Oh my, what a tangled web we weave

NOTE: Information was obtained by visiting the official sites of the respective universities' athletic programs. Before you send me any more "he's not on our coaching staff anymore" emails or comments, tell your school to get their website in order. Capiche?

Today, Houston Nutt announced the signing of Terry Price to the Rebel staff. Price, who will be filling in for his cousin (no joke), Tracy Rocker, at the defensive line coaching position marks one of the latest in a long line of intra-SEC coaching hires. As the former DE coach at Auburn and, yes, Ole Miss under Tommy Tuberville, he should hopefully bring experience coaching and recruiting to the Ole Miss staff.

Also today, Lane Kiffin announced the hiring of Frank Wilson, the former runningbacks coach for our Rebels and the same to be for the Bulldogs of Starkville, will join his old boss Ed Orgeron in Knoxville.

Outside of the South people like to think of our region as being "incestuous." Now, while we're not really going out there and bangin' our sisters (or brothers, I'm lookin' at you Florida), we've certainly put together some wacky relationships among our coaching staffs. We're seemingly constantly swapping head coaches, coordinators, and recruiters like they're playing cards. Once coaches get here, they don't want to leave. Of course, we do (from top to bottom) pay the most and provide the greatest opportunity to recruit and coach the nations best talent, all while appearing on ESPN every other weekend so, this is somewhat understandable.

Since I didn't have dick to do at work today, I researched the extent of this conference-wide phenomenon. I even drew a nifty map which simply shows which schools share a common coaching history and put together a detailed list because it tricked my supervisor into thinking I was elbow deep in assignments. It is important for me to let you know that I didn't count former players, volunteer coaches, or graduate assistants because this took long enough as it is. An interesting point of note is that Vanderbilt does not have anybody on staff who coached at another SEC school (outside of a GA role) but has provided coaches to a couple other SEC schools. The image below can be clicked for needed biggification.

ALABAMA
Nick Saban - Former HC at LSU
Kirby Smart - Former DB coach at LSU and RB coach at Georgia

ARKANSAS
Bobby Petrino - Former OC at Auburn
Mike Summers - Former OL coach at Kentucky

AUBURN
Tracy Rocker - Former DL coach at Ole Miss
Trooper Taylor - Former WR coach at Tennessee
Gus Malzhan - Former OC at Arkansas

FLORIDA
Kenny Carter - Former OLB coach at LSU and RB coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Vanderbilt

GEORGIA
John Wilson - Former Asst. HC, OC, and WR coach at South Caronlina
Rodney Garner - Former OT coach and TE coach at Tennessee and Recruiting Coordinator and TE coach at Auburn
Stacy Searels - Former OL coach at LSU
John Fabris - Former DE coach at South Carolina

KENTUCKY
Joker Phillips - Former WR coach at South Carolina
Larry Brinson - Former RB coach at Arkansas*
Rick Petri - Former DL coach at Ole Miss, DE coach at South Carolina
Randy Sanders - Former OC and QB coach at Tennessee
Chris Thurmond - Former CB coach at Alabama

LSU
Bradley Dale Peveto - Former ST coordinator and LB coach at Arkansas
Stan Drayton - Former RB coach at Mississippi State and FLorida
Lance Thompson - Former OLB coach at Alabama
Eddie Gran - Former RB coach and ST coordinator at Auburn and RB coach at Ole Miss

OLE MISS
Terry Price - Former DE coach at Auburn
Houston Nutt - Former HC at Arkansas
James Shibest - Former ST coordinator at Arkansas
Mike Markuson - Former OL coach at Arkansas
Chris Vaughn - Former LB and S coach at Arkansas
Tyrone Nix - Former DC at South Carolina

MISSISSIPPI STATE
Dan Mullen - Former OC at Florida
David Turner - Former DE coach at Alabama and DL coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Vanderbilt
Les Koenning - Former OC at Alabama
Melvin Smith - Former Safeties coach at Alabama and Ole Miss

SOUTH CAROLINA
Steve Spurrier - Former HC at Florida
Ellis Johnson - Former DC at Mississippi State and Alabama
Shane Beamer - Former CB coach at Mississippi State

TENNESSEE
Ed Orgeron - Former HC at Ole Miss
Frank Wilson - Former RB coach at Ole Miss and Mississippi State (kinda-sorta not really)
Lance Thompson - Former OLB coach at Alabama


I'm certain to have overlooked something somewhere, which is really just another indicator of how wacky this has gotten.


