Alabama Football: 3 takeaways from shootout win over Ole Miss

Ole Miss put up quite the fight as Lane Kiffin looked to shock Alabama football, but the Tide did just enough to escape with a road win.

Lane Kiffin was tied with his former boss 21-21 heading into the locker room at halftime and Nick Saban and Alabama were in complete shock. The Rebels weren’t supposed to put up this kind of fight in Oxford, but they are turning things around quickly and Kiffin has the offense as explosive as ever.

It looked like Alabama was back to normal in the second half, receiving the kickoff and then scoring in just over a minute to take a 28-21 lead. And then Ole Miss struck back in a minute.

The game went back-and-forth over the next two quarters as it looked like defense was optional which is something you never see from the Crimson Tide. Alabama couldn’t figure out how to stop Matt Corral and that explosive Ole Miss offense.

In the end, Alabama was fortunate enough to hold Ole Miss to a field goal when the Rebels needed a touchdown and then added a score of their own to go up 56-45 and then held on to win.

What’d we learn from Saturday’s intriguing game?

3. Najee Harris made much-needed grown man runs

When Alabama needed to pick up some short yardage, Najee Harris was the man. Everyone knows just how good the senior running back is, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he picked up the tough yardage, but it wasn’t just the shoulder-lowering pickups that made him stand out. He was making defenders miss with spin moves, running by guys and he showed excellent vision all night.

The Tide needed someone to pick up yardage in tough situations in a shootout and Harris was the guy. He picked up that grown-man yardage and helped the Tide churn out long touchdown drives.

Although Alabama didn’t choose to run the ball all that much, he was as dependable as could be against the Rebels on Saturday evening.