Coming to A&M with Elko. Towel waving is back in the SEC.

Any update on who will fill that role? @Neal McCready

Ole Miss is 8-0 after a listless win over The Mount on Tuesday in Oxford, and the Rebels now head to UCF on Sunday. Ken Pom has UCF at No. 78 so it's a quality road game in Orlando. UCF is now in the Big 12 which has good basketball.

I was looking through some advanced stats numbers, and Ole Miss is not doing dumb things with the basketball. The Rebels are 13th nationally in non-steal turnovers. Think of it as unforced errors. Ken Pom says 59 percent of this stat is the offense doing things without a catalyst while 40 percent is the defense having some impact on the turnover. The Rebels are avoiding the dumb turnovers and being a little unlucky on the other side. Ole Miss defensively is 337th in non-steal turnovers. Not a lot of free gifts for the Rebels.

Ole Miss has several quality defensive stats. The Rebels are seventh defensively in block percentage and 48th nationally in steal percentage. They are also 31st nationally in opponent 3-point percentage, 38th in defensive effective field goal percentage (factors in points per shot attempt so 3 pointers are worth more) and 24th in FTA/FGA (keeping opponents from the foul line). Also opponent possession length is in the 290s, meaning opponents are working through a lot of the shot clock.

Ole Miss is 82nd in 3-point shooting and 234th in 2-point shooting. The Rebels are 91st in free throw percentage. Ole Miss defensively gives up way too many offensive rebounds -- 293rd nationally.

Now, it's going to get tougher outside of Memphis and NC State to a degree. Overall strength of schedule is currently in the 280s. Partly because everything but Temple has been at home. But the Rebels are showing they are well coached. Playing well in the final minutes of games and not doing a lot of dumb stuff.

Didn’t we want him at one point?

Previously had a hydraulic matching hardshell lift matching bedcover on my F-150 but now I’ve got a F-250 and am looking to add a retractable bedcover of some sort to haul softball gear and golf clubs and not have to load/unload the truck every day
A) it gets parked outside so needs to be waterproof
B) does have a B&B in bed ball I use to haul equipment around the farm (rarely) and possibly pull a RV in the future.

Best bang for buck recommendations on brands? And can I order and install myself?

Now that the regular season is over, I'll take a look at a few different stats buried inside the PFF College database. Considering the injuries late and patchwork nature in recent weeks, let's start with the offensive line's pass blocking stats. Players are arranged in order of number of pass blocking plays this season.

Quincy McGee
398 pass block plays
1 penalty
4 sacks allowed
0 hits
15 allowed hurries
19 allowed pressures
Pressure percentage: 4.77

Jeremy James
387 plays
3 penalties
0 sacks
2 hits
14 hurries
16 pressures
Pressure percentage: 4.13

Caleb Warren
352 plays
0 penalties
1 sack
3 hits
10 hurries
14 pressures
Pressure percentage: 3.97

Victor Curne
343 plays
1 penalty
1 sack
3 hits
10 hurries
14 pressures
Pressure percentage: 4.08

Micah Pettus
307 plays
5 penalties
3 sacks
4 hits
9 hurries
16 pressures
Pressure percentage: 5.21

Reece McIntyre
140 plays
0 penalties
2 sacks
0 hits
2 hurries
4 pressures
Pressure percentage: 2.85

Jayden Williams
98 plays
0 penalties
0 sacks
2 hits
7 hurries
9 pressures
Pressure percentage: 9.18

Eli Acker
90 plays
0 penalties
0 sacks
0 hits
5 hurries
5 pressures
Pressure percentage: 5.55

Caden Prieskorn
42 plays (14.2 percent of pass plays he was in for)
3 penalties
0 sacks
0 hits
1 hurry
1 pressure
Pressure percentage: 2.38

No other lineman had more than 11 pass blocking snaps so the sample size is too small to have an opinion. Quinshon Judkins allowed one sack, two hits, 6 hurries and 9 pressures in 91 pass blocking snaps. Ulysses Bentley allowed one sack, no hits, no hurries and one pressure in 19 pass block snaps. Judkins had two penalties and Bentley had one penalty. Remember all these penalties are just in the act of pass blocking. They don't account for run game penalties or motion penalties. I'll add those in for the next post.

Kyirin Heath was in on 64 pass plays, but he was a blocker on only seven of them.

This has probably been discussed and I’ve missed it - any word on Dart and the shoulder injury? He pretty clearly wasn’t 100% the last couple of games — hopefully he’ll be healed up by the bowl

How much are we going to have to pay him?

Also haven’t seen him formally announce his return yet. Seems like it’d be timely?

He will be the top QB in the SEC should he return, which should everything but guarantee him a shot at making an NFL roster.

QB: J. Dart, W. Howard, A. Simmons
Comment: This room is excellent as is. We don’t need to spend any portal resources here.

RB: Q. Judkins, K. Reescano, U. Bentley*, J. Griffin*
Comment: Bentley and Griffin have COVID years available to use. Proven depth will be an issue if Bentley leaves, so his decision could affect portal recruiting/need at this position.

TE: C. Prieskorn*. H. Wolfe, J. Conner
Comment: Even if Prieskorn returns, another dependable option is needed at this position.

WR: T. Harris* (also pending NFL feedback), J. Watkins*, D. Smith (praying academics are fine), A. Williams, C. Lee
Comment: The best case scenario is that this room is one playmaker/stud (portal) away from being elite. The worst case scenario is that we are needing to hit on 2-3 portal guys in order to field a viable receiving corps, if Harris and Watkins leave and Smith has any academic hurdles.

