Keeping Tabs: What Are Your Favorite Rebels Doing for Spring Break?

There are a couple of things in which we here at the Cup have always taken great pride - our strong journalistic credibility, non-medically-enhanced manhoods, and multi-continent singing tour are just a few of them. It takes a special kind of trust and work ethic to offer you the absolutely factual look into the real lives of Ole Miss scholar athletes - a term I use with equal seriousness - that has become a hallmark of our little operation. So, we hope you will appreciate the great sacrifices we made to publish for you this annotated list of the spring break plans of some of your favorite Rebels combined by our sources deep inside the athletics department for whom you may mourn in your own way.

Jerrell Powe, in a compromise with Tracy Rocker, is taking his motor scooter down to Panama City Beach for one of those old-fashioned motorcycle parades. Rocker insisted, though, that it be this particular parade - the 14th Annual Mark Mangino - Little Debbie West Florida Obesity Awareness Ride. Said Powe, "I haz an appetite ... for the open road."

Dexter McCluster is in the unfortunate position of having to complete a research project over the break. Not for school, though. McCluster is flying out to Los Angeles to view an advance showing of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in order to gain more information on something called an adamantium skeleton.

Jevan Snead, always the responsible one, has taken a job babysitting a kid for an old friend who is really busy next week.

Greg Hardy is going to wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then wall-paper his room at home with his Sports Illustrated cover picture. And then tear them all down as a sign of his angst. And then have coffee. And shame.

It's Spring Break at Oxford High School, as well, so Coach Houston Nutt has decided to take the wife and daughter Haven on a trip to Fayetteville to visit some old friends and plan ways to sabotage the lives of his former players as part of his grand scheme to ruin the University of Arkansas, leading, inevitably, to the collapse of the Natural State and its annexation by Generalissimo Chuck Norris of the Republic of Texas. Oops! Kinda let the cat out of the bag on that one.

Marshay Green will attempt to recreate the excitement of his most recent football season by telling everyone that he is going to Cancun, but spending most of the break bathing in the cool, brown waters of lovely Galveston, before actually showing up in Cancun at the end of the week and being so hot that he hooks up with fifty Spanish chick and buys MTV.

And, finally, Rebel-to/may-be Jamar Hornsby will be exactly where you guessed - on tour with Dent May and his magnificent ukulele.

Which of these things is NOT like the others?

DING DING! Correct! Nice work, Cup fan!


As you know, football isn't a gentleman's sport. Hell, it's hardly a sportsman's sport. Football doesn't concern itself with what is or isn't couth. Football doesn't have a code of etiquette. Football doesn't give a damn about "manners."

The NCAA doesn't yet realize this. If you're too lazy to click the link, allow me to paraphrase: the NCAA has suggested that unsportsmanlike conduct calls be changed from a dead ball foul to a live ball foul.

This means, of course, that a penalty called as a result of an endzone celebration could result in the touchdown being called back. Besides the most obvious ass-backwards element of this idea (the ball is immediately dead once a touchdown is scored, omg duh like everybody knows that duh), the whole thought-process and attitude behind all of this is appallingly idealistic and stupid.

It's as if the NCAA is treating the Jake Lockers and Knowshon Morenos of the world like their actions are a part of some grand pandemic that's just ruining the game. Is this really that big of a problem? Is this really that necessary?

Rules should only be in place to promote fair competition and safety. A false start gives a player an unfair advantage. Grasping of the facemask is dangerous. Late hits are a cowardly form of cheating. Pretending your hand is a cell phone (hey LSU fans, call me!), spiking the ball, or actin' a foo wif ya boize after juking a guy out of his shoes on the way to the endzone are none of the above. I don't care if your players or coaches get discouraged or have their "wittuw-bitty feewings huwt" when their opponent makes certain to remind them that they just got bitchified. That's football. Deal with it.

Are these celebrations unbecoming of a gentleman? Sure, but I don't expect our football programs to transform boys into dapper gentlemen. I expect them to transform boys into ass-stomping touchdown machines and, hell, maybe get them a degree or something while they're at it.

Thanks again, NCAA, for losing sight of what the whole point of all of this really is.

Grinds my Gears

And now, a session that I'm blatantly ripping from Family Guy entitling "Grinds my Gears."

You know what really grinds my gears? The belief that Houston Nutt is incapable of coaching a team that passes.

This belief is usually held by Arkansas fans. These fans said that while Nutt was at Arkansas, he didn't lead a high-powered passing offense. They're right. Matt Jones was not a passer. Neither were Casey Dick or even... MITCH MUSTAIN. Yes that's right. Even Mitch Mustain couldn't pass very well during his freshman year. He completed only 52% of his passes with a whopping 6.8 yards per attempt. TD:INT Ratio? 10:9.

But here's where it gets really interesting. In Houston Nutt's first season at Ole Miss, the Rebels threw the ball only 100 times fewer than the 2008, Petrino-led Razorback squad. That's roughly eight more pass attempts a game by Razorback quarterbacks. Did I mention that we played several games in which Jevan only threw four or five times in the second half because we were up by a million? Arkansas, on the other hand, was obliterated (and thus needed to pass) against Alabama, Texas, Florida and South Carolina, needed come back efforts to overcome Louisiana Monroe, LSU, Western Illinois (who they threw 41 times against), and had to fight back (by passing) to keep it reasonable against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The Rebels on the other hand, often up by a good bit at half time, rarely threw more than ten passes in the second half. Sure, it may not be flashy, but look at the results.

I guess that Arkansas fans will always have an offense that has a lot of pass attempts if they're always behind. Maybe that's what they want. It certainly makes the numbers look better at the end of the year. "Hey! We passed for 4,300 yards since we were down 30 at every halftime! Awesome!" Well I'll take winning the cotton bowl over 100 more attempts for Jevan Snead.

I guess my points on this issue are twofold:
1. This team passed a good bit.
2. Even if they hadn't, we still won nine games.

One last thing to really get that comment thread going:
Casey Dick's passer ratings in 2006 and 2007 were better than in 2008. Discuss.

Football Withdrawal

If you, like me, are in football withdrawal, I'm attempting to ease some of your pain with a little bit of news. These are all from "sources", but the sources are generally pretty good.

Bolden to Fullback
Word "on da streetz" is that Bolden is going to get a strong look at fullback this offseason. It's doubtful that he would make a full-time move to that position, but the coaches are going to look at using him as a fullback in certain packages. I love this move. Putting another player on the field that defenses need to worry about is a great idea, and this will give us even more options for imaginative plays. I have visions of a triple option with Jevan, Cordera and Bolden out of the shotgun.

