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58-744: As referenced, for many years Mississippi Memorial Stadium served as an alternate home stadium for the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University , and occasionally the University of Southern Mississippi . From 1973 to 1990 the Egg Bowl was played there and from 1992 to 2013 it hosted the Mississippi High School Activities Association state championship football games. In addition to college and high school games it has hosted several National Football League (NFL) preseason games. The Stadium

116-664: A yellow fever epidemic) and 1943 (due to World War II). In that first season, the team compiled a 4–1 record under head coach Alexander Bondurant . In 1899, Ole Miss became a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). The program joined the Southern Conference in 1922 and the Southeastern Conference in 1933. The modern era of Ole Miss football began in 1947, when Harold Drew

174-545: A dismal 5–5–1 record at season's end. Vaught also made going to postseason play the norm rather than the exception for the Rebel football program. Ole Miss played in 15 consecutive bowl games from 1957 to 1971, a national record at the time. In all, Vaught led Ole Miss to 18 bowl games, posting a 10–8 record. For his efforts, Vaught was named SEC Coach of the Year six times (1947, 1948, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962). Vaught coached some of

232-677: A few basketball games were played over the years, there were no football games for another four decades. Later, the Mississippi Sports Council worked with both schools to resume the football series, which was dubbed the "Backyard Brawl" due to the colleges' proximity in the Jackson area. The first game was held on September 2, 2000, at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium and reportedly drew 13,000 fans, an NCAA Division III record. The teams annually opened their seasons against one another at Memorial Stadium from then through

290-526: A four-year, $ 16.2 million contract. The 44-year old Kiffin arrived in Oxford with a wealth of coaching experience; before serving as the Owls head coach, he served as Alabama's offensive coordinator for three years under Nick Saban , winning one national championship and three SEC championships while helping to coach Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry . He had also served as head coach at USC , Tennessee and

348-565: A new venue record; Ole Miss won, 55–49, getting revenge for LSU's 45–20 blowout the previous year and eliminating them from the College Football Playoff . The next week, they beat Arkansas 27–20, exacting revenge for another 2022 blowout. Kiffin led the team to 8–1 before losing to Georgia 17–52 in Athens. The Rebels finished the season 11–2, including a Peach Bowl win over Penn State 38–25. Ole Miss has been affiliated with

406-641: A pine box". Two days later, he accepted the job of head coach at SEC West rival Auburn University . David Cutcliffe took over as head coach on December 2, 1998, just 29 days before the Rebels met Texas Tech in the Sanford Independence Bowl. They prevailed, 35–18, in arguably the biggest upset of the 1998 bowl season. Instilling a high-powered offensive style, Cutcliffe had four winning seasons in his first five seasons at Ole Miss, in 1999 (8–4), 2000 (7–5), 2001 (7–4) and 2002 (7–6), becoming

464-594: A plan for the development for that property ... There's a lot involved here, and we don't want to cloud the issue. We want to make sure everyone understands that we're in full support of Jackson State. The 1993 Drum Corps International World Championships were held there with the Cadets of Bergen County taking 1st place. 32°19′46.7″N 90°10′47.2″W  /  32.329639°N 90.179778°W  / 32.329639; -90.179778 Ole Miss Rebels football The Ole Miss Rebels football program represents

522-425: A thrilling 15–14 Egg Bowl victory over Mississippi State and a Motor City Bowl win over Marshall University . The bowl appearance was the program's first since 1992, and the Rebels earned a final national ranking of No. 22 in both polls. During the 1998 season, Tuberville repeatedly said he would not leave Ole Miss. With a month to go before the team's bowl game, he told alumni, "They'll have to take me out of here in

580-1029: Is a sports rivalry between the Millsaps College Majors and the Mississippi College Choctaws . It chiefly manifests in the college football matchup, known as the Backyard Brawl as both schools are located near to Jackson, Mississippi . The colleges compete in Division III of the NCAA , Mississippi College in the American Southwest Conference (ASC) and Millsaps in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). The two schools met nearly every year in various sports from 1920 through spring 1960, after which time

638-560: The 2022 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana , left the Rebels with a final record of 10–3, the eighth time the football team has recorded 10 wins in a season. On December 4, 2021, Ole Miss again extended Kiffin's contract and raised his pay. In 2022, the Rebels compiled an 8–3 record and were ranked No. 20 in the AP poll in week 12. Running back Quinshon Judkins won C Spire Freshman of the Year. On November 29, 2022, amid rumors that Auburn

