Former Rebel Had Enough of Phillies

Former Ole Miss Rebel David Dellucci has had enough of the Philadelphia. He has opted for free agency with the Phillies. The Rangers were absolute idiots for letting him go last year. He was extremely well liked by all the fans and his teammates. He was contributing a good bit for them last year also. When he was traded to the Phillies this year he did not really get to play until after the All Star break. After the break at one point he was batting over .310 and leading the league in hitting for players coming off the bench, when they finally put him in the rotation.

From the MLB web site:

David Dellucci, Randall Simon, Jose Hernandez and the retired Alex Gonzalez can also file by the Nov. 11 deadline. General manager Pat Gillick said he'd like the bring back Dellucci, who hit .292 with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs in 264 at-bats.
Dellucci said he wants to play in a place where he can see regular playing time.
"Hopefully, it will be a very rewarding offseason," Dellucci said on the final day of the season. "I want to be with a team that compensates me fairly for what I can do. I want to be with a team that allows me to do what I can do. I feel that I'm more of a contributor than a utility-type player at this point in my career."
Dellucci earned $900,000 in 2006

Dog Booted

STARKVILLE — Freshman Keith Mills was dismissed from the Mississippi State football team today after he was arrested Monday, the school announced in a press release.
According to the news release, Mills, a wide receiver from Alexandria, La., was charged with burglary and uttering forgery. The news release said the alleged theft involved another athlete who lives in the same residence hall as Mills.(C-L)

Rebels Raise Money for Langley Family

OXFORD, Miss. -­ Preliminary figures indicate over $110,000 was raised for the late University of Mississippi Police Officer Robert Langley’s children last Saturday during the Ole Miss - Auburn football contest, Ole Miss Athletics Director Pete Boone said Monday afternoon. An official release from University Media and Public Relations will be forthcoming.

Over 120 Ole Miss students, including many student-athletes, collected funds throughout Vaught-Hemingway Stadium between the first and second quarters of last Saturday’s game. All proceeds collected have been designated for the children ­ Cory, Robbie, Maci and Anne Clair.

Ramblings

- I rode by the baseball stadium this weekend while I was in Oxford. They have made a good bit of progress with the work in and around OU Stadium. The work on the coaches offices are coming along, however I am not sure if they will be in there and settled by first pitch in February. It looks like this will be a great addition to the stadium.

The terraced seating in the outfield is well on its way also. The right field/student seating is complete. They added two rows on front of the existing terrace as well as extended the seeting and grill areas all the way down by the foul pole in front of the tennis courts. The work in left field has begun. They have added some rows down front and are working on extending the area more towards center field. I hated to see them cut those trees down out there, I think they looked good, but I guess they had to in order to expand the seating. Things are beginning to shape up for the 2007 season.

-The basketball team held a scrimmage on Friday night in front of several hundred fans. From what I heard Coach Kennedy was quite the entertainment. They will hold an exhibition this Friday against North Alabama. It will be the first time for the new Rebel team to play another team as they begin to prepare for regular season play which begins in less than two weeks.

-The football team plays host to Northwestern State on Saturday. Northwestern has several players that were once on the Ole Miss football team who have since transferred to the Louisiana school. They are NSU Tim Henderson, Gary Riggs and Rogers Loche.

Not A Good Sign

OXFORD — Ole Miss receiver Dexter McCluster might be out for the rest of the season because of a neck injury, coach Ed Orgeron said today.
McCluster has been sidelined since the opening kickoff of the Oct. 7 game against Vanderbilt, the sixth game of the season for the Rebels (2-7). McCluster sustained a concussion on the kickoff, but Orgeron also said he suffered a neck injury that has kept him out of action since.“He seems like a guy that we may not see (the rest of the season),” Orgeron said. “I hate to say that, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to come back very soon.”(C-L)

Another Close One

The Ole Miss Rebels gave Auburn more than they expected on Saturday, but it was not enough to beat the Tigers. Auburn defeated Ole Miss 23-17 in a game that was close all the way till the very end. From the very beginning Ole Miss came out hot and drove straight down the field to score. Auburn followed that with their own touchdown and the game was tied 7-7 at half time.

The second half saw two interceptions by Brent Schaeffer that helped Auburn gain momentum and eventually take the lead for the rest of the game. The Rebels had the ball several times in around mid field or in Auburn territory, but could not get over the hump to find the endzone. This seems to be the story of the year for the 2006 football team.

Couple of random thoughts.

- This is the second home game in a row where an Ole Miss player was injured on the opening kickoff and out for the game. Defensive end starter Chris Bowers suffered a stinger that took him out of the game. This did not help an already thin defensive group

- I enjoyed seeing Robert Lane involved more in the offense. I hoped at the beginning of the season we would see more plays like Lane made in the Auburn game. He is clearly a step slower since the knee injury, but I hope we use him even more in the remaining games.

- We still have problems with our defensive back coverage. I am not a defensive expert, but it continues to amaze me just how open our opponent's receivers are each and every game. The best coverage plays we had were Auburn's dropped passes.

- Without Rory Johnson and Patrick Willis on our team, we would be really bad. The combo of Willis and Johnson is incredible. They make plays that are absolutely incredible. If there is a better duo out there that dominates a defense this year, I have not seen them.

