Ole Miss attempts to win an SEC West title this weekend in College Station, a personal milestone happened for me this past week, and I think Mike Bianco should be in line for postseason hardware from the conference. That and more, as I deliver my Midweek Musings as the last weekend of the baseball regular season is here.
***** If Ole Miss wins the SEC West, and I'll get to how that happens in a second, Mike Bianco should be the SEC Coach of the Year.
I've always thought 2006 and 2009 were Bianco's best coaching jobs, but those are going to have to move over if the Rebels win at least a game this weekend in College Station. I normally have an opinion in the preseason regarding the upcoming record. I'll take a guess publicly and this past season was the toughest year to do this. I had no idea what to expect. Honestly, if you want to inject truth serum, if you told me with three SEC games to go there would be a 17 in the equation I would have predicted 17 losses. Call me a hater or pessimistic or whatever, but I just didn't know where it would work. Apparently the SEC coaches didn't know either. Let's take a look back. Here's the preseason poll from February.
Eastern Division
Team -- Pts.
1. South Carolina (9) -- 86
2. Vanderbilt (5) -- 82
3. Florida -- 69
4. Kentucky -- 47
5. Tennessee -- 39
6. Georgia -- 38
7. Missouri -- 24
Western Division
Team -- Pts.
1. LSU (6) -- 84
2. Mississippi State (7) -- 83
3. Alabama -- 58
Texas A&M (1) -- 58
5. Arkansas -- 44
6. Ole Miss -- 35
7. Auburn -- 21
SEC Champion: South Carolina (5); LSU (4), Mississippi State (4); Vanderbilt (1)
That's not just sixth overall, which Ole Miss is guaranteed to be better than in Hoover next week, that prediction is sixth in the SEC West. Obviously I don't have a vote, but the guess is that Kevin O'Sullivan at Florida and Bianco are the frontrunners. O'Sullivan has done a hell of a job with an inexperienced team, but Bianco's team has been more impressive, relative to expectations.
The reason I give Bianco the nod is two-fold: Fillings voids and development.
First, Ole Miss had to replace Bobby Wahl and Mike Mayers in the weekend rotation. Wahl went 10-0 with a 2.03 ERA and threw 97.2 innings. Mayers was killed by lack of run support at 5-6 but had a 2.83 ERA in 92.1 innings. Wahl's ERA in conference play was 1.99 with a .181 batting average against. Then, with the position players, Stuart Turner was the best catcher in the country. He hit .374 with 31 extra base hits and also threw out 52 percent of runners attempting to steal bases. That's insane. Tanner Mathis had a .409 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot, and Andrew Mistone hit .317 while playing third base, though Mistone didn't repeat his stellar defense from 2012.
Second, and here's why this is happening, Ole Miss' upperclassmen have taken major steps in production and leadership. Last season, the two worst batting averages among regulars were Sikes Orvis (.237) and Will Allen (.231). Orvis hit three home runs and had 21 RBI all year. Allen was four and 23 in those categories. Also, in 2012 as the everyday catcher, Allen lost 20 pounds and struggled to keep his body together. This time, he's stayed healthy and survived the 56-game grind. The current year's numbers? Allen: .351, seven home runs, 52 RBI. Orvis: .302, 12 home runs, 41 RBI.
Austin Anderson moved over to third base and is hitting .330 with an OPS of .883. That's up from .310 and .804 in 2013. And then there's Auston Bousfield, who is an SEC Player of the Year candidate, bouncing back tremendously after a sophomore slump. Boufield hit just .253 last season with 15 extra base hits and 25 RBI. He's at .366 with 22 extra base hits and 42 RBI with games remaining.
The immediate recruiting impact is also noteworthy, and the Rebels appear to be executing a recruiting plan well, but that's somewhat expected because you're always having to insert players to fill voids left by the MLB Draft. Braxton Lee has avoided that year-one transition struggle. Errol Robinson is hitting .302, JB Woodman is hitting .333, and the Rebels have a bench that fills niches late in games.
Ole Miss needs to finish the deal this weekend, but as of now, the award should be Bianco's to lose. There were so many questions, and he's had answers.
***** Texas A&M is 32-21 and 13-14 in the SEC. The Aggies' RPI is No. 33 with the No. 14 strength of schedule. A&M is 23-10 at home with series wins against Florida and LSU and losses to Alabama and Kentucky.
Ole Miss wins the SEC West with:
Two wins this weekend. Mississippi State could tie that with a sweep, but the Rebels have the tiebreaker and would get the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.
One win this weekend AND one or more LSU losses to Auburn AND one or more Mississippi State losses to Alabama.
