What a Joke...

I hope the media has a field day with this as the Rebels have scheduled two FCS schools for next years football season. There is no reason a school in the best football conference in America should be scheduling schools like Northern Arizona. Why not go ahead and play the Valley, it's the same thing.

I love these excuses that Pete Boone tries to point out in the press release. I don't give a damn who Duke and North Carolina are playing, nor do I care what teams have played the Lumberjacks in recent years. Who cares? Bottom line is there is no reason for Ole Miss to schedule them. This press release does nothing but show how weak the administration is with its excuse making.

We are.......Ole Miss

(UMAA)
, Miss. – Following a lengthy process to accommodate ESPN’s request to add this year’s Ole Miss game at South Carolina to its Thursday Night national television package, Athletics Director Pete Boone announced Tuesday the Rebels’ complete football schedules for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Highlighting the 2009 schedule will be home Southeastern Conference dates with Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU, while SEC road trips will be to South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Mississippi State.
The non-conference schedule has Coach Houston Nutt’s Rebels visiting Memphis to open the season on Sept. 5, while home games with Southeastern Louisiana, UAB and Northern Arizona will provide non-conference opposition in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Ole Miss will be facing the Lions, Blazers and Lumberjacks in football for the first time in school history, with the Oct. 17 UAB game designated as Homecoming on the Oxford campus.
Moving the South Carolina date from a Saturday to Thursday night resulted in two additional schedule adjustments for Ole Miss in 2009. Ole Miss was to have played Vanderbilt on Sept. 19, but that game is now scheduled for Oct. 3. Another change that became necessary was to move a scheduled home game with Southeastern Louisiana from Sept. 12 to Sept. 19.
“Over the past several months, due to the ESPN request, we have been in and out of discussions with literally 15 to 20 schools in order to complete our 2009 schedule,” Boone said. “When you have to consider things like available dates and each team’s needs for home and away games, it does complicate the decision-making process.”
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place this week when Ole Miss added Northern Arizona for a game on Nov. 7. The Rebels will have an open date on Sept. 12.
While the 2009 schedule includes two Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) teams in Northern Arizona and Southeastern Louisiana, Boone noted that this year’s schedule was an anomaly. “We didn’t intend to schedule two I-AA teams nor do we anticipate scheduling two I-AA teams in the same year again,” he said.
In the past six seasons, Northern Arizona has played Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams Arizona (2004, 2005, 2007), Arizona State (2006, 2008) and Utah (2006). In addition to playing Ole Miss this season, the Lumberjacks will also face Arizona.
The Rebels are among a number of BCS schools playing two FCS opponents this season. They include Atlantic Coast Conference members Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State; Big 12 Conference member Kansas State; and Big East member South Florida.
The 2010 schedule will have Kentucky replacing South Carolina inside the SEC for a game to be played in Oxford. Other home dates with SEC teams include Vanderbilt, Auburn and Mississippi State, with SEC road games set at Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU. Non-conference opponents at home in 2010 will be Fresno State, Jacksonville State and Louisiana-Lafayette, with Tulane on the road.
Boone also announced additional non-conference opponents for the future, which will include home-and-home dates with Texas, Tulane, Clemson and Georgia Tech as well as return dates with UAB and Fresno State, plus home games with Southern Illinois and Central Arkansas.

OLE MISS 2009 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
DATE
OPPONENT
LOCATION
Sept. 5
Memphis
Memphis, Tenn.
Sept. 12
Open
Sept. 19
Southeastern Louisiana
Oxford
Sept. 24
South Carolina (ESPN)
Columbia, S.C.
Oct. 3
Vanderbilt
Nashville, Tenn.
Oct. 10
Alabama
Oxford
Oct. 17
UAB (HC)
Oxford
Oct. 24
Arkansas
Oxford
Oct. 31
Auburn
Auburn, Ala.
Nov. 7
Northern Arizona
Oxford
Nov. 14
Tennessee
Oxford
Nov. 21
LSU
Oxford
Nov. 28
Mississippi State
Starkville, Miss.