- People will call it another "moral victory." I am glad to see our team play hard and fight to win. I just hate it for Orgeron. He works his tail off and has been trying to get his "monumental" win. For the third time this season, he has gotten close, but can not finish. It will come one day, just hopefully sooner rather than later.

BOOOO!!!!!

I leave you this weekend with a Halloween pic from the LSU game on 10-31-1998. The Rebels defeated the Tigers 37-31 and Armegis Spearman along with other players painted their "ghost" faces this game. The Rebels went on to play in the Independence Bowl that year where they defeated Texas Tech.

For quite a while the game was played around Halloween, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I can remember traveling to New Orleans one year before the LSU game when it was on Halloween and seeing more freaks in one place than I have ever seen before in my life. I would not mind seeing the rivalry mooved back to late October.

Good Coverage of the Tragedy

I never thought I would see the day, but the Daily Mississippian coverage of the Tragedy at Ole Miss has been outstanding. They have covered every inch of the article since Saturday morning. They have also put together a very good slide show and video from the events that have happened this week. If you have not checked out their stories from this week check it out here http://www.thedmonline.com/

Also Snyder News has provided good coverage of the events since it happened also. Drew is on top of the story and has linked alot of newspaper articles from throughout the state. I expect his coverage will continue for several more days and more news will come out as the legal process will begin to take shape. Here is his link http://www.snydernews.net/

Willis on a Lott of Lists

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Ole Miss senior linebacker Patrick Willis is one of 17 college standouts to be named as a quarterfinalist for the third annual Lott Trophy, it was announced Thursday.Named after Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, The Lott Trophy is awarded to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. Now in its third year, The Lott Trophy is the first college football award to equally recognize athletic performance and the personal character attributes of the player

Sanford on the Move

OXFORD — Ole Miss sophomore Jamarca Sanford will start at strongside linebacker against No. 7 Auburn on Saturday.
Coach Ed Orgeron said the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Sanford, who has started six games at strong safety, will replace Garry Pack. Pack was dismissed from the team because of a "violation of team rules" Monday."Jamarca at one time was going to play linebacker for us when I first got here," Orgeron said. "He's done well though. He's just got to go in a game and do it."

I'd Love to Find This Guy in a Dark Alley

I would love to find the author of this article in a dark alley and beat his ***. This guy is so far out of line it is ridiculous. He is supposedly a senior writer with the Arkansas Traveler. Does he call this professional journalism?

Where does he come up with calling Ole Miss a hick school. I know the State of Mississippi and Ole Miss has it's share of rednecks, but no one has ever referred to Ole Miss as a hick school. What the hell does he think the State of Arkansas is. I have driven to Fayettville and if this guy does not think that area of the country is Hickville USA, he has lost his mind. I am not a professional journalist by any means nor have I ever claimed to be a specialist in this field, but this guy is nowhere near professional.

I will post a portion of the article and a link below.

http://www.thetraveleronline.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=184ead9d-bea2-47e8-8117-c74c3d88f99b

(AT) "The university, known for its Southern tradition, proved that it was still that hick school so far behind the times it shouldn't be allowed to belong to this country.

There are several reasons why I have never respected Ole Miss. Maybe it's the prick students, dressing in their finest garb to football games, and by the way, the Grove is a joke. Or the holier than thou attitude from the hypocrites of the South. But in any matter, Ole Miss deserves what it gets."

SEC Media Days

The SEC media basketball days started today and will wrap up tomorrow. Coach Kennedy was joined by seniors Todd Abernathy and Bam Doyne. I will be interested to see how either of these two guys contribute this year. I am not familiar with the team or the new players this year. However I do feel like the Rebels will be an improved team this year on the court and in the win loss column.

Here is what Kennedy had to say:

"Our expectations are high internally, maybe not so much externally. That is the great thing for us. People don't realize how special this is for me, being a native Mississippian. This is just a wonderful opportunity for me."
"I just left a perennial top-20 program. I think Ole Miss can get back to greatness again. Looking at the past, they have had success with Rod Evans and Rob Barnes. They had a great mixture. We just have to find that again to be successful."
"We have changed the approach. We are going to play pressure basketball. We are going to get after the ball, as well as take it to the basket. I believe that in life, you don't take a backward approach and allow yourself to be backed into a corner. We are going to take that same approach."
"I hate to give the coaching speak, but that is what I have to do. I want to see daily improvement. They (the players) are learning about us just like we are learning about them. You have to find out what the other is like. You don't want to stick a square peg into a round hole."
"That is why I wanted to bring the two seniors in Todd Abernethy and Bam Doyne. They are not used to winning like they want to. I want them to experience that. I think that it is unfair to look four years down the road at expectations and not be able to include these guys."

Quentin Taylor's Grandma Tells It How It Is

Dorthy Taylor, the grandmother of Quentin Taylor, said Orgeron called her last week and told her the fullback was one of several players who were caught smoking marijuana.

"I don't really know what happened," Dorthy Taylor said. "But coach talked to me the other day and he was telling me about some of the boys had been smoking pot. I think (Taylor) was there with them or he was there when they got caught or something.
"He said he had been there about five minutes."

When contacted Monday night, Quentin Taylor hung up the phone.

