OXFORD – What a kick in the pants.

Jamie Christensen, a sophomore from Norcross, Ga., kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired to keep Alabama’s perfect season in tact. It was the first time since 1994 the Crimson Tide (6-0, 4-0 SEC) has won a game on the last play of regulation.

&#8221You can’t let anything bother you. You have to block out the noise and the crowd and just make the kick,“ Christensen said. &#8221At halftime I thought this game would come down to a field goal and it did.“

After the kick, Christensen was hoisted on his teammates’ shoulders and paraded across the Vaught-Hemingway Stadium turf. It was the second time Christensen had been carried off the field, the first coming in high school.

&#8221It’s every kicker’s dream to be in that situation,“ the kicker said. &#8221You just have a job to do.“

The game-winning kick was in stark contrast to an already shaky Ole Miss kicking game. The Rebels missed two first-half field goals – both within 35 yards.

Robert Bass missed a 31-yarder with 2 minutes, 42 seconds to play in the first half and Will Mosely had a 35-yarder blocked seconds before halftime.

&#8221We should have made those field goals,“ first-year Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said. &#8221They were easy field goals. We needed momentum at the time, but we missed them.“

With the game tied at 10 with 2:39 to play, Alabama started its final drive on its own 24. Quarterback Brodie Croyle scrambled for 20 yards on a third-and-9 play to move the ball to the 45.

A completed pass to Tim Castille moved the ball into Ole Miss territory and two more completions, including a shovel pass to Kenneth Darby called as an audible set the Tide up at the Ole Miss 31.

&#8221We wanted to get the ball to about the 30 and we would feel comfortable trying a field goal,“ said Alabama coach Mike Shula, who earlier watched Christensen boot a career-long 43-yarder.

Darby, who led all rushers with 100 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, then ran 15 yards to the Ole Miss 14 to set up Christensen’s kick.

&#8221This is what it’s all about,“ said Croyle, who led the Tide on a 10-play, 76-yard drive to win the game. &#8221Game-winning drives are what you live for.“

Croyle completed 22 of 37 passes for 234 yards, but for most of the game was upstaged by Ole Miss signal caller Micheal Spurlock.

The Rebels’ quarterback tossed a 27-yard touchdown to Mario Hill late in the first quarter as Ole Miss struck first.

Ole Miss held Alabama to a first-half field goal, then watched as the Tide scored on a 48-yard run by Darby to start the second half. That touchdown gave the Tide a 10-7 lead.

Ole Miss had a golden chance to take the lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Spurlock led the Rebels to the Alabama 2-yard line, where they faced a third-and-2, but two straight delay of game penalties pushed Ole Miss back to the 12 and the team had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Bass to tie the game at 10.

&#8221That was on me,“ Spurlock said. &#8221I’ve just got to do a better job at the clock and know, if you have to, to take a timeout. I just blame it on myself for not looking at the clock. … To move from the 2 to the 12 makes it hard.“

Ole Miss recovered a fumble at the Alabama 49 with 9:19 left in the game, but the team went three-and-out. Ole Miss had one last chance with 4:15 to play in the game and the ball at their own 20. Three played resulted in zero yards, however, and the Rebels punted to set up the Tide’s last-second heroics.

&#8221I said at halftime that we have 30 minutes to find a way to win the ballgame,“ Shula said. &#8221The best thing about it is that we found a way to win.“

Freshman Mico McSwain led Ole Miss with 70 yards on 27 carries and Taye Biddle caught five passes for 77 yards.

The Tide will take their unblemished record into an SEC showdown Saturday in Tuscaloosa against Tennessee, while Ole Miss will play Kentucky in Oxford in a battle of struggling programs.

&#8221We have to keep fighting,“ Orgeron said. &#8221I am proud of our team. We were close, but not good enough. I came here to win, but we let it slip away from us.“