Ole Miss Football: Houston Nutt Sets Strong Precedent with Suspensions

As if the challenge for Ole Miss wasn't daunting enough against Alabama, they will now be without four offensive players on Saturday.

Chris Low details in his SEC Blog for ESPN that the suspensions aren't due to substance abuse or any legal issues.

That does raise a few questions, but the answer to them doesn't really matter.

If you're an Ole Miss fan, you probably do want to know why some key players are being suspended for a game where the Rebels had a small chance of winning anyway.

But I ask you to consider this:

Houston Nutt's job is to win football games. If he is suspending four players (and two starters) for a game against one of the best teams in the country, it probably means that they deserved the suspension.

Consider why Jim Tressel eventually resigned from Ohio State. It wasn't the offenses of his players that got him in trouble; it was the obvious attempt to cover it all up.

Now, we're in a similar position with Nutt, albeit not on the same scale of notoriety.

The suspensions are only one game, so I am inclined to think that these offenses aren't too egregious. Still, I do appreciate seeing a coach stepping in and taking action.

If these suspensions aren't of a legal matter, it likely would have been very easy to sweep them under the rug for a week.

So, this is a story to keep our eyes on. Since the details are still vague, we really can’t make a judgment.

My guess is that because it came from the coach, it was probably something worthy of a suspension.

For now, I will say a one-game suspension from the coach is a good precedent. Still, these things are subject to change.