Tragedy Update

Some updates from what I can gather.

-Daniel Cummings the student arrested for the incident has been charged with capital murder for killing a police officer. He is being held in the Lafayette County Detention Center without bond.

-The funeral for Officer Langley will take place at 2p.m. Wednesday on campus at the Ford Center.

-It is my understanding some type of "pass the bucket" will take place at the game on Saturday. I encourage everyone to stick a little extra money in their wallet before the game to contribute to the fund for officer Langley's family. He is leaving behind a wife and four young kids.

-A scholarship fund has also been established at the University Foundation for those that would like to contribute in that manner.

Golfers Bring Home the Gold

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Ole Miss men’s golf team fired a 290 in the final round of play Tuesday, to capture the Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, to conclude the fall campaign.

It marks the Rebels’ sixth tournament title since head coach Ernest Ross returned in 2004 to take over the program. Ole Miss’ team total of 876 (290-296-290) won the tournament by eight strokes over co-runners-up Vanderbilt and North Florida. UT-Chattanooga captured fourth place after shooting the tournament’s only under-par round on Tuesday.

(Worldclassglass reader)Brice Bailey, one of three seniors competing for the Rebels, finished eighth with a 71-75-73--219, to earn his first top 10 of the season.

No Good News for Curtis

(C-L) OXFORD — Ole Miss center Dwayne Curtis will likely miss the Rebels’ basketball season opener against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 10 because of a stress fracture in his left foot, coach Andy Kennedy said today.
The junior was originally scheduled to miss two to four weeks because of the injury, which happened during the first week of practice. But after an MRI on Curtis’ foot late last week, Kennedy said the 6-foot-8, 280-pounder could be out as long as five weeks.Kennedy said there’s a chance Curtis will play in the opener, but a more realistic timeline for his return is the second week of the season. “They don’t want to do surgery,” Kennedy said. “But they want to give it more time to do its own healing.”

On another note for those in Oxford Friday night the Rebel Roundballers will be hosting a scrimmage at 6:30.

BREAKING NEWS

The story I am picking up on is that this group was out late on Thursday night. They were at an apartment/house that was having a party and the cops showed up. The police noticed some illegal activity and pulled these guys to the side and called Coach O. Coach O met these guys at the IPF and ran them for quite sometime. Upon returning from the trip to Arkansas a drug test given and the below failed the test.


OXFORD, Miss. -­ Ole Miss head football coach Ed Orgeron announced Monday afternoon the dismissal of one player, the indefinite suspension of four players and that another player has left the team.

Junior linebacker Garry Pack of Hattiesburg, Miss., was dismissed from the team for “violation of team rules,” while sophomore defensive end LaMark Armour of Nashville, Tenn., sophomore defensive lineman Hayward Howard of New Orleans, La., sophomore linebacker LeRon King of Miami, Fla., and sophomore linebacker Robert Russell of New Orleans, La., have been indefinitely suspended, also for “violation of team rules.”

Orgeron also announced that sophomore fullback Quentin Taylor of Apopka, Fla., informed him that he has quit the team.

Rebels Whipped By Hogs

Ole Miss went into Arkansas and it was bad from the very beginning. The Razorbacks started the game with a 99 yard kick off return and never looked back as they went on to win 38-3. The 15th ranked Razorbacks pretty much had control of the entire game.

The story of the day for the Rebels was the lack of execution on the offensive side of the ball. Between QB Brent Schaeffer's passing and the wide receivers inability to catch a pass, the Rebels never really could put a complete drive together the entire day. If and when the Rebels got the ball into Arkansas territory, the Rebels could not put it in the endzone. The only points came in the second quarter when the Rebels settled for a field goal.

Coach O stated in the post game press conference that the Rebels never really had the intensity they needed going into the game. In his own words he said "I don't know if we had a lot of wind in our sails going into the situation." Well Coach we needed alot of wind in our sails if we were ever going to have a chance against a very good Arkansas team.

We all knew coming into the season that the receivers were going to be a question mark on our season. Yesterday answered the question, the receivers are really bad. They dropped numerous passes that hit them right in the hands all day. The ones they did not drop were over thrown by Schaeffer all day also. After an improved performance against Alabama, the Rebels prized recruit went back to his previous games this season as he dissapointed the Rebel faithful with his attempted passes.

I don't know what the answer is for the rest of the season. The Rebels schedule gets harder next week as they host top ten rival Auburn. Auburn is a good team and will more than likely destroy the Rebels.

A Sad Day

When I read this on the internet after the game yesterday I was shocked. I knew Robert Langley and he was a great guy. For those of you that lived in Stockard around my age, you would know officer Langley too. He was always there and would come into your room and chat with you about all sorts of things. He was the type of officer that understood what was going on in the world and was not all caught up in the power that he was given. He did not try and hassle people over small violations that he knew could be worked out in otherways. He would always come over to the Sigma Nu house late at nights also and would help us out when things got out of control. Those students that knew him respected him and enjoyed getting to know him. They also knew where the line was and knew not to cross it when he was around. I remember thinking to myself I miss seeing him when I learned that he was off fighting for our country the last two years while I was at Ole Miss. I hate that we did not get to work with each other even more before I graduated. He returned to campus late last school year and I never got to speak to him before I left. The University and America has lost a great veteran and public servant.


