Sunday, November 26, 2006

The Egg Returns

The famous Golden Egg returned to Oxford this weekend after a 20-17 win by the Rebels. Ole Miss improved its record in the series to 59-38-6 over the Bulldogs. The game was tied at halftime and many fans were concerned about the way the game was going for the Rebels. The Rebels were up 3 going into the fourth quarter. Marshay Green added 7 on a punt return that put the Rebels up 10 and appeared to have finished the Bulldogs for good with 3 minutes remaining in the game. Instead, the Bulldogs marched right down the field in less than a minute to pull them within a field goal. A late attempt by the Bulldog kicker to send the game into overtime came up wide and the Rebels prevailed.


There were a few surprising things that happened in this game that concerned me.

- I was shocked to see how MSU dominated our defense with their rushing game like they did. Most of their yards came in the first half. But the Rebels gave up a lot in the first two quarters and made several adjustments to slow them down in the second half.

- Once again QB Brent Schaeffer was pulled with a lead in the second half and replaced with Seth Adams. Once again the offensive production stopped and the momentum of the game shifted. Why this happened as it did last week, I have no idea. Some people on the Square were commenting that Brent was making bad audibles and changing plays which was messing up the team and our gameplan. All I know is Seth Adams does not belong on the field as an SEC quarterback. There is no way he should ever see the field again.

- Going into the game Ben Jarvus Green Ellis needed only 38 rushing yards to reach the 1,000 yard mark for the season. If you would have told me he would not get to that point I would have told you that you were crazy. Green-Ellis finished with 999 yards on the day. I hate it that he did not reach this point. University officials are however reviewing game film to see if a yard can be found somewhere to put him at the 1,000 yard mark.

Here are a couple of notes the SID has put out that I find interesting also.

• Sophomore Mico McSwain earned his first start of the year at running back ... He started six games in the backfield as a redshirt freshman a year ago, but made his only start this year at flanker.
• Junior Bruce Hall made the first start of his Ole Miss career at quarterback ... Hall came to Ole Miss as a quarterback but moved to tailback in spring drills.
• Junior Brent Schaeffer made his first career start at wide receiver ... It was his only play of the game at wideout.


Bottom line is a win is a win. Winning this game was incredibly huge not only for the team but for the fans also. We truly needed a win to carry us into the offseason. I will post a wrap up of the season later this week.