Most pre-season prognosticators predicted that the schedule would favor Ole Miss this season. It looked like a 5-0 start was well within reason. The great start would give the team momentum heading into a tough SEC season. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to that 5-0 start. The Gamecocks of Jacksonville showed up in the second half and beat the Ole Miss Rebels. Now many are going to blame this set-back on the Masoli situation but that's not it. Good teams don't surrender 21 point half-time leads. Good defenses don't give up 49 points. Good defenses stop opponents on 4th and 15. These facts would be cause for concern against any opponent but are heightened since they came against a FCS one. The Rebels have to improve defensively. Judging from last season's finale against MSU and the opening game against JSU, Tyrone Nix has trouble calling defense against the spread.
When I first got into coaching, I was given some sage advice. I was told you needed to teach the players three things. You need teach the players how to overcome adversity, how to win and how to handle success. These Rebs could not handle their first-half success. They could not put the game away when it was there to be had and they crumbled when faced with adversity. So it’s back to the drawing board this week. I guess one "positive" is that Houston Nutt- coached teams always seem to lose a game that they should win. Nutt can draw on those past experiences to prepare the Rebs to respond.
And I just did all that bragging on my boy, T Nix!
ReplyDelete--The Taminator