(DM) A University of Mississippi police officer killed after being dragged by a student motorist stopped for speeding Saturday morning was praised as a respected officer.
Robert Langley, 30, of Oxford had stopped Daniel Cummings, 20, a second-year student, about 2 a.m. for speeding westbound on Fraternity Row, according to Ole Miss officials.
The driver, stopped on Jackson Avenue, suddenly pulled away, dragging the officer about 200 yards, according to University Police Chief Jeffrey VanSlyke.
Langley suffered severe head injuries and was taken by helicopter to Regional Medical Center in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead about 11 a.m.
"This is a tragic and senseless incident," said Police Chief Jeffrey VanSlyke at an evening news conference. "He was an exceptional officer, the kind of officer that any police chief would love to have on the police force, tremendous character, integrity and credibility..."
Cummings, who is from Germantown, Tenn., has been charged with capital murder. He was being held without bond in the Lafayette County Detention Center.
Langley, a four-year veteran of the 30-officer department, also served in the Mississippi Army National Guard. A field artillery man, he returned in April after a tour in Afghanistan.

On The Road Again

I am in Charlotte,NC this week the home of Ransome Foose. The blog will have no posts until around Saturday because I have limited internet access. No one here talks about college football it is all NFL. Until next time, I leave you with words of wisdom - "nothing stinks like a wet hog"

Jack At His Finest

I have been meaning to post these for the past week but if you have not heard Jack Cristil and Jim Ellis from the West Virginia game you are missing out. This is right up there with the sonic drive of the game. I promise you will laugh out loud.


http://www.sixpackspeak.com/Tuba.mp3

http://www.sixpackspeak.com/Redzone.mp3

The Truth Comes Out..

After reading the piece below from The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, I decided to go out and buy the book. I have not had to had time to start the book yet, but I plan on getting into it over the next couple of days. If there are more stories like this in the book it should be very good book. From what I hear this is not really a book for Ole Miss fans, it is a book for those that like a good read and those that like to hear a good success story.

"Since spring football practice that doubled as Michael's coming-out party. Phil Fulmer had become perfectly obsessed with Michael Oher. When the University of Tennessee traveled to play Ole Miss, Fulmer took his entire team on a wide detour to the middle of nowhere, to practice at the Briarcrest Christian School. His plan had been to roll up to the Briarcrest in the Volunteers' swanky team buses and, offensive lineman leading the charge, have the entire team surround Michael Oher and give him a cheer. Even more shrewdly, Fulmer staged his tableau on the very Friday that Michael was meant to make his official visit to Ole Miss. Michael was to become, in effect, Ole Miss's property at 3:00 p.m. sharp. Fulmer Planned to arrive just before that, and detain him. It didn't work out that way. Just before 3:00, Fulmer called Ole Miss recruiter, Kurt Roper, said his team bus was stuck in Memphis traffic, and persuaded Roper to wait until 3:30 to take Michael away.

Not a Good Way to Start

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss basketball team is expected to be without junior center Dwayne Curtis for 2-4 weeks, after the preseason All-SEC honoree suffered a stress fracture in his left foot Sunday night in the third day of preseason practice.
"It's unfortunate for Dwayne," said first-year Rebel head coach Andy Kennedy. "We feel bad his season had to start this way, but injuries are a part of the game. We will always do what is in the best interest of the player, and we will make sure he is completely ready before he starts playing again."

I Hate Lincoln Financial

OXFORD — Ole Miss' home game against Auburn on Oct. 28 will be televised by Lincoln-Financial Sports and kick off at 11:30 a.m.It will be Ole Miss' sixth television appearance this season and second straight on LFS. The Rebels (2-5, 1-3 in Southeastern Conference) also play at No. 15 Arkansas (5-1, 3-0) on LFS Saturday at 11:30.

Continue to Improve

The Rebels continue to improve, but they still can not get past the hurdle as the Rebels lose another close game this week to Alabama 26-23. It took the Tide an overtime touchdown to defeat the Rebels in front of a packed house at the remodeled and impressive Bryant Denny Stadium.

The Rebels and Brent Schaeffer played another good game, but just could not get it done. Ole Miss went into the half with a 13-10 lead. However many feel like the final seconds of the first half could have been managed better and could have gone in with a 17-10 lead. Unfortunately the Ole Miss coaching staff did not have enough confidence in their QB as they were afraid he would throw an interception if they opened up the offense.

The Rebels came out in the second half and allowed the Tide to get on the board and go up 20-13. In the third quarter the Rebels gave up a play that in my opinion changed the game. The Tide were facing a 3rd down and 25 from their own 15 and the Rebels gave up a 26 yard pass. I believe this changed the game totally. You can not give up plays like this on the road and expect to win.

I was happy to see Coach O open up his playbook in the fourth quarter and call a fake punt with the Rebels facing a 3rd and 8 with about 8 minutes left in the game. The next play Schaeffer completed a 50 yard pass to tie the game and eventually send it into overtime. It is plays like this many Rebel fans have been looking for from Schaeffer, but have not seen them. The Ole Miss faithful were finally glad to see Schaeffer have a complete game for the Rebs.

