Matt Corral Beautifully Re-lives Impromptu Final Drive of 2019 Egg Bowl
As the final seconds of the 2019 Egg Bowl was unfolding, Matt Corral, from on the field, was getting in a bit of a screaming match with Ole Miss receivers coach Jacob Peeler on the sidelines.
It's all part of a few minutes of Corral's life that he remembers shockingly well, a few minutes that he relived in a media session on Monday, ahead of his second Egg Bowl as the Rebel starting quarterback.
"I remember that last drive vividly," Corral said. " None of those plays that we ran were the plays called."
Maybe, just maybe, the confident gunslinger version of Matt Corral that we've seen in 2020, the version that's among the nation's leader in just about any passing category you can think of, emerged from that final – nearly game-tying drive – in Starkville one year ago.
According to the quarterback's memory, which if you go back and watch the last drive from 2019 seem to be quite accurate, Corral was essentially playing backyard football on that drive – drawing up plays on the fly based on what the defense was showing and what he had seen earlier in the game.
"(On the 4th and 26), Elijah (Moore) had a post from the slot. Like a 20-yard post because of the down and distance," Corral recalled. "I knew they were going to be double-teaming him and they had two-high so they were going to use that field safety to double team him off the field backer.
"Braylon (Sanders) had a 15-yard stop. I just told him to run a post. Then me and Peeler, I don't want to say we got into it, but he was telling Braylon one thing and I was telling him the other when we were n the huddle. Braylon was looking at me like he didn't know what to do. I was just telling him 'Run the post. Run the post.' Coach head me and he goes 'No no no run the stop.' But he ran the post and we got it."
That 4th and 26 Corral referenced was actually a 4th and 24. Other than that, he's got just about everything else there right.
The next three plays would go roughing the passer, incomplete pass, incomplete pass, setting up a 3rd and 10 at the Mississippi State 15-yard line with 28-seconds to play. Corral would then complete a short pass, getting the first down on an ensuing offsides penalty.
Set up at the Mississippi State two yard line with 13 seconds left, Ole Miss tried to get Corral in on a rush – no gain. Corral then targeted tight end Jason Pellerin unsuccessfully. Down seven, they had one final play.
"It gets fuzzy after that play but somehow we ended up at the 1-yard line or 2-yard line," Corral said. "That last play to Elijah, the play that was called was a sprint-out right with a flat and a go and a backside slant. The guy was playing inside leverage on Elijah, so I tapped Mingo on a go and gave Elijah a slant-out, like a pivot. That was when he scored."
The rest is history. Moore's touchdown celebration set up a longer extra point to tie the game, one that Luke Logan missed. Ya'll remember that part. Moore and Logan will never forget it.
But the truly impressive part here is Corral's recollection of the drive.
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