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696-740: The Grantland Rice Award . Ole Miss has won six SEC championships. The SEC was split into two divisions from the 1992 season through the 2023 season, with Ole Miss competing in the SEC West during that time. Ole Miss has won a share of one divisional title, but has yet to make an appearance in the SEC Championship Game . † Co-champions Ole Miss has had 38 head coaches in over a century of play. † Includes interim status Millsaps%E2%80%93Mississippi College rivalry The Millsaps–Mississippi College rivalry

754-630: The NFL 's Oakland Raiders . In his first season at Ole Miss, Kiffin compiled a 5–5 record in an all-SEC Conference schedule, including a 26–20 win over Indiana in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida . On January 2, 2021, Ole Miss signed Kiffin to a contract extension and raise. In 2021, Kiffin piloted the Rebels to a 10–2 regular-season record, the best in school history, going 6–2 in conference and finishing 11th in both major polls. A 21–7 loss to Baylor in

812-669: The Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic . The Rebels posted their 600th win on September 27, 2008, when they defeated the Gators 31–30. At season's end, the Rebels were ranked in the Top 15 in both major polls. But in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, the Rebels won a total of six games, and in the latter season, went winless in SEC play. On November 7, 2011, athletic director Pete Boone forced Nutt to resign, effective at

870-869: The University of Mississippi , also known as "Ole Miss". The Rebels compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Rebels play their home games at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium on the university's campus in Oxford, Mississippi . Founded in 1893 as the state's first football team, Ole Miss has won six Southeastern Conference titles , in 1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963. The team has been co- national champion once, with Minnesota in 1960 (the only time that Ole Miss has been acknowledged as national champion by

928-605: The 1960 season and one week during the 1961 campaign. The 1960 unit is the only team to win a national championship that is recognized by the NCAA and the college football community at large. That squad finished 10–0–1; the only blemish was a 6–6 tie against LSU . Ole Miss was presented with the Grantland Rice Trophy by the Football Writers of America after its Sugar Bowl victory, though that did not carry

986-538: The 1962 Litkenhous Ratings national championship. Just 2–7 in 1946, the Rebels went 9–2 in Vaught's first season at the helm, winning the first of his six SEC titles (1947, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1963). The 1947 season also saw Ole Miss great Charlie Conerly become the first Rebel player to seriously contend for the Heisman Trophy , placing fourth in the voting. The Rebels were among the winningest programs in

1044-716: The 1977 season. Cooper compiled a 21–23 record, and his tenure is probably best remembered for the September 1977 upset of Notre Dame , who finished the season 11–1 and AP and UPI national champion. Steve Sloan , the former All-American quarterback at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant , posted a 20–34 record from 1978 to 1982. After stepping outside the Ole Miss family football tree the previous nine seasons, former Rebel star player Billy Brewer took over as head coach in December 1982. In his 11 seasons as head coach, Brewer led

1102-400: The 1990 contest, after which the game returned to the two schools' respective campuses. Shortly after the 1980 expansion both Ole Miss and Mississippi State decided to enhance their on-campus facilities to develop the same home-field advantage of their fellow Southeastern Conference members, and gradually stopped playing games in Jackson altogether. The last game played there by an SEC school

1160-422: The 1990s, Ole Miss (University of Mississippi), Mississippi State, and Southern Miss regularly played selected "home" games there, including "SEC doubleheader Saturdays" in which one school would host a conference opponent in the morning or afternoon and the other would host a conference opponent at night. Notably, the annual Egg Bowl contests between Ole Miss and Mississippi State were held there from 1973 through

1218-430: The 2004 season. In 2005, the series took another brief hiatus when Mississippi College began preparing for a potential move to Division II , where they could grant athletic scholarships . This move never came to fruition, however, and the series resumed in 2006, again as an opening week contest but with the games alternating between the schools' campuses. The renewed rivalry has been hotly contested. In 11 games since 2000,

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1276-399: The 2019 Egg Bowl, Luke's recruit and future NFL wide receiver Elijah Moore performed a post-touchdown mockery of a urinating dog, costing the Rebels a penalty and ultimately losing the game by a missed extra point 20–21. Luke was dismissed after the game. On December 7, 2019, Ole Miss announced that it had hired Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin as their next head coach under

1334-511: The NCAA). Ole Miss, however, has never finished a season No. 1 in the AP or Coaches' Poll . With a record of 24–14, Ole Miss has the fourth-highest post-season winning percentage of schools with 30 or more bowl appearances. As of 2024, the team's head coach is Lane Kiffin . The Ole Miss football team played its first season in 1893 and have since fielded a team every year except for 1897 (due to