There are several things that caught my eye in the game.

-Alabama picked on Ole Miss corner Trumaine McBride the entire game, and were successful most of the time they threw the ball his way. Surely we can do better than this.

-The false start in overtime on 2nd and 2 after an eight yard gain killed that drive. We opened up overtime with a great run and that penalty absolutely killed our chances.

-How the referee waived the flag off for clipping is still beyond me. It makes no sense as to why they waived that flag off. On this same note, I wrote earlier in the week about how I was disappointed with Coach O's reaction to bad play calls. He did much better this week. He let the referees have it when they made some bad calls.

-In the past two games, Rory Johnson has had more of an impact than Patrick Willis. Willis, an All American, is not playing at the same speed and aggressiveness he played at last year. Don't get me wrong I love having Patrick on the field, but it seems like to me he is not playing like he did last year. I could be wrong, but Johnson seems to be a better linebacker these past few games than Willis.


While the Rebels did improve this week, and I am glad to see, Coach O is not going to be happy until we start turning improvements into wins. And I am right there with him. It is time to start producing some W's on the schedule. However, I do believe they will come sooner than later. Next week is going to be a challenge. Arkansas has snuck up on everyone and is leading the SEC West. I know nothing about the Razorbacks except their QB Mitch Mustain. Hopefully the Rebels will continue to improve this week and will make a game out of it with the Hogs.

Interested To See How Far This Goes

STARKVILLE — A Hinds County Chancery Court judge will hear a request for a court order to stop the reseating process for the upcoming basketball season at Mississippi State's Humphrey Coliseum, MSU athletic director Larry Templeton confirmed Saturday.
"We intend to be there in court Monday morning to state our case," Templeton said Saturday, at halftime of MSU's 35-3 football win over Jacksonville State.
Templeton declined to identify who filed the injunction request.
MSU's plan to rearrange the way it assigns seats to season-ticket holders has angered some longtime ticket holders, who claim they were told years ago they could keep the same seats as long as they continued to renew their season tickets.
The new plan is assigning seats based on a Bulldog Club points system that gives preference to higher donors.
The non-profit Bulldog Club is the university's main arm for funding its athletic scholarships. The group contends that by reseating the coliseum based on rewarding top donors, it will be able to increase the amount of money it raises.(Clarion Ledger)

Old School

Thanks to wpman1 for finding this. The last win for the Rebels in T-Town.

An Oustanding Article

t's always fun to brag when you're right, but for the braggadocio to have an ounce of credibility, you have to admit it when you're wrong. And boy, was I wrong about David Cutcliffe's ability to play the role of miracle-worker with the Tennessee offense.

It's early October and thanks in large part to Cutcliffe's return to Tennessee as the Volunteers' offensive coordinator, the guys in orange and white are scoring points in bunches.

Witness as Example No. 1 Tennessee's shellacking of Georgia's previously No. 1-ranked scoring defense on Saturday at Sanford Stadium. Tennessee scored 51 points, drawing rave reviews and the start of a new club in Knoxville.

"The Half-a-Hundred Club is what we'd been talking about trying to get to, and it was a whole team effort to get us there," quarterback Erik Ainge told The (Nashville) Tennessean.

The win over Georgia allowed Tennessee to stay alive in the SEC East race, moved the Volunteers to No. 8 in the latest AP Top 25 poll and pushed Ainge up to sixth nationally in passing efficiency. So while Alabama fights a letdown against Ole Miss Saturday, Tennessee takes a week off to further refine its offense and let several players heal.

Tennessee's offensive numbers right now are polar opposite of where the Vols were a year ago under Randy Sanders. Tennessee is tied for 11th nationally in scoring offense (35.2 points per game) and is 16th nationally in total offense (421.5 yards). The Volunteers lead the SEC in both categories.

However, the infatuation with Cutcliffe as a head-coaching candidate is borderline comical. He failed as a recruiter at Ole Miss and lost games on the Rebels' sideline that should provide pause for any school thinking of putting its program in his hands.

Oxford, Miss., native Jeffrey Dukes would be at Ole Miss today if Cutcliffe had offered a scholarship or showed any sign of interest. He didn't, so Dukes starts in Alabama's secondary today. Had Dukes signed with Ole Miss, there's a decent chance Justin Woodall would be in Ole Miss red and blue and not Alabama crimson and houndstooth Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Cutcliffe never bothered to recruit Jimmy Johns, badly misevaluated Jerious Norwood, lost Xavier Mitchell and Parys Haralson to Tennessee, Will Arnold to Tennessee and Quintin Culberson to Mississippi State.

He failed to replace quality assistants with competent replacements and was overly loyal to obviously incompetent staffers. He lost the support of key Ole Miss boosters when he flirted with other job possibilities and then openly pursued an opening at Kentucky.

Most importantly, perhaps, Cutcliffe failed to acquire anything resembling a competent successor to Eli Manning when Archie's youngest left for the NFL's New York Giants.

So, yes, Cutcliffe is inarguably one of the best offensive coordinators in the country. Perhaps he has learned from his mistakes at Ole Miss and will one day make a great head coach. However, some in the media are getting it wrong when they play the role of revisionist historians.

