September 1, 2012, Coach Hugh Freeze launched his Ole Miss head coaching gig with a home opener with Central Arkansas. I bought tickets and brought the fam to Oxford to see what fortunes might be in-store for the Rebs. Things started out well enough. Bo Wallace got us on the board with a 25 yard scamper for the season’s first score. A ten yard Jaylen Walton score had the Reba up 14-7. However, by the time the lines were forming at the Half for urinals or popcorn, the Rebs were down 20-14 and had seen a desperation field goal at the horn be blocked back in their faces by the purple clad Arkansas team. In total disgust I went in the restroom and heard all the shouts and congrats of CA fans to each other, but then there was a quiet nod of what was sure to come. They knew the lead wouldn’t last. I wasn’t completely sure it wouldn’t. I went back to my seat and took a deep breath. I said to myself, a good first half by Nutt would be followed by a frustratingly bad second half. I asked in my head what would Hugh do differently? The Rebs responded by putting up 49 points total and only yielding one more score, that coming very late in the fourth quarter. Four current or former quarterbacks combined to RUN for over 200 yards and Bo threw for over 250. The Kicker missed again but I don’t think anyone cared at that point. If you had asked anyone in the half time restroom how likely it would be for us to beat Alabama in two seasons, with Game Day on hand, as well as follow that up with another win in T-Town the next, who would have given us a chance?? I felt after that game maybe the Half would be an advantage to us in games to come. Of course, recruiting had maybe more to say than that. A bright future was on the horizon for us even as folks behind me gasped “we suck” during that awful second quarter. Hopefully we are about to take off on another wild ride. Maybe we’ll even learn a little about ourselves and our coaches in this matchup with the purple bumpkins, but hopefully we don’t see them lead at the half this time around.
