Ole Miss football gets a berth in one of the access bowls, the basketball team gets a huge win at Oregon and Neal was in Biloxi to see East Mississippi Community College and quarterback Chad Kelly win the JUCO national championship. Thoughts on those things and more, thanks to Oxford-based RE/MAX Legacy Realty agent Harry Alexander. With Neal in Biloxi, we combined to bring you thoughts this weekend.
*** It was pretty much a perfect Saturday for Ole Miss, as the favorites held serve on conference championship weekend, and the Rebels moved up to No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings. That increase from No. 13 gave Ole Miss a berth in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, one of the access bowls that now replace what used to be BCS bowls. The opponent is No. 6 TCU, who is reeling after falling out of the playoff despite winning by 50 points on Saturday.
From where Ole Miss' program was to an elite bowl game in year three is remarkable. I know we're redundant with that topic, but it can't be overstate where this program has come from. It was a train wreck, and now it's among the nation's elite. The committee gave the Rebels respect throughout the process - which was deserved since Ole Miss has beaten the only two teams who have been ranked No. 1 in the CFP rankings. The Rebs are the top-ranked three-loss team and moved ahead of Arizona, even though conference championship game losers weren't punished as badly as they would have been with losses in the regular season.
Previous seasons also have somewhat of an effect on preseason positioning, so this is good for Ole Miss there, as well. Bo Wallace is gone, but the Rebels return a ton of talent and should be high in the polls when 2015 gets here.
As for the game, this reminds me of the 2009 Cotton Bowl with Ole Miss and Texas Tech. Tech was 11-1 and lost a BCS-ranking tiebreaker to Oklahoma. The Sooners eventually lost to Florida in the BCS title game. That Texas Tech team was prolific offensively and said all the right things leading up to the game about being focused and making a statement against an SEC team. It didn't' happen. The Rebels were tight to open the game and spotted the Red Raiders a couple scores before terrorizing Graham Harrell and winning the game by multiple touchdowns. I'm not saying Ole Miss is going to beat or dominate TCU, but it's a similar matchup. It's a good situation for the Rebels. There are a lot of optics points to be gained for Ole Miss with a win. It's the No. 2 scoring offense against the No. 1 scoring defense.
Here are a five quick thoughts about the matchup. We'll obviously get into this in great detail as it gets closer to kickoff.
TCU thrives on big plays and finding mismatches with receivers. Cody Prewitt has to play well and keep receivers in front of him. That's an issue at times.
Trevone Boykin can elude rushers and turn missed tackles into huge gains by finding receivers who have broken past coverages. It's vital for the active Ole Miss defense to finish plays in the backfield. Situations like Nick Marshall on that third down can't happen. Boykin keeps his eyes up and will finish the play.
TCU is No. 15 in scoring defense but allowed 26 points per game away from Fort Worth. That's 10 points above its overall average. The Horned Frogs are 87th nationally in passing defense but 13th in rushing defense. Yes, Baylor and its 61 points and infinite yards skewed a couple of those stats, but that's still part of the resume. You can throw on them.
Tackle. Tackle. Tackle. TCU has 229 plays of more than 10 yards this season - good for seventh nationally. They live on the catch and run after a mistake. The Horned Frogs are also fourth nationally in plays of 20 or more yards with 84 such plays.
TCU is No. 3 in defensive interceptions with 23 picks. The Frogs are second with four returned for touchdowns. Bo Wallace will obviously need to protect it.
*** The first-ever national FBS playoff has No. 1 Alabama against No. 4 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl and No. 2 Oregon against No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl. Those winners meet in Arlington. The other access bowls feature Arizona against Boise State, Michigan State against Baylor and Mississippi State against Georgia Tech.
The media and Twitterverse spent the day spewing outrage over Ohio State moving up and keeping TCU or Baylor from making the playoff. The Buckeyes have the worst loss of the three but trounced Wisconsin, 59-0, in the Big Ten title game. All three have positives and all three have negatives. My blood pressure never went up too much over the entire thing.