Tad Pad News

Well today was the day that those who had seats in sections N,O,P of Tad Smith Coliseum had to pick new seats due to the student section being moved. There were many upset long time fans of Ole Miss basketball that were forced to move at Coach Kennedy's request. I have heard reports from Oxford that those fans who have had the same seats for almost 30 years were there early this morning to pick out their new seats. Many of these fans were upset over this and one has been raising hell since the day he found out and was at the Tad Pad all day yesterday and was rumored to get there at 6:00 this morning to give him another piece of his mind.

On another note, the area where the new student section is will be bleacher seats. They have gone to this look to try and pack more students in closer to the court. I understand the idea, but I think it is going to look weird if no one is there to sit in them. However this should not happen come January, because the entire student section for basketball was sold out in August.

So for those of you that order season tickets to basketball and want new seats, flood the ticket office with calls and tell them you want your seats moved. There are plenty of open season ticket seats available for you to choose from. But you better call before the deadline.

Practice starts Friday with the first exhibition three weeks away. I am going to have to do alot of studying on this team. Because we will recognize very few of the players on the court.

Why????

I never post anything about Southern Miss, but this is just plain stupid.

HATTIESBURG — Defensive backs Cornelius McGee and C.J. Bailey were dismissed from Southern Miss today after they were arrested on campus Tuesday night.
USM coach Jeff Bower said today the players were charged with felony aggravated assault.“It was a drive-by with a B.B.-gun,” Bower said.McGee, a sophomore from Clarksdale, was a backup corner and special teams player.Bailey, a freshman from Moss Point, was being red-shirted this season.

Quick Note

Coach O announced today that the Rebels have moved Quentin Taylor from linebacker to fullback. The 6-0 240lb. sophomore played fullback in high school in Apopka, Florida. With the emergence of Rory Johnson at linebacker, the Rebels did not want to have Taylor sitting on the sidelines. Current fullback Robert Lane is out for several weeks and Jason Cook also a fullback has had a nagging injury. Moving Taylor to fullback will hopefully help with some of the blocking and give Schaeffer another option to throw the ball to out of the backfield.

Will They Ever Let Him Go??

TUSCALOOSA The UA football team will wear a commemorative jersey in its game against Ole Miss Saturday to honor the 25th anniversary of coach Paul W. Bryant's 315th win and his final Southeastern Conference Championship team from 1981.The Nike-designed jersey features houndstooth trim on the collar. The jersey change marks the 11th time in Crimson Tide history the team has worn commemorative markings during a game.

Just Now Watching the Georgia Game

I am just now getting to watch a replay of the Georgia game about a week and a half later. Ron Franklin sums it up. "The SEC has some of the best referees in the country, but this crew is not very good" I am past this game, but I think Franklin summed my thoughts up perfectly on how the game was called.

On another note, I will be a bit nit picky here. I do not like the way Coach O handles bad calls. I thought when we hired him it would be different than Cutcliffe. I have watched Coach O's reaction to bad calls by the referees over the last two years and have been a bit disappointed. He just does not give it to the referees enough in my opinion. Don't get me wrong this guy shows more emotion than any other coach I know, and I am a fan of Coach O. However I want more Bobby Knight in him. Shows emotion to his players, but lets the referees have it when they make bad calls. I think I am going to see this in Andy Kennedy.

In Need of a Practice Facility??

As college basketball teams officially open practice Friday evening, the Ole Miss men’s team will begin their preseason workouts for the 2006-07 campaign, but will not be doing so in Tad Smith Coliseum.Both the Rebel men’s and women’s teams are allowed to begin at 7 p.m. CT, so new Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy is yielding to the senior hoops coach on campus Carol Ross for the homecourt.While the women work out in the Tad Pad, Kennedy will hold his first official practice as Rebel mentor at nearby Oxford High School. However, the change in venue does not deter from his excitement.“I’m looking forward to it,” said Kennedy, who was announced as the program’s 20th head coach on March 24. “We have a lot of things we have to get done. The season has moved up, so we now have three weeks from Friday until our first exhibition and four weeks before our first game. “This year, we have six games before Thanksgiving, which doesn’t give us a lot of time to put in the things we feel are important for this team to have a chance to be successful.”While the practices are closed to the public, fans will get a sneak peak at this year’s Rebel men’s squad in an open scrimmage on Oct. 27 at Tad Smith Coliseum. On the eve of the Ole Miss-Auburn football game, Kennedy’s squad will have intra-squad competition at 7:30 p.m. and will sign autographs afterwards. The Rebels face exhibitions against North Alabama, Nov. 3 and Delta State, Nov. 6, and the 2006-07 season tips off with Mississippi Valley State, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at home.

Lane Out

OXFORD — Ole Miss tight end Robert Lane will not be play Saturday when the Rebels (2-4, 1-2 SEC) play at Alabama (4-2, 1-2), coach Ed Orgeron said today.
Lane sprained his right knee in the second quarter of last Saturday’s 17-10 victory over Vanderbilt. Orgeron said Lane will likely be out for a couple of weeks. Lane will be replaced in the starting lineup by senior Lawrence Lilly. “It was something that I’ve got to deal with,” said Lane, who was wearing a knee brace today. “It’s part of football. So I¹m going to rehab it and see how it goes day by day.”

