Ole Miss seeks to extend the Aggies’ 8-game road losing streak that was, incidentally, started by the Rebels in 2021
OXFORD, Miss. — Not to offer up any ‘rat poison,’ but the Rebels host an A&M team this Saturday that is reeling when it comes to road games. The Aggies are currently in the midst of an 8-game road losing streak. So, when exactly did this absolute road nightmare begin for Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies? Ironically, it was courtesy of Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels. It just so happens that this road losing streak began at Vaught-Hemingway in 2021 when the No. 11 Aggies lost to No. 12-ranked Ole Miss.
The Aggies had begun the season that year ranked No. 6 in the country and had even broken into the Top 5 at one point. They entered the Ole Miss game as a 1-point favorite and went home nursing a 29-19 one-sided whipping.
Following that game, the Aggies were beaten at LSU in the final seconds by their current quarterback and former Tiger, Max Johnson, when the Ags failed to get a game-clinching first down. They finished the 2021 season 8-4.
Then, 2022 followed with A&M road losses three, four, five and six at Mississippi State, Alabama, South Carolina and Auburn, respectively. This season they’ve lost both road games at Miami and Tennessee, making it the above-mentioned 8 straight road losses for Fisher and his team.
And now we come full circle as the Aggies swing back into Oxford as they try to avoid the program’s first back-to-back losing seasons in 50 years, and also their longest-ever road-game losing streak.
With a potential program-tying 9th consecutive road loss to the No. 10/11 Rebels this Saturday, Texas A&M would then be looking to avoid its first-ever 10-game road-losing streak in its entire history, not to mention a record ninth straight in SEC play, when it pulls into Death Valley to play LSU in the season finale.
Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, however, knows the task will be challenging. He talked at his Monday press conference about the talented players up and down the A&M roster, record not-withstanding.
“Huge challenge this week. These guys are absolutely loaded, it’s actually a mind-blowing collection of talent. As you watch them offensively, defensively, return game, special teams, it really is an NFL roster. Height, weight, speed, explosiveness. Receivers that can score at any time, and great running backs. Their defense is playing as well as anyone in the country. The collection of defensive line has to be one of the best ever. And the linebacker [Edgerrin Cooper] is playing like the SEC Player of the Year. It’ll take a great week of practice, great preparation and great scheme to play these guys. This is a huge challenge. They’ve done a phenomenal job of getting a collection of players that are extremely elite and talented players. Even better than a year ago. This is a big challenge.“
Lane Kiffin on A&M
But back to that Aggie losing streak….A&M’s previous eight-straight true road-game losses occurred back in 2002-2004 during the program’s transition from head coach RC Slocum, who’d lost his last two, to Dennis Franchione, who lost his first six.
The Aggies’ all-time record 9-game road losing streak occurred in 1970-71 under Aggie alum and head coach Gene Stallings. That losing streak began right after the Aggies had pulled off an amazingly improbable upset over Bert Jones and No. 12 LSU. It ended with a huge upset win over Joe Ferguson’s 8th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. Prior to that win at Arkansas, the Aggies had lost 19 of their previous 21 road games.
Accordingly, another loss this season at Ole Miss will hand Jimbo a record-tying ninth straight road loss.
The Aggies’ longest winless streak on the road occurred between 1946 and 1950 when they recorded 17 losses with two ties in 19 games. Yet, no one in the history of the Aggie football program has ever lost 10 straight true road games, which Jimbo’s outfit is now in position to do should they fall to both Ole Miss and LSU.
Long gone, at least for this season, are the national championship aspirations the Aggies held after Fisher’s hire. They’re coming off a 5-7 campaign in 2022, and it didn’t take long to go south in 2023, either.
It’s been quite a plunge from the Aggies’ No. 4 final AP ranking of the 2020 COVID season. That year, Ole Miss and A&M did not play due to COVID numbers affecting roster size. All in all, Lane Kiffin is undefeated against Jimbo Fisher, having beaten him in 2021 and 2022. So although Jimbo does have a win over Nick Saban, he does not have one over Lane Kiffin.
But this is 2023, and Kiffin knows the Aggies have amassed a special group, especially on the defensive line.
“These guys, when you look at height, weight, speed, and the way that they run, I don’t know how you collect much better [talent]. So, congratulations to their group that collected these guys.“
Lane Kiffin on the Aggie roster
But even with its fantastic collection of four and five-star athletes, it would seem the A&M program is on a bit of a downswing at the moment, facing a couple of must-win games, at least from coaching and recruiting standpoints — the exact opposite of expectations from six years ago.
This game will be big for the Rebels for all the right reasons, and for the Aggies, all the wrong ones. With a win, Ole Miss would move to 8-1 on the season and set up a real shoot-out in Athens the following Saturday.
Ole Miss hosts A&M this Saturday in Vaught-Hemingway with kickoff set for 11:00 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
David Walker
David is the consummate true-freshman quarterback, first pioneering the position only a year after college freshmen were given varsity eligibility by the NCAA in 1972. In 1973, the left-handed all-state gunslinger from Sulphur, Louisiana started for the Texas A&M Aggies and earned the All-Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year award as selected by the league’s coaches. David is the first college quarterback ever awarded Freshman of the Year in the NCAA. He was only 17, and still holds the NCAA record as the youngest starting quarterback in college football history. He wore No. 8 at A&M in honor of one of his football heroes, Archie Manning.
In becoming the winningest quarterback ever at A&M, David was converted from a dual-threat QB to a triple option trailblazer. The two-time team captain led three record-breaking offenses that changed the direction of football at A&M forever, establishing once and for all the winning tradition that the Aggies had so-long desired.
As a high school head coach in Houston in the late ‘80s, David stationed his quarterback in the shotgun formation, having him reading defenses and throwing hot routes at a time when such offensive schemes were frowned upon by traditional fans and coaches. One of his quarterbacks tossed 57 passes in a single game, which stood as the all-time Greater Houston Area record for many years.
As you can tell from his bona fides, David is extremely qualified as our expert on all things Quarterback at Ole Miss. Enjoy his exclusive analysis only here at The Rebel Walk!