12th Game - We're not in Kansas anymore. Heck, we're not even in the FBS.
I'm hearing more and more that the 12th game will be against some directional school from 1AA. This is not good news, since I was looking forward to another legitimate opponent on the schedule, but it speaks a lot about where our program stands right now. The apparent hold up on slotting this game with a worthwhile team is that no one wants to play us. The demands were apparently outrageous monetarily from some of the other BCS conference teams who viewed the game as a "sure loss". Still, it's repulsive that we'll play two 1AA opponents next season.

2010 Class looking good in-state
It's really early to start talking about next signing class, but I'd be remiss not to mention the fact that this staff has started very strong in the state of Mississippi. Many of the top players in the state have named us their leader. Those players include WR Vincent Sanders, RB Matthew Wells, DE/DT Devin Clark, Carlos Thompsonand (Memphis is basically part of our state) O.C. Brown. If you have a rivals account, watch Brown's video. It's out of this world as far as pulling guards go.

Next Year's Depth Chart

I guess that since everyone else has already done this, I should do it too. I know that we'll see freshmen that make an impact, and there are some things we still don't know, but I'm going to take a stab at next season's two deep.

QB: Jevan Snead / Nathan Stanley
HB: Cordera Eason / Brandon Bolden
FB: Andy Hartmann / Derrick Davis
WR: Shay Hodge / Andrew Harris
WR: Markeith Summers / Melvin Harris
ATH: Dexter McCluster / Lionel Breaux
TE: Gerald Harris / EJ Epperson
LT: Bradley Sowell / Logan Clair
LG: Reid Neely / Alex Washington
C: Daverin Geralds / Brandon Green
RG: Rishaw Johnson / Don Mosley
RT: John Jerry / Logan Clair

I'm hoping that Stanley will get the reins handed to him much earlier than Billy Tapp did in blowouts. We have to groom him for the future. I also don't count on any receivers we sign making the two-deep, but I would love to be wrong. I think that Logan Clair will be a servicable backup at both tackle spots.

LE: Kentrell Lockett / Gerald Rivers
RE: Marcus Tillman / Emmanuel Stephens
DT: Ted Laurent / Lawon Scott
NT: Jerrell Powe / Justin Smith
LOLB: Allen Walker / Lamar Brumfield
MLB: Jonathan Cornell / Jason Jones
ROLB: Patrick Trahan / Lekenwic Haynes
CB: Cassius Vaughn / James Scott
CB: Marshay Green / Demond Washington
Nickel: Marcus Temple / Derrick Herman
FS: Kendrick Lewis / Jamar Hornsby
SS: Johnny Brown / Jamar Hornsby

As you can see, nothing crazy. I just don't think that our coaches are the type of coaches who want a two-deep riddled with new players. I thought about putting Hornsby as the starter at SS, but I put Brown there because he played a good bit of SS for us this season and will have another spring's worth of practice there. I like Johnny Brown a lot, and I think we're going to have a very successful secondary next season. The future looks bright for the defense.

I believe that the purpose of this signing class is to bring in 25 players, 20 to 22 of whom we can redshirt. I for one love this strategy and wish we had more fifth year seniors. We would have been a different team this year without Maurice Miller, Jason Cook, Ashlee Palmer and Jamarca Sanford.

Any changes you all want to make to the depth chart?

We're Back and the final part of the SEC Power Poll All-SEC DLine

Alright, alright, you can all quit your bellyaching.

Between Christmas and one of us getting hitched two days thereafter we've been doing the whole "friends and family" thing. No, we're not going to apologize.

Get over it.

Now, to pick up where we left off.

I'm surprised Jefferson still has a head attached to his neck.

Peria Jerry is a bad, bad dude. He will ruin you. I mean absolutely, positively, motherfucking ruin you. This season has seen what may be the single greatest Ole Miss defensive line ever. There is star power at every starting position and potential star power a few spots deep on the depth chart. The typical adjectives used to positively describe linemen--big, strong, quick, athletic--certainly apply here. However, Peria Jerry, while all of the above, can best be described as "determined."

I'm not the biggest guy, and I'm definitely not the strongest guy. But I'm going to be there all day.

Peria Jerry was featured recently in a piece by Scott Cacciola of the Memphis Commercial Appeal and that quote, attributed to Jerry, really stood out to me. When compared to Ted Laurent or Jerrel Powe, Jerry certainly isn't the biggest or strongest guy out there. But, whatever he "lacks" in size and strength is made up for by his incredibly competitive drive and "never-give-up" attitude.

Towards the end of the LSU game, it became apparent that Jerry had simply worn his blockers down. They were all likely bigger, stronger, and more highly rated recruits but, literally, none of that mattered; Jerry was beating their asses off of the line and creating chaos in the trenches and backfield.

He brings 100% on every single down which is exactly how he beats you. By the end of the game, he's unblockable.

I know they're confident, and rightfully so, but I can't imagine Graham Harrell and the Red Raider OLine not at all worried about lining up against Peria Jerry and his legion of despair. They're going to bring it and, if Harrell and co. aren't careful, the Cotton Bowl could end very, very poorly for the Red Raiders.

Congratulations on everything, Peria. You're a team captain, an All American, and, most importantly, one of the greatest defensive tackles in the SEC according to a legion of bloggeurs.

To come: our piece in the most recent edition of The Local Voice, the most badass Christmas gift EVAR, and the beginning of Texas Tech hate week.

Fun with statistics!

I thought it might be interesting to look at how we statistically match up with the rest of the conference.

We'll start with the basics.
Scoring offense: 5th
Scoring defense 11th
Total Offense: 4th
Total Defense: 11th
It's good to see that for the first time in a few years we're not sitting in the bottom half of the conference in both offense and defense. I've been quite happy with our offensive output, but I would like to see more sustained drives and fewer big plays. As for the defense, we obviously have some work to do if we want to be able to win more games. I've been absolutely shocked by how little our defensive backfeild has progressed over the past two years. They're still making the same freaking mistakes. Also, where the hell is Johnny Brown? He was a starter last season as a true freshman. I know that Kendrick Lewis is better in coverage, but I would love to see Brown get an increase in workload in the remainder of the season.

Rushing offense: 5th
Rushing Defense: 7th
Passing Offense: 5th
Passing Defense: 12th
Pass Efficiency: 5th
Def Pass Efficiency: 12th
With our rushing and passing offenses ranked 5th, we have shown a great deal of balance thusfar. I was worried that we would be passing too much, but we have done a great job getting our young backs the ball while not asking too much from them in their first season.
Once again, the defense is fine except for the pass defense. Whenever our opponents put the ball in the air, I worry that they've just thrown a touchdown pass. For all that Ed Orgeron did for this team, he only signed one corner back. One cornerback in three years will never breed a successful pass defense. Never. This past class, Nutt signed four and convinced Marcus Temple to walk on. I'm so glad that we now have a coach who understands that you have to recruit your weaknesses and not just the best players who will come to your school.

