I went to check out Eli Manning / Patrick Willis Day on campus this morning. I had to wake up around 9:30 a.m. (not a morning person) in order to get there by 10:30, just before the Walk of Champions.

I got right up front… well as close as I could to the roped off section. Then, they removed the ropes… odd… and then, it was like a stampede, so I ended up not having the best view. Oh well.

As the team left he Student Union and headed down the Walk of Champions, Eli jumped in front of coach Nutt and led the way. During his interview, he mentioned this, saying he might not ever have a chance to do it again, and coach Nutt didn’t seem to mind.

Both Eli and Patrick were given keys to the city of Oxford.

The pair was also presented with framed copies of the Manning / Willis poster (yes, I bought one heh).

This is the cast that Patrick wore on his right hand during his junior season. That year, he suffered from a broken finger, sprained knee, right mid-foot sprain and a partial AC joint separation of his right shoulder… and still led the NCAA in solo tackles!

After the awards ceremony / interview (which will be up on YouTube soon), I headed over to check out the Red vs. Blue spring scrimmage game. The Blue team came away with the victory, 40-14

The annual Ole Miss Grove Bowl is set for tomorrow at 1 p.m. The Grove Bowl is an intra squad scrimmage game that takes place each year at the end of spring practice. This event gives fans a look at next season’s team, which, for football fans, is always fun.

This year will be a special one for Ole Miss and football fans in general. Tailgating starts at 10:00 a.m. in the Grove. At 10:45 a.m., Super Bowl winning New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Patrick Willis (both former Ole Miss players) will lead the football team down the Walk of Champions on their way to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Gates open at noon and kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.

Tomorrow will be a good opportunity for me to test out my new camcorder. The two photos above were taken with it, and I shot some video last weekend back in my hometown, but nothing really too great.

“JACKSON, Miss. – One day, Houston Nutt led one of Mississippi’s biggest Southeastern Conference rivals. The next, he was the Rebels’ coach.

Ole Miss will introduce Nutt as its new coach Wednesday, ending a whirlwind hiring that began when Nutt resigned at Arkansas on Monday after a 10-year run and signed with the Rebels just hours later.”

Courtesy ESPN.

Photo courtesy Ole Miss Phi Kappa Psi

After a disappointing three seasons and a loss to Mississippi State last Friday at the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss announced that head coach Ed Orgeron would not return next year.

Earlier in the year, Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat announced that Coach O would return next year as head coach. But, perhaps a single call in a single game led to the administration’s change of heart. Ole Miss dominated on defense for most of the game. With a little over 10 minutes left in the game, a critical 4th down play call by Orgeron failed and gave the ball back to State with great field position. Included with the great field position was a truck full of momentum… enough to lead state to a 17-point rally to win the game by a final of 17-14.

The next day, Ole Miss announced that Orgeron would not return as head coach next year. Critics of Coach O supported his removal, pointing to a lack of success and head coaching ability (bad play calls, etc.).

I personally think that he should have been given one more year to try to turn things around. Coach O was an excellent recruiter and brought in some really great talent in his two full years of recruiting (No. 16 nationally in 2006 and No. 30 in 2007). Given another year with these recruits and QB transfer Jevan Snead, I think Ole Miss could have produced a winning season and a bowl bid.

Either way, it will be curious to see who Ole Miss selects as the next head coach and how all of this will affect next years recruiting class, which already has 22 commitments on the list.

Well, this game was a bit closer than you would think by looking at the final score on the board at the end of the game. Ole Miss lost to LSU by a final of 41-24 in front of a crowd of 61,118 (4th largest in school history), despite outgaining LSU 466 yard to 396 on offense, 25 to 21 on first downs and 5 to 4 on third-down conversions. Either way, it was a good game on both sides of the ball and the better team won the game.

Below are some photos from the game, enjoy!

The stadium was packed!

Rushing against the LSU defense.

Fumble on the 3 yard line, typical Ole Miss antics!

Corkys BBQ Nachos, yum!

Best comb-over ever award!

Sarah wins the ugliest shoes award!

Sarah and I.

Tiffany and I.

Stadium at night.

It’s been 48 years since LSU was ranked No. 1 in the nation, but that all changed this year, as the Tigers are currently sitting atop the Top 25 poll with a record of (9-1, 5-1 SEC).

Much like the Florida Game, Ole Miss is a heavy underdog on paper. But, if that game taught us anything, it’s that any SEC team can compete with any other SEC team on any given Saturday. Ole Miss lost that game by 6 points to the then No. 3 ranked Gators.

Ole Miss is coming off a much needed BYE week and looks to pull the upset at home against the Tigers. This is the first time Ole Miss will have played a No. 1 ranked team since 1994 and to make things even sweeter, the game is being nationally televised on CBS.

