COLUMN: Ole Miss has had some teams with high expectations not reach their potential, but not 2024
Again with putting together a story based on an Ole Miss Spirit message board post?
Well, uh, I find what fans discuss fascinating and I like expanding on those thoughts if there is still some meat on the bone of the subject matter.
Several sports pundits have stated if Ole Miss doesn’t make the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2024 that the season will be a failure.
Personally, I like that high expectation, even though some buy into the whole “rat poison” thing. I’m not one of those fans. The higher the preseason ranking, the more I get into a season, but there are drawbacks.
Not reaching expectations can be a painful experience, and that has happened with Ole Miss through the years a few times.
No fun.
Those years, unfortunately, leave a scar and are never completely forgotten.
Here are the ones in my lifetime that I won’t forget. Apologies for the Debbie Downer article.
1964 – Coming off an SEC Championship in 1963, the Rebels were the preseason No. 1 team in the nation, destined to win another national title. The star power on the team was evident with the likes of RB Mike Dennis, RB Doug Cunningham, TE Allen Brown, OL Stan Hindman, OL Chuck Hinton, FB Frank Kinard, WR David Wells and QB Jimmy Weatherly, but the wheels started coming off early in the season with a loss to Kentucky in Jackson in the second game of the season. Losses to Florida, LSU and, heaven forbid, Mississippi State followed and then to add insult to injury the Rebels lost to Tulsa in the Bluebonnet Bowl to end the year 5-5-1. After being a preseason No. 1, that fall from grace was mind-numbing.
1970 – With Archie Manning at the helm, coming off an 8-3 record in 1969 with wins over three Top 5 teams at the time, 1970 was going to be the year when the Rebels hung another banner, or so we thought. Then, on October 17 in Oxford, the year began it’s crash downward with a one-sided loss to Southern Mississippi. Then, two weeks later, the broken arm heard across Rebel nation – Manning, a Heisman favorite, received a broken arm against Houston and losses to MSU, LSU and Auburn followed. 7-4 was the final tally and the dream season was up in smoke.
1987 – Billy Brewer’s Rebs had just come off an 8-3-1 1986 campaign and the roster seemed loaded for bear with gunslinger Mark Young under center, J.R. Ambrose and Willie Green out wide, OL Todd Irvin and a defense that had Wesley Walls, Shawn Cobb, Tony Bennett, Jeff Herrod, Stevon Moore, Howard Moss and Todd Sandroni among its ranks. Expectations were high. The problem? The Rebels were on probation and they just never seemed to gel or get any momentum going. One of the penalties was the Rebels were not allowed to play in a bowl game if they were bowl eligible. No problem there as they ended the year 3-8 that also included Brewer’s first loss to MSU after starting his Rebel tenure 4-0 versus the Bulldogs.
1999 – Some will disagree with this one. After all, Ole Miss was a respectable 8-4 during David Cutcliffe’s first season, but it says here they had a roster that easily could have gone 10-2 or better. Try this on for size – QB Romaro Miller, RBs Joe Gunn and Deuce McAllister, WR Cory Peterson and Maurice Flournoy, FB Charles Stackhouse, TE Doug Ziegler, OL Terrence Metcalf, Todd Wade, Keydrick Vincent and Tutan Reyes, DL Derrick Burgess and Kendrick Clancy, DE Shane Elam, LBs Eddie Strong and Kevin Thomas, safeties Ronnie Heard and Syniker Taylor, CBs Ken Lucas and Tim Strickland. Where did it go wrong? Losing to Vanderbilt in overtime in Oxford the third game of the year. Special season killer.
2009 – Houston Nutt’s second year after coming off an unexpected 9-4 season in 2008 that produced a fantastic win in the Cotton Bowl over No. 4-ranked Texas Tech, the Rebels were a preseason Top 5 pick, but on a fateful night in Columbia, SC, a crack in the windshield – the Gamecocks upset the Rebels 16-10 and two weeks later the highly-anticipated 2009 Rebels were mauled by Alabama in Oxford 22-3. There were some excellent moments that year – like the stomping Dexter McCluster gave Lane Kiffin’s Tennessee Vols in the best individual performance by a Rebel these eyes have witnessed – and another win in the Cotton Bowl, but it was a long way from a Top 5 ending. The downer? Losing to MSU in Starkville and hearing then Bulldog coach Dan Mullen say he would never lose to Ole Miss. He was wrong, but not in 2009.
But guess what? That ain’t happening in 2024.
The ghosts of Ole Miss teams past won’t haunt this upcoming band of Rebs like they haunt old relics like me.
And I can’t wait.
The post COLUMN: Ole Miss has had some teams with high expectations not reach their potential, but not 2024 appeared first on On3.
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