Interceptions: 12th
Sacks by: 3rd-T
Sacks against: 3rd-T
Hm... interceptions. I wonder why we don't have any of those. Maybe it's our lack of scholarship corner backs.
It's good to see the sacks coming from all along the defensive line. I figured that by this point Greg Hardy would have somewhere near 8 sacks and our team would have somewhere near 10. That's not the case. We've done a great job getting pressure on the quarterback.
On the flip side, while our offensive line still can't run block, they can pass block very well. Jevan isn't getting hit early very often, something that I'm sure he's happy about.

5 Keys to Beating the Ole Miss Rebels

1. Throw the ball on first, second, third and fourth down.
This just in. The last time that Ole Miss could effectively stop the pass was when Ken Lucas was playing corner for us. That was a long time ago. Every time the ball is in the air, I get scared. We had to convert a running back and a wide receiver to cornerback just to get “four deep” at the position. I put four deep in quotation marks because there’s only one player who I like at corner, Dustin Mouzon, and he doesn’t even start.
Seriously, our secondary made Chris Smelley look like Jevan Snead was hyped to look. I shudder to think about what JPW will do against us.

2. Stop Dexter McCluster
McCluster is our entire offense. If you can stop him, you can stop us. Unfortunately, McCluster is a player by whom we live and die. The biggest playmaker on the team with the ball in his hands, McCluster is a budding SEC star.
If you can somehow take McCluster out of the equation, you remove most of the YAC yardage that Jevan has. Absent a deep pass to Shay or Mike, we’ve got no playmakers other than McCluster. Sure, other players have had moments, but when it’s 3rd and 8, I want to throw to Dexter McCluster underneath and let him pick up the first.

3. You don’t have to disguise blitzes.
Jevan Snead appears to be unable to spot blitzes even when defenses leave him with plenty of time to change plays. He just snaps the ball, gets flustered and has to throw it away.
Really. How many times have we seen a linebacker or corner creep up to the line with ten seconds left on the play clock only to see Jevan fail to adjust and end up with a blitzing defender right in his face? Sure. If the called play is a screen, this is a great situation. If it’s a play action pass though, this is terrible. He has to pay attention to the opposing defense to make that next step.

4. Double team Greg Hardy and Peria Jerry.
Yeah. I know that means you have to block Hardy with an OT and a TE, but that’s just what you’re going to have to do. I don’t care if Andre Smith is God’s gift to man. He can’t take Greg Hardy one on one for an entire game.
But Hardy, as you know, isn’t the only one to worry about. Peria Jerry is a monster this season. I would like to see a defensive line with Greg Hardy, Peria Jerry, Jerrell Powe and Kentrell Lockett. The speed/size combination there would be strong enough to get through any offensive line.

5. Show up to the stadium.
We have beaten Alabama twice in Tuscaloosa. Twice. With the rebels’ inability to win games against teams with equal talent, it’s extremely unlikely that Ole Miss could take the superiorly talented Crimson Tide. I feel like Alabama only has to attend the game to win. If I end up eating my words for some reason, I’ll be absolutely thrilled, but it’s not going to happen.

South Carolina Questions

The folks at Garnet and Black Attack sent us a few questions to answer about Ole Miss. They'll have our responses up soon. We responded with some questions for them to answer. Here are their responses.

1. Talk a little bit about the play of Jared Cook. We've got his brother as a starting fullback and think the world of him. Jared's numbers aren't bad for a TE no one was talking about before the season started. What has been the difference in his play so far?

Well, we've always known that Jared is capable of a lot. He's a big guy who can run and has soft hands. He had over 400 yards receiving last year, which isn't bad for a TE, especially considering that Kenny McKinley was the go-to guy all of last season.

The spike in his numbers this year is partially to McKinley's injury. When Kenny went down, Jared become our best option and, because we still haven't found a wideout we can count on like Kenny, Jared remains a go-to guy.

2. How is it that Steve Spurrier can't seem to get a decent offense together? Are there injuries we don't know about? Give us your reasoning for your offensive woes.

Well, I can tell you that you're not the only one who's surprised that Spurrier can't get the offense together. We certainly weren't expecting for the Gamecocks to be known for good defenses and putrid offenses under Spurrier.

The only significant injury is to Kenny McKinley, our star wideout. Not having Kenny hurts us, as we've been unable to find an equally competent go-to receiver and our vertical game is suffering for it.

However, we we also have other, more serious problems. You can have all the wide receivers in the world and it won't do you any good if you can't get them the ball. I'd say our problems are two-fold. First of all, we don't have a running game. The blame, I think, lies with our line, which does OK pass blocking but can't open up a hole for a tailback to save their lives. Our tailbacks are decent but none of them are good enough to make things happen without good blocking. Because we don't have a running game, opposing defenses have chosen to sit back and play the pass, limiting our options down field. Spurrier is known for his passing attack, but his offense requires some proficiency on the ground to keep defenses honest.

Our other problem, of course, has been the QB situation. Tommy Beecher was an unmitigated disaster. With all due respect to Tommy, who I wish all the best, I'm still scratching my head as to why he started against NC State. Chris Smelley is a little better and has his moments, but he doesn't have a great arm and tends to make ill-advised decisions when no one is open. We're now going with Stephen Garcia, who I'm sure you've heard of. Garcia brings some definite advantages: he has a big arm, and he can also scramble when the pocket breaks down, which should help us against Ole Miss if your defense wins the battle in the trenches. The problem with Garcia is that he's young and doesn't know much of the play book, so we're kind of limited as to what we can do with him in there. That said, I'm hoping he can at least take our offense to a slightly higher level.

3. Who is the best player on your team that no one is talking about? What's so good about him?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Chris Culliver. Chris is a sophomore safety and has played well on defense, although he's still developing in that area.

Chris also returns kickoffs for us, and this is where I think he could really affect the outcome of the game on Saturday. He's had some solid returns so far this year and I'm just waiting for him to take one to the house. I told Kyle at Dawg Sports the same thing before we played Georgia, and Chris held up his end of the bargain by having a few solid returns that gave us good field position. Unfortunately, our offense didn't do much to capitalize.

4. What has been Ellis Johnson's impact in coaching your defense? We're glad he's gone from Mississippi State. We're waiting for the floodgates to open on y'all like they did last season after your uncanny defensive play for the first half of the season.

Speaking of Mississippi State, we played them the past two years and I wish we could play them again this year instead of you guys. Maybe they could cure our offense.

