Weekly Theme Music

Merry Christmas to all. And my present to my three readers will hopefully be the 2007 football awards. Stay tuned.

Sports Wookie Exclusive

Many are wondering what former Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron is up to after being fired. It appears he's not unemployed as this Sports Wookie exclusive seems to confirm his current whereabouts somewhere in the Mississippi Sound.

Coaching Changes

The Rebels have a new coach in Houston Nutt whose a prove winner in the SEC. Nutt has his flaws. A little texting scandal involving an unattractive news reporter and difficulty developing a passing game. But he's a coach that's won in the SEC, more importantly the SEC west getting to Atlanta a few times. And while Arkansas has more money thanks to some high profile boosters the state of Arkansas doesn't produce the talent that Mississippi does. So its a pretty even situation. He's also always had dominate running games. The Reverend Nutt's a solid recruiter but not spectacular. He does a great job of developing the talent he brings in. And his players loved to play for him. Which wasn't the case for his predecessor in Oxford. But then if I wrote everything he was better at then Eddie I'd run out of room on the blog.

He's also a little crazy. But CRAZY LIKE A FOX! Which is fun. And the Red Fox is the state mammal of Mississippi so that has to be a good sign.

The true test is how does he compare with the rest of the SEC. Because beating the pants off of Eddie doesn't mean anything. High school coaches, err church league coaches could do that. I hate to do a 1-12 ranking of the coaches because its really more of a tiered approach. If you have a flaw your relatively equal to another with just one different but single flaw. The only easy thing is that Fat Phil Fulmer is 12th. No one in the country gets less out of more than Fulmer. He's the anti-Jim Grobe. He can recruit and Cut calls a solid game offensively. But this is what makes the SEC so tough because the leagues worst coach has won a title.

I made this graph to illustrate the coaches respective rankings.(click to enlarge)

In the same spirit I researched into the respective wives of the SEC coaches and created the SEC Coaches Wives Index seen below. The idea spawned from Deep South Sport's rankings of the top five wives a few years ago. I couldn't find a picture or even evidence that Jeri Croom actually exists. So I'm operating under a theory that she really is Jeri Ryan and is never around during football season because she's in Hollywood filming Shark with James Woods. Have to say some of the coaches, ahem Saban, that came in low on the index really surprised me. Especially ones that are know as great recruiters, ahem Saban. The Coaching changes in the last couple of years also really hurt the index because Mike Shula's wife would have easily come in second behind Jeri Croom-Ryan. Vicky Fulmer gets a little bump for having an attractive daughter and older pictures. They last few years have been rough in Vol nation.

(click to enlarge)

State Recap

Well the Egg is back in Oxford but the Rebels were the big winners Thanksgiving weekend. What is funny now is to see how fast the Eddie apologist, including our friend from Canada, now say he needed to be fired.

(Pictures from The Clarion Ledger)

THE GOOD

For three quarters the Rebels whipped the Bulldogs. They showed they had the players to win. They have a lot of returning talent for next year. Some of the young players stepped up and had a really good game like freshman safety Johnny Brown. Next year the Rebels will have a lot of holes but have enough players that with good coaching they can win some games next year.

The game also saw the end of the Eddie Era after he blew a 14 point lead late in the fourth quarter. Of course it all worked out in the end because he was fired in less than 24 hours. So to all my State friends and acquaintances, including the fine chap who introduced me to the Lady Wookie, thank you for making this happen. Rebel Nation can't thank you enough.

THE BAD

After playing well for three quarters and pitching a shut out the Rebel defense let it slip in the fourth. A lot of this was because the momentum clearly shifted after Eddie's disastrous call to go for it in his own territory on fourth down. Predictably the call didn't work and State managed to see their first offensive production of the game and marched down the field to score.


The Rebels also had plenty of chances to hold onto the game due after allowing State to score. If the Rebels could have achieved a few first downs they could have run out the clock to win. State even tried to give it away when their true freshman quarterback Wesley Carroll threw a redzone pick on their second to last drive. However the Rebel receivers could not hold onto the ball and make the big catch when they had to make it. If the receivers make these crucial third down catches the Rebs win the game easily.