*Arkansas was in the SWC then so maybe this doesn't count.

A Message to the 30-some-odd Bowl Committees

What are you looking for in bowl matchups? Are you looking for the pair of teams which will provide your bowl with an interesting, competitive, and relevant matchup?

No.

Are you looking for emotional, heartwarming side stories or 4th quarter heroics?

No and no.

Are you looking to make a shit-ton of money off of ticket sales, TV ratings, and foolish spending by visiting fanbases?

Fuck yeah!

Well, then Ole Miss is the school which you should schedule for your bowls.

Certainly, your skepticism is natural. We're one of the SEC's smallest fanbases, being as how we hail from a small state and a relatively small university and, as of late, have not been a postseason presence. But, as we have established, you're looking to make money and, despite these hard economic times, we're helping to sell out stadiums, setting bar sales records, and boosting TV ratings.

Granted, being a part of the record setting Cotton Bowl crowd isn't too spectacular, considering that this is the first Cotton Bowl after the stadium expansion and that Texas Tech fans deserve a half of the credit with these respects. But, to say that the bar sales records and television ratings aren't intriguing would be 'tarded.

Think about it for a minute. Of all the conventions, sporting events, and other massive gatherings of thirsty people that have ever been held in Dallas, this last Cotton Bowl's band of Rebel fans set the record for booze sales at hotel bars.

And, to have a Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss matchup draw a TV rating that was a mere one-tenth-of-a-point lower than a Wisconsin vs. Florida State matchup must turn some heads.

So, bowl committees, you should certainly consider the Ole Miss Rebels in future bowl pairings. We'll fill the pockets of your corporate sponsors, respective cities, and broadcast partners with sweet, green cash. You'd be a damned fool to think to look us over come next year.

A Few Links

I'm still chanting SEC! SEC! SEC! over and over again in my head so, until that clears, peruse these links.

Read this piece from The Wall Street Journal on the SEC being better than you (Thanks to Cal)

Here are the Final AP Poll results. Ole Miss is #14.... and two spots behind #12 Texas Tech. Fuck you, AP voters. No, I'm not kidding. Serioulsy, fuck you. Did you not even watch the Cotton Bowl? I know, I know, poor start to the season 'n' all that. Whatever.

The President-Elect thinks we need a playoff. Great. So do a lot of people. Why should I care? Let me look at my copy of the Constitution (I'm a good American) and see where the President's opinion on controversial sports topic should mean something.... Let me see... Hmmm, no, it's not therrrrreee... Hm, oh, what about this article right unde... no, well, damn. Sorry, Barack.

ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski, who recently said that Utah should be #1 because the BCS is le bullshit, announces that would, in fact, place the Gators at the top of his ballot. There we go, Gene! Please don't disappoint us with any sort of "conviction." After all, you're a talking head and your opinions are allowed to be about as fluid as those of a college freshman.

The Big XII: Exposed?

Last night's Fiesta Bowl was indicative of many things.

Ohio State's senior class still doesn't know how to win a BCS Bowl game. Terrelle Pryor should be a future star while Colt McCoy may have maxed out his potential. And, obviously, the Big XII is simply not as good as we've been led to believe.

You all heard it at the Cotton Bowl. You could even hear it through the TV.

O-ver-rat-ed! *clap* *clap* *clap-clap-clap*

True. Tech was very much overrated. Some may nitpickily disagree with that assessment, saying that such a sentiment downplays our victory but they were, by the very virtue of their #7 ranking and the definition of the word, certainly overrated. They were rated higher than they should have been.

As were Mizzou, Texas, and Oklahoma State. While Northwestern, Ohio State, and Oregon are all good opponents, none are exceedingly great opponents (Oregon's pretty close, though). This is noteworthy because, for the duration of the regular season, we were told that the aforementioned Big XII teams were exceedingly great.

Let's not kid ourselves here; Ohio State sucks. The Big Ten sucks. The Big Ten reeled off an impressive single victory this bowl season. When we learned that the Rose and Fiesta bowls were going to pit USC and Texas against Penn State and Ohio State respectively, we all thought "well, damn, those bowls are going to be lopsided."