The main improvement we've seen under Coach Johnson is our better run defense. Johnson seems to have instilled better tackling fundamentals in our guys. Johnson also installed a 4-2-5 scheme to combat the growing number of spread offenses in the SEC. The virtue of this scheme is that the extra safety provides backup in run support. Hopefully this element will cure what ailed us last year against Houston Nutt's Hogs. At the same time, a larger defensive backfield gives us a solid pass defense. It also allows us to use CB blitzes from time to time, as the extra safety can pick up the receiver the blitzing CB leaves open. We've had some success with this play so far.

The formation does have some weaknesses, though. Having one less LB makes us a little vulnerable for medium gains on the edges. I expect Snead and McCluster to try to hurt us in this way.

The drop in our defense's effectiveness late last year had more to do with injuries than anything else. We have a handful of solid NFL prospects on our first string, but a lot of those guys got hurt last year. So far this year we've been lucky in regards to injuries, and we'll have to remain so to succeed, because as we learned last year, we don't have a lot of depth.

5. What is your prediction on the outcome of the game on Saturday? How do you think it will go down?

I don't really want to make a prediction because I don't want to jinx us and at the same time don't like to pick against us. I expect it will be a tight game that's decided by turnovers. Both of these teams are capable of playing at a high level when they're not making mistakes, but both have proven themselves capable of shooting themselves in the foot from time to time. Moreover, while I think you guys have an explosive offense, I think we're capable of shutting you down if we continue to play like we've been playing. That means that the only way you're going to score a lot of points is if you manage to force a few turnovers and get the short field.
At the same time, our offensive line is going to have to play a lot better to keep your defensive front out of our backfield.

P.S.We got a field pass for South Carolina. Share in our jubilation.

Post-Game Report (finally)

So here we are: I had all kinds of things to write about last night, but most of them resided, along with the sick feeling in your gut that surely, all of us felt (at least those of us who actually follow the team. And/or smuggled Ziplock bags of Jack into the stadium). Beyond the terrible effort on display on the part of Jevan Snead and the Ole Miss offensive line (can't fault the receivers, backs, or the defense), we have a pretty significant quandary on our hands in Oxford: we can't possibly conceive a way to win a football game wherein a loss is a possibility. Not since South Carolina in 2004 has Ole Miss defeated a team with an equal or greater combination of talent, experience, and coaching. Don't even bring up wins against Memphis, State, and Vandy (2006). The talent gap makes it inexcusable to lose those games, despite our ability to always make it look close.

Before Hog fans (you lost by 5 touchdowns to Alabama. This should be enough to silence you for the week, but I know otherwise) come here to gloat: this isn't a coaching issue. Houston Nutt and his staff have demonstrated that they can coach fundamentals, concoct a good game plan, choose the right personnel, and generally put the players in position to succeed. And while Orgeron's teams lost all kinds of games, some of which can be put on his shoulders, he still was incapable of fumbling the ball, throwing interceptions, or allowing Derek Pegues to go untouched into the endzone on a critical punt return. He was on the sidelines. And please, spare me any talk of how part of coaching is teaching kids to avoid mistakes like these. Having to teach kids to hold on to the ball and to avoid throwing 5 interceptions in a game is like taking attendance and grading homework in a 500 level class. It should be fucking insulting, and an unnecessary waste of time that could be spent on conditioning, learning playbooks, and scouting. I can't blame Nutt for this one, as the game plan was there.

If Nutt is at fault at all, it is in his recent inexperience in instilling a winning attitude. He inherited players that were decent and knew how to win at Arkansas. He recruited some excellent players and instilled a continued winning attitude, and did a lot of great things, all while located in the asshole of America, Fayetteville (again, Hawg fans, don't talk, your town sucks, and don't say 'thank God for Mississippi,' because that's a crock of shit bolstered by misleading statistics. Mississippi > Arkansas as a good place to live). Anyhow, it is certainly an alien feeling for Nutt to teach a bunch of talented, habitual losers to win. I can understand that. What I can't understand, is how it got this bad to begin with.

Ole Miss has some incredible talent. For certain, the talent in the secondary, at tight end, and in the linebacking corps, leaves something to be desired by the standards of the SEC elite. However, there aren't many guys like Mike Oher, John Jerry, Shay Hodge, Mike Wallace, Dexter McCluster, Greg Hardy, Peria Jerry, Brandon Bolden, etc., in the SEC. We have some serious players, and good balance overall. We just haven't found the chemistry and resolve to pull out any solid SEC wins in the last four years. Losing feels inevitable to these guys, and I'm not sure what can be done about that.

With all that behind me, let's go to the actual game analysis:

7 penalties for 82 yards vs. 2 penalties for 20. Hard to believe that the home team had over four times the penalty yardage as the away team, especially given the subjective nature of most of the penalties. Late hits were called on the UM offense when I saw the same thug garbage committed by a VU defender on the same play. Not the reason we lost, but damn. Give us a dozen or so fairly officiated SEC games and we just might win one or two...

Snead is a talented head case. Get ready, folks. If a QB lobotomy isn't performed on Snead soon, look for Brent Schaeffer part II. Last night was possibly (with talent level taken into consideration) the worst underperformance by an Ole Miss athlete since the invention of the forward pass. The stat sheet says four INT's. It was actually five, as the one immediately stolen back by the Ole Miss receiver wasn't counted. Can't even recognize the guy that threw four TD's on the road at Wake Forest. Either way, the 4/5 INT's doesnt begin to tell the story of how poor Jevan was. He was Ethan Flatt at Wyoming poor. He was Brent Schaeffer at Kentucky poor... Need I go on?

McCluster and Green put too much weight on their shoulders to make plays. Both are dynamic with the ball. Both made critical fumbles last night. Green had no business trying to break all those tackles on the punt return. There was no seam, no extra yardage to be gained. Protect the ball in this situation. McCluster probably shouldn't have been the guy to take the ball through the middle of the defense in this situation. Send any of our top three RB's, who are much bigger and stronger and have demonstrated sure hands for the most part, into the thick of things when it counts, instead of a 5-8 scat back. I agree with running the Wild Rebel, but again, decision making wasn't all it could have been by McCluster.

Defensive line will be a star unit if they don't get bogged down by the rest of the teams fuckuperation. Hardy, Jerry, and Powe were all monsters. Could be time for Gerald Pow to do the Hotty Toddy on the Grove stage, because he's getting much closer to his expected impact (12 tackles, 5 sacks, 1 INT, and a pass touchdown per game, approx.).


The rest of the defense fed off of the increased pressure from the front four. I hate to get all optimistic here, but we may just be able to pull an upset by playing good defense and keeping the ball out of Snead's incapable hands.

The offensive line is still soft. Even with over 200 yards rushing, the line failed to impress, this time with the problem being in pass protection. I wonder if most of this wasn't caused by Snead's inability to audible and take advantage of/cover for the blitz. Still, these guys are talented and experienced, and need to maul some motherfuckers. Hasn't yet happened.

