Could Jeremiah Masoli become a harbinger of sorrow?

A Half-Dozen Hyper-Specific Predictions About…Ole Miss

Few have had an an 18 month stretch as odd as Ole Miss. From being the springboard of the Oscar run for Sandra Bullock to the springboard to Jevan Snead’s obscurity. From Dexter McCluster running on some fools to Jeremiah Masoli heading into Oxford one step ahead of the law. After last year, expectations are low coming in to the season, can the Rebels meet that?

Last Year: 9-4 (4-4) t2nd SEC West

1) Jeremiah Masoli will not be cleared to play as the season starts. It will not matter as Ole Miss will roll out to a 5-0 start. Whatever’s unsettled won’t matter. They’ll be ranked 17th in both polls.

2) Brandon Bolden will navigate the running game with aplomb. He will contend for the conference rushing title with 1374 yards rushing and a double digit amount of touchdowns. It will get him into the second round of the draft.

3) Jesse Grandy will emerge as the Dexter McCluster impersonator for the season. He will change the fate of the season with a Wildcat run against LSU. It will get them a win and a January Bowl Game.

4) When Jeremiah Masoli gets cleared, the schedule gets tough, and the Rebels will hit a speed bump going through the A-list of the SEC West. Some would call it karma, but the fact of the matter is if you’re gonna play three straight between Alabama, Arkansas, and Auburn with two on the road? Odds are you’re gonna lose three straight.

5) The SEC player most likely to become the next Jason Pierre-Paul? Wayne Dorsey. With the defensive line returning Kentrell Lockett and Jerrell Powe and all reports coming out of Oxford? 15 sacks is not out of the question.

6) The SEC West is going to be a particularly nasty division this year, you could legitimately see three ten-win teams come out of the division. But if you count the bowl games, and Ole Miss is going to have an excellent chance at being the fourth.

This year: 9-3 (5-3) 4th SEC West

Jeremiah Masoli to Ole Miss? It’s on!

Oxford Bro Dudes? Hide your guitars.

After this weekend’s departure of Raymond Cotton, it seems as if the former Oregon starting quarterback has another opportunity to be playing on the AQ school level next year.

And unlike when reports of his degree-earning first surfaced? There seems to be something to Masoli to Oxford. The Memphis Commercial Appeal texted him a question regarding Masoli, and his response? Interesting in its subtext.

If a coach lets a reporter know if they’re seriously considering them? Odds are they already are. Especially when you consider that the SEC West is already  loaded and Masoli would be an electrifying add even in a sort of McClusterish weapon slash gadget player.

Is he worth it? I think you have to do the due dilligence to find out. What do you think?

Jeremiah Masoli gets undergraduate degree.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t Masoli a criminal Pac-10 quarterback? A criminal Pac-10 quarterback who lost to Ohio State? (The SEC would never allow that). What is the reason that we’d even consider Jeremiah Masoli’s degree a matter of SEC importance?

Because Jeremiah Masoli got his degree. And as such, he’s eligible to play somewhere else in 2010.

Now, according to KEZI Channel 9, Oregon’s news source? Masoli has a real interest in going to Ole Miss or Mississippi State among other schools. And the obvious “if he keeps his head on straight” caveat makes him somebody you have to consider if you don’t feel as strong as you could at quarterback.

And while Ole Miss may not be the team for him, as Nathan Stanley seems to have won the giggidy of Houston Nutt. But for Mississippi State? Masoli has to be considered a real option. Dan Mullen won five games last year without a real spread quarterback.

But if he decides to go get him a Faustian bargain with Masoli? He would get a bowl game. Flat out and straight away. But if he doesn’t sell out for the Independence Bowl? You’ve got to respect that.

But he’d look really good in Starkville.

Could these be your New Ole Miss Mascot?

The Breakdown of Ole Miss’ New Mascot

Yeah yeah, get over it. Admiral Ackbar didn’t happen. It’s a shame. Oxford could have become such a trap game that it would be so funny for teams in the SEC West. I won’t make any more puns on my own.

Because there’s the Ole Miss Mascot Selection Committee to do that for you.You’ll see. Trust me.

Anyway? There are 11 candidates for Ole Miss Mascot. And I will break them all down. Because it’s June. June is football slow time.

