[Tuck4Bama]

OXFORD — One of the first things that struck linebacker Tony Fein in his Ole Miss debut was the number of fans at Liberty Bowl Stadium.

The announced crowd of 45,457 that watched Ole Miss hang on to beat Memphis 23-21 last Saturday was by far the biggest and loudest he had played in front of. Fein transferred to Ole Miss from a California junior college, where a couple hundred onlookers was a pretty good turnout.

"I was impressed with that," Fein said.

Fein wasn't alone. Juco transfer Ashlee Palmer had a game-high 12 tackles and afterwards said the size of the crowd really got to him.

And freshman Chris Strong said the noise at times forced him to scream to relay checks and changes.

All that noise about all that noise left veteran defensive coordinator John Thompson a bit miffed.

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