That is about all I have. Last night, I was pondering the abysmal lack of intestinal fortitude and mental strength by Ole Miss athletes since I arrived here in the Fall of 2004. It really is sickening, and I find myself wondering after a loss like this what draws us to be fans. Certainly, regional proximity and school loyalty are a big factor in what team you support, but shouldn't you also respect something about the resolve, the tenacity, the effort level and the spirit of the teams for which you so fervently cheer? Well, as it stands, I can't respect them until they come out and win a big game. No loss can be considered a moral victory, no good effort can be deemed worthwhile until a W appears in the stat column. Here it is, Rebs: I don't respect you. I've seen more resolve and mental composure in Club and Intramural level teams, and your consistent failure to seal a victory has made me question the worth of my years of support. I won't go to Gainesville with my crew next weekend, because I know that you won't show up in any better mental condition to beat Florida than would I and my drunken compatriots. Please, Rebels, at some point this year, prove me wrong. Make me believe again. Win six and get to a bowl. Being a jaded asshole just isn't fun. Goodnight, and Hotty Toddy.

No real consolation...

Wake Forest fans are talking up Jevan Snead. It doesn't make the loss sting any less, but it's good to see that we're not staring through red glasses when we say he's good.

Obviously, his stats were good for the game, but I was the most pleased with his ability to elude defenders and keep his head in the pocket. Honestly, I really think he's the third best quarterback we've ever had at Ole Miss. That's more than I expected.

The LOLCat Offense

The Wildcat. The Wild Rebel. The McClusterfuck.

Whatever you call it, the new triple-option offense we ran every few downs on Saturday is exciting. It worked at Arkansas and it's looking like it will work here. Dexter McCluster is quick and elusive. Brandon Bolden is hard as hell to bring down. Jevan Snead doesn't suck ass. All of these factors combined make this offense truly dangerous.

A couple of weeks ago, Whiskey Wednesday and I were drunkenly babbling about football (an incredibly common occurrence, believe me) and came up with the 2nd best* name we've heard describe this offense yet: The LOLCat offense.

What is a LOLCat? Check it, lawya.

We derived this name from our (incorrect) theory that our version of the Wildcat would either be highly ineffective or fail miserably. This theory sprung from our personal tendencies to prefer a pro style offense and our team's lack of one Darren "Getter of dat Wood" McFadden, esq. Also, we're still a bit burnt by Brent Schaeffer's 5-star rating and have become hopelessly immune to optimism.

So, anyway, we were horribly wrong and we couldn't be more delighted about this fact. The offense worked well, netting us 14 yards per attempt out of the formation and two touchdowns. If Dexter McCluster and Brandon Bolden stay healthy for the remainder of the season, we should see a touchdown or so every game out of the LOLCat. I'm serious.

Oh, and as one would imagine, we've made our very own Dexter McCluster LOLCat. You may be seeing these every now and then until a cease and desist order is issued.


NOTE: Thanks to Danny Klimentz of the Associated Press for not yet sending us a nasty email for shamelessly lifting your photo.

*The best is, of course, the McClusterfuck. NAFOOM came up with that one first, Arkansas trolls.

Projected Depth Chart vs. Memphis

I took the time to write down how I project our first and second teams to look headed into Memphis. Most of this is common sense, but here goes.

QB: Jevan Snead / Billy Tapp
HB: Cordera Eason / Enrique Davis
FB: Jason Cook / Andy Hartmann
X: Mike Wallace / Markeith Summers
Y: Dexter McCluster / Lionel Breaux
Z: Shay Hodge / Andrew Harris
TE: Gerald Harris / David Traxler (depending on whether we run on our first play)
LT: Michael Oher / Bradley Sowell
LG: Darryl Harris / Reid Neely
C: Daverin Geralds / Brandon Green
RG: Maurice Miller / Rishaw Johnson
RT: John Jerry / Bradley Sowell (We seriously need some OTs)

LE: Emmanuel Stephens / Laderrick Vaughn
RE: Kentrell Lockett / Chris Bowers
DT: Peria Jerry / Justin Smith
NT: Marcus Tillman / Lawonn Scott
LOLB: Ashlee Palmer / Lamar Brumfield
MLB: Jonathan Cornell / Tony Fein
ROLB: Allen Walker / Patrick Trahan
CB: Dustin Mouzon / Marshay Green
CB: Cassius Vaughn / Jeremy McGee
FS: Kendrick Lewis / Johnny Brown
SS: Jamarca Sanford / Fon Ingram

I'm pretty happy with this two-deep. I think we could end up beating Memphis badly. I'm not saying we will, just that we can. Now tell me who/what I've missed.

UPDATED Saturday Scrimmage Report

Today was another beautiful day in Oxford with the rebels practicing in full pads. A lot of fans showed up to the practice giving the day's events a feeling of a small high school game or even a Southern Miss home game.  And for those of you who didn't show up: don't worry.  I know we called you out, but you've probably got a lawn to mow or an adorable neice in town.  We're cool, whatever.  

Be patient.  We have some pictures and maybe even a video to show you later today.

Our Notes:
1. Nathan Stanley continued to be impressive. He has to get used to the speed of the game, but his throws are on the money.  While he did not get nearly as many snaps as Snead or Tapp (and the snaps he did get were mostly runs) he still proved to us that he has SEC potential.

2. All of the running backs had good days. We have some talent there. Brandon Bolden had the best day of them all and Enrique Davis played hard too.  What is really remarkable about those two is they are usually pretty hard to bring down.  They run hard and never, ever shy away from contact.

3. Ashlee Palmer and Allen Walker are awesome.  During sprints, Palmer was yards ahead of every other linebacker and showed why he's on our first team.

4. Snead was alright. He's better than Stanley and Tapp, but he's just not performing the way we had hoped (and no, we weren't the people that were expecting over 3k yards, 25 tds, and 10 INTs).  If he stays healthy and remains consistent, however, he'll win more games for us than Michbert Spurlane or Breth Schadams ever sniffed at winning.

5. The Wild Rebel was run today with both McCluster and Bolden getting shots running the ball.  They didn't run anything spectacularly tricky out of it, but we imagine they're saving that stuff for the closed practices.

6. Kentrell Lockett had two sacks and earned himself a fair amount of reps as a first teamer.  

7. Andrew Harris and Markeith Summers had good days.  Mike Wallace opened the scrimmage by reeling in a deep pass from Snead.  

