Ole Miss - 31, National champs - 30.... You honestly think this is cool?

"Oh my God, we just beat Florida!"

These are the words of a one Juco All-American, a rogue bloggeur with a love and knowledge of Ole Miss unlike most. At the time of this utterance, the Ole Miss Rebels had pulled off what then seemed to be the most unlikely of upsets. It was a damn, damn good feeling which proved to be the first in a long string of good feelings. This season was incredibly memorable and absolutely thrilling to watch (and subsequently blog). During the points-orgy that was the 2nd half of our season, our middle fingers flew high, bourbon flowed like the Mississippi, and every Hotty was Toddied.

Yet, now, after all of those successes, folks are still stuck on beating Florida. They want to sell you ugly t-shirts and bumper stickers and whatnot because "DAMMIT WE BEAT FLORIDA WHOOO!" You would think that after having defeated the Gators during three of our last four meetings that we'd be used to it by now (ooooh, burn) but this is still some incredible novelty to many of us. Yes, it's a memorable game, and one of the single greatest games in the history of all of Ole Miss football, but to make that the focus of our very successful 2008-9 season is pretty durned foolish.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time I've seen we Rebels fail to see the forest for the trees. In the original Abner's on the corner of University and South Lamar, there hangs a copy of the 1977 Notre Dame football schedule. The Irish were crowned the national champions of that season despite having one blemish on their record: a 20-13 loss to Ole Miss in Jackson. At that game, Joe Montana sat on the bench as the backup quarterback for the Irish as he watched the domers shock the country by falling to the Ole Miss Rebels.

Yet, this example is different from its modern counterpart because, for those times, such celebration of a single game was necessary. This is because the 1977 Ole Miss season was pretty forgettable otherwise. The Rebs finished that season without a bowl appearance, having lost to Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State, LSU and *gulp* Southern Miss (the State game was later forfeited, but still).

Why do this? Do you think this hurts the feelings of Florida fans or something? Well, it doesn't. After watching the BCS title game at a bar armed to the teeth with Florida fans, an Ole Miss cohort of mine began shouting "we beat the national champions!" The Florida fans effected enough to respond generally said things along the lines of "WHOOOOOOOO FUCK YES MOTHERFUCK YEAH BCS CHAMPS MOTHERFUCKERS!"

A few of them even thanked us for "lighting a fire under their asses" and took the time to congratulate us on our win over Texas Tech.

"The SEC owns the Big XII, broseph!" Yeah, I got that and, while incredibly douchey in that uniquely Florida way, it goes to show that our win over them isn't so much a blip on their radar screen. Hell, most Florida fans are glad they lost to us early in the season as opposed to shitting the bed against someone else (Florida State, Bama) with bigger BCS implications later on.

We became a nail in Tommy Tuberville's pine box, royally embarrassed LSU in Tiger Stadium, and stunned 90-something-percent of Americans after smacking around the Texas Tech Red Raiders of the "mighty" Big XII South. Yet, all some of us seem to give a rat's ass about was beating Florida in the Swamp.

We're the shin snappin', fin slangin', Jevan Snead and Dexter McCluster havin' Cotton Bowl Champions. We're not some bullshit, vicarious National Champions. Let's quit dwelling on that game and focus on our successful season at large.

Of course, it's more than alright to have cheered for the Gators in the BCS Championship Game. The Sooners are a dastardly, bastardly group and, as a fan of an SEC school (that isn't Georgia), you're expected to pull for the Gators in such a situation. But you should pull for them for the sake of the conference as a whole; not just for the benefit of Ole Miss. Their defeat of Oklahoma marked the third consecutive year in which the crystal football was hoisted high by SEC hands which makes, not just one, but five of our victories that much more impressive. The SEC IS the best conference out there and we no longer need to waste our time trying to prove that.



P.S. - Alright, I will admit that making Tim Tebow cry still reminds me of all of the good things in life (Sex, pie, the 2nd Amendment, et cetera)

P.P.S. - Oh, and to whoever my temporary "broseph" may have been that evening: the SEC does, in fact, own the Big XII. Suck it, SEC haters.

National Championship Questions

Not lost on regular followers of The Cup is that fact that the Southeastern Conference is likely to house the national champion for the third year in a row after Florida plays Oklahoma tonight in Miami or the fact that Southeastern Conference teams are undefeated in the BCS National Championship Game. Often lost in the luster of the SEC's brilliance on the biggest stage of all is the Big 12's record in this game - though our readers can likely recall it as easy as I can. Underdogs Oklahoma and Texas claimed victories in 2000 and 2005, favorite Oklahoma failed against LSU in 2003, and heavy underdogs Nebraska and Oklahoma fell even short of low expectations in 2001 and 2004. Claiming five appearances in the first ten games, the Big 12 has avoided the reputation of being a group of title game disappointments exclusively because of the superpower of Vince Young and the futility of Ohio State.

While the past is prologue, though, this game takes place in shiny, new 2009. Lingering questions about these particular editions of these particular teams exist.

