1971 Ole Miss Rebels football team

1971 Ole Miss Rebels football
Peach Bowl champion
Peach Bowl, W 41–18 vs. Georgia Tech
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 15
Record	10–2 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach	Billy Kinard (1st season)
Captains	Paul Dongieux Riley Myers
Home stadium	Hemingway Stadium
Seasons ←  1970 1972  →

1971 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Alabama $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 7 Georgia	5	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 12 Auburn	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 15 Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 9 Tennessee	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 11 LSU	3	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Florida	1	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Mississippi State	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. It was the first Rebel squad since 1946 to not be coached by Johnny Vaught, who was forced to take a leave of absence midway through the previous campaign due to health concerns. This was also Ole Miss' last all-white varsity team. The Rebels and Southeastern Conference rival LSU were the last major college teams still fielding all-white squads. LSU also fielded its first desegregated varsity squad in 1972.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	Long Beach State *		Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS	W 29–13	33,500	[1]
September 18	at Memphis State *		Memphis Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (rivalry)	W 49–21	50,164	[2]
September 25	at Kentucky		McLean Stadium Lexington, KY	W 34–20	37,500	[3]
October 2	at No. 7 Alabama		Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	L 6–40	72,871	[4] [5]
October 9	No. 10 Georgia		Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS	L 7–38	42,000	[6]
October 16	Southern Miss *		Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS	W 20–6	23,200	[7]
October 23	Vanderbilt		Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS (rivalry)	W 28–7	27,500	[8]
October 30	No. 11 LSU		Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS (rivalry)	W 24–22	47,122	[9]
November 6	at Tampa *		Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL	W 28–27	20,559–20,959	[10] [11]
November 13	Chattanooga *		Hemingway Stadium Oxford, MS	W 49–10	22,190	[12] [13]
November 25	at Mississippi State	No. 18	Scott Field Starkville, MS (Egg Bowl)	W 48–0	35,000	[14]
December 30	vs. Georgia Tech *	No. 17	Atlanta Stadium Atlanta, GA (Peach Bowl)	W 41–18	36,771	[15]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Mississippi State

1 2 3 4 Total • Ole Miss 0 42 3 3 48 Mississippi St 0 0 0 0 0 Date: November 25 Location: Scott Field Game attendance: 35,000

Scoring summary Q2 MISS Ainsworth 2 yard run (Hinton kick) MISS 7–0 Q2 MISS Ainsworth 19 yard run (Hinton kick) MISS 14–0 Q2 MISS Veazey ?? yard pass from Weese (run failed) MISS 20–0 Q2 MISS Ainsworth 20 yard run (Allen pass from Weese) MISS 28–0 Q2 MISS Myers 35 yard pass from Weese (Hinton kick) MISS 35–0 Q2 MISS Moley 43 yard interception return (Hinton kick) MISS 42–0 Q3 MISS Hinton 27 yard field goal MISS 45–0 Q4 MISS Hinton 37 yard field goal MISS 48–0

^[16]

Roster

1971 Ole Miss Rebels football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE Jim Poole Jr. Sr QB 16 Norris Weese So	Defense Pos. # Name Class	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Billy Kinard Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Awards

• All-SEC: DT Elmer Allen (AP, 1st Team), DB Paul Dongieux (AP, 2nd Team), TE Jim Poole Jr. (UPI, 1st Team) ^[17]

References

1. "Reserve QB hurls Rebels by Long Beach". The Los Angeles Times. September 12, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Ole Miss waltzes across Tiger rug". The Commercial Appeal. September 19, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Lyons and Reed spark Rebs to 34–20 victory over 'Cats". The Paducah Sun-Democrat. September 26, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
4. Reed, Delbert (October 3, 1971). "Hot Tide swamps Ole Miss, 40–6". The Tuscaloosa News. Google News Archives. p. B1. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
5. "Alabama crushes Ole Miss, 40–6". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Google News Archives. Associated Press. October 3, 1971. p. B4. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
6. "Unbeaten Georgia wallops Ole Miss". The Tampa Tribune-Times. October 10, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Rebs get revenge over Southern". The Delta Democrat-Times. October 17, 1971. Retrieved March 23, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Weese leads Rebs over Commodores". The Atlanta Journal & Constitution. October 24, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
9. "Jackson jinx: Tigers still have it!". The Shreveport Times. October 31, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
10. "2-point try fails, Tampa falls to Ole Miss, 28–27". The Orlando Sentinel. November 7, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Final 1971 Cumulative Football Statistics Report (Tampa)". National Collegiate Athletic Association . Retrieved May 6, 2025.
12. "Rebels roll over 'Nooga". The Delta Democrat-Times. November 14, 1971. Retrieved September 14, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
13. "Final 1971 Cumulative Football Statistics Report". National Collegiate Athletic Association . Retrieved December 15, 2022.
14. "Ole Miss trounces Mississippi State 48–0". The Morning Call. November 26, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
15. "Tech was licked". The Macon News. December 31, 1971. Retrieved October 22, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
16. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1971 Nov 26. Retrieved 2018-Aug-12.
17. 2011 Ole Miss football media guide.