Well, here we are, the last game of the season. It’s been a wild ride as always. We had a quarterback battle, a 7-0 start, a stumbling, challenging, entertaining effort to the finish line, and now coaching rumors that are at an all time high during Egg Bowl week. Just last week we had over 700 total yards, got humiliated by Arkansas in Fayetteville, and somehow I don’t even have time to talk about it. Nobody said being an Ole Miss fan was easy, but it sure as hell isn’t boring.
I never wanted it to come to this. I tried avoiding it as long as I could, but we've gotten to the point where I have to address the elephant in the room. I enjoy writing about matchups, the look ahead spots, the pageantry, and the passion of the sport that I dearly love. Yet here I am on rivalry week, not writing about how we matchup with the Bulldogs (I’ll get there), not about the passion this rivalry brings, or what it means to the state of Mississippi. I’m left writing about, unfortunately, the only thing any of us can think about right now, and that is Lane Kiffin. I want to tell myself as well as you, to focus on Mississippi State, and not to worry about all the Kiffin rumors, but I’m not sure I can do that at this point.
Anything can change quickly, so as I publish this, just before noon, on Wednesday, November 23rd, I genuinely don’t know what is going to happen. There is still a part of me that believes that Lane is going to remain the head coach at Ole Miss, but I certainly don’t feel good about it. There’s been A LOT of smoke that Kiffin is going to resign on Friday and become the next head coach at Auburn. I mean so much smoke, that there’s got to be a fire right? Well maybe, but maybe not? Who knows! As an Ole Miss fan, we put up with enough stress with all of the nail biting 4th quarters, that often end in heart break, do we really deserve to deal with this on top of that? It’s the holiday season. I just want to get together with family, relax, and watch my rivalry game like everyone else. Instead I’m left refreshing twitter, looking for new information, like a 14 year old girl looking for Taylor Swift tickets. And for what?? Not Alabama, Texas, or Ohio State, we’re talking about Auburn??? This is a fanbase that would’ve told you in March that they were a basketball school. I could go on and on about what I think about Auburn, and it wouldn’t be a list of nice things to say, so let me take my hate hat off for a minute and play devils advocate. Why Auburn? It’s a slightly bigger brand, slightly bigger stadium, they just updated their facilities, they’re able to offer a longer contract due to state laws, maybe slightly more NIL money, and you can get a house at Lake Martin (sure, cool). While they do have the edge for all of these things I listed above, none of them are substantial edges except for Lake Martin vs. Sardis. You would give the slight edge to the Tigers in these categories, but it wouldn’t be a land slide by any means. Is that really worth it? Is that worth packing your bags and leaving for Auburn? Is it worth leaving all the groundwork that you’ve laid in Oxford to put up with the most toxic booster situation in the country? I just don’t get it, and with the 12 team playoff coming, I don’t believe that there is anything in Auburn that you can’t accomplish in Oxford year in and year out.
I’m not happy with the way that this has been handled by Lane, just like you. Understandably a lot of the fanbase is upset with him and thinks it is unfair to the players. To an extent I agree, but it is a business, and at times it can be an ugly one. If Lane Kiffin is the head coach next year, great, he’s my guy. If he leaves for Auburn, I’ll emotionally bury him 6 feet underground, hate him with a passion, hope nothing but the worst for him, and get behind our new guy whole heartedly. With that being said, I’ve got no choice but to move on for now. I’m done refreshing twitter, I’m done trying to crack the code to why Lane Kiffin just tweeted this or that, or what he said in a press conference, and I’m just going to sit back and wait. In the meantime we’ve got a football game tomorrow.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-4) come to Oxford as just a 1.5 point underdog. In a rivalry game that just tells you that absolutely anything can happen. So, how do we matchup with The Bulldogs? Well, they rank as the #9 passing attack in the country, and the #12 red zone scoring offense in the county. Translation, they are good at moving the ball through the air and capitalizing on touchdowns rather than field goals. While they rank 130 out of 131 in rushing offense, that comes as no surprise, as Mike Leach refuses to run the ball, and shows time and time again that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Mike Leach may be a strange guy, but he’s no stranger to scoring points, and the Rebels will have a tall task in slowing down this passing attack. With that being said I would much rather go against a passing team than a rushing team at this point in the season. Statistically the Rebels are mediocre against both the pass and the run, however I have much more faith in our ability to stop this Mississippi State passing attack, then say the ferocious rushing attack that KJ Jefferson and Arkansas just shoved down our throats last Saturday. We just don’t have the ideal personal to stop the run, which is fine, because on Saturday we shouldn’t have to. On the other side of the ball it is worth noting that The Bulldogs rank as high as 13th in the nation at stopping the pass, while they are fairly average against the run. That works out well for us, as I fully expect to see a heavy dose of the run all night from the dynamic duo that is Quinshon Judkins and Zach Evans. I told you I was done reading into things Lane Kiffin tweeted, but he did tweet out earlier this week a list of the top 7 rushing teams in SEC history this week. This Ole Miss team would need 377 rushing yards tomorrow night (very doable) to crack that list. Just something to keep an eye on.
Egg Bowl week, last game of the year, rumors swirling, and if I’m distracted from the game, how can our players not be? We’ll find out to what extent they are locked in on this game, but it does still matter, and I do expect Mississippi State to be laser focused. We saw last week what happens when you don’t give a team your full attention in the SEC. I’m not sure I can argue that we will be fully focused on this game, but maybe I can argue that we can overcome it.
KEYS TO VICTORY:
1.) Score Touchdowns:
I know we can move the ball, I’ve seen that time and time again. We had over 700 yards last week and got throttled for more reasons than one, but the main issue was that we couldn’t find the end zone. At the end of the day that’s all that matters. We’ve got to cash in drives with touchdown this week to have a chance.
2.) Win the Turnover Battle
Last week we lost the turnover battle 3-0. That won’t cut it. Mississippi State is +7 in the turnover margin this year, while the Rebels are -1. Can someone on defense make a play tomorrow night, and can we take care of the football? We’ll find out soon enough.
3.) Stay Focused
Easier said than done. This may be the biggest factor, and the most challenging aspect of Thursdays game. No matter where Lane Kiffin coaches next year, we need to stay focused tomorrow night, and keep our winning streak against the Bullies alive.
SCORE PREDICTION:
The weather calls for rain tomorrow night in Oxford. Advantage for the team that runs the ball. Maybe a slippery ball in the rain is where we find our turnover from. I think that we can control the clock on the ground and overcome the distractions.
Mississippi State 24
Ole Miss 31
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