1392-756: The Rebels second and third, respectively, behind the national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers . Students made "AP" and "UPI" dummies, hung them from the Union Building, and burned them while chanting, "We're No. 1, to hell with AP and UPI." The Gophers, however, subsequently lost the Rose Bowl to Washington, and Ole Miss defeated Rice, 14–6, in the Sugar Bowl , leading the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to vote Mississippi as national champions and present them with

1450-464: The Rebels to five winning seasons and four bowls, including Ole Miss' 1990 New Year's Day Gator Bowl appearance, which was the program's first January bowl game since 1969. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 1986 (8–3–1 record) and 1990 (9–3 record), and in 1986, the Rebels returned to the national rankings for the first time in over a decade. He compiled a 68–55–3 record and led Ole Miss to eight Egg Bowl victories over rival Mississippi State. Brewer

1508-487: The Rebels to their first 10-win season since 2003, and only the third since the Vaught era. On July 20, 2017, Freeze resigned after Ole Miss officials learned that he had used a university-provided cell phone to place calls to an escort service in "a concerning pattern" that began shortly after he took the job in 2011. NCAA investigators later concluded that Freeze had cheated on 15 occasions by breaking recruiting rules and allowing students to play who had not maintained

1566-618: The Rebels' first official winless ones in more than a century. On December 5, 2011, Hugh Freeze became the new head coach. The team went 7–6 with a victory over Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl . In Freeze's second year, the Rebels went 8–5 (3–5), defeating then-sixth-ranked LSU on a last-second field goal in Oxford, then beating Georgia Tech, 25–17, in the Music City Bowl. In 2014, Freeze led Ole Miss to one of its strongest seasons in four decades. The Rebels spent most of

1624-625: The SEC in 2012). The Golden Eagles played their final home game there in 1988, a 38–21 win over Mississippi State. The stadium was also host to the annual Capital City Classic between Jackson State and Alcorn State University , both of the Southwestern Athletic Conference , from 1993 to 2010. Starting in 2011 the game began to alternate between Veterans Memorial Stadium and Alcorn State's home field, Jack Spinks Stadium , in Lorman when The Braves exercised their right as

1682-502: The Tigers' basketball team, host concerts, and host special events. In addition to seating 50,000 for football, it would hold 17,000 for basketball and 21,000 for concerts and include 75 sky boxes for rental. The JSU Sports Hall of Fame would have been located on the first floor. ... the ultimate goal is that we have our own stadium close to campus just because we think that would be more beneficial to JSU. If JSU had relinquished control of

1740-559: The best players in Ole Miss football history. and produced 26 All-America first-teamers. He also coached four players who finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy voting: Conerly in 1947, Charlie Flowers (5th in 1959), Jake Gibbs (3rd in 1960), and Archie Manning (4th in 1969, 3rd in 1970). Failing health forced Vaught to resign his position in 1970. He was succeeded by Billy Kinard . No Ole Miss coach has since matched Vaught's longevity or winning percentage. Billy Kinard,

1798-439: The charges while he recruited them. They requested waivers to quickly play for other teams, and were granted them. On July 20, 2017, co-offensive coordinator Matt Luke was named interim head coach following Hugh Freeze's resignation in relation with the escort scandal. In November 2017, Luke was named the permanent head coach after leading the Rebels to a 6–6 record, including a 31–28 Egg Bowl win over Mississippi State . In

Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium - Misplaced Pages Continue

1856-566: The country during the 1950s. From 1950 to 1959, Ole Miss posted an 80–21–5 record (.778 winning percentage), third only to Oklahoma and Miami (OH) during that decade. Vaught's 1959 squad was honored as the "SEC Team of the Decade." In the 1960s, Vaught guided the Rebels to a 77–25–6 record and a .740 winning percentage, which was the ninth-best during that decade. The Rebels were ranked atop the Associated Press poll for three weeks during

1914-559: The current seating to the official 60,492 seats. In 1960 the state legislature took over control of the stadium and it remained under their supervision until 2011 when "operational, administrative and managing powers and duties" were transferred to Jackson State University. The stadium hosted its first football game on December 9, 1950, a contest between Holmes Junior College Bulldogs and the Kilgore College Rangers of Kilgore, Texas. A crowd of 18,000 saw Holmes fall to

1972-413: The end of the season, citing what ESPN called the program's "total decline". NCAA investigators later concluded that Nutt had allowed athletes to play while ineligible. In 2019, the NCAA punished Ole Miss for these violations and others committed by his successor, Hugh Freeze , by stripping the team of 33 wins over six seasons. This included all four wins in 2010 and two wins in 2011, making those season

