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Too Lenient? Ole Miss and MSU punish themselves….sort of

By Josh Barnhill

Nov 28, 2015; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs wide receiver Fred Ross (8) attempts to avoid a tackle by Mississippi Rebels defensive back Mike Hilton (38) during the third quarter at Davis Wade Stadium. Mississippi won 38-27. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2015; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs wide receiver Fred Ross (8) attempts to avoid a tackle by Mississippi Rebels defensive back Mike Hilton (38) during the third quarter at Davis Wade Stadium. Mississippi won 38-27. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports /
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In the last week the Ole Miss and MSU football programs have issued punishments for off the field incidents which many will find too lenient.

The punishment for Jeffery Simmons has been delivered: he will be suspended one game and have to submit to any prescriptions MSU counseling services sees fit.

There were a lot of State fans who did not want him to join the program (for hitting a woman in a street fight), so it’s no surprise national pundits would see the punishment as lenient.

On to Ole Miss, who I’m sure you’ve heard by now self-imposed a ban of 11 scholarships over four years. They still have to go before the NCAA committee on infractions in about two months, and we’ll know the final punishment around the start of the season or shortly thereafter.

This SEC writer suggest the punishment should be more like 25 scholarships over five years and a two year postseason ban.

Are these self-prescribed punishments by OM and MSU a little too light? Are we both trying to operate by throwing a bone to the crowd so long as we still have plenty?

Yes, and yes.

What people are saying is not inaccurate.

Ole Miss wants to save their program from undoing all the positive momentum of the last few years. MSU wants to save one of the few five stars we get to walk through the doors.

As a State fan, I’d love to just say Ole Miss is a bunch of lying scum and we are right to give Simmons a second chance. It’s two separate and completely difference things.

Maybe so. You can certainly debate about which is more serious in the grand scheme of things. You can certainly debate about who is being more hypocritical. I’m just ready for football.

I don’t like the path we’re going down. I don’t really want to see Ole Miss crash and burn because it won’t be too long before they figure out a way to drag us in the ditch with them.

We aren’t even two years separated from both being on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the darlings of college football. Are we going to undue all of that with scandal and impropriety?

I know some of you would rather see Ole Miss rot in hell than see MSU win another game. If that’s you, get some help. You’re ill. You don’t have to like OM or even not-hate them, but get a grip on your level of hatred and try to direct it towards something a little more positive – like Mississippi State winning.

I’m a lot less concerned with the idea of ‘covering up things better’ and a lot more concerned with ‘doing it the right way’. I don’t like cheating and violence. I don’t care how it looks to outsiders, I can how it looks to our maker. I cringe to think what He thinks about the rhetoric in Oxford or the actions MSU hasn’t disassociated itself with.

But this isn’t church. It’s college football. Hopefully some of us who’ve gotten the two lines blurred will recognize it is just a game. And while I hope Ole Miss never wins another game, I like how we’re both good right now as opposed to the way it was 10 years ago.

“Stop the madness” – Molly Hatchet.

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