Back to winning

Winning is here again.  Isn't grand!  I was really worried at the end of the third quarter.  I had that pain in my stomach.  You know, the one we all had after last week's lost.  But, the Rebs came through.  Vandy's next.

A new day begins

Fellow Rebel fans a new season is upon us.  It is like Christmas morning.  What gifts will this season hold?  Will we get a shiny new red wagon or a bag of switches. Only time will tell.  We've already received two fabulous gifts. What's next?

Get ready to open the Jacksonville St. present.

Hotty Toddy!

2010: HTB Questions

(1) How will Masoli contribute?- This is not a discussion I dreamed I would be having a few months ago.   With his experience and talent, I would say a great deal.  Let's hope he sticks to the straight and narrow.

(2) Top 10 recruiting class- Who said Nutt can't recruit.  Let's see how we finish in Feb.

(3) How will we finish?  This might depend on how we start.  If we are to finish with a decent record we have to have a good September.

(4) What will our new mascot be? Lions, tigers and bears... oh my.. well we know it won't be a tiger. Those are a dime a dozen.  Not sure a hotty and a toddy will work either..

What else?

My CBS Blog poll for Week 3

Below is my picks for this week's CBS blog poll.  Thoughts? How would you rank the top 25?

Rank	Team
1	Florida
2	Texas
3	Alabama
4	Mississippi
5	Penn State
6	California
7	LSU
8	Southern Cal
9	Ohio State
10	Boise State
11	Virginia Tech
12	Oklahoma
13	Miami (Florida)
14	Cincinnati
15	Oklahoma State
16	Georgia
17	North Carolina
18	Georgia Tech
19	Houston
20	Auburn
21	UCLA
22	Utah
23	Texas Tech
24	Florida State
25	Brigham Young

Two blowouts, swine flu, season begins

The Rebels started out sluggish again tonight but rolled to a comfortable 53-7 win.  After an odd start to 2009, the Rebels real season begins on Thursday against South Carolina.  This will be a true test of where we are. 
South Carolina used several turnovers in 2008 to barely defeat the Rebels.  The SI jinx.  Many would argue this should be a revenge game for Ole Miss.  I think Nutt should sell it that way.

I am a bit uneasy about the game Thursday night.  First I have no feel for this team.  After the first two games, both huge blowouts,  I can't say if I think we look better than the end of last year.  The Rebels seemed lackluster in both wins.  Was it the flu?  The week off in the early season?  Who knows.  Second, it's an SEC game.  Anything can happen when two SEC teams meet.  Third, South Carolina will be pumped to play a top 5 team.  Finally, South Carolina always packs their stadium and it can get loud. 

Rebels move up in both major polls

Ole Miss moved to number 6 in the AP poll and number 8 in the coaches poll after the 45-14 victory over Memphis. The Rebels continue to be in uncharted territory for my lifetime. This is the highest the Rebels have been ranked in my 36 years.

Memphis game observations

The game started out well for the Rebels.  The team seemed fired up and we scored 10 points early.  Then it seemed the spirit of the team evaporated until the 4th quarter.  Normally, Ole Miss fans would be happy with a 31 point win.  However, this time there are some folks who felt we should have done better.  Here are my thoughts on the game:

(1) This is the game for Memphis.  One could argue that this is more important to Memphis than any bowl game they play in.  A win over Ole Miss in any season is huge but with the Rebels being in the top 10 a win for Memphis would have been the biggest win in school history.  Bottom line, they were up for the game.  For us, it's a game we should win.  So it's hard for the team to be hyped for the game.

(2)  First game of the season.  It seems most teams play sloppy the first game of the season. 

(3) We finished.  The most important thing for me this weekend is how we finished.  We pored it on in the 4th.  This will be important for the rest of the season.

(4) Our  D only game up one drive the entire game. 

(5)  Jevan was very mobile in the pocket and eluded several possible sacks.

SEC Sat.

There will not be a Rebel game tomorrow but there will be a multitude of SEC games that span the length of the day.

I'll start by watching some UK v. Miami of Ohio, which is being played here in Cincinnati but it isn't exciting enough for me to drag myself to the game. (especially with all the other games going on). I'll flip over occasionally to the UT game. Won't be much of a game but I want to see how they look. Then it's on to the Georgia game. I'll flip to the MSU game during commercials. Finally to cap it off I'll catch the Alabama, VTU game. Oh and I guess I'll catch some of the LSU game.

2009 season begins: Week 1 Game Week

It's finally here. It's time to strike up the band, wind up the cheerleaders, set the DVR's and put on the pads. 2009 is here.

It's all new and fresh. Everyone is #1 and undefeated. Everyone has a shot at their conference championship. Soon their will be grunts, screams and tears. Week by week teams will fall by the wayside. Some will get back up and make it a season to remember. Others might never fall and finish on top of the world.

It remains to be seen how the Rebels will fare this year. Soon we will find out.

Hotty Toddy: Are you ready?

Less than two weeks, are you ready?