UNBELIEVABLE

Biloxi, MS (AHN) - Even the nurses couldn't believe it. A Mississippi couple named their newborn son ESPN after the sports network.
ESPN Montana Real was born this week at Biloxi Regional Medical Center. ESPN's (pronounced Espen) mother, Leann Real promised her husband if they ever had a son, he would get to pick the name. Rusty Real is an avid sports fan.
The Montana in baby ESPN's name comes from football great Joe Montana. And baby ESPN isn't alone with his unusual name. There are at least three other ESPNs in the world according to a 2005 report from tivocommunity.com

Patrick Who??

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After guiding the Rebels to their first Southeastern Conference win of the 2006 season with his dominating performance, Ole Miss junior linebacker Rory Johnson was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, the conference office announced.

Making just his second career start, Johnson was all over the field collecting 16 tackles, including nine solos. The 16 tackles are the most by a Rebel defender since Broc Kreitz recorded 16 versus Georgia in 1996.

In addition, Johnson forced three fumbles, recovered two fumbles and also recorded a pass defensed in the win. He haulted a late Vandy drive by taking the ball out of Commodore QB Mackenzi Adams hands and giving the ball back to Ole Miss.

Johnson is the second Ole Miss player to be honored by the SEC this season. Freshman wide receiver Dexter McCluster was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Sept. 4, following Ole Miss’ win over Memphis.

Ole Miss will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., Oct. 14 to take on Alabama. The Rebels and Crimson Tide will tangle at 2:30 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium and the game will be televised by CBS.

Rebels Back in the W Column

The Ole Miss Rebels added a win to their record on Saturday as they defeated Vanderbilt 17-10 on Saturday. It was not a pretty win, but this year we will take a win any way we can get one. The Rebel offense struggled for most of the game. Ole Miss was outgained 400-179, had just 31 passing yards and was 1-of-12 on third down. The fact the offense was doing so bad led for Coach O to bench Brent Schaeffer in the second half. Quaterback Seth Adams took over for the Rebels while Schaeffer watched from the bench.

Schaeffer took full blame for the problem and was upset over the situation. He was quoted as saying:

"Just as much as the fans are disappointed in me, I'm disappointed in myself," Schaeffer said. "This is probably the first time in my life things aren't going good."

Things are not going good for this Rebel offense and Schaeffer needs to pull it together if we are going to pick up another win this season.

The Rebel defense is another story. It appears they are getting a little better each week. This weeks star was Rory Johnson. Johnson played an incredible game at linebacker. He had multiple tackles and had a couple of forced fumbles. With Johnson and Willis in at the linebacker position it is going to make offensive coordinator's think twice before they make a particular play call.

For those that were at the game on time you were able to see one of the hardest hits I have ever seen in person. Dexter McCluster was returning a kickoff for the Rebels and was smoked by a Vanderbilt special teams player. It was an incredible hit. McCluster was visibly shaken and did not return for the rest of the game. Tight end Robert Lane was also injured in the first half and did not return.

Next up for the Rebels is the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide have had an up and down year this year and squeeked by Duke last weekend. The Tide have their weaknesses and can be beaten, but Ole Miss NEVER wins in Tuscaloosa. We all remember last years game as the Rebels were beaten on a last second field goal. Hopefully some of the current players will remember last year's game and will play to seek revenge from that game.

The story of the weekend though was a limo that pulled up to campus. The limo was decked out in West Virginia flags. The limo had taken the fans to Oxford instead of Starkville. I can only imagine their reaction.

Rebs on the Tube Again

OXFORD — The Ole Miss-Alabama game on Saturday will be televised by CBS Sports and is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m., the network announced today.
Ole Miss will be making its fourth television appearance this season and the first on CBS. The Rebels have played on ESPN (Memphis), ESPN2 (Georgia) and Fox Sports (Missouri).

Dogs Hurting

Mississippi State’s football team has lost quarterback Omarr Conner indefinitely and Tray Rutland for the rest of the season to injuries sustained in Saturday’s loss to West Virginia.
MRI test results today revealed that Conner, MSU’s starter, has suffered a Grade 3 severe right groin strain. School officials would not say when Conner, a senior, is expected to return.The prognosis was far worse for Rutland. The redshirt freshman tore both his left anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments — two of the three main ligaments in the knee — after taking a direct hit late on the knee in the fourth quarter.The injuries leave the Bulldogs (1-5) with sophomore Michael Henig as the team’s lone quarterback with significant playing experience. The only other quarterback on MSU’s roster is freshman Ty Evans, who took the final three snaps of the 42-14 loss to West Virginia.MSU coach Sylvester Croom was not immediately available for comment, but said after Saturday’s game that he was “just not certain” where things stood at the quarterback position

Baseball Talk

Ole Miss baseball head coach Mike Bianco continues to beef up his team as he got a commitment from Logan Williams this week. Logan is an outstanding pitcher and last year had a 11-0 record, with a 0.42 ERA. The more important thing is that Williams is the all time RBI leader in the state of Arkansas history. He is an outstanding pitcher and is big pickup by the Rebels.

