Clearly I am missing the booster gene (Signifying Nothing: how does saying nothing at all become so loud?)

Monday, 22 October 2007

Clearly I am missing the booster gene

Perhaps I’m just too practically-minded, but I’m not at all sure what good would come from firing Ed Orgeron as the Ole Miss coach after three seasons, two of them with David Cutcliffe’s players and hastily-grabbed JuCo guys. After getting oh-so-close to beating Florida and Alabama, and hanging in for three quarters against Georgia, I’m hardly surprised that the Rebels’ collection of first-year starters and walk-ons couldn’t hold it together against a Heisman candidate on a good team that was desperate for a win to save their coach’s job—a team that regularly beat the Rebels under Tubby and Cutcliffe too, mind you.

Now, if Dickie Scruggs has a suitcase full of cash that he’s willing to hand over to Bobby Petrino, and Petrino’s willing to take it to come in and spend the next 2–3 years at the bottom of the SEC, that’s one thing, but realistically I don’t see who’s out there who’s going to do a better job than Orgeron. If the issue is play-calling on Saturday, toss Werner and/or get a full-time defensive coordinator to make the calls. But replacing Orgeron with some other coach plucked from obscurity, or one of the “hot” coaches from a lower-tier conference like C-USA or the Big Least, who likely won’t even have Orgeron’s recruiting chops, is just a recipe for more of the same.

4 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.

1. Jim wrote @ Mon, 22 Oct 2007, 9:43 am CDT:

For me, it’s that the team just doesn’t appear to be prepared. The fundamentals aren’t there. We should be able to beat equally talented teams and we haven’t. It all hinges on the Egg Bowl which could end up being our only SEC win. If we go 0fer in the SEC then somebody else couldn’t do any worse. Isn’t 3 years the barometer? At the end of the third year we should be playing better than this. He’s recruiting great, but if you can’t coach them on Saturday then all those players are for nothing.

Maybe he can prove me wrong, win the Egg Bowl and he probably keeps his job. Lose, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass.

Also, I haven’t seen a Coach O game in person living away as we have the past couple seasons. I’m disgruntled Ole Miss alumni guy.

2. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Mon, 22 Oct 2007, 9:54 am CDT:

I guess my question is, who are these equally talented teams we’re losing to? Arkansas has a Heisman candidate, Florida has Tebow and lost narrowly to LSU, Missouri is the class of the Big XII North. I might give you Alabama (close) and Vanderbilt (not so much), but even then this isn’t your daddy’s SEC where Vandy and Kentucky were the conference whipping boys.

Now, if in 2008 with Jevan Snead on the field and with another year of maturity in his receivers and on defense the thing’s still in the crapper, that’s one thing, but there’s only so much you can do with a team that had nothing in the pipeline except Robert Lane and P-Willie when Cutcliffe got his walking papers.

3. Jim wrote @ Mon, 22 Oct 2007, 3:35 pm CDT:

I’ve just lost hope. With a new coach comes new hope. He’ll probably get another season especially if we win the Egg Bowl, but he’s done nothing to deserve it.

4. Alfie Sumrall wrote @ Mon, 22 Oct 2007, 7:22 pm CDT:

I haven’t given up hope, but I can’t justify bringing him back if we go 0–8 in the SEC. You’re supposed to show improvement in your third season and 3–9 isn’t improvement over 4–8.

I’ve never seen a team more ill prepared than they were against Arkansas. Thing is, I don’t think Arkansas is a good team and I doubt Houston Nutt will be back next year. Look at their stats from the game. It’s not like McFadden and Jones combined for 400 yards rushing.

I’m very curious to see how O has the Rebs ready this weekend at Auburn. A 40+ loss could seal his fate.

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