Wow, time flies. In less than two weeks the most highly anticipated Ole Miss season of my life begins. This is new territory for us Reb fans born after 1970. It's nice getting all this attention. It seems each day College Football Live has something to say about us. There is plenty of news articles written on the up and coming Rebs.

Regardless of what happens this season, I'm digging this.

ESPN's new regional lineup good for Ole Miss exposure

If being in the preseason top 10 isn't enough to bring awareness of the Rebels then the new regional ESPN affiliates should push it over the top. The new ESPN regional games, replacing the Raycom(JP) games will be shown in markets such as New York, Phoenix and St. Louis.
In the past the Rebels have had the majority of their games on the regional SEC broadcast. This year the Rebels are likely to have fewer games on regional TV and more on on national TV. (due to the high ranking). However, anytime the rebels play in places such as TX and NY it can only help in recruiting.

The year of the Rebel?

Will the next 12 months be the year of the Rebel? Baseball is one game away from the CWS and all the preseason magazines have the football team ranked in the top 10 with a possible BCS bowl game. Basketball looks strong. So will this finally be the year that Ole Miss dominates the SEC in all major sports? Time will tell but for now, let's book our ticket to the CWS.

SEC West, the Big XII of 2009?

I was looking through my new SI when I found SI's top 10 for 2009. I was excited that Ole Miss is #6 and ranked the highest in my lifetime. But then I realized that the SEC owns almost 50% of the SI's Top 10. There are four SEC teams in the top 10. (Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU) What's even more amazing is that the SEC West has three of the four SEC teams in the Top 10. Is there another division or even conference that can match up with the SEC West?

We all know the hype around the Big XII South this year. The hype stopped when the Big XII South went 1-3 in post season. Everyone assumed the Big XII South was the best division in college football. Of course they were wrong. Let's up this time the pundits have it right!

What's next?

Here are a few things to get you through the football slow time:

(1) Basketball- Yes we lost three outstanding players to injury but we did beat Arkansas.

(2) Baseball- Baseball is just around the corner. This should be an exciting year with an upgraded stadium.

(3) Recruiting- How high will Ole Miss move up in rankings to finish off the season.

(4) Super Bowl- No Manning but watch just for fun.

(5) 2009 schedule- A 12th game with a possible big BCS opponent in the works. Should be interesting who we play

Early 2009 predictions

It's already started. Minutes after the National Championship game, pundits started the punditry. So now that the insanity has started where does Ole Miss land in all of the projections? Below are a couple. I'll post more when they become available.

Chicago Tribune:
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma State
4. Alabama
5. Oklahoma
6. USC
7. Ole Miss
8. Iowa
9.Penn State
10. Utah

Orlando Sentinel:
1. Florida
2. Oklahoma
3. USC
4. Texas
5. Oklahoma State
6. Ole Miss
7. Virginia Tech
8. Alabama
9. Ohio State
10. LSU

SI:
(1) Florida
(2) Texas
(3) USC
(4) Oklahoma
(5) Alabama
(6) Ole Miss
(7) Oklahoma State
(8) Utah
(9) LSU
(10) Virginia Tech

Both Herbstreet and Cowherd have us in their preseason Top 10.

Final Rankings #14, #15

Ole Miss finished the 2008 football season ranked #14 in the AP poll and #15 in the coaches poll. The Rebels enjoy their best ranking since Eli's last year in 03.

Who will we play in 09?

So who else will we play in 2009? According to NationalChamps.net future schedules, the following universities still need out of conferences foes for next year. Who do you want to play?

Washington State
Virginia
Tulsa
Tulane
TCU
Rutgers
Penn State
Oklahoma
Ohio
North Texas
North Carolina State
UNC
Michigan
Louisville
Louisiana-Lafayette
Kansas State
Houston
Florida State
Florida Atlantic
Duke
Colorado State
Central Michigan
California
BYU
Boston College
Ball State
Ark. State
Akron

2009 Cotton Bowl videos

Here are a few short videos I took at the 2009 Cotton Bowl:



Ole Miss cheerleaders



Halftime



Pride of the South at halftime



Rebelettes at halftime



More Pride of the South at halftime



Houston Nutt after the game.



Ole Miss band celebrating the victory.



Celebration after 47-34 victory



More celebration



And more




Pride of the South continues the celebration.

Screen Shots

As you have seen by now, Ole Miss has an opening page for the website selling Cotton Bowl tickets. I thought it would be interesting to see what the other SEC bowl teams had on their front pages.

Here is what I found:

Alabama- Nothing- Guess they are still upset over losing the SEC championship

Vandy:

South Carolina- Basketball pictures. I would think they would be excited about the Outback bowl.

Georgia- Nothing about their bowl game. Again, I think they are ho hum about the Capital One bowl.

Florida:

LSU: Nothing about a bowl game but they did have a picture of the Tiger in the snow.

Kentucky:

And Texas Tech:


Oh and even they are not going bowling, I couldn't resist: Miss St: I especially like the upper left picture.

Ole Miss up to #20 in AP, 24 in Coaches

Ole Miss climbs two spots to #20 in the AP poll.

Ole Miss climbs one spot in the USA today poll.

I'll update when other polls become available.