2030-515: The first Ole Miss alumnus to head up the football program, won 10 games in 1971, fourth-most by a first-year head coach in NCAA Division I history, but was fired after going 5–5 in 1972 and starting the 1973 season 1–2. Vaught was rehired to finish out the 1973 season, then resigned once again as head coach. As of 2022, his final record of 190–61–12 still ranks him in the top 25 winningest coaches in NCAA Division I history. Kinard's tenure saw

2088-461: The first Rebel mentor since Harry Mehre (1938–41) to post winning marks in his first five years. From 1997 to 2003, the Rebels played in six bowl games, tied with Arkansas for the most bowl appearances among SEC Western Division schools during that span. In 2003, Cutcliffe guided the Rebels to a 10–3 overall mark and a share of the SEC West title with eventual BCS National Champion LSU. Despite his 44–29 record, five straight winning seasons, and guiding

2146-446: The following conferences. Ole Miss has been selected as national champion three times by NCAA-designated major selectors in 1959, 1960 and 1962. But the two major wire-service polls of the time: AP Poll and Coaches' Poll , named Syracuse , Minnesota , and Southern California as the national champions in those years, respectively. In 1960 , the final Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) polls placed

2204-463: The home to host the game on their campus. In a document published on the Alcorn State website University President M. Christopher Brown II and interim athletic director Dwayne White informally dubbed the game the "Soul Bowl". From 2000 to 2004 Veterans Memorial was home of the renewed Backyard Brawl between Millsaps College and Mississippi College. On September 2, 2000, after a 40-year hiatus,

2262-585: The program's strongest season since 1962, when the team went undefeated and untied, with wins over ranked SEC West Rivals LSU and Mississippi State, and was headlined by a road victory over No. 2-ranked Alabama, their first win in Tuscaloosa since 1988 and the first time they had beaten the Tide in back-to-back seasons. The Rebels earned a trip to the 2016 Sugar Bowl , their first appearance in this bowl game since 1970, where they beat Oklahoma State 48–20. Freeze led

2320-607: The required academic standing; they also determined that his predecessor, Nutt, had broken similar rules. University officials quickly attempted to paint Nutt as the main culprit instead of Freeze. Nutt sued for defamation, and the university settled the suit and issued a public apology. This constituted one of the worst violations ever, and in 2019 the NCAA punished Ole Miss by stripping the team of 33 wins over six seasons, including seven from 2012, eight from 2014, and five from 2016. This changed Freeze's official record at Ole Miss from 39–25 over five seasons to 12–25. The NCAA also banned

2378-405: The rivalry with a win–loss record of 24–9–6. The series was cancelled after fighting broke out at a Millsaps–Mississippi College basketball game in early 1960. Mississippi College students had taken a flag from a Millsaps fraternity and threw it in the air during the game; when Millsaps students went to retrieve it a scuffle ensued. Sports games between the schools were subsequently cancelled; though

Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium - Misplaced Pages Continue

2436-401: The same weight of the wire service voting ( AP and Coaches' Poll ) which selected Minnesota as the national champion. The Rebels’ 1962 season is Ole Miss' only undefeated and untied season: 10–0. They capped off the season with a victory in the Sugar Bowl , but finished No. 3 in both major polls. In 1964, Ole Miss was ranked preseason No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, but finished with

2494-462: The season in the top 10, rising as high as third in October—their highest ranking at that late stage in the season in almost half a century. They ultimately finished 9–3, only the third time since Vaught's tenure that a Rebel team has won as many as nine games. This garnered them a berth in the 2014 Peach Bowl , their first major-bowl appearance since 1969. In 2015, Freeze led to the Rebels to perhaps

2552-409: The series was cancelled when a fight broke out at a men's basketball game. The college football series was resumed in 2000. Mississippi College leads it 31–15–6. The series began in 1920, when Millsaps College fielded its first college football team. The game was played annually from then until 1959, except for a four-year hiatus during World War II . To that point Mississippi College dominated

2610-683: The stadium's atmosphere won the championship in the College Football Campus Tour Best FCS Stadium Invitational, beating out the Kibbie Dome in Idaho in the title round with 58% of nearly 12,000 votes. The facility faced an uncertain future as Jackson State University explored and proposed building an on-campus venue. In the spring of 2013 Jackson State unveiled a proposal for a 50,000 seat, $ 200 million domed stadium that would also house

2668-412: The stadium, the University of Mississippi Medical Center expressed interest in using the property to build a medical research and treatment "city" in the area. If Jackson State had built a stadium either on or close to its campus UMMC would have regained ownership of the old facility and it would have been razed. We don't have a football team, so we would have no use for the stadium. So we would develop