THE UGLY

As it has been through out the Eddie Era special teams were the Rebels final undoing. After appearing to lock up the game with Ashlee Palmer's interception the Rebels allow a punt return touchdown to tie the game. Besides from the lack of coverage the most hideous thing was the punt itself. Needing to back the bulldogs up as much as possible the Rebels punt the ball about 8 feet in the air in a line about 30 yards right at the Derek Pegues, the Bulldog return man, with less than a second hang time. The Rebels never had a chance to cover the punt and Pegues was able to split right through and into the endzone easily. This punt singlehandedly lost the game and was the worst special teams display since Jonathan Nichols missed two gimme field goals against LSU in '03.

I hope with a real coach coming to Oxford he'll be able to manage the special teams and turn it into a strength. Hopefully force the opponent to start the game deeper than the 35 after a kickoff occasionally.

LSU Recap

I'm sure y'all have all been wondering, "now why don't he write?"

Well I couldn't watch the LSU game so I arranged for a guest commentator. I then waited for a while for the guest commentator because I didn't want to leave it out. Then I became a slacker, got to excited about Houston Nutt's hiring that I spent my time reading articles about him and neglected the site. I apologize to all three of my readers.

Anyway when the BatDave gets around to re-caping the game I'll fill it in below:

Wookie Bowl Predictions

The BCS National Championship Game
New Orleans, LA

LSU vs. Oklahoma













New Orleans, LA
The Sugar Bowl

Georgia vs. Missouri













Orlando, FL
The Citrus Bowl

Tennessee vs. Wisconsin















Dallas, TX
The Cotton Bowl

Alabama vs. Kansas


















Atlanta, GA
The Peach Bowl

Auburn vs. Clemson













Tampa, FL
The Outback Bowl

Florida vs. Illinois










Memphis, TN
The Liberty Bowl

Mississippi State vs. Tulsa



















Nashville, TN
The Music City Bowl

Kentucky vs. Georgia Tech



















Shreveport, LA
The Independence Bowl

Arkansas vs. Texas A&M












Houston, TX
The Texas Bowl

South Carolina vs. Southern Mississippi













Not Bowling:
Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.

I'm So Excited

Word coming out of Houston is that Ole Miss has contacted Art Briles.

Briles is considered one of the better offensive men in college football and turned Houston around over the last few years. But its not as exciting to hire Briles as it is to know that Khayat's public endorsement of three more years of the gar fisherman might have been mere posturing. If not Briles than may someone else. Anyone else.

Oh and do we see a little to much of one of the Pointer Sisters at about the 55 second mark in BMG's version of the video?

And since everyone is thinking about the Jesse Spano version here it is.

Number 1 coming to Oxford

So after Ron Zook beat Ohio State this weekend LSU moves up to number one. Its been a while since the Rebels hosted the number one team in the country. Since 1994 against Florida to be exact.

Its also been a while since the Rebels beat a ranked team. The last time that happened was on October 9, 2004. Here's a clip.



Of course that was before the stink of gar fisherman got all over the program. In fact here's a list of things that occurred in that one game that have not occurred in Eddie's three years:

1) Victory over a ranked team
2) Scoring more than 28 points over a Division I A team.
3) Scoring over 24 points against an SEC team.
4) Winning an SEC road game.
5) Beating a team that finished the season with a winning record.
6) Won a road game in a location farther than 20 miles from the state border.

Weekly Theme Music

Enjoy the weekend off with whoever you want to enjoy it with. We'll come back to Ole Miss Football next week.

THE PICKS!
State plus Bama's 4.5
Ark plus UT's 1.5
Kentucky by more than 3.5 over Vandy
Auburn over UGA
South Carolina to cover Florida's 6.5
LSU to kill La'Tech by more than 36.

Northwestern State Recap

What's to say after you barely beat a Div. IAA team by a touchdown that had already lost to Nicholls State 58-0? Not much other than only those in Canada are still believers. So send them your complaints. (I think it has something to do with the fact they can't watch the games other than the Florida game and the only media they can get is the Coaches Call in show with Eddie the gar fisherman. You know what would actually make a good show? A Bill Dance style fishing show with Eddie and his family in the brackish waters on a fan boat discussing how to catch gar. But I digress.)