OLE MISS 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
DATE
OPPONENT
LOCATION
Sept. 4
Jacksonville State
Oxford
Sept. 11
Tulane
New Orleans, La.
Sept. 18
Vanderbilt
Oxford
Sept. 25
Fresno State
Oxford
Oct. 2
Kentucky
Oxford
Oct. 9
Open
Oct. 16
Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Oct. 23
Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ark.
Oct. 30
Auburn
Oxford
Nov. 6
Louisiana-Lafayette
Oxford
Nov. 13
Tennessee
Knoxville, Tenn.
Nov. 20
LSU
Baton Rouge, La.
Nov. 27
Mississippi State
Oxford

Ole Miss future non-conference games scheduled:
2011
Sept. 3
Southern Illinois
Oxford

Oct. 1
Fresno State
Fresno, Calif.

2012
Sept. 1
Central Arkansas
Oxford

Sept. 8
UAB
Birmingham, Ala.

Sept. 15
Texas
Oxford

Sept. 22
Tulane
Oxford

2013
Sept. 14
Texas
Austin, Texas

2015
TBA
Clemson
Clemson, S.C.
TBA
Fresno State
Oxford

2016
TBA
Clemson
Oxford
TBA
Tulane
New Orleans, La.

2017
TBA
Tulane
Oxford

2019
TBA
Georgia Tech
Oxford

2020
TBA
Georgia Tech
Atlanta, Ga.

Rebs Take 2 of 3 on the Road

Bianco's boys had a good weekend for the most part. Pitching is still a little shaky. Bottom line is Barrett has got to go as a weekend starter. As of now, he is just not going to cut it in SEC ball. Most people are saying that Buckvich or Baker should be given a chance to start against Bama in the upcoming series and I tend to agree.

Miller also was injured today, so it should be interesting to see how Bianco will play the infield, but with Evan Button back it should not be too hard to figure it out.

The Rebels take on Arkansas State and Memphis mid week and need to win them both.

(UMAA)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jordan Henry went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI while Logan Power went 2-for-4 with two RBI, but it wasn’t enough as No. 14 Ole Miss (11-4, 2-1 SEC) dropped the second game of a doubleheader against Vanderbilt (11-6, 1-2 SEC) by a score of 7-6.
The Rebels claimed the weekend series 2-1, but missed out on the sweep as the Commodores picked up the 7-6 win in the series finale. It was the second game of a doubleheader. Both games were seven inning contests and the Rebels picked up the first game of the twin bill 6-1 earlier in the afternoon.
Scott Bittle (1-2) suffered the loss in the second game as he allowed one unearned run on no hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of relief work.
Reliever Sonny Gray (1-0) picked up the win for the Commodores as he worked 3.2 innings and allowed one run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
“Any time you win the first two games, it’s not a good feeling when you lose the final game of the series,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “Anytime you don’t play well in this league, you’re going to get beat, but you have to credit Vanderbilt for hanging in there and continuing to battle the whole weekend.”
Ole Miss got on the board in the first when Jordan Henry scored on a single through the right side from Logan Power. Henry doubled down the left field line to open the game and moved to third on a passed ball to get into position to score on the Power hit.
The Commodores opened the second inning with four straight hits, including back-to-back doubles to push two runs across and take the lead. With runners at first and second, Aaron Barrett got Aaron Westlake to ground into a double play before a fly out from Richie Goodenow got the Rebels out of the inning trailing by one.
Ole Miss moved back into the lead in the second with a wild inning that saw Michael Hubbard lead off with a single and then score two batters later on a double from Zach Miller. Miller then scored on a single to left field from Henry. The Rebels held the 3-2 lead after one and a half innings played.
Vanderbilt reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning, pushing three runs across with a bases loaded single and then walking in a run as the Commodores put together a big inning with four hits and a pair of walks to take the 5-3 advantage.
Another run in the third extended the lead to 6-3 in favor of the Commodores.The Rebels answered in the fourth, using three hits and a pair of walks to push three runs across the plate and tie things at six. Matt Snyder opened the inning with a double, pinch hitting for Brett Basham to lead off the inning and start the Rebel rally. The rally was capped by a chop groundout down the first base line from David Phillips with the bases loaded that scored Tim Ferguson from third and knotted the score before a groundout from Michael Hubbard ended the inning.
Vanderbilt moved back into the lead with a single run in the fifth as Harris came up with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Loftus from third. Loftus walked to open the frame and then stole second before moving to third on a throwing error off a grounder to short from Esposito.
Ole Miss would not score again as Vanderbilt picked up the 7-6 win and avoided the sweep.
Ole Miss will return to action on Tuesday when the Rebels travel to face Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Ark. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.