Well, USC held up their end of the bargain. Who would have imagined that Texas would have ended the first half trailing to the Buckeyes 6-3? Likely a few assholes from Ohio and that's it. Furthermore, the same assholes would have also predicted Ohio State to actually control a lead over the Longhorns late into the 4th quarter! If the Longhorns were who we thought they were, they wouldn't have required 4th quarter heroics to defeat the Buckeyes. If the Mizzou Tigers were who we thought they were, they wouldn't have gone into overtime against Northwestern. If the Texas Tech Red Raiders were who we thought they were, Michael Crabtree wouldn't have been limited to 30 receiving yards against an undersized Rebel secondary.

"But, but, the Big XII has such great quarterbacks!"

Does it? While sitting here "at work," I jotted down the 32 NFL teams and the conferences from which their #1 quarterback hails.* Would you like to guess how many of them hail from the Big XII? C'mon. Give it a shot.

Yep... one. And his team is playing pretty stellar football without him. The other Big XII quarterback of note is Seattle's Seneca Wallace who is only starting as the replacement to an injured Matt Hasslebeck.

Of the current starting quarterbacks in the Big XII, only Sam Bradford is truly a convincing NFL prospect. The others are too small (Chase Daniel, Todd Reesing), fold under pressure (Graham Harrell), or play in gimmicky offenses (all of them). Matthew Stafford and Jevan Snead both have better pro potential than Colt McCoy, Chase Daniel, and Graham Harrell. Certainly, these quarterbacks are great college quarterbacks but, when we SEC fans see the Mannings, Jay Cutler, Jamarcus Russell**, Jason Campbell, et al every Sunday we get just a bit peeved with the media's love for Big XII quarterbacks.

Jason White won the Heisman over ME?!

With regards to "ratings," we Rebels were, and likely will continue to be, underrated. A poor start to the season will do that to any team because, while we had one of the nations strongest finishes, rankings systems operate based on a team's season-long body of work. We're certainly playing like a top-10 team and, no matter what our final ranking may be, I'll continue to think of this team as such.

Oklahoma, may Tebow have mercy on your foreskin soul.



*I'm not perfect at this so I may have made a mistake. If so, I'm sure I'll get a dozen comments or so about it.

**He sucks balls. I know.

More salt, more wounds

I'm bored, alright?

The Sourest of Grapes

Outside of our bowl matchups and the home-and-home series in 2002 and 3, I've had no real ill will towards Texas Tech. I've always thought Mike Leach to be an innovative offensive coach and I think the Big XII is the only conference which truly rivals the SEC in football tradition and fan fervor.

Hell, I even have family who graduated from Tech and no, I'm not just making that up.

However, despite my otherwise neutral feelings towards Texas Tech, these last few weeks have found me a little more than annoyed with the Red Raider fanbase. I had always heard from friends of mine who are fans of Texas or Texas A&M that Tech fans were "classless clowns."

Nah. I didn't believe it. There are age-old rivalries involved there and all kinds of blind prejudice is likely to result. I figured that folks outside of the SEC wouldn't listen (or really care for) whatever we spew about State, LSU, and the other usual suspects so why should I put much into what they had to say?

Next time, I'll pay more attention.

Just visit any Texas Tech forum. If you'll look back a few weeks you'll see all of the anti-Ole Miss trash. You'll even see it on several Ole Miss sites. Now, just look over the last two days. You'll see some Rebel fans returning the favor, only to be called "classless" by Red Raider fans. We're disgusting and (get this) need to learn how to "win with class."

SCRedRaider, who has over 1000 posts to the Scout forum had this to say:

I have never seen a teams fan base talk sh!t after they won a game. You have certainly done something that I have never seen before.

Alright, I'll cut the guy some slack. Maybe he's only been a Tech fan for, oh, I dunno a couple of months or something. Certainly that's doubtful but, if he had never seen such a thing then he obviously never saw Tech play against Texas A&M in 2001 or Oklahoma in 2005.

Many, many Rebel fans have commented as to how obscenely disrespectful the Red Raiders have been over the last several weeks. Forums and websites on both ends have been overrun with the same old senseless, trite garbage about how Ole Miss "sucks," Mississippi "sucks" (by the way, shit turns real motherfucking personal when you bring the Magnolia State into this), Texas Tech deserves better, yadda yadda yadda. Hell, your own players dogged the Rebels and the Cotton Bowl during press conferences!

Yet, we're not supposed to talk trash because the game is over...

Yeah, that's real fucking lame, Tech. We deal with LSU, State, Alabama, and Arkansas (who obviously picked up the art of annoying bullshit from you back in the old Southwest Conference days) every single season so the fact that your antics and general assclownery have caused a stir among we Rebels is pretty damned significant.

