The 1987 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi in the sport of American football during the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Rebels won 3 games and lost 8. Star players included Mark Young and Willie Green. The team beat Arkansas State, Southwestern Louisiana, and Vanderbilt. The team was hit with a bowl ban and TV ban after 1986. Nevertheless, with nine starters returning on both offense and defense from a team that the year before finished 8-3-1 and won their first bowl game in fifteen years, the Rebels startingly underperformed from what was expected from them from very many Ole Miss fans as well as the sports media.
The team opened the season in Memphis against Memphis State. Against a Tiger team that the previous year finished 1-10 and that the Rebels defeated 28–6, Ole Miss lost a fumble at its own 29-yard line leading to Memphis State's only touchdown, had five-yard illegal-motion penalties stall two drives (one to the 36-yard line in opposing team territory), threw an interception that lead to a 10–0 halftime deficit, lost a fumble at the Tiger 22 on an errant pitch, surrendered a 21-yard punt return aided by a broken tackle and five-yard facemask penalty leading to a field goal, had a pair of dropped passes (two of six for the entire game) stall a drive at the Memphis State 17 where they were only able to get a field goal instead of a touchdown, after stopping the Tigers on a third-down-and-one at the Rebel 34 were hit with a fifteen-yard personal foul penalty, and then when Memphis State was hit with a holding penalty and after throwing them for an eight-yard loss and forcing them to attempt a 47-yard field goal which was off to the right, were hit with a fifteen-yard penalty for roughing the kicker. The Tigers then played it conservatively, and were able to get a 27-yard field goal for a 16–3 lead. Ole Miss rallied for a touchdown and were late in the game able to advance the ball to the Memphis State one-yard line but were stopped there on two running plays, and the Rebels, a 13.5 point favorite entering the game, lost by six points. This loss shocked many and seemed to set the tone for the season.The Clarion Ledger, September 6, 1987, Jackson, MS; p.1D, 9D
For their next game, the Rebels returned to Mississippi with a game against Arkansas in Jackson. After spotting the Razorbacks a 3–0 lead, Ole Miss was able to move the ball to the Arkansas five-yard line with a 56-yard pass completion from Young to Green. But immediately after that, the Rebels fumbled the ball on pitch which they recovered for a loss of eight to the thirteen-yard line, on the very next play were penalized for delay-of-game back to the eighteen, two plays later had a fourteen-yard touchdown pass wiped out with a penalty for an illegal-shift, and finally had to settle for a 22-yard field goal. After surrendering a Razorback touchdown, Young threw an interception returned sixteen yards for a touchdown that he would say after the game was against a defense he hadn't seen. The Rebels would soon give up another touchdown on a drive where Ole Miss committed a fifteen-yard facemask penalty after throwing the Razorbacks for a two-yard loss and were penalized eight yards for illegal participation to Ole Miss seven-yard line after forcing Arkansas into a third-and-one-situation at the Rebel 15. On the next Rebel drive, they reached the Razorback 31-yard line, but threw an interception inside the Hog ten that was returned to the 23-yard line. Ole Miss would rally with a touchdown pass on fourth down to go into halftime down by fourteen. The Rebels would open the second half by advancing the ball to the Hog 39-yard line, but would get no farther and punted. After forcing a Razorback punt, the Rebels on a running play lost a fumble after a ten-yard gain their 28 following which Arkansas quickly scored to stretch their lead back to twenty-one points. On their next offensive drive, Ole Miss advanced to the Arkansas 30-yard line, but were hit with a holding penalty and ended up having to punt. Late in the game, the Rebels advanced all the way to the Hog 4-yard line, but threw an interception there and the game soon ended. The Rebels, just a four-point underdog entering the game, underperformed the spread by seventeen points. Media after the game would describe the performance as essentially the same as the previous Ole Miss game.The Clarion Ledger, September 13, 1987, Jackson, MS, p.1D, 9D
After disposing of Division I-AA Arkansas State 47–10 in Oxford, Ole Miss then traveled to New Orleans to face the Tulane Green Wave, a team they defeated 35–10 in 1986, in the Superdome. The Rebels gave the Wave the first shot at points in the game, fumbling to them at their 35 after driving from their own 26-yard line. Tulane's drive, however, stalled at the Ole Miss 34-yard line when a Green Wave receiver dropped a pass at the Ole Miss 30, and they missed a 52-yard field goal. The Rebels took over at their 35, and then covered the distance for a touchdown, an eight-yard run by Young. On the following possession, Tulane, after Ole Miss on third down was ruled guilty of pass interference following a broken-up pass, drove to the Rebel 48-yard line and came close to the game-tying points when star quarterback Terrence Jones (gridiron football) found star wide receiver Marc Zeno running well ahead of his Ole Miss defender, but he dropped the pass at the Rebel 30, and Tulane was forced to punt. The rest of the first half was uneventful until near the end when Ole Miss drove from its own 25-yard line all the way to the Tulane 3, but on third down, Young scrambled, fumbled, and fell on the football for a loss of one yard, and the Rebels were forced to settle for a field goal. Tulane took over at its 37-yard line with 1:09 left in the half and, aided by a five-yard face mask penalty against Ole Miss, scored their first points of the game, a six-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Zeno and closed out the half down 10–7.
