Three road games in the conference - South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn - three losses where Ole Miss looked out-coached, out-matched, and plain out of it for the better part of the game. The loss to Alabama is the most "understandable" of the three - Ole Miss is nowhere near Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide's league. But losses to a South Carolina team that can't buy first downs in the clutch of a game and against the thinnest Auburn team to hit the field since the end of the Bowden years are flat out inexcusable.
When Alabama blitzed, they wilted. When South Carolina blitzed, they wilted. When Auburn, a team with a defense as bad at pressure as any bottom feeder in any conference, got pressure, I knew two things were true: one, Ole Miss's offensive line is, well, offensive and; two, Jevan Snead is the worst "best" quarterback I've watched in a long time.
From the outset of the season, people (well, media types) thought Ole Miss was capable of winning the SEC West and giving Florida a run for the money in the championship game. Some even went as far to rank them in the top 10 or higher.
HA! Not hardly!
Ole Miss is not a bad team. They have a decent defense (in spite of giving up yards to Auburn on Saturday like they were Halloween candy) and they have talented players on offense (Dexter McCluster is uber fast). But what Ole Miss couldn't do this year, what Houston Nutt has never done in his career, is put it all together when it counts.
Ole Miss is now 5-3 (3-3 in the SEC) with remaining games versus Northern Arizona (seriously!), Tennessee, LSU, and on the road at Mississippi State. They will probably win this weekend but must win at least one of those remaining SEC games to be bowl eligible and none of the rest of the conference games are gimmes, not even the one against Mississippi State. That leaves Ole Miss fighting for a bowl game instead of contending for the SEC Championship or perhaps more. Gives a whole new meaning to "Hotty Toddy Gosh Almighty" doesn't it?
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