The preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll doesn’t come out for another 3 weeks, but the sniping has already begun. The Sporting News has Ole Miss ranked 5th in the country and pegged the Rebels as the favorite in the SEC West. Everybody loves a trendy pick to make some noise, and Ole Miss seems to be it.
Ole Miss is trying to buck some pretty imposing history. The Rebels haven’t won the SEC since 1963, the year of JFK’s death and long before integration. They are the only team in the SEC West yet to play in the league championship game, which was launched in ‘92. Ole Miss came close in 2003, Eli Manning’s farewell season, only to lose to LSU 17-14 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The Tigers would go on to win SEC and BCS national titles that year.
Ole Miss is generating this buzz based on 3 or 4 things:
1) The Rebels are loaded on the defensive line, even after Peria Jerry’s departure;
2) They kicked a_ _ at Tiger Stadium(LSU), and were the only team to beat Tim Tebow and Florida in 2008;
3) They can score points in bunches and move the football, whether they’re in their conventional offense or Houston Nutt’s beloved “Wild Rebel” scheme;
4) And most important, they’ve got a big-time quarterback.
That’s what Jevan Snead has brought to Ole Miss. A presence. A guy who can fling it. A smart player with a quick release and NFL ambitions. And expectations the Rebels haven’t had to deal with in decades.
The SEC Rocks!
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