The Green Wave opened the second half with an incredible drive starting at their own 22 and ending with a spectacular play for a touchdown where Jones slipped an Ole Miss tackle, took off left, then eyeing Rebel defenders closing in on him, rolled right, then spotted receiver Michael Pierce alone in the back of the endzone and stopped, stepped, and threw to him a 28-yard touchdown pass. Following the extra-point, the Wave had a four-point lead. The Rebels on their next drive were able to regain the lead with a 66-yard touchdown run by running back Willie Goodloe, the longest run from scrimmage for an Ole Miss back in eight years. On the next possession, one that arguably was the defining moment of missed opportunities for the season when push came to shove for the Ole Miss football team, on the kickoff, the Tulane receiver fumbled the ball and was forced to kneel at his own one-yard line. The Wave were only able to gain six yards and were forced to punt, a punt which rolled dead at the Ole Miss 44. However, the Rebels on the punt had twelve men on the field and were penalized fifteen yards giving Tulane a first down at their 22. The Green Wave then drove to the Rebel eighteen, and a second down pass from Jones to Zeno fell incomplete, but Ole Miss was again penalized fifteen yards for pass interference, and Tulane immediately scored on a three-yard touchdown run. Ole Miss was able to counter with a seventy-seven-yard drive on its next possession, which ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Goodloe. That would turn out to be both the last lead for Ole Miss for the night as well as the last points they scored.
On Tulane's next possession, Jones threw an interception that Ole Miss nabbed at the Tulane 35, but the Rebels were unable to capitalize, gaining only two yards and missing wide left a 50-yard field goal. The two teams then exchanged punts, and Jones drove the Wave to the Rebel 36 where he then threw an interception for the second recent time to preserve a four-point Ole Miss lead. But the Rebels did not take advantage of the second critical Wave error, throwing an interception of their own on the following play at the Tulane 35 that was returned to the Green Wave 40. Although the Wave were penalized for holding back to their 32 at one point, the Rebels could not stop them from driving to the Ole Miss three-yard line, where they kicked a game-tying field goal. On the next possession, Ole Miss drove to the Tulane 43-yard line but fumbled to the Green Wave at their 38. Tulane then drove to the Ole Miss 44-yard line where they completed a 16-yard screen pass, and Ole Miss was penalized fifteen yards for a personal foul putting the ball on their own 13. On the next play, Zeno outfought two defenders in the endzone for a touchdown reception from Jones. The ensuing extra-point completed the scoring for the game. In spite of all the aforementioned Tulane errors, particularly the one on the kickoff, Ole Miss, a nine-point favorite for the game, lost 31–24, the third time to that point they underperformed the spread by fifteen or more points. Media following the game referred to it as another disappointing defeat for the Rebels.The Clarion Ledger, September 27, 1987, Jackson, MS, p. 1D, 14D
Ole Miss would return to Oxford for their SEC opener against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs would be without star running back Lars Tate. Georgia received the opening kickoff, and on a 3rd-and-13 from their 45-yard line Ole Miss held the Bulldogs to only four yards on a pass reception, but was penalized five yards for grabbing a face mask and on the subsequent third down play surrendered 26 yards on a pass reception and four plays later Georgia would go up 7–0 on a touchdown pass. Rodney Hampton, making his first-ever collegiate start, carried the ball three times in the drive for twenty five yards. Two more times in the quarter, Georgia would drive into Ole Miss territory, once to the Rebel two-yard line, but threw interceptions both times to kill scoring chances. Despite the opportunities, on its possession after the last interception, Ole Miss threw an interception of its own returned to the Rebel 47. Georgia eventually cashed that in for a 27-yard field goal and 10–0 lead. Except for a moment when it appeared the Rebels recovered a fumbled punt, but both they and the Bulldogs were hit with offsetting penalties and Ole Miss punted over for only twenty yards to the Georgia thirty, the rest of the half was uneventful until a little over three minutes left. Ole Miss took over on its own 12 and drove all the way to the Georgia 27, but had a pass dropped that should have cut into the Bulldog lead, was hit with an illegal procedure penalty on the next play, and then threw an interception at the Georgia 24 that was returned to the Bulldog thirty-yard line, and the half soon ended.