THE GOOD(4:19 in the First Quarter)

Lets see Mike Wallace apparently saved the game by getting a kick off return for a touchdown.

Other than that the only good thing is that I only had to watch about a quarter of this football like substance. (Now with less salt!) This team gave up and quit playing football after the Alabama game. And luckily only 23,000 people had to watch this em brassing display. The "I'm In"ers always freak out about fans doing something to hurt Eddie's recruiting. Well any recruit watching that game would hurt his recruiting more than anything someone writes on a message board.

Beat one of the worst teams in Div IAA football by a touchdown and no one deserves a game ball.

THE BAD

So the Rebel defense gave up 31 points in the second half. Northwestern State had 24 first downs to the Rebels 15. And out gained the Rebels in total yardage 499 to 387. Take out a few questionable turnovers, a reversed punt return touchdown and a kickoff return touchdown and we're looking at an upset.

Its so bad the Rebels have taken Prairie View's spot as the college football punching bag in the national media.

THE UGLY

At this point the Rebels are locked out of going to a bowl game. It is impossible. But it's not like anyone outside of Canada thought they were going in the first place. Problem is Eddie's not preparing the team for the future in any way.

Against Northwestern State two quarterbacks saw action because of ineffectiveness and poor play. Adams went 7 of 15 and Schaeffer went 3 of 13 passing. Both are seniors and will not play next year. And its not like the seniors were playing well to begin with. Micheal Herrick a red shirt sophomore has yet to make an appearance yet he will actually have eligibility next year.

I know what you are thinking. We know that Snead is going to be the starting quarterback next year. Well truly we don't know for sure but its highly likely. Especially if Herrick transfers next year as some rumors suggest. But what could it hurt to have him prepared with game action for next year? What if Snead gets hurt? Is it a bad thing for your back up quarterback to have some experience?

And what about a guy who is expected to be the started next year. Cordera Eason rushed one time for three yards. One carry. He has three for the season. This is the experience he is getting to lead the Rebels next year. Instead Eddie continues to feed the carries for two senior backs The Predator and Bruce.

And this is the root of the problem. Eddie is obviously more worried about getting the Predator to 1000 yards rushing again this season than preparing for next year. Sure he'll say that he had to put the Predator back in the game to insure the win. But first how sad is that. He had to insure the win against Northwestern State. And secondly how exactly did he know he had to do that after giving Cordera one carry in the second quarter?

Weekly Theme Music

The Rebels have the best chance to score 30 in the Eddie era. See the chance and take it. I'd say the administration needs to see their chance and take it on ending the gar fisherman era but they have already committed to give him six years. Awesome. I may turn this into a basket weaving blog next fall.

THE PICKS
Bama to cover LSU's 7.5
South Carolina to cover Ark's 4
Vandy to cover Florida's 16
Troy to upset and cover Georgia's 15
La Lafayette to cover UT's 31

Northwestern State Recap

I'm keeping this one brief because Northwestern State is a very bad football team. They lost58-nothing to Nicholls State. They give up an average of 37 points a game. The question will be whether or not the Rebels can score 30 points on them. Eddie hasn't had an offense score 30 points in his three years at Ole Miss. The Demons average more than that. If the Rebels can't beat the team worse that Nicholls State did its a flat out embarrassment. Which has been the status quo for the Rebs this season so expect something like 28-7.

One Demon to watch out for is running back Byron Lawrence. He has already racked up over 1000 yards this season.

Auburn Recap

I must apologize to my three readers for posting late. The "vote of confidence" released by Khayat put me in a bit of a funk. I just didn't expect him to say the worst season in Ole Miss history is progress. Anyway send your complaints to your favorite Canadian Auburn homer. (Who apparently is in Canada for the cheap meds and not to study Irishmen.)