1) Hotty and Toddy

These two feel like a bad impression of Statler and Waldorf. After all, the plan is something along the lines of a pair of animals or  “muppet-like” characters. As such? I say this mascot will be too lame to get a consensus. That being said, an adorable Milo and Otis puppy and kitty tag team is something I could get behind.

2) Rebel Black Bear

The safe choice. It’s not a muppet or a talisman. It’s historical, but not in a bold fashion. Committees don’t like bold. Also, Bears are totally more bad ass than elephants or tigers.  If this isn’t the winner? I will be surprised.

3) Rebel Blues Musician

Fun fact: Robert Johnson was born in Haverford, Mississippi. His legend was that he took his guitar to the crossroad off the Dockery Plantation between Ruleville and Cleveland and sold his soul to play the blues.

That’s one reason why I want this to happen. The second reason? It’s a complete repudiation of the Colonel Reb and the culture that it perpetuated. The third reason? It’s a celebration of the best of Mississippi.

And it will never ever happen.

4) Rebel the Cardinal

Celebrating the color red? Really? That’s west coast liberal stuff right there. Do you want to start comparing yourself to Stanford? Do you? I know you don’t. Moving on.

5) Rebel Fanatic

No. Do not want. The fraternity doucher in Muppet form just seems dumb to me. So yeah.

6) Rebel the Horse

A poor man’s bear scenario. Not bad. It would most definitely fire up a home crowd. It seems like it would be something that would finish in the upper third of the middle of the pack.

7) Rebel the Lion (Rebellion)

Puns? Really? But you know what? It’s a strong contender. It may even come close to winning. Someone’s going to fight for this. They will fight a little too hard for it. And that’s why it will not win.

Rebel Mojo

Do you really want to abscond with the talisman and the war cry from a West Texas High School? I know I don’t. Permian came up with this first. Let them keep it.

9) Rebel Riverboat Pilot

Now if you don’t know why this one has a legitimate chance of happening? Read a map. It’s not an awful premise for a mascot as well. But it can’t fire people up like the other ones. It would probably finish 4th. Maybe 5th.

10) Rebel Titan

In terms of symbolism. The one who stole fire from the Gods is one of the first Rebels of myth and legend. And that is cool. But can you picture a mascot looking even decent in a titan costume? I don’t.

If I had to pick a Top 3?
1) Rebel Black Bear
2) Rebel the Lion
3) Rebel Titan

Rating the Indoor Practice Facilities of the SEC.

I know what you’re thinking. LOL what? Is this even a post. And I say unto you, mister and missus hypothetical reader. I like to challenge myself. Sometimes, I want to see if I cannot make something interesting. And when Auburn tripled the size of their indoor practice facility? I have an excuse!

In one of the strangest one of these things is not like the other sort of scenarios? Two out of the twelve? Don’t have indoor practice facilities. One of them is Vanderbilt. Guess the other one. Come on.

I’ll even add to it that it’s nobody in the SEC West. When Auburn’s expansion is complete? There will be nobody who has to work a short field either. You might guess Kentucky. But you’d be wrong.

South Carolina and Tennessee are both working off of short fields. But they’ve got something to work with.

So at this point? The fact that Georgia and Florida don’t have an indoor facility is strange. These are the Eastern powers of the SEC, after all. They should be top of the line in everything they do. But one of them has plans for a new indoor facility.

And guess what? It’s not Florida.

Let me say that again. The team of the previous decade has found their way into the best high school recruits of this generation. And their facilities are lacking. There is an obvious lesson to it.

But I’ll leave that to you to figure out.

The “Little Ten” of the SEC

The narrative coming out of the SEC, besides Alabama’s general ailments of the bye week disadvantages, is that we are in the midst of a duopoly. There’s Florida, there’s Alabama, and then there’s the other ten teams. I come to you with one question. Can anybody charge in and steal a spot?

