Nutt vs. The Hat

Well, it's here. Ole Miss vs. LSU. Biggest rivalry game of the year. The Magnolia Bowl. The 50th anniversary of the season when Ole Miss beat LSU 21-0 in the Sugar Bowl and only allowed a total of 76 yards of offense to the Tigers.

Lot of questions about tomorrow's big game in Oxford. Will Jordan Jefferson play and if so, will he be effective? Will Dexter McCluster continue his amazing display on offense? What will Jon Chavis' defense do to contain Dexter? If Peterson shuts down Shay Hodge, will Jevan be able to connect to other receivers? Will the new offensive line for Ole Miss have another good day opening holes and giving Snead time to find those receivers? Will Sandra Bullock lead the Hotty Toddy before the game? Will the Klan realize how idiotic they look and sound in front of Fulton Chapel in the "free speech zone" before they leave (hopefully for good)?

Most Rebel fans will tell you that the last two games of the year are both big rivalry games, but with different aspects to the games. LSU is the rival we love to beat more than anyone else. MSU is the team we dread losing to more than anyone else.

More often than not this game is played close. I don't expect anything different tomorrow at 2:30. Vegas was right last week and I was wrong. I thought UT and their vaunted defense would come in and shut down the Rebel offense. Again this week, Vegas has Ole Miss as 4 point favorites. An unranked team playing at home against a top 10 team is favored by 4? I would LOVE to believe that Ole Miss wins this game by 4 or more and marches on to the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day.

But, I can't. Don't get me wrong. I'll be cheering for the Rebels and hope they pull it out. But, my skeptical Rebel heart has been broken too many times. LSU wins this one in a close one by 3 and the Rebels get a repeat trip to Dallas as a consolation prize after running by the Leghumpers next week.

GO TO HELL LSU!
HOTTY TODDY!
FORWARD REBELS!

See Dexter Run - and Run and Run and...

Dexter McCluster didn't much appreciate the Tennessee defense talking trash about his size. Or speed. “They talked the whole game. They chirped and chirped and chirped. We’d get a 15-yard run and they’d talk trash. We’d get another one and they kept chirping. They never seemed to get enough and it kept me motivated,” he smiled. “After the long run (71 yards for the game-sealing TD) I thought they’d quit, but they didn’t. Then, I had to laugh.”

Apparently, Coach O's brilliant move to make his defensive linemen run laps around the team hotel at 6 yesterday morning didn't help them have the freshest of legs. At least, that's what the rumor was according to UT's own radio man, Bob Kesling.

I've been to many, many Rebel games in my lifetime. But the one I went to Saturday was probably one of, if not the, most impressive displays I've ever seen in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Dexter had 282 rushing and 324 all-purpose yards against the 3rd best defense in the SEC and 13th best in the nation. That's the most rushing yards given up by a Tennessee defense in 113 years of playing football. It was incredible and surreal. And while I enjoyed every minute of it (including watching my 2 year old daughter experience her first Ole Miss game and scream Hotty Toddy early and often), I had to wonder where this offensive gameplan was back in September in Columbia or in Auburn a few weeks ago.

But all Rebel fans and players can do is look ahead to the last two games against their biggest rivals - the coonasses (LSU) and the dumbasses (MSU). Win out and Ole Miss is probably playing in the Capital One Bowl. Split the games and the Cotton Bowl is still possible. Either outcome is very good. But still not what we dreamed of for this season. Oh well.

I'll write about the upcoming game against the boys from Baton Rouge later, but will end this post with one of my favorite poems:

I'm a Rebel,
I'm a Rebel,
I'm a Rebel through and through.
And I'd rather be a Rebel,
Than a coonass from LSU!

This game used to mean so much more...

I really enjoyed the LSU-Auburn rivalry in its heyday. During the early- and mid- "aughts" this game decided the SEC West - and was always a supreme example of defensive ferocity.

At least LSU still plays defense.

Will Muschamp no longer incurs sideline warnings or headbutts players for (either of) the Tigers, but Gus Malzahn (at least until two weeks ago) and John Chavis have restored some luster to the assistant ranks for each team. As compelling as the new Auburn offense v. new LSU defense matchup is, however, the LSU offense v. Auburn defense matchup has the potential to be a stink fest. LSU's offense has, except for the last two minutes of the Georgia game, made defenses from Athens to Seattle look great all season. Then again, if Charles Scott and Keiland Williams are going to start looking like DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart anytime this season, Auburn's defense will certainly supply the butt.

