
That is where the Tide defense rose up and forced a fumble when defensive backs Mike Dean and Danny Gilbert hit Ole Miss receiver Riley Myers so hard that he lost the football at the four-yard-line, leading to a recovery by defensive tackle Paul Boschung.
This would lead to a 17-yard touchdown run by Bubba Sawyer that put the Tide ahead 14-7 with 4:21 to go in the first half, that was set up by a 67-yard run by George Ranager.
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| Quarterback Scott Hunter became the first player in Alabama history to threw for at least 300 yards in a game as he threw for exactly 300 yards in the Tide's 1969 shootout with Ole Miss. |
The Rebels had a chance for more points before the end of the half as Manning led the Ole Miss offense to the Bama nine-yard-line where they faced a 4th-and-1 with 53 seconds to go.
Vaught decided against kicking the field goal and go for the 1st down, but running back Randy Reed was stopped by Bama defensive tackle Jim Duke and others short keeping the Tide in the lead as the first half came to a close.
Ole Miss would tie the game on their opening drive of the second half with a 11-play, 65-yard drive that was capped with a 11-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Floyd Franks as Manning completed all eight of his passes on the drive.
After an exchange of punts, the Tide retook the lead with a 6-play, 63-yard drive that culminated with another 1-yard run by Musso, which put Bama back in the lead at 21-14 at the 6:34 mark of the third quarter.
Ole Miss was on their way to another score on their ensuing drive only to have Manning be intercepted by Bama linebacker Woodie Husband at the Tide’s 45-yard-line.
The Ole Miss defense forced a punt and got the ball back at their own 20, where it only took them four plays to get back into the end zone.
A 46-yard pass from Manning to tight end Jimmy Poole led to a 17-yard touchdown run by Manning to close the Bama lead to a single point.
But in a play that would haunt the Rebels for the rest of the game, Perry King’ extra point attempt sailed wide left and Ole Miss still trailed 21-20.
The Rebels would get their first lead of the game three minutes into the fourth quarter when Myers caught a 2-yard pass from Manning that gave Ole Miss a 26-21 lead following a failed two-point conversion.
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| Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning became the first player to throw for at least 300 yards and run for 100 yards in the same game with his 540 yards of total offense. |
Bama responded with a 10-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Hunter that put the Tide back in the lead at 27-26 after Hunter’s two-point conversion pass was intercepted.
It only took 28 seconds for the Rebels to retake the lead as Manning hit Vernon Studdard for a 42-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage, followed by a 21-yard run by Manning , and then the quarterback taking it in for a 1-yard touchdown.
Once again the Rebels went for two and once again were unsuccessful, keeping it a 32-27 game with 7:15 to play.
The Tide took over at their 20-yard-line and drove 80 yards in 11 plays as Hunter completed all 8 of his passes on the drive for 74 yards, the last completion being a 14-yard touchdown to George Ranager that gave Bama a 33-32 lead with under four minutes to go.
The way the game was going it seemed whoever had the ball last would win the game and Ole Miss got the ball back at their 46-yard-line following by a bad kickoff by Duke.
However, the Rebels could only get nine yards on three plays and were faced with another 4th-and-1 at the Bama 45-yard-line.
Ole Miss went for it but like at the end of the first half, the Rebels were did not convert the 4th down as Manning’s sneak was stopped by the Bama defense, giving the Tide the ball with 2:24 to play.
The Tide could not get a 1st down and were forced to punt the ball back to Ole Miss, who took over at its 5-yard-line with 1:48 to go and zero timeouts.
Manning would get the Rebels to the Bama 42 before time ran out, giving the Crimson Tide a wild 33-32 win in a game that set over 20 SEC records.
The two quarterbacks combined for throwing over 700 yards as Hunter accounted for 300 yards on 22-of-29 passing while Manning threw for 436 yards on 33-of-52 passing to go along with 104 yards on 15 carries.
Overall, Manning accounted for 540 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. His 540 yards of total offense is a record that still stands in Ole Miss football history for most yards of total offense in a single game.
Despite all the fireworks, when the two head coaches met at midfield after the game, Bryant was quoted as saying “That was the worst game I’ve ever seen”, to which Vaught responded “You’re right, Bear”, while ABC broadcaster Chris Schenkel who called the game said it was "the most exciting game I've ever seen in 20 years of broadcasting".
The majority of college football fans and historians have sided with Schenekl's assessment as the duel between Manning and Hunter under the lights in Alabama is regarded as one of the most memorable games in college football history.
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| The scoreboard at Legion Field after the historic shootout between Ole Miss and Alabama in 1969. |
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