Fall practice has begun and the Rebel baseball team appears to have picked up where they left off. I have not been over to watch practice this year, but from what I hear the Rebels look great. I have heard one report that the Rebels have enough talent to fill 2 SEC teams. To show how far Ole Miss baseball has come, one fan told me he estimated the crowd at the scrimmage the other day to be around 2,000. That is impressive. I look forward to what the season may be.

Impressive

I know this has been around this week, but if you have not been to this site and listened to some of these songs you are missing out. I think they are great, especially "I'm For The Red and Blue" the names they used in this song are amazing. How they were able to put all these names together is beyond me. I could be wrong but I think Michael Guinn is behind this. The same guy who put together the Chucky Mullins and pregame films. This guy has tons of talent and it is ridiculous he is not on staff at Ole Miss.

http://www.myspace.com/thelexingtonbrothers


Edited: I just noticed the names of all the members of the band. Take a look at them, it is hillarious they picked out all the towns in Holmes county.

Change of Venue

From the Clarion Ledger below. I must have missed when this was originally announced. I have no feelings one way or the other. All I can say is that the City of Jackson ruined their chances of restoring downtown by not building a stadium for them in downtown Jackson. But then again what do you expect from the leadership down there.

(C-L)Among events scheduled for Trustmark Park in Pearl 27 are several high school and college baseball games, including the Governor’s Cup matchup between Ole Miss and Mississippi State on April 17.

The Governor’s Cup — formerly the Mayor’s Trophy — will be played at Trustmark Park for the first time since moving from Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson after the 2006 season.

The Commodores(not the band)

Ole Miss in the recent future has had quite a problem with the Vanderbilt Commodores. It seems like for some reason Vandy always gets fired up to play the Rebels. Unfortunately the Rebels and most of their fans seemed to always look past them. I will admit that I look past them alot too.

This is not the way to look at this Vandy team. I have watched them play Arkansas and Alabama, and I think they are a good team. I truly believe they should be 2-0 in the SEC with wins over both these two, if not 2-0 at least 1-1. Bobby Johnson was turned this program around in a good way and has some legit SEC talent on the team.

The Commodores come into Oxford a 1 and 1/2 point favorite. I dunno the last time Vandy was a favorite over Ole Miss, better yet any SEC team. However if the Rebels play like they did last week, except they find the endzone this time, I think they have a good chance to win. And I also expect a good amount of Vandy fans to be in attendance.

I only hope Coach O and most of the fans are not looking past the Commodores.

Talking to the Commish

"We have concluded our discussions with Commissioner Mike Slive and Coordinator of Football Officials Rogers Redding regarding the officiating of the game," said Boone. "We had an in depth discussion about specific plays as well as general officiating policies. I am comfortable this matter has been handled appropriately and appreciate the proactive approach from Rogers Redding and Commissioner Slive."

These are the words from Pete Boone concerning the awful calls that were made this weekend by so called SEC officials. We all know exactly what plays he is talking about. The one that I can still not figure out is the holding call on the punt. Even if it was holding, it was way after the block had occurred(I have not had a chance yet to re-watch the game, so have not seen any replays). With instant replay though I do not see how officials are making such bad calls. Is it me or are they worse now than before replay.

It seems like to me they just throw a flag if they think it is a penalty, and they will then review it to see if they are right or not. I was a fan of instant replay when it was first brought to college football. But if it is going to make things worse, then I say go back to the old ways. I know they will not tell us what the outcome of the meetings were, but I hope they reached an agreement that there were some bad calls.

The Ridiculous One Speaks

Paul Finebaum in his article today had this to say about the Rebels:

" Their offense couldn't score on Bourbon Street if it was New Years Eve."

Well if Paul thinks the Georgia game was bad I would hate to see what he would say after the Wake Forest or Missouri game.

All I Wanted

For several uncontrolable circumstances I will hopefully be able to put up a full report sometime Monday. For the time being all I can say is the Rebels did exactly what I asked for. They showed up and played with great emotion and eneregy. While we did not win, I was satisfied with our effort.

UPDATE: While the main thought of my post was expressed in the short post above. I will talk just a little bit more about it.

This weekend in Oxford is where we need to get back to. It was almost like a weekend from the 10 win season. All day in the Grove and a night game are hard to beat in my opinion. I think a night game at Ole Miss is ten times better than an afternoon game. The fans are more alive and everyone seems to be more into the game.

The Ole Miss football team showed up and they were ready to play. This was witnessed from when the team was first out on the field for warm ups, and was obvious all the way to the last interception.

The play calling was questionable for some and the officials were even worse. But this team showed up and played their hearts out. They made some mistakes, quiet a few, but they at least did not give up. Am I saying that I am all happy and will live with this type of outcome? No, I eventually expect us to win a game like last weekend. It is just tough to do with 18 freshman playing.

I also think that Georgia is over rated. I did not see this team to be a top 10 team in the country, if they are then something is wrong.

As Sparky has already stated in the comments, this game means nothing if they do not build on it. Last year we had the same type of game against an average Alabama team and lost on a last second field goal. The next week we came out flat and never played like that again for the rest of the season. Let's hope this coaching staff has learned from their mistakes of last year. I hate to use a Cut phrase, but it was "get better Monday" today and I hope the Rebels got better, because a good Vanderbilt football team is coming to town. This team should have easily defeaten Arkansas and Alabama. We can not take the lightly.