If you want to hear a prediction, you should know that I've been predicting the arrival of LSU's running attack all season long. We're still waiting for that. I can confidently predict that something weird or sensational (having little or nothing to do with the competition itself) will happen. (See the barn burner, the cigar chomp, the no-call pass interference and, of course, the Lesticles game.) I've read that Coach Cheesedick has reported on Alabama sports radio that the War Chickens will don their road whites in Tiger Stadium, "forcing" LSU to wear navy (it really does look purple in the stadium, though). Unfortunately I don't get Alabama sports talk radio in New Detroit, so I don't know what was said. I also don't know if anyone really feels like they have a handle on the SEC-white jerseys-at-home rule, though.

The game is at night on the deuce. As incredible as it is for Auburn to lose three in a row, I think LSU steals this one. Whatever you do, don't take the "over" on points.

Get Well Soon, Tim Tebow

"If it's [noise] a factor, Tim won't play ...", Urban Meyer said considering the effect on his banged-up quarterback. "If noise is bothering Tim, Tim won't be in the game. That means he's still symptomatic."

Are either of these teams any good?

Herschel has a fantastic preview to the CBS game of the week, farther down on this page. These teams are more similar than they're different - and that includes the failure (so far) to live up to this year's expectations. No, I haven't forgotten that LSU comes into Athens with fewer losses than the Dawgs. It's just that every week, the Tigers keep it too close for comfort. They have us keeping an eye on Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, hoping all of them realize miracle seasons, and Washington - hoping for a shocking Pac10 run - just to legitimize all of the close games.

No more cupcakes.

Substantively speaking, this week's preview of LSU at Mississippi State should look a lot like last week's preview: continue to develop Jordan Jefferson's game management abilities and deep passing game, work on Chavis' defensive scheme with live ammo and try to get a running back a 100-yard game before the SEC gauntlet really starts.

LSU Tigers Week 3: Da Boibon Bowl

Expect more substantive previews when LSU opponents are more ... substantive ... than the Ragin' Cajuns, but Farmer Fran (and probably some of my distant relatives) are coming to Baton Rouge to play-a-the foozball with the Tigers.

Here's what I expect: Jordan Jefferson gets another vanilla warmup (and maybe one next week against Mississippi State) before the competitive part of the SEC West slate begins, so don't expect to see any more of the playbook than you did against Vandy.

2010 Southern Regional at the Georgia Dome

They've hooked up for some compelling post-season basketball and baseball games, so why not get the tackle football teams into the act?

Six months after Ty Lawson came off the bench in the closing minutes of the second round of the NCAA tournament to bring UNC back from elimination at the hands of LSU, the Tar Heels and Bayou Bengals have mercifully ended weeks of speculation by agreeing to open the 2010 season in Atlanta in the Chick-fil-A kickoff game in the Georgia Dome. Apparently, Big Chicken has decided to continue its twice-annual SEC-ACC snuff film -- only this time, the Fighting Sabans get to stay home. Butch Davis' resurgent(?) Tar Heels follow in the footsteps of Clemson and Virginia Tech, trying to do that which the ACC (and Ohio State) has thus far been unable.

It stands to be an uncharacteristically robust out-of-conference challenge for the Heels (who don't stand to gain all that much with respect to recruitment because they play biennially at Georgia Tech). LSU, meanwhile, adds the likely (possibly... hopefully...?) nationally-ranked Tar Heels to an out-of-conference schedule that already includes West Virginia. It seems like Les Miles and Joe Alleva already remember how playing (and beating, unmercifully) Virginia Tech in 2007 (as opposed to adding a creampuff to an out-of-conference slate that typically includes Tulane, North Texas and one or more "directional-Louisiana" schools) pushed them above the end-of-season morass and into the title game in the Superdome.

It's a good start. Every little bit helps the SEC shed its reputation as the Mark Mangino* of out-of-conference schedulers. Every Tiger fan also knows it's just window dressing until a rematch with the Trojans takes place.

*Cupcakes. I'm talking about cupcakes. Until our audience expands beyond spouses and each other, I feel like analogies need to be trampled with explanation.