Granted, there are some commendable Raiders on the Internet who are civil and mature about these kinds of things and Mike Leach showed our team more respect than most SEC head coaches would have so I do not mean to suggest that everyone affiliated with Texas Tech behaves in this manner.

Furthermore, I am not necessarily defending the Rebs who have trolled your forums and/or treated some of you with disrespect at the Cotton Bowl. A lot of them have been damned embarrassments. My point in all of this is that, with regards to "class," Texas Tech fans are towards the bottom of the Big XII.

A whole host of you deserve every. single. bit. of. this. shit. If you can't take what you deserve, then either move the fuck out of your glass houses or quit throwing stones.

Post Game: Cotton Bowl

Sorry this didn’t go up last night, but the day started for me at 6 AM after precisely zero hours of sleep. A brief work shift, lunch at KFC, an awesome football game, and Evan Williams white label put me out cold until almost midnight. Having said that, here is a hastily thrown-together set of post game observations:

1. Texas Tech did not play a poor game. Your team was not prepared for the intensity that Ole Miss brought on every play. Sure, a lack of talent in the secondary caused us to give up some points, but Graham Harrell's pocket was usually a small and unpleasant place to be. The receivers got jammed hard, and manned up by guys who should not be able to hang with them athletically. The linebackers occupied throwing lanes and chased down guys in space. There were none of the wide open spaces that Tech had become used to. And the defense? Tech's defense was far worse than I could have hoped for. Assuming that Tech had an average SEC offense, and played in the SEC (so they wouldn't be helped by getting a lead early, time of possession, etc.), they would have had the worst defense in the conference. Bank on it. So no, you didn't play poorly, you just got beaten.

2. Pat Summerall is a bad overbite away from being Lou Holtz. Terrible. He made many mistakes about personnel on both teams. Oh well. It starting being amusing when we stopping being terrible and took control. I especially enjoyed hearing that Michael Oher might be a first-round pick in NEXT April’s draft, and hearing about Ole Miss running back Inrick Davis.

3. Tech is a good team, and offensively, the game didn't go much differently than they predicted. Obviously, Crabtree wasn't 100%, and would have had more production had he been healthy, but the main thing that limited him was pressure on Harrell. I love that we got to see one of the nation’s most hyped quarterbacks flinch in the face of pressure, throwing errantly off his back foot and hoping for the best. Still, their offensive line did a much better job of holding back Peria Jerry and company than I expected, and the receivers displayed good hands and good routes for the most part. We just robbed them of the ability to make plays in space, and they weren’t able to dink and dunk it forever.

4. The Ole Miss offense is for real. We didn’t show it early, but the lucky convergence of Jevan Snead, Michael Oher, Dexter McCluster, Shay Hodge, Mike Wallace, Kent Austin, and Houston Nutt makes Ole Miss the 2^nd best offensive unit in the conference, and one of the better units nationally. It is hard to scheme against a team that can literally do anything with the football like the Rebels currently can. They were certainly the reason we won this game, and putting up 38 points (47 minus the pick-6 and safety) against anyone when you have three turnovers is pretty good.

5. Big XII fans are silly. Honestly, look at yourselves. Put away the hand signs, the hair gel, the silly outfits… Talk to most self-respecting SEC fans, and you’ll talk about the upcoming football contest, not about “How BAD UR teems gonna L00se, SUCKER, LOl.” Of course, there are fans all across the country that put far too much personal pride on the line when their team takes the field, but this crowd of Red Raiders seemed to take this game as something personal, and their collective psyche had a hard time considering that maybe their team wasn’t as awesome as they’d first thought. I dunno, maybe Rebel fans are just used to realistic expectations, and realize that sometimes things don’t work out like you’ve planned. We’re only occasionally used to this whole ‘winning’ thing, and I hope that if it continues, we’ll continue to handle it gracefully.

6. The national media is silly. Dear ESPN: stop talking about the teams that look cool and have interesting, feel-good stories, and start talking about the teams that know how to play football. I guess sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s who, but by now, it seems like the SEC is usually the most dominant conference, it’s usually easy to tell who the best teams are in other conferences, and there are only a few BCS buster teams worth talking about, ever (Boise, TCU, and Utah). I hate seeing undeserving teams get coverage because of their location and/or the size of their fan base.

7. Rankings. Here’s how I’d stack up the top 10 or so (I know the games haven’t been played out yet, more on that later). I’m basing this on (get ready!!) how good each team is RIGHT NOW, rather than penalizing a team for losses that happened in September.