8. Marr still looks rough.  Powe also looks rough, but not nearly as rough as Marr.  Powe needs to pick up some speed and soon.  During sprints he was disappointing, at best.  Also, during the sprints, a loud, old white lady behind us was screaming "Go Jerrell!  You can do it!"  She even let out a big "YAAAAAAAAAAYYY" when he finished the drill.  Listen, lady; give it a rest.  Most of us didn't wait three years only to cheer on a jiggly third-teamer as if he were our tee-ball playing stepson.  A couple of us nearly stood up to scream "C'MON, DAMMIT!  LOWER YOUR HAUNCHES AND RUN, POWE" just to spite her.

9. The kickers were on the money with their kicks.  We cannot remember a missed field goal for today.  

More to follow later today.

Friday Practice Report

The first week of practice is almost over and today our Rebels returned to the practice field because of the beautiful weather. It was in the high 80's with a light breeze and really just a great day outside in Oxford. Hopefully the weather will remain just as fantastic for tomorrow's scrimmage. Anyway, here are our notes:

1. Among the hundreds of fans in attendance was former Rebel quarterback Romero Miller. It was good to see the guy back in Oxford. He did a great job for us while he was here and I like seeing successful Rebels return. Schaeffer, you're not welcome, but Miller, come on over whenever you'd like.

2. Joshua Shene had a rough day early on today. Man... we have GOT to establish a good kicking game. If we have a good offense and defense but lose because of kicking, I'm going to punch Joshua Shene in the face. Okay, not really (we've seriously got to stop inciting Spirit board virtual riots).

3. We're starting to worry that Demareo Marr was recruited solely based on his height. He got burned by (insert short wide receiver) today. He also completely gave up on 1-on-1 drills and really had the coaches rip into him for it. He's either lazy or extremely out of shape. We're hoping it's the latter and that he'll get more stamina during camp and prove that we didn't waste a scholly on the kid.

4. Brandon Bolden returned punts again today. We were surprised to see him get time with Marshay and Dex who, by our estimates, already completely own the position. It could just be that they're preparing for two years from now, but we doubt it. Don't be shocked to see Bolden return some punts throughout the season. He's a great change of pace from Dex and Marshay. He's fast, but he's not as shifty as those two guys. It will be tough for gunners to bring him down and he really does an excellent job of staying on his feet. He really displayed his knack for not getting knocked around during 11-on-11 drills. We realize that the players were not supposed to hit each other full-force but we don't feel that those circumstances take away from his performance.

5. Kentrell Lockett had a good day today. He was able to get in the backfield several times against the first team O-line and was really working hard in the drills.

6. Michael Oher made Emmanuel Stephens look like an idiot. He pancaked Stephens like we haven't seen him do since his high school highlight tapes. This isn't to say Stephens isn't good, because he certainly is. He worked out a good bit with the first team and caused a disruption or two during 11-on-11 drills.

7. Chris Bowers is not good. We're sorry, but he's not the great white hype many of you (older people) would hope him to be.

8. Jerrell Powe still needs work. Just like yesterday, there were glimpses of good things, but he just doesn't look like he looked a year ago when he was disrupting the backfield on every play. He has lost a step. He destroyed a walk-on guard, but who cares? He's supposed to destroy Maurice Miller, Darryl Harris, and Daverin Geralds. He didn't do that. He continued to work out with the third team.

9. Dexter McCluster reeled in a great pass and juked his defender like he was standing still during 1-on-1 drills. He then then turned around and let his defender know that he "towe (him) up like lunchmeat," whatever the hell that means. We love that little bastard buddy. If he can keep the injury bug off of him, expect him to make some big, big plays. SEC, consider this your fair warning.

10. Lionel Breaux knocked Marshay Green down during the pass skeleton and on the next play Green earned himself a pass interference call. While we've been singing his praises all week, Marshay didn't have such a great practice today.

11. Jevan Snead is a very vocal leader. During the 11-on-11 drills he made sure to give credit where it was due while hounding players who made fundamental mistakes (dropped passes, etc). He especially made sure to pat his new best friends on the back as much as possible. He also had a good practice throughout the evening.

12. Shay Hodge made some great catches, including a one handed snag in the endzone during the pass skeletons. Honestly, this is the one position we should have no concerns with this fall. All of our starting receivers bring something to the table and their backups are more than serviceable.

13. Speaking of backup wideouts, Richie Contartesi, a small walk-on possession receiver (see: white guy), was doing a fair share of shit talkin' today. He really should cut that out. He's more than expendable and Powe is more than hungry. Seriously Richie, cut the noise.

14. These coaches are really interesting to watch. We especially enjoy watching Tracy Rocker and Ron Dickerson (DL and WR respectively) because they do an excellent job of motivating their players while teaching them. They are also both highly respected among their respective position groups. While all of these coaches should prove to be capable, these two have shone a good bit this week.


Ok, that's all we can pull off of the tops of our heads right now. Have a good weekend and hopefully we'll see you at tomorrow's scrimmage. If you've read this, are in Oxford, and don't show up to the scrimmage you're a shitty, shitty Rebel. Hell yeah, we're calling you out. Get your ass to Vaught-Hemingway tomorrow or we'll, ummm, write mean shit about you on a blog, or something.

Wednesday Practice Report

Day three of practice saw the players in shells for the first time. Overall, the practice went quite well. Here are our notes.

1. Houston Nutt's daughters are hot. I mean H-O-T-T hott. Even the one who belted her love for Zac Efron. During special teams drills, Hottie McHotteroo was pacing the sidelines and, we kid you not, more of the practice's onlookers paid attention to her than Joshua Shene and his parade of private school kickers.

2. Andrew Harris is a physical freak. That guy is going to emerge as a top threat very soon. We're not going to be upset if we don't redshirt him. We want him to play a good bit this year. He had some excellent catches and looks really good (wait for it, wait for it) on the hoof.

3. It was encouraging to see a high level of camaraderie among the players. The general air about these practices are much more pleasant than the practices we saw under Hurricane Orgeron. We even saw Jason Jones, a freshman linebacker, voluntary ask Scottie Williams, a sophomore linebacker, for assistance with a particular drill while they were on the sidelines after the drill's completion. We know it may sound corny, but it really was a neat thing to see.

4. Jevan looked much, much better today. He has yet to turn water into wine or give sight to the blind, but our "savior" is getting there. He was on the money in the pass skeleton big time. The only poor throw he made was a throw that no QB, save Micheal Spurlock, would make in an actual game situation (the receivers were locked down and after a few seconds Jevan just lobbed it up into double coverage).

5. Nathan Stanley looks good as well. Seriously, if you get a chance to watch a practice, do and pay extra attention to the kid.

6. Justin Sparks was booting the hell outta the ball today. He was even impressing the onlooking linebackers behind whom we were standing. He wasn't creaming the ball with consistency, but when he was on, he was on. Hopefully he can hone this in and actually show up and punt like a damned SEC punter.

