After torching Texas for 272 rushing yards two weeks ago, Ole Miss ran into a brick wall Saturday night, falling to Alabama, 25-0. Alabama stacked the box and locked up the middle all night against the Rebels and limited a stagnant Ole Miss offense to just 46 yards on the ground.

    “We just didn’t run the ball well,” Freeze said. “We have to run the ball better up front and not lose some battles and runs that allow them to put five or six people in the box.”

    Freeze took a gamble on the Rebels’ opening drive of the game when he went for it on fourth-and-two from the Alabama 28-yard line. Ole Miss gave the ball to Laquon Treadwell on a sweep play to the right, but the freshman receiver was brought down an inch short of a first down.

    “Playing the No. 1 team at their place, I just felt like we could get a first down,” Freeze said. “We had planned that play for the first short. I thought we should have got it. I wish we would have put our foot on the ground a little harder and understood the down and distance, but we didn’t and we are going to need to learn from it.”

    Alabama took over and drove the ball inside the Ole Miss red zone. But the Rebels were able to keep the Crimson Tide out of the end zone, forcing Alabama to kick a 28-yard field goal instead.

    Later in the first, Ole Miss would get back into Alabama territory as quarterback Bo Wallace found a wide-open Donte Moncrief for a 26-yard pass to the Alabama 37-yard line. But, once again, the Rebels were unable to capitalize as a wide-receiver pass from Treadwell was intercepted by Alabama’s Eddie Jackson the next play.

    “We worked it all week,” Freeze said of the play. “We love Lequon Treadwell, he’s a great player and a great kid to coach. Every day we worked it, we worked it two ways. He could have either dropped back or tucked it and run it. We should have run it, and we could have probably got five yards, but we didn’t. Obviously I need to do a better job of coaching them up on that.”

    Alabama kicker Cade Foster connected on two field goals in the second quarter, including a career-high 53-yarder, as the Tide went into the half up 9-0.

    Alabama finally broke into the end zone on its first possession of the second half. Running back T.J. Yeldon spun his way past Ole Miss defenders for a 68-yard touchdown run to put the Tide up 16-0.

    Ole Miss once again found itself in a fourth-down situation in the Alabama red zone and went for it on fourth-and-two from the Alabama seven-yard line late in the third quarter. But, Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley swatted down a Wallace pass over the middle to stop the Rebels.

    “They are a good team,” Wallace said of Alabama. “They had a really good plan against us. Once we got down in the red zone, we needed to put up points there and we didn’t.”

    Alabama recorded a safety in the fourth quarter before running back Kenyan Drake ran in a 50-yard touchdown to cap the scoring for the Tide.

    Drake rushed the ball 12 times for 103 yards, while Yeldon led Alabama on the ground with 132 yards on 17 carries. Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron went 25-of-32 passing the ball for 180 yards. Wallace completed 17-of-31 passes for 159 yards for Ole Miss.

    Alabama (4-0) will host Georgia State next week, while Ole Miss (3-1) travels to Auburn.

    “It’s going to be a tough one,” Freeze said. “They are playing hard and well, and they do a lot of things defensively. Of course, offensively (Gus Malzahn) does a lot too.”