Cotton Bowl Time

Below is a small article from the Dallas Morning News about Ole Miss gaining respect with a win over Texas Tech. Interested in people's thoughts on the game. Can the Rebels Win? Score?

(DMN)Ole Miss defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix is using perception by some pundits that Ole Miss is unworthy of a Cotton Bowl berth as motivation.
Even though Ole Miss ended the regular season sizzling on a five-game winning streak, recognition has been hard to come by.
"Our kids are fired up about the opportunity to go out and try to earn some respect," Nix said. "That's our biggest challenge. We've told people that no one respected Ole Miss, and it's obvious, and we're just fortunate to be here. No one respected us, so let's see what happens."

Road Trip From Hell

1) 1: 15 am Your head coach and one of his assistants gets arrested for allegedly assaulting a muslim cabbie. As the day progresses, it appears the coaches(while under the influence of alcohol) were not as guilty as first reported. After hearing the coaches story about the incident they are cleared by university officials to coach and the university believes everyone will be ok.

2) 8:00 pm Tip off against the No. 9 team in the country, things start ok, but quickly turn downhill. As the game progresses, you work your way back into and actually make it a very interesting second half even taking the lead a couple of times, but in the end experience and depth prevail and you lose by nine points to a top 10 team.

3) 10:10 pm you find out your best player tears his ACL(Yes Chris Warren is more than likely done for the season). This is the third of your top 4 players to go down for the season in the first two months of play. And now the only point guard you have is a freshman from Idaho.


This has to be the worst road trip in the history of SEC basketball.

Kennedy To Coach Tonight

You all have heard various reports on what happened last night. The latest news is that Pete Boone and AK met this morning and Kennedy will coach tonight. Evidently there are several sides to this story and Boone believes that AK and company are innocent. Based on several reports I have read it appers that the "cabbie" involved in the altercation started the fight and Kennedy responded to a racial slur against assistant coach Torrey Ward, who is black.

Obviously there are many sides to this story, and I have no idea whats true or not. But until the court proves otherwise, I will take the side of the OM coaching staff instead of Mohammed Ould Jiddou.

One interesting note is that the police report states Bill Armstrong was kicked out of The Lodge Bar however the general manager denied this story.

All in all the Rebs were going to get killed with or without their head coach tonight.

(Clarion Ledger)Ole Miss men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy, who was arrested this morning in Cincinnati, will coach tonight in the Rebels’ nationally televised game against ninth-ranked Louisville in Cincinnati, a school spokesman said. Kennedy, 40, was arrested at 1:45 a.m. today, accused of attacking a taxi driver and shouting racial slurs in downtown Cincinnati, according to a Cincinnati police report.Bill Armstrong, the director of Ole Miss basketball operations, was also arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, according to police reports.A UM spokesman said that Kennedy met this morning with athletic director Pete Boone to discuss the incident and that Kennedy is scheduled to be on the sidelines when Ole Miss faces Louisville in the SEC/Big East Challenge at 8 p.m at U.S. Bank Arena. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN. The spokesman said the university would release a statement about Kennedy later today.According to police and court documents, Armstrong was “intoxicated and ejected” from the Lodge Bar in downtown Cincinnati.Alex Moller, who identified himself as the general manager of the Lodge Bar, disputed the police report when reached by telephone today.“The reports that they were kicked out are untrue,” said Moller. “They were here, but they left on good terms. As for what happened after they left the bar, I don’t know, but there was no incident here.”After leaving the bar, Armstrong and Kennedy got into a cab. That’s when, according to police reports, Armstrong taunted the driver, “in which his conduct was likely to cause a violent response.”Police reports also say that Kennedy “was the aggressor” and punched driver Mohammed Ould Jiddou and used “racial slurs.”According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Kennedy has hired attorney Mike Allen to represent him. Allen is the former Hamilton County Prosecutor, which is where Cincinnati is located.Allen entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client this morning, the newspaper reported. In the report, he said Kennedy “emphatically denies this and emphatically denies making any racial slurs.”Steve Kennedy, Andy’s brother, said he has not talked to his brother yet but has spoken with family members, including Andy Kennedy’s wife Kimber. “This is one of the most unfair situations we’ve ever seen,” Steve Kennedy said. “Andy’s still got a lot of friends in Cincinnati that are going to help him fight this.”