2726-471: The team from postseason play for two years, stripped it of scholarships for four years, and placed it on three years of probation. In 2019, the NCAA vacated 33 of the team's victories dating from 2010 to 2016 and levied a two-year ban on postseason play as punishment for recruiting and academic violations under both Nutt and Freeze. Meanwhile, the team's star quarterback Shea Patterson and other players told NCAA officials that Freeze had lied to them about

2784-483: The team to its first 10 win season in over 30 years, Cutcliffe was fired by Ole Miss's Athletic Director Pete Boone in December 2004 after the team posted a disappointing 4–7 record and a third consecutive loss to LSU. Ed Orgeron took over on December 16, 2004. Named the 2004 National Recruiter of the Year by The Sporting News and Rivals.com, he compiled two of the best-ranking signing classes in 2006 and 2007. This did not lead to on-the-field success. In 2007, Ole Miss

2842-514: The team's first Black player, 79 years after the team started and a decade after the university admitted its first Black student. Ben Williams , a defensive tackle, recruited out of a small school in the Delta region of Mississippi, eventually claimed All-SEC honors and had a long and successful NFL career following his stint at Ole Miss. Ken Cooper, an assistant under Kinard since 1971, was named head coach on January 17, 1974, and took Ole Miss through

2900-491: The two schools resumed their football series and in front of a reported crowd of 10,200 spectators. Millsaps defeated Mississippi College 20–19. From 1992 to 2013 the Mississippi High School Activities Association state championship football games were played at the stadium, but on July 20, 2014 MHSAA executive director Don Hinton announced that those games would begin rotating between Davis Wade Stadium at Mississippi State and Vaught–Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss. In 2024,

2958-401: The visiting Rangers 32–12. The first Division I-A game took place on November 22, 1952, when Southern Mississippi defeated Louisville 55–26. Ole Miss first played their first game there on September 19, 1953, defeating Chattanooga 39–6, and on Halloween day of that same year, Mississippi State played there for the first time, suffering a 27–20 loss to Texas Tech . From the 1950s through

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3016-495: Was a blowout win by Ole Miss over Division I-AA VMI in 1996; the Rebels' last conference game at Jackson was a 1993 win over Arkansas . Mississippi State's last home game at Jackson was a 34–22 victory over LSU in 1990 and their last game of any sort there was the 1990 Egg Bowl where they lost to the Rebels 21–9 playing as the visiting team. Southern Miss made regular appearances as well, playing both UM and MSU as well as games against such schools as Texas A&M (which joined

3074-412: Was dismissed just before the 1994 season after the NCAA infractions committee found him guilty of "unethical conduct," Ole Miss defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn finished the season as interim coach. Hired on December 2, 1994, Tommy Tuberville led the 1995 Rebels to a 6–5 record and an Egg Bowl victory over Mississippi State. In 1997, Ole Miss recorded its best season in five years with an 8–4 record,

3132-546: Was fired on November 24, 2007. Three days later, Houston Nutt was hired as the next head football coach, just five weeks after he defeated Ole Miss as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks . 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 , the reigning BCS National Champion LSU Tigers , and

3190-622: Was interested in hiring Kiffin, the Rebels extended his contract and increased his pay for a third time. Auburn ended up hiring former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze instead. Ole Miss finished the 2022 season 8–5, losing five of their last six games, a showing blamed partly on Kiffin being distracted by Auburn's wooing. In 2023, Ole Miss got off to a 3–0 start, including a 37–20 win at No. 24 Tulane , then lost 24–10 to No. 13 Alabama in Tuscaloosa . The following game against arch-rival LSU drew 66,703 people to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, setting

3248-417: 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 was an unmitigated disaster for the Rebels. They went winless in the SEC for the first time since 1982 and ended the season at 3–9 (0–8 in SEC play). Orgeron

3306-463: Was ousted in favor of his line coach, Johnny Vaught . A former All-American at Texas Christian University (TCU), Vaught led the Ole Miss program to national prominence over the next 24 years, posting 23 winning records and making the team a fixture in the national polls. Under Vaught, Ole Miss won the 1959 Dunkel System national championship; the 1960 Football Writers Association of America, Dunkel System, and Williamson System national championships; and

3364-587: Was renamed Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in 1995. For many years, the stadium was the largest in the state until the University of Mississippi expanded its stadium in 2016. Construction on the facility began in early 1949 and it opened in 1950 with a seating capacity of 21,000. By 1953 temporary seating had brought the capacity up to 25,000 and in 1961 the stadium was expanded to hold 46,000. Then in 1981 it underwent an expansion that brought total capacity to 62,512, although subsequent renovations dropped

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