If you want to really get weird Ole Miss could also win the SEC West if Texas A&M sweeps Ole Miss but Auburn takes two of three from LSU and Alabama takes two of three from Mississippi State.
Basically Ole Miss can give up one game but not more to LSU and/or Mississippi State. On paper, Alabama and MSU should be a close series. LSU is the threat to sweep, as Auburn is terrible, so Ole Miss needs to just win the series and remove doubt. That's even more apparent now because Auburn's Keegan Thompson is out for the season. He's the Tigers' best arm and a starting position player.
Here's the best resource if you want to compare resumes.
***** This past Monday marked my five-year anniversary with Rivals.com. I made the comment on Twitter that there's symmetry because Ole Miss' baseball record was 37-15, 17-10 at that time, and it was the same this season. The Rebels went on to sweep Arkansas and share the SEC title. For kicks, the Rebels are two games behind the Gators for the overall lead. It's possible, but the Volunteers would have to really be of help in the final series.
But baseball isn't the point of this note. Back in 2009 Rivals.com threw me a life raft. To quickly catch you up: The Ole Miss Spirit hired me during my final semester of college in 2007. I worked there from February 2007 to November 2008. Late in 2008, ESPN was trying to dip its toe into the team site business, and through some connections and phone calls I started talks with ESPN to begin a site at Ole Miss. College buddy Ty Allushuski and myself launched the site in December 2008, and it was as much of a disaster as possible.
Looking back it was a comedy of errors and inexperience. A "third site" covering a school is difficult no matter what, but I'm not ashamed to admit we simply weren't experienced enough to make a go of that endeavor. Over a four or five month period I lost a lot of money, fell into moderate depression and needed anything to dig my way out of the business mess that was deeply affecting my personal life. As a quick aside, Ty has landed on his feet, as well, as he's the assistant director of enrollment services for communications at Ole Miss.
But, anyway, somehow that I can't remember Neal and I began having daily phone calls throughout the ESPN debacle. I was definitely not a legitimate competitor to him, and the sessions were as much therapy as anything else. In April 2009 I sent a text message on a whim. I asked Neal if he had any peanuts to spare so I could join Rivals.com. Making even a meager sum was better than losing it and to Neal's credit he didn't laugh at me. He pitched (I assume) the idea to Dave Childers and Rivals.com employees and fairly quickly a deal came together. Neal, Dave and Rivals pooled some compensation percentage points together and I was announced as an employee on May 12, 2009. Here's my first story for the site.
Things have progressed better than I could have imagined since that point, and I'm incredibly grateful to Neal and Dave for giving me that opportunity in 2009. The job has turned into a career, Neal and I haven't killed each other (and frankly haven't argued more than a couple times at most) and I love what I do. Thanks to all of you for reading and interacting and subscribing. We're proud of the product and hope you are entertained while learning things about Ole Miss athletics.
***** Quick football depth chart thoughts
When it's written down it easier to understand all the talk about the offensive line. It's a thin bunch. It should be an incredible amount of motivation for Fahn Cooper and Rod Taylor. Cooper is essential to this season, and Taylor is talented enough to have a role. He needs to get here in shape.
The wide receiver group is a nice mix especially since it seems Collins Moore has elevated his game and could easily be a main contributor in 2014. Markell Pack will join the pack (haha) soon, and Laquon Treadwell is transitioning well to the outside. Evan Engram is healthy. Vince Sanders is somewhat forgotten for some reason, and Quincy Adeboyejo should fill that Treadwell role in the slot well.
All the running backs are taking steps forward. There's something intriguing about that group as a whole.
The defensive depth chart appears to be very close to what it is supposed to look like. Fadol Brown, Robert Nkemdiche, Bryon Bennett, Issac Gross, Woodrow Hamilton and CJ Johnson all could easily start for multiple SEC teams, and there's workable depth with roles, as well.
Cody Prewitt and Tony Conner are basically linebackers in the secondary, but even so, the actual linebackers should be serviceable to solid. That's the one spot that looks deeper on paper than I thought it was during the spring.
Cornerbacks have to stay heathy.
Anthony Alford is going to impress you.
Placekicking is a top storyline of the fall. For Ole Miss to be what it can be this season, field goal play has to be solid. The Rebels need Andrew Fletcher, Andy Pappanastos or Gary Wunderlich to take that position over.
***** Some links from the week
To get ready for the World Cup check out ESPN's "Inside: U.S. Soccer's March to Brazil" a six-part series which debuted Tuesday on ESPN. It's a documentary series somewhat along the lines of Hard Knocks. Even non-soccer fans can get behind this one.
Here's how the life-of-its-own Michael Sam kissing story almost didn't happen. What would the message board have talked about it?
