Time for MSU to Broaden the Gap in the Magnolia State
Ole Miss’ program is on life support. They have lost 12 consecutive SEC games. Just last week they lost to Kentucky, which officially made them the worst team in the conference. The Rebels are 113th in offense and 98th in defense. They lost to Jacksonville State, and FCS team, in 2010. The 37 signees in Nutt’s infamous 2009 class… 15 remain on the team.
The Ole Miss alumni base has rallied to take down Houston Nutt and athletic director Pete Boone. Now they will be searching for their 7th head football coach since Jackie Sherrill became the head coach at Mississippi State 20 years ago. That’s Ole Miss: 7 coaches, MSU: 3 (since 1991).
It’s hard to figure how they could manage to get out of the hole they are currently in. They are a 2.5 point underdog in their Homecoming game this week vs. Louisiana Tech! They’ve assembled a group of five members headed by Archie Manning and FedEx V.P. Mike Glenn to find another coach and Athletic Director. But Pete Boone isn’t stepping down until sometime before the end of 2012. So….how is that going to work? Boone says he won’t hire the next coach, but the Manning-led group will. There is no time-table for their search, will they hire a new A.D. first? It would certainly make sense to considering the A.D. will be in charge of the coach. Typically, A.D.’s want to have their own guy in there. Sounds like they are getting the cart before the horse. If Manning and Co. hire the coach, what kind of reputable administrator would want to take the A.D. job? In other words, Ole Miss might be getting a second-rate A.D. if they hire the coach first.
All of this said, MSU has to take advantage of the opportunity. Three years ago, Ole Miss slapped State around 45-0. The result: they were headed to the Cotton Bowl and we fired Croom. Expectations were sky-high in Oxford with a Top 10 ranking in ’09, while commentators questioned if Mullen could win at MSU. Two years later and there has been a complete 180. State had high expectations entering 2011 while Nutt was on the hot seat. Since then, the gap has widened further, albeit due to Ole Miss’ failure rather than MSU’s success. State cannot let this kind of 180 happen to them, instead, they need to crush the school up north even further into the ground.
Right now, Ole Miss is in oblivion recruiting-wise. As far as SEC standards go, they might as well be near the bottom of the country. State has the chance to put the nail in the coffin on November 26th. The Egg Bowl is vitally important. A lot of Mississippi kids may discount Ole Miss this winter, but we don’t want them discounting MSU because we couldn’t even beat the lowly Bears. Losing to Ole Miss will have them looking beyond the state’s borders for a college home. No doubt the Rebs will be ready to play…that game is their entire season. Winning this year’s Egg Bowl will make this year a resounding success, even if it’s just a 6-6 record.