10. Vanderbilt (Nope. A running game and a decent defense means you have a punchers chance against the majority of the league, but that got Mississippi State five wins last year. That’s seven wins too little.)
9. Mississippi State (2%. Mullen may be building off of last season, but the team still needs more at WR than Chad Bumphis and an Anthony Dixon replacement. They won’t steal anything more than the Liberty Bowl this year.)
8. Tennessee (5 percent. They won’t m9iss Bryce Brown, and you may not be able to throw too well on them. But these are underdogs who made their bed and has to lie in it.)
7. Ole Miss (5 percent. They have a solid run defense. But their team is too young. Nathan Stanley doesn’t have a great offensive line to protect him either. And Raymond Cotton? He has the shoulder of the Tubervillian Chris Todd. They’ll be interesting again. But not this year.)
6. South Carolina (10 percent. In terms of talent? They may surprise. Ellis Johnson has a defense that reloads every season. And the offense is intriguing in terms of Jarvis Giles and Marcus Lattimore carrying the rock, and the catching the ball? Alshon Jeffrey isn’t gonna be pumping gas anytime soon. The problem? Stephen Garcia’s general incosistency plus program inertia equals Pizza bowl.)
5. Kentucky (They have a 1 in ten shot of beating Florida. And if they do that? Their number rises exponentially. But at this point? Hartline-Cobb-Matthews-Locke are a lot more interesting to me than they are to you. As such? This is the one that could rise in unlikelyhood.)
4. Arkansas (20 percent. Alex Tejada plus a road game at Auburn could pose a problem. The Defensive Front Seven could pose a problem. Ryan Mallett’s inconsistency? Also problematic. But you answer one of the questions? And they’re a dangerous middle of the road SEC West Team.)
3. Georgia (25 percent. Freshmen don’t win the SEC. In that respect? Aaron Murray’s weight is better than the other 10 returning starters. A defensive switch in scheme doesn’t help either. And even a Freshman Matt Stafford couldn’t beat Kentucky in Lexington in the pre-Raylan Givens era.) 
2. LSU (25 percent. I don’t trust Jordan Jefferson, and the line lost its players of value as well. But they have a lockdown pass defense and considering the state of the SEC West? That’s worth a lot to the party right there.)
1. Auburn (50 percent. Here is your last, best hope for an insurgency. And as such? It’s 50-50. Either they beat The Crimson Tide or they don’t.)

 I will make a more formal predsiction this Summer. And I will further the individual season previews in the weeks upcoming. So yeah. It’s coming kids.

FUHBAW!

Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss, 2009 Cotton Bowl, Prediction Pick

The Cotton Bowl, in and of itself is the Norma Desmond of bowl games. It used to be one of the major bowl games that we would see year in and year out. National Championships were decided at this bowl game. And now? It keeps mostly to itself in some sort of a Grey Gardens scenario, but I would not be surprised to find the Texas Bowl lying face down in the Cotton Bowl’s pool.

That’s not to say that what we have here won’t be fun. Though Dez Bryant is a long ago memory? Oklahoma State has been able to maintain the offensive balance that Mike Gundy has been priding himself on. Keith Toston and Zac Robinson have combined to bring forth a strong running game. And while the Giggidy’s defense is strong? The Giggidy can be run upon, as the Egg Bowl has shown.

Oklahoma State’s has strong running game stats (6th against the run), but being 92nd against the pass makes you wonder how much of that is based on the fact that it’s a whole lot easier to get moving versus the pass. I know Jevan Snead has had something of a lost season. But it’s as Punch-Out says. Redemption is only three games away. It just might start here.

I kinow it seems like some sort of a cliche to say, but the difference for this game? Turnovers. Ole Miss has had some real struggles taking care of the ball this year. Okie State wasn’t great either, but at least their margin was positive. And in a game where both teams offensive strength coincide with their opponents defensive weakness? We’re going to see points scored. Who keeps two hands on the bean and looks off their main receiver? They’ll get the win.

As for me? Oklahoma State 38, Ole Miss 35.

Girls are idiots…and Houston Nutt is apparently a teen idol.

I spent last night watching college basketball. It’s apparently an exercise in officials making fouls and and make-up calls for those fouls and make-up calls for those fouls. But I got a tip from the erstwhile bossman. And I decided I was going to sleep on it.

So, I’m up, and I present, without comment, proof of the idiocy of girls. And the sex appeal of Houston Nutt. Please stay for the surprise twist ending.

Giggidy.