OL: M. Pettus, J. James*, C. Warren*, R. McIntyre*, E. Acker
Comment: We don’t rotate a ton of lineman in our offense. Thus, it would be ideal for James, Warren, and McIntyre to utilize their COVID year and return. Outside of those 3, only Acker and Pettus played meaningful snaps. If everyone returns, I would like to see the staff move Pettus to guard and pick up two legit tackles from the portal. Realistically, Pettus will stay at RT, and the staff will pick up a LT and LG similarly to last season.

Note: It has been alluded to that J. Williams may eventually enter the portal, so he was not included.

DE/Edge: C. Johnson*, J. Ivey*
Comment: If neither Johnson nor Ivey utilizes their COVID year, then it is imperative that the staff hits on 2-3 impact portal guys. Some talented Freshmen are on the way, but it will be too much to depend on them to contribute consistently from day one.

DT: J. Pegues*, Z. Harris, A. Stone, J. Harris*, J. Brown
Comment: This position group has a solid foundation. I believe another high level player is needed, though, as JJ was the only interior lineman who consistently caused backfield havoc ( 8 TFL’s and 3.5 sacks)

LB: S. Perkins, T. Dudley, K. Coleman*, L. Tennison
Comment: By the end of the year, Pete was utilizing a 4-man rotation. If Coleman uses his COVID year, I feel he would be better utilized as a rotational Edge/Jack in this scheme. Therefore, the staff at minimum needs to hit on 1 portal player if Perkins and Dudley are as advertised come next Fall.

CB: C. Graves
Comment: Prince and Walton were stalwarts at this position in 2023. The staff will need to hit on at least 2 portal transfers, as the two starters are gone along with D. Gaddie (I don’t see any eligibility left).

Safety: T. Washington, J. Saunders*
Comment: By the end of the year, Pete was primarily utilizing 3 safeties. With D. Anthony being out of eligibility, the staff will need to hit on at least one portal transfer as long as Saunders uses his COVID year.

**Ideally, some underclassmen will take a leap in the Spring; however, due to our limited rotations at certain positions, there are a lot of unknown commodities on the roster. Therefore, we have presumed holes in certain spots until proven otherwise.**

K: C. Davis*- No, resources are needed here for this upcoming year in the portal.

P: F. Masin*- I wouldn’t mind an upgrade here, but we have bigger areas of need to focus resources on currently.

I’ve got 2 tickets for the Peach Bowl on roughly the 20 yd line. They are uppers in Section 338.

"Further, one of two things is going to happen to that development player. One, he's not going to develop and then you have to run him off/process him/help him go elsewhere. Or two, he develops, blossoms into a player and now he gets tampered with and his price skyrockets. " - Neal

Didn't make it in time for the mailbag, so I'll ask here. This, to me, is absolute bullcrap as a working model, and ultimately keeps a lot of kids from becoming the best players they can be. It's unfathomable to me, still, that these players can get paid, a lot, and there not be anything resembling a contract that requires some sort of duty out of BOTH parties (school and player). How long is this sucky model going to be allowed to continue unmodified?

it doesn't maximize the potential of either the player or the team; it takes up an inordinate amount of time that could be spent on actual football; and, I believe it takes away those early opportunities for development within an SEC program from a lot of kids. I realize why it happened (big money), but I can't believe nobody has pushed harder for a more sustainable, more efficient model.

States new DC

and lowest out-group tolerance (against white people).

The projection is reality.

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Arkansas…

I've heard it's incredible, and thought about going to a theatre to see it. It's a 97% on RT, and the Audience score is 98%. I don't mind subtitles, so that wouldn't be a deterrent.

Do you and chase ever get pissed off at one another? Sometimes I hear it in y’all’s voice on the pod. Heck, you got to as long as y'all worked together.
Got any good stories for the pod?

Any truth? SIAP

GO REBS!!

Here’s your basketball article.
We beat a cupcake team that I thought was App State but was even less relevant, I had good seats at my desk as I wait for my shift to end. Anyway, we play basketball really good and I’m gonna say we make a final 4 run this year, because why not. My first born shall henceforth be known as Monte Chris.

In the South it is common to walk past someone and say hey or wave . Ever since moving up here I’ve realized that’s really weird why say hi to someone you don’t even know.

My how the turn tables

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Had a family move in next door about two months ago. We’ve waved, but none of the other neighbors or my wife and I have met any of them. They have a German Shepherd and a tiny dog that I think is actually a 130db squeaky toy.

I love dogs. Have two beagles of my own. We’ve had several neighbors in that house that had dogs but it’s been nothing like this. This ****ing Shepherd starts barking as early as 5:45 a few mornings. They throw him outside and I don’t think he goes in all day. Actually, feel sorry for him because I think he’s just lonely as hell. He sounds like a freaking 900 lbs dog. He barks constantly. You would think the little one couldn’t be louder, but he just might be…but they keep it inside most of the time.
I seriously don’t mind some barking. Hey - I understand - and don’t expect them to be quiet all the time. BUT I expect you to give a damn. I expect you to be considerate to your neighbors. I expect you outside shutting them up. But nothing. Never once seen anyone tell him to be quiet. Now - I have. I’ve started screaming at it hoping they will get the hint.

I know I’m just going to have to go over and knock on the door, but I’m a little worried how I’m going to react if they try to blow the whole thing off. I don’t want to be contentious - but I can’t say I’m not pissed at their utter lack of giving a shit.

I’ve complained to the HOA. Several people have…and I think they sent some strongly worded letters lol. Besides poison wieners, what are my options here?

I think it did

I’ve never cared about NBA in November or December, but I’be been in this year

The two games tonight are going to be fun

Siskey headed to ACC? AAC? Someone tag him he’s got me blocked. LOL