Series History: Ole Miss Rebels vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

After dropping the SEC opener to Kentucky, the Ole Miss Rebels have their work cut out for them in Columbia, S.C., against a young South Carolina Gamecock team.

While the Rebels offense looked quite pedestrian last week, head coach Lane Kiffin is one of the best at assessing and fixing the offense from week-to-week. The Rebels will be going up against another talented front that presents a very different skillset and speed off the edge. The Wildcats’ strengths lay up the middle while the Gamecocks’ speed off the edge has turned them into a pretty stout defensive front.

The Rebels and Gamecocks have met only 16 times, the first coming in 1947 in an out-of-conference matchup played in Memphis.

With this being said, let’s take a look at the last three matchups between Ole Miss and South Carolina.

2009 — South Carolina 16, Ole Miss 10

The game that saw the creation of Sandstrom, the Rebels came in as the No. 4-ranked team in the country with hopes to cause havoc in the BCS.

That dream ended quickly after the Gamecocks dominated the middle of the game thanks to QB Stephen Garcia, who was known to pull off an upset or two during his time in Columbia. The real story of the game was the Carolina defense that manhandled the Rebels’ offense for all four quarters. Jevan Snead tried to mount a comeback in the fourth after a Markieth Summers 45-yard touchdown catch brought the Rebels into striking distance at 16-10.

Ole Miss had another chance to go the length of the field late in the fourth but couldn’t muster enough magic to pull it off and turned it over on downs to give the Gamecocks an upset win at home.

2018 — South Carolina 48, Ole Miss 44

This game started with a bang, a 90-yard kick return from Deebo Samuel, putting the Gamecocks up seven on the first play of the game.

Scottie Phillips had himself a day running the football for the Rebs, going for 141 yards on 21 carries and three scores. Jordan Ta’amu also had a strong performance at 31-of-46 through the air for 379 yards.

The Rebels were down two scores at the end of the first, but Phillips found the end zone followed by a Luke Logan field goal that cut the lead to four at 17-13 early in the second. The Rebels and Gamecocks traded scores throughout the second quarter with Phillips capping off a nine-play 75-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run from Phillips to tie it at 27 apiece just before halftime.

The Rebels took the lead in the fourth quarter with a Logan field goal and another Phillips touchdown run to put Ole Miss up 37-34 heading into the fourth. Two touchdowns by the Gamecocks in the final frame gave them the 48-44 lead after Ole Miss scored in the fourth as well but punted on three consecutive drives and failed to convert on their final drive.

2020– Ole Miss 59, South Carolina 42

Another back-and-fourth matchup in Kiffin’s first season in Oxford. Matt Corral delivered one of the best performances by any Ole Miss QB in history with over 500 yards passing alongside four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Elijah Moore also had one of his best days in a Rebel uniform, going for 225 yards on 13 catches and two touchdowns. One that went for 91 yards made Kiffin throw his play sheet up in the air and gave the Rebels the lead in the fourth quarter.

The Rebels secured a much-needed win, and South Carolina was left scratching its head and moved on from Will Muschamp later in the year.