Here's why: The weekly rankings were a publicity farce to generate conversation and provide ESPN with programming and talking points. That's been the case the entire time but was proven when TCU fell to sixth. Not applying Baylor's head to head win was another cute switcheroo to increase the drama. Jeff Long struggled to answer questions today because the process was indefensible. It's not the committee's fault really. It was also a pawn in this made-for-TV spectacle. Had this been the only rankings release, no one really argues that much. Instead, you drop a team three spots for winning by 50 points. I get not thing is in a vacuum and other results dictate things, but the premise is ridiculous. Hopefully next season there are fewer rankings releases. Also, despite all the speak to the contrary, recency bias is alive and well. Just like the polls in past years, the committee put more on the end of the season. Maybe that's just a human element, but nonetheless it's something to keep in mind in the future.
I don't know if or when the NCAA will move to an eight-team playoff. I'm not sure I think it should either, but Ole Miss can be thankful there's not one this year. Man, the sickness if eight teams are in and Ole Miss is ranked No. 9. There wouldn't be a strong argument to be higher, but it would make for a hell of an offseason of woulda, coulda, shoulda.
*** From Neal: I made the trip to Biloxi Sunday for the Mississippi Bowl, a 34-17 East Mississippi Community College win that gave the Lions the NJCAA national championship. The trip, of course, was made to see Lions quarterback Chad Kelly, who will be taking an official visit to Ole Miss Monday and could be very much in the competition for the Rebels' starting job this spring.
Kelly lived up to the hype Sunday, completing 40 of 53 passes for 434 yards and five touchdowns. He added 12 carries for 33 yards, numbers skewed by six sacks. Kelly also had a very athletic touchdown run called back on a holding call in the fourth quarter. Athletically, he certainly passes the test.
The former Clemson quarterback left Auburn With A Lake somewhat disgraced, having called out other quarterbacks on social media and gotten into a verbal altercation with Dabo Swinney. He insists he's matured since then, and his EMCC teammates and coaches swear by him.
He certainly led Sunday. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and fire in his eyes. The guy is intense, and he's got that gunslinger mentality all great quarterbacks have. I'm not saying Kelly will be great; that remains to be seen. But he has intangibles. He didn't turn the ball over, distributed to a bevy of receivers, knew when to run, had tremendous pocket presence and operated the Lions' screen game extremely well.
He connected on a few deep throws and he had another perfectly thrown deep ball dropped, but he didn't throw it enough vertically to allow anyone to pass judgment. Look, it's junior college ball; there's no way to know if his game will truly translate until he plays. Randall Mackey's didn't. Bo Wallace's did. My gut feeling from watching him one game is Kelly will be a good college quarterback.
It's Hugh Freeze's call, and this is what Ole Miss is paying him $4.5 million to decide. It's a big decision. Freeze will make it after reviewing everything and _ I'm sure _ talking to dozens of people. I will say, however, that Freeze coaches a football team. He doesn't operate a youth group of a Boy Scouts pack. He's paid to win. Will Muschamp isn't a head coach anymore; Jimbo Fisher is. I rest my case.
Chad Kelly looked like a guy who could help his team win on Sunday. He played like a leader. The next 48 hours will be pivotal in his career. EMCC types swear Kelly will commit to Ole Miss if Freeze offers. Neither he nor his father, Kevin, went that far in interviews Sunday evening. We shall see. It's the most compelling storyline of December for the Rebels, at least until New Year's Eve.
*** Initial thoughts on the SEC bowl games
Sugar: Alabama vs. Ohio State - That third string quarterback was excellent against Wisconsin but now Nick Saban gets a month to figure him out. Good luck. Also, ESPN kept saying Alabama is easiest opponent because you just take away Amari Cooper. I was getting dumber each minute.
Orange: Mississippi State vs. Georgia Tech - The Yellow Jackets have a nice team, but this is a brutal matchup. MSU's strength is its front seven and it gets a month to try to defend the option. You beat the Bulldogs with passes. Can Tech do that? The Jackets are sixth nationally in yards per attempt.
Peach: Ole Miss vs. TCU - Ole Miss is 9-1 in its last 10 bowl games and has won seven in a row against the Big XII in bowl games. This is a compelling game.