1. Florida (provided they beat Oklahoma)

2. USC

3. Utah (hard to choose between 2 and 3, but hard to argue against USC’s late dominance)

4. Texas (provided they beat Ohio State)

5. Oklahoma (provided they don’t get blown out. Flip-flop UF and OU if OU wins)

6. Ole Miss (I’m not backing down here. These 5 teams are the only teams that could beat a healthy, well prepared Ole Miss team right now)

7. Oregon

8. TCU

9. Penn State

10. Alabama

11. Georgia

After that it gets fuzzy, but I defy you to claim that Ole Miss, right now, isn’t a top 10 team. And that’s pretty cool.

We’ll probably post more about this game and its ramifications in the future, but for now, I’ll stop taking it about and bask in the awesomeness just a while longer.

Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34 - Postgame Ruminations

I'm certain Whiskey Wednesday will provide a more in-depth, vulgar, and somewhat intoxicated postgame report but, for now, I'd like to offer my thoughts.

We dominated Texas Tech. If you nullify our mistakes (a pair of fumbles, Jevan's pick-six, and Marshay's stepping out of bounds) we would have been able to easily win by a margin greater than 13. Don't get me wrong; a 13-point victory over a top-10 team is fantastic even if it is, at times, sloppy.

Our offense was fantastic. Our defense, considering the high caliber talents on Tech's offense, got the job done. Our special teams were serviceable.

Most noteworthy, though, was our coaching. The offense was an excellent blend of conservative, traditional plays and innovative plays which utilized misdirection and spacing to create mismatches in the open field. We also managed the clock almost as well as one possibly could. At the half, we had more than double the time of possession and towards the end of the game we began to see the real benefit of holding onto the ball for as long as we were able to. In the second half, Tech simply could not stop our running game. Their defenders were sucking wind and absolutely depleted.

Defensively, we blitzed early and often. This surprised me in that one would assume that to be a pretty bad defensive tactic against a Mike Leach offense but it worked. Certainly, it left some folks open and gave up some big plays but, as with our offensive strategy, it served well to weaken their offensive line.

Simply put, we defeated Texas Tech by wearing their lines down.

Wasn't really "feeling the Cotton Bowl"

Of course, this is a huge win for our program. Not only have we lifted ourselves out of the SEC cellar, but we have also proven that these coaches can have us prepared for almost any game. The national news media (especially a certain fat asshole), recruits, and, most importantly, the rest of our conference are definitely taking notice of our victory. We embarrassed a top-10 football team which many felt was a worthy contendor for the BCS Title. Leading up to the game, just about every member of the major sports media, the Texas Tech fanbase, and even a few of their players predicted a blowout victory for the Red Raiders.

They deserved better than the play some 8-4 team in the Cotton Bowl. They were going to do to us what we would do to Oklahoma State. This guy was somehow going to scare Peria Jerry.

We heard it all month long but we nor our players listened. Yesterday we had a confidence and swagger that I could have never imagined as an Ole Miss fan. If an Ed Orgeron led team had fallen behind by two touchdowns in the first quarter, would they have turned around and won by 13? This team isn't afraid to play anyone and that attitude is what won our 9 games.

Shocking Texas Tech and the 90-something percent of folks who thought we didn't have a chance gave me (and, I imagine, all of us) an incredible feeling. Watching Graham Harrell put his head in his hands, seeing the Tech OL rack up personal foul penalties because they couldn't handle losing, and reading the meltdown on some Tech websites were all incredibly satisfying.

We were foolishly doubted. We had our program dogged by everyone outside of the Southeast. You won't see that happening next season. Ole Miss is here. Get 'cha popcorn ready.

Happy New Years everyone

Tired, hungover, and stinky are the three words which best describe me right now. I had an excellent night last night and I hope everyone else did and did so safely.

The SEC is currently 2-0 in bowls. South Carolina is currently putting the SEC's undefeated record in jeopardy, but et's hope they turn this one around because if they don't we'll hear a bunch of bitching from everybody else.

"Oh look at teh SEC losing haha they sya they're so great and then dey LOOOOSE@!"

Whatever.

Anyway, congratulations to LSU and Vanderbilt on their bowl victories. Also, an especially warranted congrats goes to Vandy for winning their first bowl in 53 years.

Here's to a great 2009. Wreck Tech and Hotty Toddy.