(Pictures from the Clarion Ledger)

THE GOOD

The defense held Auburn to 17 points which is pretty good. In context though it's not as good because Auburn did what they wanted to and that was beat the Rebels with as little as they could get away with and not show Georgia or Alabama anything. They still cranked out over 400 yards and didn't press anything until after Schaeffer's interception when they wanted to put the game away. The offense didn't do anything of note.

I don't want to give out a game ball since if you only score three points no one really deserves it. But Shene's field goal was 51 yards and amounted to the Rebel's entire offense so he gets it.

THE BAD

Auburn did what they wanted to do. This wasn't even close to a moral victory. It was a beat down much worse than the score showed because Tubs wanted to keep it on the ground drive the clock and run the ball. Which they had no time doing. It was the quickest game I can ever remember. Game was over in about three hours and the first half took roughly an hour. It was amazing. They played keep away with the Ole Miss offense all night.

Not that it mattered because the Ole Miss offense was ill prepared. Seth Adams finished with less than a hundred yards passing. Team managed less than 200 yards in total offense. And got destroyed in time of possession.

THE UGLY

The team has give up on Eddie. The Clarion Ledger beat writer said, "the feeling I get from the entire Ole Miss team is that they are farther from a breakthrough game then at any time over the past month. You're never going to get the players or coaches to say much about it, but I really do believe frustration is beginning to set in."

You also have three suspensions in the last month for players that has nothing to do with legal problems but with disrespecting the coach. Its obvious this team has given up and doesn't take the gar fisherman seriously. So expect a repeat of 2005 when the team gave up on him. Lets just hope Croom is classy enough to take a knee again this time in Starkville.

Khayat's Message To All Ole Miss Fans

Or read about it here. Here you can read about his six year plan.

Non Violent Protest

The time has come. The Rebels are now the laughing stock of the SEC. Dead last. THe embarssment of the conference. Every SEC team has the chance to make it to a bowl this season. Except Ole Miss. Ole Miss already has seven losses. The Rebels are on pace to finish with the worst record in school history. Previously the worst the Rebels have done is lose seven SEC games. The Rebels have the unique opportunity to lose eight.

And to make matters worse Mississippi State and Vanderbilt have all dramatically improved. Croom has pulled off a major upset every single year at state. This year he is a game away from bowling after pulling off his second big win over a ranked SEC foe.

To make matters worse Arizona State is 8-0 and ranked 4th in the country with first year head coach Dennis Erickson.

I'm imploring all Rebel fans to attend the Northwestern State game this next weekend. And wear a Sun Devil T-shirt. You can get one here for 14 dollars.

Its time to show Pete Boone what could have been. And what has happened under the gar fisherman's watch.

Weekly Theme Music

Is anybody ready for some toe jam football?

It is time for the Rebel nation to come together and take a stand. We are not going to accept the product the administration is forcing on us. We're a football school in the SEC. We demand a decent football team.

THE PICKS!

Auburn by way more than the 17.5 Vegas is giving them to beat the Rebs.
Mississippi State to cover Kentucky's 13.5
Florida International to cover Ark's 39 ( I don't think Ark can score that much on anyone but the Rebels)
South Carolina to upset and cover Tennessee's 7
Miami of Ohio to upset and cover Vandy's 13.5 (Vandy always throws one big clunker a year after a big win. I think this is it.)
Florida by more than 9 over UGA.

Our Friends the Lexington Brothers

Its not as relevant after the 44-8 drubbing but will always link the Lexington Bros.

Auburn Preview

Much to the delight of our Canadian friend the Rebels travel to the Plains this weekend. So his war eagles have a good shot at a victory. Which they need considering they've already lost 3 games this year. (And still have ole Saban coming up.)

THE PLAYERS

For Auburn it all starts with defense. Auburn's ranked in the top three in the SEC in nearly every defensive category. The War Eagles have one of the best defenses in the country let alone SEC. Auburn's strength comes from a very solid D-Line. Sophomore Antonio Coleman and freshman Antoine Carte are solid players. But the leader of the group is former Mississippian Quentin Groves. There's a reason he's setting sack records at Auburn. Linebacking core and secondary is also very solid.