The Infamous 12th Game

Georgia Tech? No
Army? No
TCU? No
Idaho? No

This is only a very small list of schools that have been thrown around for the 12th football game next year. Oh yeah that is correct Ole Miss does not have a full football schedule next year and the season is six months away. It is absolutely ridiculous and in my opinion someone should be fired. Yes I know it is extremely difficult to get a team to play a home game in Oxford next year for the amount we want to pay, but UMAA should make sacrifices. I can only imagine what our negotiations are like with this schools. How do TCU and Clemson work out a deal so fast? Now how does Idaho work out a deal with someone the way they did? Yet our people can't figure it out.

Now it looks like the Rebs are going to have to schedule a D II school next year because we have exhausted all options in scheduling.

If someone dropped the ball like this or couldn't negotiate in the business world they would be fired. Why does this not happen in intercollegiate athletics? Its inexcusable and I can imagine it is just another case of Ole Miss being cheap. What a joke UMAA is.

T White Continues to Dominate

Surely this guy is going to get Freshman Player of the Year in the SEC.

(SEC)BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the third time this season, Ole Miss point guard Terrico White has been named SEC Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Monday morning.
White scored 25 of his career-high 29 points after halftime in leading the Rebels to a 98-91 overtime win at Arkansas. It was the most points by an Ole Miss freshman in a game since Keith Carter had 29 in the 1995-96 season. He also added seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals against the Razorbacks.
The Memphis native notched his fourth straight 20-point performance with 21 against Mississippi State (on his birthday), giving him eight 20-point outings in SEC play.
White’s three selections as SEC Freshman of the Week are the most for any league player this season.

Big Road Win

Yeah Arkansas is terrible this year, but I will call the win by the Rebels tonight a big road win for the team. They took the Pigs to overtime and outscored them in second half and OT. It was a outstanding game for Will Boggan and Terrico White. Boggan had 7 assists and 16 points with White contributing 29. The deal with this game is that David Huertas did not play due to injury. Many have said this team can not win without David, but they played pretty darn well without him. Many times throughout the year it has seemed that Huertas is a distraction. Tonight they did it without him.

The Rebs are a win away from finishing the season with a .500 conference record. With the way this season has gone, it will be a pretty big accomplishment. The SEC Tourney should be interesting for everyone, and the NIT should be considered an accomplishment. Say what you want but AK and his staff have done a great job.

(UMAA)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Terrico White scored 25 of his 29 points after halftime to lead Ole Miss to a 98-91 win at Arkansas in overtime Wednesday night.
The Rebels (16-13, 7-8), playing without injured guard David Huertas, trailed by 12 in the first half before rallying. Ole Miss led 73-66 after an 11-5 run that included three 3-pointers by White. Then it was Arkansas' turn to bounce back. The Razorbacks (14-14, 2-13 Southeastern Conference) took an 84-82 lead on Stefan Welsh's 3-pointer with 52.5 seconds left.
White tied it on a drive with 32.3 seconds remaining, and the teams headed to overtime after Welsh's 3-pointer in the final seconds rattled out.
Michael Washington opened the scoring for the Razorbacks in overtime, but the Rebels answered with a 9-0 run. Zach Graham scored seven consecutive points during that decisive stretch.
Graham added a career-high 20 points, while Will Bogan also scored a career high with 16 points in the road win.