7. Greg Hardy worked out with the first team today and even had a pass deflection in the 11-on-11 drills.

8. The secondary showed up and made some excellent plays in both the pass skeleton and 11-on-11 drills. Dustin Mouzon, Marshay Green, and Jamarca Sanford all showed out.

9. This was odd, but someone was flying a remote controlled spy plane around the practice field. Seriously. We're not hallucinating (at least, we hope we're not). It would ascend, take pictures with a flash (that's how we knew it had a camera) during its descent, and then ascend again. It seriously flew around the practice for at least a half of an hour. If you saw it, let us know.

We're a bit exhausted and hungry, so we apologize for the truncated post. If you have any comments, questions, whatever you know where to leave 'em.

EDIT: We also noticed the increasing number of visitors to the practice. There were probably no less than 150 spectators on hand today. To many, this may seem like chump change, but when compared to Monday's audience of a couple dozen or so, it's significant.

Tuesday Practice Report

As with yesterday, here is our fall practice report. Keep in mind, this is only day two of practice. We're not going to attempt to make any predictions for the season based on what we've seen. We're just gonna call it like we see it. So, without further ado, here are our practice notes:

-I'm sorry Spirit board posters, but Trahan has yet to gain the 15 pounds he needs to catch up with Palmer and Walker. Maybe tomorrow. We'll keep you updated on that. Okay, his size aside, we will say that he is very fundamentally sound. The linebackers ran a tackling drill which require the players to do pushups and then run the drill again if they ran the drill poorly. He was the only linebacker never to have to run the drill again. His tackling is not suspect at all. Nor is his speed. He, Allen Walker, and Ashlee Palmer are by far the fastest linebackers on the team.

-While we're on linebackers, it's important to note that Allen Walker and Ashlee Palmer have very soft hands for linebackers. In a drill where the linebackers were catching laser passes thrown their way, they both showed incredible consistency and pulled in all of the passes thrown their way.

-Markeith Summers showed out today with great positioning and good speed. He had a sick lay out in the pass skeleton. We at the Cup like this kid a lot.

-Nathan Stanley had excellent placement on the deep ball and threw with a consistently excellent spiral. He ran the third team offense and performed admirably

-Jevan was uninspiring again. He threw a pick and had several bad throws. His control was lacking, especially during the 11-on-11 drills. In the pass skeleton he had a few stellar passes, including one to Dexter "da lil' bastid" McCluster.

-Enrique Davis runs really well. He keeps his shoulders low and runs hard through the hole. We're very much looking forward to him running with pads. He was working with the second team.

-Marcus Tillman stayed at defensive tackle. He and Justin Sanders were working back and forth for the other spot at D Tackle alongside Peria Jerry.

-They shuffled the defensive ends around a good bit. Greg Hardy practiced some with the first team, but saw most of his time on the second team.

-McCluster had some great catches in the pass skeleton. He and Marshay showed great quickness in the return drills and both of them really seem to have great football instincts.

-Speaking of Marshay. He was a ball hawk today at his cornerback spot. He's got his first team position more or less locked down.

-Lionel Breaux made a few good catches. We didn't feel they threw to him enough during the pass skeletons.

-Powe looked like there might have been some technique returning to him. He's still pretty slow though and he saw most of his action on the third team.

-Kendrick Lewis made the only pick of the day. He has a knack of getting pick-6's in practices. We have to get that guy on the field. He's a safety with wide receiver skills. If you'll recall, we even recruited the kid to play wideout. Although he's temporarily occupying Johnny Brown's spot, it wouldn't be shocking to see him take the spot over for the Memphis game.


That's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, et cetera please do not hesitate do direct them our way.

Monday Practice Report

So a couple of the writers and I went out to see the first practice live and in person. We just wanted to see for ourselves how some of the newcomers would look and how other players had progressed over the summer. Obviously, there's only so much you can tell from an hour. Especially when that hour is almost all early drills and stretching. Some worthwhile notes:

Returnees:
Jevan Snead - Snead was unimpressive today. He's obviously the best passer on the team (we know, Layton Jones is still there, but trust us) but we don't feel he showed up in full today. It's early and he'll hopefully get the rust shaken off.

Dexter McCluster - McCluster is so damn quick. Good gravy. If you've ever wondered what a ball of fast-twitch muscles with dreads looked like this is it. He was not perfect as he dropped a pass that he really had no business dropping, but he still showed us that he's the Dex we remember. He's quick, agile, and not at all scared to go over the middle. The little bastard's tough, and we love him for it. Before you ask, no, they did not run the WildRebel today.

Markeith Summers - The best wide receiver of the spring really didn't do much today. There were a lot of dumps today, and the wide receivers didn't get a lot of chances to excel. One-on-one, he was locked up by Dustin Mouzon twice but did beat his defender deep on one drill, only to be overthrown by an overzealous Snead.

Marshay Green - We were really looking forward to seeing him at cornerback. I remember during the spring that he quickly took control of the position and got rowdy. Today, he was the fastest corner on the field. He has great hip swivel, and he is already a player in the game. He was lined up as a starter and we expect him to hold onto that spot until the season starts. Also, during tackling drills, he showed incredible ferocity. For a little dude, he's not afraid to mess someone up.

Allen Walker - this guy showed out today. It was great to see a returning linebacker really step it up. I wonder if he's feeling the Trahan pressure. Walker made a sick leap into the air and batted a ball down that was nowhere near where your average linebacker could get to it (very EA Sports of him). The fact that Walker is a converted safety is going to be an enormous asset to us this year. At one moment during the practice, a helmet-less Walker strode past us towards the IPF. We were worried that he was hurt, overheated, or something else along those lines. As it turns out, the poor guy needed to piss. We worry too much, it seems.

Marcus Tillman - In order to fill in the temporary vacancy left by Ted Laurent and his ailing meniscus, Tillman worked at defensive tackle today. Obviously, he excelled in drills and, while he is slated to start as a strongside end, he has the skills necessary for any spot on the line. Ted Laurent was at the practice but, being three days removed from surgery, he wasn't dressed out or doing any work.

Newcomers:
Patrick Trahan - Tubberville called Partick Trahan the best defensive player he has ever coached. That may be the case, but to us, he looked a little small. He's wearing number 7 which may hurt him. The last junior college player we had who went to number 7 wasn't so great. He is in great shape though, and he's also a bit taller than we expected. We hope to see more of him this week. Perhaps we'll pay more attention to the linebacker drills during the upcoming practices.

Demareo Marr - If there's a newcomer that we desperately need help from more than Trahan, it's Marr. Today, he showed great potential but it is obvious that he desperately needs to get accustomed to SEC football. He's got decent size and long arms so we see him as being loaded with potential.