Read it. It's going to get dusty.
The butler industry is making a comeback
How Nintendo made it to America
***** If Ole Miss wins the SEC West, and I'll get to how that happens in a second, Mike Bianco should be the SEC Coach of the Year.
I've always thought 2006 and 2009 were Bianco's best coaching jobs, but those are going to have to move over if the Rebels win at least a game this weekend in College Station. I normally have an opinion in the preseason regarding the upcoming record. I'll take a guess publicly and this past season was the toughest year to do this. I had no idea what to expect. Honestly, if you want to inject truth serum, if you told me with three SEC games to go there would be a 17 in the equation I would have predicted 17 losses. Call me a hater or pessimistic or whatever, but I just didn't know where it would work. Apparently the SEC coaches didn't know either. Let's take a look back. Here's the preseason poll from February.
Eastern Division
Team -- Pts.
1. South Carolina (9) -- 86
2. Vanderbilt (5) -- 82
3. Florida -- 69
4. Kentucky -- 47
5. Tennessee -- 39
6. Georgia -- 38
7. Missouri -- 24
Western Division
Team -- Pts.
1. LSU (6) -- 84
2. Mississippi State (7) -- 83
3. Alabama -- 58
Texas A&M (1) -- 58
5. Arkansas -- 44
6. Ole Miss -- 35
7. Auburn -- 21
SEC Champion: South Carolina (5); LSU (4), Mississippi State (4); Vanderbilt (1)
That's not just sixth overall, which Ole Miss is guaranteed to be better than in Hoover next week, that prediction is sixth in the SEC West. Obviously I don't have a vote, but the guess is that Kevin O'Sullivan at Florida and Bianco are the frontrunners. O'Sullivan has done a hell of a job with an inexperienced team, but Bianco's team has been more impressive, relative to expectations.
The reason I give Bianco the nod is two-fold: Fillings voids and development.
First, Ole Miss had to replace Bobby Wahl and Mike Mayers in the weekend rotation. Wahl went 10-0 with a 2.03 ERA and threw 97.2 innings. Mayers was killed by lack of run support at 5-6 but had a 2.83 ERA in 92.1 innings. Wahl's ERA in conference play was 1.99 with a .181 batting average against. Then, with the position players, Stuart Turner was the best catcher in the country. He hit .374 with 31 extra base hits and also threw out 52 percent of runners attempting to steal bases. That's insane. Tanner Mathis had a .409 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot, and Andrew Mistone hit .317 while playing third base, though Mistone didn't repeat his stellar defense from 2012.
Second, and here's why this is happening, Ole Miss' upperclassmen have taken major steps in production and leadership. Last season, the two worst batting averages among regulars were Sikes Orvis (.237) and Will Allen (.231). Orvis hit three home runs and had 21 RBI all year. Allen was four and 23 in those categories. Also, in 2012 as the everyday catcher, Allen lost 20 pounds and struggled to keep his body together. This time, he's stayed healthy and survived the 56-game grind. The current year's numbers? Allen: .351, seven home runs, 52 RBI. Orvis: .302, 12 home runs, 41 RBI.
Austin Anderson moved over to third base and is hitting .330 with an OPS of .883. That's up from .310 and .804 in 2013. And then there's Auston Bousfield, who is an SEC Player of the Year candidate, bouncing back tremendously after a sophomore slump. Boufield hit just .253 last season with 15 extra base hits and 25 RBI. He's at .366 with 22 extra base hits and 42 RBI with games remaining.
The immediate recruiting impact is also noteworthy, and the Rebels appear to be executing a recruiting plan well, but that's somewhat expected because you're always having to insert players to fill voids left by the MLB Draft. Braxton Lee has avoided that year-one transition struggle. Errol Robinson is hitting .302, JB Woodman is hitting .333, and the Rebels have a bench that fills niches late in games.
Ole Miss needs to finish the deal this weekend, but as of now, the award should be Bianco's to lose. There were so many questions, and he's had answers.
***** Texas A&M is 32-21 and 13-14 in the SEC. The Aggies' RPI is No. 33 with the No. 14 strength of schedule. A&M is 23-10 at home with series wins against Florida and LSU and losses to Alabama and Kentucky.
Ole Miss wins the SEC West with:
Two wins this weekend. Mississippi State could tie that with a sweep, but the Rebels have the tiebreaker and would get the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.
One win this weekend AND one or more LSU losses to Auburn AND one or more Mississippi State losses to Alabama.
If you want to really get weird Ole Miss could also win the SEC West if Texas A&M sweeps Ole Miss but Auburn takes two of three from LSU and Alabama takes two of three from Mississippi State.