Is Chris Brown enough to keep this offense two-dimensional?
Demarco Murray, Oklahoma's All-Big 12 running back, is out of the game, leaving the Sooners to rely on Murray's backup, Chris Brown. Of course, Brown, the 210-pound junior, pulled down 1110 yards this season running behind the kind of girth one might expect from Oklahoma's offensive line. But, in the Sooners' biggest game against the Texas Longhorns, Brown touched the ball 7 times. Brown does not have credibility in the high-pressure situations. Nevertheless, with three Conference First Teamers rumbling in front of him, Oklahoma will force Florida to respect the ground.

Is SEC speed going to folks' heads?
If someone writes a paragraph about the National Championship Game, the speed of the Southeastern Conference might be referenced more than any other person or concept associated with this contest. Can Oklahoma match Florida's speed? The Gators are, no doubt, fast with, reportedly, five players on the team clocking sub-4.2 times in the forty. Maddeningly fragile Percy Harvin is one of them and will be about 90% healthy tonight. And besides, Florida has outstanding speed in the secondary that promises to frustrate Sam Bradford's oft-hailed accuracy. But, it might not even be the most important statistic. Doesn't anyone care about, oh I don't know, margin of victory? The Gators beat opponents by an average of 34.2 points, while Oklahoma won by an average margin of 29.5 points. But Florida's speed might be a game-changer against Oklahoma's moribund special teams.

Why isn't anyone talking about Oklahoma's most famous athlete alumnus, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin?
Because wrestling is "sports entertainment, not sports.

Wait, doesn't Florida have an offense, too?
Oh, yeah, they do! Damndest thing, huh? Florida scored over 40 points against top-50 defenses LSU (36), Kentucky (37), Georgia (28), Vanderbilt (29), South Carolina (11), and Florida State (13). Oklahoma has faced two top 50 defenses, against which they scored less than 40 points. Those statistics need to be controlled for the fact that the SEC teams listed above only faced one offense (Florida, themselves) that would turn any heads.

Would Ole Miss beat Oklahoma by more than five touchdowns?
Certainly.

Does this game definitively answer the conference dominance question for 2008?
Absolutely. If Oklahoma wins, the Big 12 will finish with a 5-3 record in the bowl season, two BCS winners, and the National Champion. But, if the Gators win, the Southeastern Conference will finish 6-2 in bowls with two wins over Big 12 teams. The Pac-10 can flaunt its gaudy 5-0 bowl record until it is blue in the face, but that does not redeem the putrid record of its five teams with losing seasons. The discussion is clearly between the Big 12 and the SEC. Tonight's game settles that discussion, as well.

Alright, so I'm a Damned Flip-Flopper

Kinda like this guy, but with smaller teeth

I, for the longest while, was not a fan of the idea of having the D1 college football champion determined via tournament. I never really thought football was the place for “Cinderella stories” and I still cannot think of another sports system which places such emphasis on literally every single game of the season.

However, looking at how the regular season has ended, how could any Ole Miss fan not, at the very least, consider the novelty of having a NCAA D1 football playoff?

While I don’t think such a system would ever be expansive enough to even consider including an 8-4 squad, would a team ending their season the way our Rebels have not be a serious tournament opponent? Whereas “inconsistency” was the exemplary noun of our season’s first half, “mudhole-in-ass-stompers” was the same for the second (or rather, the last quarter). In such a tournament, one would certainly be remiss to completely disregard Ole Miss which, according to many, is the conference’s hottest team right now.

Think about last season’s NFL playoffs and Superbowl. After a slow start to the season, the New York Football Giants, led by a very talented defensive line (*nudge nudge*) and a quarterback who had finally come into his own (*wink wink*), gelled into the hottest team in football. They upset the NFC favorite Cowboys, the NFC 2nd favorite Packers, and the 18-0 Patriots because they got hot at the right time.

While not without controversy of its own (teams resting their starters for several weeks after clinching a berth, are “Cinderellas” worthy of championships, etc?), nobody will ever deny the New York Giants their championship. Nobody’s going to share the title with them. Nobody can rightfully bitch and moan about having been snubbed for a shot to win it all.

Right now, Texas has all the right in the world bitch and moan about the system.

Let’s be frank: The Longhorns deserve to be in the Big XII title game over Oklahoma. Why? Because losing on a last second play to Texas Tech the best wideout college football has seen in a long time in Lubbock is not nearly as damning as losing by 10 on a neutral field against your bitter arch-rival. Texas, we, the informed, are sorry your thumping of A&M wasn’t on a Saturday during primetime. We’re also sorry that a bunch of assholes who don’t know nearly enough about college football (I’m a bit biased here but, as far as I’m concerned, most bloggers pay more attention to the sport they roguishly cover than the everyday newspaper sports writer) went all “ooh” and “ahh” over Oklahoma. Texas and Oklahoma are both national championship worthy and only a tournament format would allow both of them to compete.

However, despite all of the ESPN, blogosphere, and water cooler driven ado over the BCS, we all know that we won’t see any sort of major system overhaul for a long, long time. Sit back, take a pill, and enjoy the controversy because, love it or hate it, it makes the greatest sport on Earth that much more unique.