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Ole Miss Football: Grove Grinder, We Have A Lot To Discuss Rebels

By Daniel Skipper

STARKVILLE, MS - NOVEMBER 23: head coach Matt Luke of the Mississippi Rebels hoist the Egg Bowl trophy after they defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs 31-28 in an NCAA football game at Davis Wade Stadium on November 23, 2017 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images)
STARKVILLE, MS - NOVEMBER 23: head coach Matt Luke of the Mississippi Rebels hoist the Egg Bowl trophy after they defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs 31-28 in an NCAA football game at Davis Wade Stadium on November 23, 2017 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images) /
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After a crazy and wild weekend for Ole Miss football with the Grove Bowl and Ole Miss baseball in a disappointing series we have a lot to discuss.

It was a bittersweet weekend for most Ole Miss football and Ole Miss baseball fans. While the 2018 Grove Bowl was highly anticipated, bad weather played an ill effect on both the spring game and the weekend baseball series with State College. Of course, the spring game is always looked forward to and usually draws a huge following. However, with inclement weather and poor Grove Bowl weekend planning we saw minimal numbers.

Normally the Grove Bowl is a festive weekend which also includes Ole Miss baseball or Ole Miss softball. The football fans look forward to and enjoy the Grove Bowl and then finish the day’s events with a great baseball or softball game. This past weekend Ole Miss baseball was playing in the patch while the Ole Miss softball team was playing in Red Stick. This left most Ole Miss fans in a pickle trying to decide which atmosphere to try to enjoy.

For me I really wanted to see the Friday game-one of the MSU series. However, weather created a Saturday double-header which I wasn’t able to attend. Of course, I also wasn’t able to attend the  Grove Bowl and any weekend plans of Ole Miss fandom were wrecked as a result of logistics. Naturally I did attempt to follow both the Grove Bowl and the weekend series and wound up with a few Grove Grinder worthy observations.

What We Saw

Ole Miss Rebels Football
Ole Miss Rebels Football /

Ole Miss Rebels Football

While we tried to watch a Grove Bowl with excited fans and a weekend series which saw the rival team win, instead we were stuck with poor numbers. Y’all already know I’m all about numbers and Saturdays numbers were bad.

I was definitely disappointed with the turnout for the Grove Bowl. It’s sad to see how far the Rebels have come in the past year and the response from fans be sub-par. I get it really. There was not very much hype surrounding spring practice from the administration. Between poor planning and the weather there was a chance turnout would be poor.

While Ole Miss football fans were watching the Grove Bowl, most likely from home, there was a game-one blowout happening down in the Patch. Just like a number of other series the Rebels dropped game-one of the MSU series and had to play from behind. Of course, after winning game-two to even the series the Rebels dropped the Sunday rubber game and the series to Miss State. Naturally it is easy for us to question coach Mike Bianco’s changes in starting pitchers after the fact. Had he won the series we would have no reason to question it. However, with the end results being worse than we initially expected maybe Bianco should have left the starting pitching rotation alone.

Build It And They Will Come

Just like in the movie if you build it then people will show up. Look at the campus of Ole Miss and The Grove. Not only is it beautiful but it represents the culture of a Ole Miss game-day. They have been built up to draw fans from all over the nation. A few years ago we had an elderly couple from Oregon who sat behind us at a Ole Miss homecoming. They were donned in their Duck attire and cheered on Ole Miss saying the experience was on their bucket list as college football fans. So what is to be learned from this?

This past weekend as I flipped thru the channels I happened upon the Alabama and Florida softball game. Trust me I didn’t linger long but I did make an observation. The game was literally standing room only. Of course this was glaring to me after seeing the slight Rebels fan numbers of the Grove Bowl and also the series in Starkville. Ole Miss softball had two midweek games in Oxford this week and won both. However, there were less than 300 fans there in each game. The point I’m trying t make is there needs to be more fan support for sports programs in Oxford. Better promotion would go a long way to increasing fan numbers.

Next: Looking A Little Further Ahead

In Closing

There is always something going on with spring sports. Ole Miss baseball responded from the MSU series loss with a very impressive win over Southern Miss and will have a weekend series with Vandy coming up. Of course, Ole Miss softball will face the Miss State Bulldogs this weekend themselves and it should be a very good series. Naturally OHT will be watching both series and will be passing along updates. Also be watching for OHT’s Grove Bowl follow-up coming soon. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and twitter. Hotty Toddy!

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