Enrique Davis - The "savior" of Ole Miss football has arms the size of tree trunks. He's lean, but he's really well built. He made a few catches in the pass skeleton drills and showed quickness during halfback drills but we didn't get to see enough of him today to tell you much more.

Jerrell Powe - After waiting on bended knee for three years, Powe looked... well, not a lot like Jerrell Powe. He has visibly lost weight. That's a great sign for the season. I saw him out there in the spring and thought he must have eaten 2.7 Ole Miss girls (the rough equivalent of one Arkansas girl). The guy was HUGE. Today, he's smaller. Obviously, he's not Dexter McCluster smaller, but he's much healthier looking. The coaches got all over him today, since he didn't have much burst in his step. More than anything, it was just great to see the big guy out there with the team. Hopefully he'll begin to impress us more and more as practices wear on.

Justin Smith - while we didn't pay extra close attention to him, he's big, strong, and really fast. He was certainly a surprise out there.

Jeremy Parnell - 6'8"? Really? He actually looked pretty good out there for someone so far removed from football. BTW, he is a DE... not a TE. We don't know how much he'll play or even if he plays at all, but he's certainly got athleticism.

Melvin Harris - Melvin Harris is rail thin. Seriously, teeny-weeny. I weigh 190, and two of him could fit into my shorts. He's 6'7, but he has got to gain weight. I smell a redshirt.

Gerald Harris - Big and cut. Looks to have really crafted his body over the summer. Hopefully he can show up at tight end and give Jevan a solid red zone threat.

Andrew Harris - Harris made one spectacular catch coming out of a wheel route. He got distance from his corner (don't remember who) and came down with a well placed ball. He's tall and has decent size. We know it's been said time and time again, but these wideouts are good.

Nathan Stanley - Mechanics are good, but he had trouble with the speed of the game in the passing skeleton. He really does throw a nice ball and has great height but, as HDN would put it, is a whole tube of biscuits shy of having legitimate SEC quarterback size. Fortunately, his mom is still hot.


Remember, these are all based on one day of practice. Actually one hour of practice. Actually, one hour of drills. Don't get too excited about this one day or too upset about newcomers not living up to expectations. For many, it's their first day to practice in a college atmosphere. There are going to be growing pains. Overall, we were impressed with the team and drills. We have high, yet unsubstantiated, hopes for the season.

Oh, and not to make a mountain out of a mole or anything, but these kids look great on the hoof. Many of them have big feet, to boot. Quite an impressive group of kids. More to come tomorrow, faithful cuppers.

We are... Ole Miss.

So... we're going to be thin on the offensive line in 2009, right? Well, because we're Ole Miss, we're about to be thinner.

Kermit Tyler, a three star guard from Louisiana with a Rutgers offer, will no longer be playing football due to an undisclosed "medical condition".

Great. Just what we needed. I know that he wasn't highly rated, but he was one of four offensive line signees, and he was the only one I was excited about.

Please... for the love of God... John Jerry. Please come back for your senior year.

Internets Available in Memphis (Public Libraries); Accessed by Tiger High Alums

Losing to LSU is never fun, but is accepted, any loss to State stings for quite some time, but nothing gets to me more than not being able to beat these BCS rejects down in Memphis.

The talking heads on Memphis radio and the UTK rejects on MemphisTigers.org start spewing their delusional and ill-informed opinions regarding the Ole Miss game around this time every year.

Today’s example comes courtesy of MT.org poster, MemphisCanes.

"For all that they toute their recievers, ours are head and shoulders (figuratively AND literally) above theirs."

You win Tiger fans, those receivers (“I” before “e” except after “c”) that we constantly “toute” are not as tall as Carlos Singleton. Let us take a look at some statistics though, and remember you run a pass happy offense in the CUSA while we had two incompetent rejects playing quarterback for us last season.

Last season your top three receivers were Duke Calhoun (14 ypc), Carlos Singleton (15.0 ypc), and Stephen Black (11 ypc). Our top three WRs were Shay Hodge (14 ypc), Mike Wallace (19 ypc), and Dexter McCluster (12 ypc). These stats seem pretty even to me. I will give you the advantage in WRs, but your guys are not as good as you all make them seem to be, with the exception of Duke Calhoun.

"Oher is an anchor, but one lineman does not a line make."

Does not a line make? Really? Was that just some cute way of trying to make your point or your fine Memphis education? And you are correct in saying one lineman does not make an offensive line. That is why we have guys like pre-season second team All-SEC John Jerry, returning starter Reid Neely, and veterans Darryl Harris and Mo Miller. To steal a quote from an Ole Miss poster on MT.org, "Our offensive line has had more books written about them than your basketball team has read."

In reality, their squad has more question marks than ours. New Coach, new QB, new RB, and a suspect D.

No arguments here except for you bit about suspect defense. The only thing suspect about our defense is going to be the cornerback position. Our front seven boasts 4 All-American or All-SEC candidates and one of the top incoming linebackers in the nation. Again, there is nothing terribly wrong with your statement, but the next part of the sentence (term used loosely considering your last one lacked a verb) is what explains why UTK denied your application and your attendance at Tiger High. It is so ludicrous I am going to have to break it down piece by piece.

“The Tigers have an experienced QB who should be able to plug right in to our system.”

How can you call Arkelon Hall an experienced QB? It is beyond me. We may have a new QB, but at least it is one who has played in a division one-football game against a BCS opponent for the Texas Longhorns. Also, judging by Hall’s less than sterling 6-14 performance, it looks like he has some work to do. However, you probably did not see that because only 800 people went to the game. That is how you support a program!

You cannot win an argument by saying Ole Miss has question marks at positions A, B, and C and then turn around and say the new (read: unproven) players Memphis has coming at the same positions make us a better team, which you proceed to do.

“Walton, our DC, has studied at defensive powerhouses like LSU and Miami, and has brought in considerable JUCO talent this year.”

Our last head coach studied at national powerhouses like Miami and USC, but he could not coach his way out of a paper bag. He still managed to beat you three times in three years. Weird.

And I would love to know this considerable JUCO talent that is coming in this year. Last I heard your prized recruit from Clemson decided North Dakota State was a better fit for him, Tim Mcgee failed his needed summer classes, and no one else on your commitment list looks like they are worth a damn. Your team, especially on defense, is nothing more than a bunch of other team’s rejects who averaged giving up 32 points per game this past season. Oh, and you lost to Arkansas State 35-31.

Add to that our new blood at RB, which should only do more to juice our offense, and I can't really see what Missy fans are so confident about.

So us having new RBs is a negative, but your new running backs are going to put you over the top? I do not think so. You are sending out Curtis Steele, a between the tackles type of runner, with your spotty offensive line against our front seven. I will not even bring up the guy we signed.

“I guess home field advantage must be worth alot in their minds.”

It sure does when you compare it to your home field advantage.