news
Good morning, and welcome to the Friday chat. We're talking Ole Miss football here.
The Rebels take on Southern Illinois tomorrow at 5. In spite of last year's FCS loss to Jacksonville State, this is a game the Rebels should handle. If they don't, there are issues beyond winning and losing on a single Saturday.
That being said, many questions won't be answered by coming out winning big against a smaller school in which Ole Miss offensive linemen will have an average size advantage of 66 pounds on the defensive linemen they'll face.
The Rebels need to come out, play crisp, efficient and win. Then Vanderbilt becomes a game they have to have to get on a path for six wins.
So, Southern Illinois ... Will the Rebels be better against the run? Will they stuff the Salukis on first down and be dominant defensively, not just effective?
What about quarterback? How do you manage those three in this game? Zack Stoudt is clearly the starter and should be in my opinion. How much does Randall Mackey play? How do you use him, and what do you do with Barry Brunetti in this game?
And what do you see from the Ole Miss run game? Can Jeff Scott handle 20 carries, or will Devin Thomas get a meaningful number of attempts?
Houston Nutt has spent a week working Chief Brown at running back? Should he figure or prominently into the game plan or just be available in case of emergency and go back to safety once things settle down?
I'll be checking in throughout the day. Leave your thoughts and observations below.
Plus, this is a guy that could have been the opening day starter and they still haven't seen him in a game. They want to evaluate him in something other than practice.
Also AD for compliance Matt Ball says he anticipates submitting the Murphy Holloway waiver request next week. He is waiting on a letter from South Carolina, a common request of the NCAA in matters like this. It is believed that the South Carolina letter will be favorable toward the waiver request.
RevReb, we should hear something on the Georgia start time Monday.
As far as David Lee, I don't think people have turned on him necessarily. I think there will be frustration toward Houston and the whole staff until the hang a few w's on the board.
How long a coach has to prove himself depends on a lot of different things, the state of a program when he takes over, ticket sales, how the rival is playing. Lots of things factor in.
Right now there's frustration over last year, frustration over losing the way they lost against BYU, and there will be frustration until they show the program is back to competing for a winning season and a bowl game.
It didn't take long for a lot of fans to turn on new OC David Lee, questioning his conservative play-calling against BYU. In today's world of instant gratification, how long do you think any coach has to prove himself before the pressure mounts to make a change?
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/NCAA/Legislation and Governance/Eligibility and Recruiting/Faqs/eligibility_seasons.html
"It does not matter how long you were involved in a particular competition (for example, one play in a football game, one point in a volleyball match); you will be charged with one season of competition."
Depending on what Mackey does and if Stoudt continues to improve from a pretty good opener, it could be beneficial to redshirt Brunetti.
If Stoudt and Mackey get some time in and play up to par, could they bench Brunetti the remainder of the season and let him redshirt this year? Probably too early to tell if that will happen, but just wondered if its a possibility. I think Brunetti will do well, but I think he would benefit the team more by sitting out a year and learning the program. Mackey has too much talent to waste, and Stoudt looks like he could be a leader for this team.
Third-string running. Well, Jeff Scott is the third back, but he's a big part of the plan. I think the big change Saturday will be his number of carries. They'll want to see if he can handle a bigger load while Bolden is out.
And yes, if they don't beat Vandy it will be hard to get to six wins. If they're just 2-2 after four games, they've got to find four more wins, and Vandy is already off the schedule. Nashville will be a huge trip.