Basically Ole Miss can give up one game but not more to LSU and/or Mississippi State. On paper, Alabama and MSU should be a close series. LSU is the threat to sweep, as Auburn is terrible, so Ole Miss needs to just win the series and remove doubt. That's even more apparent now because Auburn's Keegan Thompson is out for the season. He's the Tigers' best arm and a starting position player.
Here's the best resource if you want to compare resumes.
***** This past Monday marked my five-year anniversary with Rivals.com. I made the comment on Twitter that there's symmetry because Ole Miss' baseball record was 37-15, 17-10 at that time, and it was the same this season. The Rebels went on to sweep Arkansas and share the SEC title. For kicks, the Rebels are two games behind the Gators for the overall lead. It's possible, but the Volunteers would have to really be of help in the final series.
But baseball isn't the point of this note. Back in 2009 Rivals.com threw me a life raft. To quickly catch you up: The Ole Miss Spirit hired me during my final semester of college in 2007. I worked there from February 2007 to November 2008. Late in 2008, ESPN was trying to dip its toe into the team site business, and through some connections and phone calls I started talks with ESPN to begin a site at Ole Miss. College buddy Ty Allushuski and myself launched the site in December 2008, and it was as much of a disaster as possible.
Looking back it was a comedy of errors and inexperience. A "third site" covering a school is difficult no matter what, but I'm not ashamed to admit we simply weren't experienced enough to make a go of that endeavor. Over a four or five month period I lost a lot of money, fell into moderate depression and needed anything to dig my way out of the business mess that was deeply affecting my personal life. As a quick aside, Ty has landed on his feet, as well, as he's the assistant director of enrollment services for communications at Ole Miss.
But, anyway, somehow that I can't remember Neal and I began having daily phone calls throughout the ESPN debacle. I was definitely not a legitimate competitor to him, and the sessions were as much therapy as anything else. In April 2009 I sent a text message on a whim. I asked Neal if he had any peanuts to spare so I could join Rivals.com. Making even a meager sum was better than losing it and to Neal's credit he didn't laugh at me. He pitched (I assume) the idea to Dave Childers and Rivals.com employees and fairly quickly a deal came together. Neal, Dave and Rivals pooled some compensation percentage points together and I was announced as an employee on May 12, 2009. Here's my first story for the site.
Things have progressed better than I could have imagined since that point, and I'm incredibly grateful to Neal and Dave for giving me that opportunity in 2009. The job has turned into a career, Neal and I haven't killed each other (and frankly haven't argued more than a couple times at most) and I love what I do. Thanks to all of you for reading and interacting and subscribing. We're proud of the product and hope you are entertained while learning things about Ole Miss athletics.
***** Quick football depth chart thoughts
When it's written down it easier to understand all the talk about the offensive line. It's a thin bunch. It should be an incredible amount of motivation for Fahn Cooper and Rod Taylor. Cooper is essential to this season, and Taylor is talented enough to have a role. He needs to get here in shape.
The wide receiver group is a nice mix especially since it seems Collins Moore has elevated his game and could easily be a main contributor in 2014. Markell Pack will join the pack (haha) soon, and Laquon Treadwell is transitioning well to the outside. Evan Engram is healthy. Vince Sanders is somewhat forgotten for some reason, and Quincy Adeboyejo should fill that Treadwell role in the slot well.
All the running backs are taking steps forward. There's something intriguing about that group as a whole.
The defensive depth chart appears to be very close to what it is supposed to look like. Fadol Brown, Robert Nkemdiche, Bryon Bennett, Issac Gross, Woodrow Hamilton and CJ Johnson all could easily start for multiple SEC teams, and there's workable depth with roles, as well.
Cody Prewitt and Tony Conner are basically linebackers in the secondary, but even so, the actual linebackers should be serviceable to solid. That's the one spot that looks deeper on paper than I thought it was during the spring.
Cornerbacks have to stay heathy.
Anthony Alford is going to impress you.
Placekicking is a top storyline of the fall. For Ole Miss to be what it can be this season, field goal play has to be solid. The Rebels need Andrew Fletcher, Andy Pappanastos or Gary Wunderlich to take that position over.
***** Some links from the week
To get ready for the World Cup check out ESPN's "Inside: U.S. Soccer's March to Brazil" a six-part series which debuted Tuesday on ESPN. It's a documentary series somewhat along the lines of Hard Knocks. Even non-soccer fans can get behind this one.
Here's how the life-of-its-own Michael Sam kissing story almost didn't happen. What would the message board have talked about it?
Read it. It's going to get dusty.
The butler industry is making a comeback
How Nintendo made it to America