After a rocky start the offense is finally play decent ball as well. Early in the season the offensive line was underperforming and with Brad Lester missing half the season because of academic issues Auburn had little ground game. This forced their quarterback Brandon Cox to try to win games singlehandedly and subsequently have a lot of turn over problems.

Since mid season the War Eagles have started playing three true freshman on the offensive line extensively with two starting at right guard and right tackle. Right Guard is Mississippi's own Chaz Ramsey. Warning to Peria Jerry: Chaz likes to block low. I think he was taught by Cobra Kai. Since these freshman have come in and Lester's come back the running game has taken off.

THE HEEL

Cox is a very experienced quarterback. Problem is he doesn't have a lot of options to throw to. Very inexperienced group of receivers and no go to guy. Its why Auburn's ninth in passing offense in the conference. If the Rebel cornerbacks plays out of their minds and keep the receivers covered in man coverage than the defense can play eight in the box and possibly shut down their running game. If they shut down the running game the Rebels have a decent shot.

Upon reading this Dustin Mouzon should avoid all Canadians until Sunday.

Status of the SEC

We've hit the 2/3rds mark so its time to re-rank the SEC teams.

1) LSU
2) UF
3) USC
4) UK
5) Bama
6) AUB
7) UT
8) UGA
9) MSU
10) Ark
11)Vandy
12)Ole Miss

Arkansas Recap

Sorry I didn't rush to get this one out. You loose 44-8 there really isn't that much to discuss. Plus if you ask our favorite Canadian I really don't know anything about football anyway. So make sure you send all complaints to his hotmale.

(Pictures from the Clarion Ledger)

THE GOOD

The Predator had a decent day. I guess. He racked up 84 yards.

Tony Fein made some tackles. 13 to be exact. He's finally playing decent even though he and Chris Strong were plugged in immediately to start the season because they came with recruiting hype. Of course they struggled to learn the system and Brandon Thomas outplayed them just because he knew the system. However he didn't make enough tackles because the Rebels gave up 44 points easily.

No one gets a game ball. You give up 44 points no one is deserving.

THE BAD

Really everything else. The tackling is still attrocious. The team still has no fundamentals.

But lets get on to something new. Seth Played his first really bad game. Through 4 interceptions. Not all were entirely his fault as the receivers didn't help him. On one they fell down on the other the ball was stripped away. The other two Seth just tried to throw it farther than he's got the arm strength for into good coverage. The other teams are learning how to scheme him a bit as he has a limited game.

The problem with Seth and why he got so much praise from me early on was that he appeared to know his limitations. He wouldn't try to force the ball when he didn't have the arm to get it in a tight spot. He wouldn't try to do too much which would lead to turnovers.

Well know he's pressing too much and trying to singlehandedly win games. And the result 4 picks.

THE UGLY

Lets see. Day time fireworks? Because fireworks are so pretty and viewable during the day. And then they blow out the power to the stadium and a large part of campus. That's great. Talk about Momentum.

But enough has been said about that. Lets look at a forgotten subject. Last year during recruiting season the gar fisherman cut bait on some of his biggest prospects because he was afraid they wouldn't get qualified. Or so the story went. Either they looked else where or Eddie turned them loose. A lot of them went on to sign with some big time programs.

Dion Gales - Troy State GOT IN SCHOOL
Allen Bell - Iowa State GOT IN SCHOOL
Alex Williams - Oklahoma GOT IN SCHOOL
Jeramie Griffith - Alabama GOT IN SCHOOL
Larry Dennis - University of Nevada At Las Vegas Did not qualify
Darnell Williams - University of Central Florida Did not qualify
Stanley Porter - Arkansas State GOT IN SCHOOL
Paul Henry - Arkansas State Did not qualify

So Oklahoma who's ranked can take more of a chance on a four star offensive lineman than the Rebels can? Because we don't need more offensive line man or anything. And I can't wait to see Griffith run all over us in a Bama uniform.

And apparently the coaches were petrified of a non-qualifer yet managed to sign 3 of them. (David Rue, A.J. Jackson, and Roderick Davis.) Shows they are not the best at making this prediction.