Citrus: Mizzou vs. Minnesota - The Tigers have to be happy this isn't Indiana.
Outback: Wisconsin vs. Auburn - This feels like a great situation for Auburn. I don't think the Badgers can stop them.
Independence: South Carolina vs. Miami - This is the perfect punishment for a team that underachieved as badly as this Gamecocks group.
Birmingham: East Carolina vs. Florida - Maybe isn't the bowl eligibility isn't the best thing after all for the Gators. This isn't compelling in the slightest.
TaxSlayer: Iowa vs. Tennessee - The Vols getting the berth in Jacksonville seems odds. They owe the SEC one.
Music City: LSU vs. Notre Dame - Notre Dame said it was going to be very physical in practice to get ready for LSU. Last I check, Leonard Fournette isn't on the Fighting Irish scout team.
Belk: Georgia vs. Louisville - This is intriguing. Bobby Petrino against an SEC team not named Kentucky.
Texas: Texas vs. Arkansas - For two 6-6 teams, not bad. Arkansas is going to successfully run the rock.
Liberty: Texas A&M vs. West Virginia - I want the over. I don't care how many it is. Also, Rendezvous is served in the press box. That's the only nice thing.
*** Bo Wallace has one game left in an Ole Miss uniform. As I wrote about extensively last year and have mentioned several times since, I think he's the biggest recruit of the Hugh Freeze era. If he doesn't show, Ole Miss doesn't win six games in 2012, and that class may never happen.
He's not Eli Manning. That's not arguable. And I'm not comparing him to quarterbacks before the modern era. There's no way to compare them. But other than that, Wallace will be regarded at the top. He beat every SEC West team. He beat State twice. And he led Ole Miss to its biggest bowl game in the modern era. He has a chance to be the first UM quarterback to start and win three bowl games.
He's not Manning, but the record books will be the main comparison in future years. With one game left, here's where he is compared to Eli. Also, obviously, personnel surrounding each weren't the same.
Passing yards: Eli 10,119, Bo 9,425
Passing attempts: Eli 1,363, Bo 1,163
Passing completions: Eli 829, Bo 737
Completion percentage: Eli 60.8, Bo 63.4
Touchdown passes: Eli 81, Bo 62
Passing efficiency: Eli 137.7, Bo 142.5
300 yards passing games: Eli 10, Bo 11
Total offense: Eli 9,984, Bo 10,383
TDs responsible for: Eli 86, Bo 82
*** From Neal: My takeaway from Sunday: The Big 12 schools should draw and quarter the people at Texas who decided to let that league fall apart a few years ago. The Longhorns' arrogance destroyed the league and cost TCU and/or Baylor a shot at a playoff spot Sunday. The Big 12 needs to expand to _ I don't know _ 12 teams and have a championship game. Perhaps it should add Texas A&M and Missouri. Oh, wait
Arrogance.
*** The perplexing early season continues for Ole Miss basketball. There are home losses to Charleston Southern and TCU - the latter not even competitive by the middle of the second half. But there are wins against Creighton and Cincinnati on a neutral court and now a road win at Oregon on Sunday. Ole Miss built a 14-point lead at the half and beat the Ducks, 79-73. Oregon isn't last season's Oregon, and the Rebels likely didn't beat a tournament team, but a Pac-12 road win is significant. It's the first home loss for Oregon since Virginia since 2011.
The best part of the win for Ole Miss: it did it without scoring from Jarvis Summers. Summers scored just one point in 29 minutes, though he did have four assists and no turnovers. Stefan Moody was 9-of-20 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3. Sebastian Saiz was 7-of-11 from the field, Dwight Coleby put in 10 points in just eight minutes, and Aaron Jones was 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
Ole Miss outrebounded the Ducks, 40-34, and only had eight turnovers. It was a nice effort, and there's enough of a sample size to believe the team will put some wins together. But there's also the sample size to expect some head-scratchers due to the lack of consistency. The next three weeks are interesting, as Ole Miss faces Western Kentucky and then Coastal Carolina. CC beat Auburn this week. Then, there's a trip to Dayton. It hasn't been roses, but it has been interesting.