Chris Low fucking lays down the law

Chris Low, ESPN.com's SEC blogger, recently hosted a live chat. Check out this question and answer:

OH. SNAP.

His Truth Is Marching On

Most have you have probably seen this video already, but for those of you who have not here is the best highlight video of our win over the Gators. It is one of those rare videos that does not subject you to the musical "talents" of Nickelback or Welcome to the Jungle. Enjoy.

Post-'Game' Report

Well Ole Miss fans... wonder why 'game' is in quotations in the title? Games have a set system of rules, adhered to in the spirit of equitable competition. Then there was this 'game...' It started with 7 free points awarded to Wake. Apparently, it is a sound and legitimate strategy to push a punt return blocker into his returner after a fair catch, cause a fumble, and recover. Seven free Wake Forest points. Fine. Continue to the rest of the game, where Ole Miss beats Wake 28-20. No matter, however, officials to the rescue! Pass interference call on Marshay Green on Wake's late drive. Marshay has the position, and his eyes on the ball. Usually, pass interference on the defense does not occur in this situation, unless the officials have interest vested in the outcome of the game. 15 yards, automatic first down. Also, thanks for reviewing the obvious Ole Miss TD beforehand, just to make sure. Glad to know we're interested in the fair outcome. So then, with seconds left and 41 yards to the FG, Skinner drops back IN THE POCKET, throws the ball out of bounds, 15 feet over the receiver's head, and flags remain in pockets. While Wake fans are well-versed in rules involving double-dribbles and moving picks, they (and officials) might be surprised to learn that such a play is the classical rule-bending situation that constituted the inception of the INTENTIONAL GROUNDING rule. Penalty at the spot of the foul, loss of down. Instead, 10 free points. Wake (read: Duke basketball) fans may not be convinced, but Ole Miss wins this game with legit officiating 8 of 10 times. We are the better team. You have no Snead. You have no McCluster. You have no Bolden. You have no Hodge. You have an arbitrarily assigned pre-season ranking, protected as long as you are the only ranked ACC team. Enjoy it.
Ole Miss gets fucked out of a game a year, on average, and you've already cashed in.

While Ole Miss won this game on the field, here are a few observations that may have caused us to win by two or three touchdowns:

You have to wonder why we kept it in the Wild Rebel so often. Dex throws a stupid pick, we get stuffed a couple times... Also, why not run it more often on 1st and 2nd down? We have a clear physical advantage. We are better on both lines. Use it. Use Bolden to his strengths. Don't make Jevan win the game for us in the air. No doubt, Jevan did win us the game, but ended up losing the 'game.' Guess you have to play with the hand you're dealt, which meant giving Wake as few offensive plays as possible, even though we stopped them three times more than the scoreboard indicated (the personal foul kicker interference on Trahan was Busch League).

Tackle better. This is something that has improved more, but must improve more if we are to beat SEC teams. Watching Auburn today, the reason they won despite some turnovers was their sound tackling and quickness to the ball. We were lax in that department probably six or eight times, allowing a couple of first downs that shouldn't have been converted, and a sack or two that should've been wrapped up.

Whether you or an Ole Miss or a Wake fan, you have to agree: we have the players and the coach in place. This game was winnable, but, fair or not (I say bullshit), the breaks went Wake's way at home as the only ranked team in a BCS conference struggling for validity. Ole Miss will win some SEC games. Wake, an ACC title contender, would win three or four in the SEC.

I still feel good about the Rebs. Wake, enjoy your 'win' in this 'game.'

The SEC: Undeniably the best part deux

This article, from the Houma (LA) Today, details the impact of each conference on the NFL in terms of starting football players. According to the piece, Tennessee has the most NFL starters (20), Kentucky has the fewest (1), and we're somewhere towards the bottom (7). It also breaks down particular positions and explores which conference produces the most talent position-wise.

It's a good read if you've got 5 minutes to waste.

The SEC: Undeniably the best

Chris Milam of CollegeFootballNews.com has compiled the 46 reasons why the SEC is better than The Big Televen, The Big XII, The ACC, Notre Dame, and all of the other usual suspects.

Here is part 1, here is part 2, and here is part 3. Enjoy.

My favorite part of the Milam's piece is most undeniably reason #2. The women of the SEC. Thank G.A.Y. I'm from Mississippi.

I also thoroughly enjoyed his highlight of the Bama/Tennessee rivalry, accented by this guy:

"Neyland Stadium look like a garbage truck worker convention"