Bo Wallace led the Rebels to a big victory on the road. (Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)
Ole Miss kept pace.
After Mississippi State stayed unblemished with a victory over second-ranked Auburn earlier in the day, Mississippi matched its in-state rival by going into Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, silencing the Aggies and notching an impressive 35-20 victory on Saturday night.
Last week, it was Ole Miss that posted the bigger upset of a higher-ranked opponent — then-third-ranked Alabama — and Mississippi State roughed up then-sixth-ranked Texas A&M.
So with the Bulldogs thumping Auburn, the Rebels took care of business by handing the No. 14 Aggies.
The Rebels (6-0, 3-0 SEC) scored two defensive touchdowns and didn’t let Aggies quarterback Kenny Hill get into a rhythm.
Mississippi quarterback Bo Wallace threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Adeboyejo late in the third quarter to re-establish the Rebels’ three-touchdown lead.
Rebels linebacker Keith Lewis then returned a Hill fumble 21 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter as Ole Miss extended its lead from 14 points to 28 in 25 seconds of game time.
Wallace passed for 178 yards and a touchdown and ran for two scores. But it wasn’t so much what the Rebels did statistically as what they didn’t do. Mississippi won the turnover battle 2-0 and were penalized just twice for 20 yards.
Hill passed for 401 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Wallace riddled the Texas A&M defense in the first half, running for 39 yards and two touchdowns and passing for 126.
Wallace hit wide receivers Laquon Treadwell and Adeboyejo on consecutive plays in the first quarter, gaining 52 yards to the Texas A&M 4. Wallace took it in himself from there, putting the Rebels ahead 7-0 with 9:32 left in the first quarter.
Wallace then engineered a 99-yard drive. On the final three plays, Wallace ran for 12 yards to the Aggies’ 28, hit Cody Core for an 18-yard gain to the 10 and then covered the final 10 yards himself for a two-touchdown lead.
Already in a hole, Hill made matters worse by throwing an interception on third-and-15 from the Mississippi 45. Rebels safety Cody Prewitt picked off Hill and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown that put Ole Miss up 21-0 with 11:56 to go in the second quarter.
Texas A&M had a chance to mitigate the damage late in the second quarter when the Aggies drove to the Mississippi 27. But on fourth-and-8 from the 28, Texas A&M faked a field goal attempt as holder Conner McQueen took off running with the snap. Mississippi defensive end Denzel Nkemdiche and defensive back Tony Conner snuffed it out for a 1-yard loss.
NOTES: Entering the game, Texas A&M had not defeated an opponent ranked in the top 25 at Kyle Field during the Aggies’ tenure in the SEC. The Aggies’ last win at home over a top 25 opponent came in a 55-28 victory over Baylor in 2011. … Texas A&M entered the game with a 6-0 lead over Mississippi in the all-time series, including 2-0 in SEC play. … Mississippi came into the game with a 5-0 record, the first time the Rebels had been 5-0 since 1962, when Mississippi finished 10-0.
