Ole Miss Football: The Return of Hope In 2008

I'm a baseball junkie. In late June, my focus on sports usually centers around the baseball diamond.

Though that's more or less the case in 2008, I've recently felt the hunger pangs for football a bit earlier than usual.

As an Ole Miss fan, I haven't had much cause for enthusiasm over the last few seasons. Actually, the feeling I've experienced as autumn neared in recent years was dread.

Each approaching season as of late has been tantamount to a train wreck we all knew was coming—ugly and painful.

Oh, how quickly—and unexpectedly—things change.

In 2007, the Rebels could not muster a single SEC win—not even against Vanderbilt, who routed Ole Miss 31-17. Though his efforts throughout his three-year helm as head coach were tireless, Ed Orgeron was outmatched. He was not, and is not, an SEC head coach.

As the '07 schedule drew to a close, Rebel fans, convinced that Orgeron would return for a fourth year, settled for beating Mississippi State, its bowl-bound in-state rival, in the Egg Bowl.

Last year's Egg Bowl stoked the emotions (all of them) of all Ole Miss fans (all of them). The Rebels led the Bulldogs for most of the game, and in fact had the game all but won.

Enter fate.

A string of inexplicable coaching decisions gave momentum—and eventually the win—to the Bulldogs.

Rebel faithful watched in shock as Ed Orgeron's thinking (or lack thereof) squandered what should have been the Rebels' first and only SEC victory of the '07 campaign.

Amid the dark clouds of frustration and bewilderment, however, a ray of light—of hope—appeared. That loss to Mississippi State, a loss during which the Rebel head coach practically gave the game away, forced the hand of university officials.

Enter fate (again)—and Houston Nutt.

After wrapping an 8-4 season with a thrilling 50-48 win over LSU, Houston Nutt's Arkansas Razorbacks should have been on top of the world.

Their all-world tailback, Darren McFadden, found himself in the midst of the Heisman Trophy campaign. The Hogs were also waiting for a bowl bid. All was right with the world in Fayetteville, right?

Not so fast.

A contingent of Razorback supporters had been waging war with Nutt for a multitude of reasons. This writer is uncertain as to whether the world will ever know all the gory details that facilitated Nutt's exodus from Fayetteville.

As the saying goes, however, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."

Ole Miss, on the heels of a humiliating Egg Bowl loss, had to make a change. Ed Orgeron was ousted the next day. Rebel fans, feeling as if Christmas had arrived early, wondered how this coaching search would play out.

Would it prove to be a repeat performance of the school's 2004 embarrassment? Would it lead to another "panic hire," as the Orgeron hiring has often been construed?

Houston Nutt stepped down as the Razorbacks' coach on No. 26, 2007. Two days later, he was introduced by Chancellor Robert Khayat as the new coach of Ole Miss. Though he has not yet coached a game for the Rebels, he has brought something that has been lacking since Eli Manning's last college snap.

Hope.

Ask an Ole Miss fan about those "hopes." You probably won't hear expectations for an immediate trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship. Nor will you hear aspirations for a Sugar Bowl berth any time soon.

What you are likely to hear is the hope for a well-coached, well-behaved football team.

A team that understands the importance of fundamentals. A team that does the little things well. A team whose coach, through preparation and decision-making, will put it in a position to win. A team that has a chance to win every time it takes the field.

Credit where credit's due—Ed Orgeron left the cupboard far from bare for Houston Nutt. Jevan Snead, a big-armed transfer from Texas, steps into the quarterback position. He also has plenty of playmakers to stretch the field.

Returning at left tackle is phenom Michael Oher, the subject of Michael Lewis' book, The Blind Side. Oher, who initially opted for the 2008 NFL Draft, returns for another year of college seasoning.

Having recently attended a local alumni gathering addressed by Coach Nutt, I look forward to this year's football season. Though tempered by realism, I'm inspired by Coach Nutt's resume to believe that the Ole Miss Rebels will be prepared to play each time they run through the tunnel.

Win or lose, they will leave it all on the field. They will play intelligently and soundly. They will execute. They will understand the fundamental elements of the game. And their leader's decision making will serve as a strength, rather than a handicap.

That fosters excitement and hope, two feelings not commonly (or at least soberly) experienced in recent times.

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