Ole Miss Football: A Lot Has Changed Since 2016 SEC Media Days
Ole Miss football fans have been eagerly awaiting SEC Media Days. A lot has changed since the last one. Maybe the upcoming year will be better than the past one.
The past year has been a rough one for Ole Miss football. A year ago at the annual SEC Media Days event, Ole Miss was on the verge of the worst year in the Freeze Era. We just had no idea. However, we all saw how quickly the wheels began to fall off. In fact two heartbreaking losses to FSU and Bama were all that was needed.
Between a porous defense and of course, Chad Kelly going down for the season and we were broken down. As valiant an effort as Shea Patterson gave for the cause, Ole Miss limped out of 2016 with a 5-7 record. The season ended with a 55-20 trouncing at the hands of our in-state rival Miss State and major coaching changes.
Of course, if last football season wasn’t already enough, the past year brought the impending doom of the NCAA with a NOA. Of course, along with the relentless banter from TSBU over the Egg Bowl we also had the good fortune of listening to the never-ending drivel about the case. Oh but how a year can change things, for both good and bad.
SEC Media Days!
Ole Miss Rebels Football
Yes, it’s finally here and now we can be sure football season is once again within reach. Short of an apocalypse we will see another college football season and SEC Media Days marks the spot. The event is special to all SEC fans but also the eyes of the college football world are upon Hoover this week.
So far this SEC Media Days event has been far from what was expected as far as drama and fireworks go. The most exciting part for me was the ‘Ole Ball Coach’ and that was as good as it got for me. After that there just wasn’t much to get excited about. As noted by John Crist of SaturdayDownSouth.com in his recent article, it was boring.
All we really took from day one was Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema is really proud of his starting quarterback’s work in the classroom. LSU running back Derrius Guice believes Bama’s defense is scared of him. And finally, we see Butch Jones still has no answer for Bama. No big surprise there at all.
Of course, we can surely expect the atmosphere to change as the schedule does. It’s obvious to many of us day two can’t getting any worse than day one. However, the week is young and the action will surely get better.
On Tap For Day Two
SEC Media Days will get much better as we see some more familiar and somewhat controversial faces. Tuesday’s morning schedule includes Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and Vandy’s head coach Derek Mason. Then in the afternoon we get Miss State head coach Dan Mullen and Florida head coach Jim McElwain.
This has the potential for a more exciting day with the personal relationship both UGA and UF head coaches have. Of course, they both represent a huge SEC East rivalry. Smart and McElwain were also both coordinators together under Nick Saban at Alabama.
Also coming to the microphones today at 1 pm will be Miss State head coach Dan Mullen. I’m sure we will hear a lot about Nick Fitzgerald and last years huge Egg Bowl win. Of course, Mullen is linked to the NCAA case against Ole Miss because of MSU players Leo Lewis and Kobe Jones. Will we hear about the NCAA case today? Probably not. I would guess he will try to steer clear of those two players.
Today has the potential for fireworks in Hoover. We get to wait and see just how much better it will get. Of course, as stated before it has to be better than yesterday. Kind of like our past year since 2016 Media Days, it has to get better. Hotty Toddy!