I, being a huge Ole Miss fan, certainly think it is possible to pull off the upset, considering how well the Rebels tend to play against highly ranked teams. Last year’s game at Tiger Stadium went into OT with LSU winning 23-20, so anything is possible.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the game: 2:30 CST (3:30 EST) on CBS to check out Oxford, The Grove and a great game. Hotty Toddy!!

The defending national champion Florida Gators took a trip to Oxford today to take on the Rebels. Everyone thought the game would be a major blowout, as the #3 ranked Gators destroyed Tennessee last week 59-20. But, things turned out much different than anticipated…

The pre-game festivities were wrapped up with a fly-over from a pair of fighter jets. If you have never experienced this in person, I must say, it is quite awesome… and LOUD!

Former Ole Miss linebacker (and now starting linebacker for the NFL’s 49ers) Patrick Willis led the opening “Are You Ready”.

Attendance for the game was just over 55,000. Not too bad, but I expected more for such a high profile team like Florida.

Kiwi and I decided to get some Corkys BBQ Nachos… delicious, as always.

Florida QB Tim Tebow running around the edge for a touchdown.

Ole Miss wide receiver Michael Hicks making a nice grab close to the endzone.

As mentioned earlier, everyone expected this game to be a huge blowout, but that was not the case. Ole Miss took the lead early, but gave it back to Florida, and things stayed that way until late in the 3rd quarter. With Florida leading 27-9, Seth Adams completed a pass to Shay Hodge for a 19-yard touchdown, bringing it to 27-16. Then, with 17 seconds left in the 3rd, Adams throws a 77-yard BOMB to Mike Wallace for a touchdown strike. Ole Miss goes for the 2-point conversion and scores; the score is now 27-24 with a full quarter of football left to play.

The entire 4th quarter was a back-and-forth struggle. Florida scored a field goal to bring it to 30-24, and with a last ditch effort on 4th down, Ole Miss goes for a very obvious punt fake and comes up short with 3 minutes left… and that was the ball game.

Despite the loss, I think Ole Miss really showed people a lot today, taking the # 3 team in the nation to within a touchdown of winning. Either way, a great game!

Saturday was the first home game for Ole Miss, as they took on the Missouri Tigers. As most people predicted, Missouri walked away with the win, but there were certainly a lot of good things that Ole Miss showed in this game.

The first half was a complete blowout, with Missouri leading 28-7. The Rebels came back stronger than ever in the second half, completely dominating both sides of the ball. The deficit was just too much to overcome, however, with the final score of 38-25 Missouri.

Even with the loss, there were many positives with the Rebels performance. The Ole Miss offense exploded in the second half, turning in their best offensive performance in four years. BenJarvis Green-Ellis rushed for 226 yards while quarterback Seth Adams threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns. Ole Miss walked away with 534 total yards of offense, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the spread offense of the Tigers.

Ole Miss heads to Vanderbilt next weekend for their first SEC conference game against the Commodores. Both Ole Miss and Vandy enter the game with a 1-1 record and look to secure that first conference game.

Below are some random photos from game day. Enjoy!

The Grove…

and from another angle.

Hotty Toddy Potty.

Walk of Champions.

The team takes the field…

Archie Manning leading the opening “Are You Ready?!”.

Opening kick…

QB pressure…

Green-Ellis fumble…

Stadium @ sunset - click for larger version.

The first video from YouTube is the blocked punt by J, scooped up by Kendrick Lewis for the score.

And here is the 99-yard interception return for another touchdown. Just as impressive as Mouzon’s run is #22 for Memphis. Watch for him at the beginning of the play; he get’s push away, then right near the end of the run, he comes up OUT OF NOWHERE… incredible speed!

“MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Dustin Mouzon returned one of his two interceptions 99 yards for a touchdown and Ole Miss stopped Memphis’ potential game-tying 2-point conversion with 31 seconds left in a 23-21 victory Saturday.”

Courtesy OleMissSports.com

We (Adam, Kiwi, Midget and myself) ended up watching the game at Sarah’s house. The original plan was to go and check it out at the Liberty Bowl but Memphis was charging $50 per ticket; yeah, right!

As for the game itself, things went very well for Ole Miss in the first half. A touchdown pass from QB Seth Adams to receiver Greg Hardy got things started on Ole Miss’ first drive of the game. The Ole Miss defense was rock solid throughout the half, preventing Memphis from scoring a single point.

A blocked punt by Jamarca Sanford ( “J” ) was picked up and returned for an easy score by Kendrick Lewis. Then, the interception by Duston Mouzon on the 1 yard line was returned for a 99 yard touchdown.

Ole Miss faltered in the second half, however, giving up 21 straight points. Luckily, the D was able to hold Memphis off on the 2-point conversion which would have tied the game with 31 seconds remaining.