Ole Miss is 5-6, yet can still pull out a bowl invitation in today's Egg Bowl game against Mississippi State due to (a) the collective futility of the remainder of the league and (b) Albert Means, the kid at the center of the Crimson Tide's recruiting scandal that earned them a 2-year post-season ban, with the death penalty still an option due to additional infractions the Tide forgot to report (including the involvement of a coach in addition to the boosters).

Of course, the Ole Miss late-season collapse is becoming a recurring theme, ever since Tommy "Judas Iscariat" Tuberville was too busy negotiating with Auburn at the end of the 1998 season to get his current team to do anything on the field. David "Coach to the Manning Family" Cutcliffe hasn't done much better, with the annual November skid becoming a recurring bad joke; though this year he started early.

In fairness, Ole Miss isn't the only team that's had a skid that looked worse in the box score than on the field; Kentucky's season has been about as heart-rending, complete with a final-play loss to LSU. (Ole Miss, by contrast, folded like a cheap kite on drives against Auburn and LSU, forgot to actually go to Tuscaloosa, fumbled the game away against Arkansas, and got pulverized by a ten-minute game-ending drive by Georgia.)

I guess the big question in Oxford is whether Eli Manning sticks around for his senior season. His receiving corps is only getting better and the running game seems to have finally gotten on track. His draft chances are probably better in 2004, with Byron Leftwich and probably Rex Grossman in the 2003 NFL draft. With backup QB David Morris graduating this year, the starter next year on an Eli-less squad would be Michael Spurlock, who apparently is pretty talented but whose total college quarterbacking experience is a few downs against Arkansas State. My gut feeling is that Eli will stay, if only because (a) Peyton did and (b) I think Eli wants to win the SEC title.

Mel Kiper thinks Eli needs another season to maximize his draft value. That's another reason for him to stay...