Two Rebs Named First Team All American by AP

(UMAA)OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss' Peria Jerry and Michael Oher were both honored as First Team All-Americans today, as the Associated Press released its college football All-America teams. It marks the first year in school history to have two Rebels selected to the AP first team.
In addition, Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt was named one of eight finalists for the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coach of the Year award, as announced by the Bryant Awards committee of the American Heart Association. The winner will be voted on by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) and named live at an awards dinner benefiting the American Heart Association on Jan. 15, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston.
Other finalists include Mack Brown, Texas; Turner Gill, Buffalo; Mike Leach, Texas Tech; Chris Petersen, Boise State; Nick Saban, Alabama; Bob Stoops, Oklahoma and Kyle Whittingham, Utah.
Nutt, who was honored as SEC Coach of the Year by the AP last week, was also recently chosen as the AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year. This marks the fifth time in Nutt's career to earn region top coaching honors from the American Football Coaches Association.
Jerry, a senior defensive tackle, picks up First Team All-America distinction for the first time in his career. The Batesville, Miss., native had been chosen to the Rivals second team earlier this month. Jerry was a four-time SEC Player of the Week honoree and tops the conference in tackles for loss.
Oher has been a consensus First Team All-American offensive tackle this postseason. Led by the senior from Memphis, the Ole Miss line ranks fourth in the SEC in fewest sacks and has helped the Rebels' rushing offense pile up the third-most yards on the ground.

Going to the Big D!

It's Going to Be a Long Year

The Ole Miss basketball team and their fans are in for a long year. This team is so up and down it is incredible. They played well for about 12 minutes combined tonight, but a basketball game last 40. They absolutely blew it in the end. A missed free throw and a dribble off the leg in the last minute are not going to get you anywhere. I felt like we should gone without a timeout at the end, but what do I know.

Aside from Huertas(who has improved) and Warren, this team has noone. And in the games I have seen Warren has taken a slight step back. It looks like Barnes talent out there aside from those two. The loss of Polynice and Gaskins hurt extremely bad, but we have been told our recruiting has been up so we should be able to fill those holes.

Don't get me wrong I really like AK. But he has to figure out how to win without Gaskins and Polynice.

Maybe I'm just mad about this loss, but it doesn't look good for the Rebs.

Are You Kidding Me

The Conerly Trophy, for the most valuable player in Mississippi, was announced tonight and awarded to Juan Joseph of Millsaps. The Millsaps quarterback won the award ahead of Ole Miss players Michael Oher and Peria Jerry, both all SEC lineman. I am not going to get too deep into this, because I am sure Joseph is a great player. But you can't tell me a QB from some Division III school is a better player than Peria Jerry or Michael Oher. I mean this guy goes to Millsaps. Half of the people that comment on this website could have played and started for Millsaps. Peria Jerry was the most dominant player I have seen at Ole Miss in quite sometime. He is without a doubt one of the best SEC lineman in the past few years. I just lost all respect for this award.

I hope they make these media votes public. Because I would love to know how some of these guys voted.

(Clariion Ledger)CLARKSDALE — Millsaps quarterback Juan Joseph capped a stellar small-college career tonight with one more surprising victory — in the voting for the Cellular South Conerly Trophy. Joseph won the award, representative of the best college football player in Mississippi, over a pair of projected NFL first-round draft choices from Ole Miss, defensive tackle Peria Jerry and offensive tackle Michael Oher.Although two players from Division II Delta State have won the award, Joseph is the first player from the NCAA’s lowest level (Division III, where athletic scholarships are not awarded) to win in the trophy’s 13-year existence.A senior from Edgard, La., Joseph led Millsaps to an 11-1 record this season. The Majors were ranked as high as No. 3 nationally in one Division III poll and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, where the Majors lost 35-20 last Saturday to Washington and Jefferson College.Joseph led Millsaps in rushing with 76 carries for 412 yards and four touchdowns and he completed nearly 68 percent of his passes (301 for 445), for 3,463 yards, 32 TDs and only six interceptions.A panel of about 60 media representatives around the state voted on the award, which was handed out following a ceremony at Clarksdale Country Club in the hometown of Charlie Conerly, the former Ole Miss quarterback for whom the award is named.

The Waiting Game

It appears no decision is going to be made until Sunday morning on the future of the Ole Miss football season. UGASports is reporting that Florida Citrus Sports spokesman Greg Creese said a final vote will not be taken until Sunday on who will play in the Capital One Bowl.

While I feel strongly that it will be the Cotton Bowl for the Rebs, there is still a small possibility the Rebels could play in Orlando on New Years Day.

All I know is the Rebel nation is fired up and everyone I talk to is going to the bowl game. Whether its Dallas or Orlando it looks like there will be alot of Rebels there.

Thoughts........