Many are skeptical of Mississippi's No. 4 ranking in the AP Top-25 poll because its wins so far have been against Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana. For trivia buffs, however, the Rebels last reached No. 4 in the rankings on Oct. 12, 1970.
Of course, the country will get a better idea about Ole Miss on Thursday night when it visits the Ol' Ball Coach and South Carolina in its SEC opener on national television.
As is the case at college football games across the country, state troopers were on the sidelines when South Carolina played at Georgia Saturday night. But the officers from the Georgia Department of Public Safety who were on hand to get South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier off the field safely didn't just stand by to keep the peace: They also celebrated on the South Carolina sideline when Georgia clinched its 41-37 victory.
Clay Travis is a Titans fan. Ryan Wilson is a Steelers fan. With Tennessee and Pittsburgh kicking off the 2009 season tonight, they decided to mock each other over e-mail.
Ryan: First off, congratulations on Patrick Ramsey making the 53-man roster. Pretty good chance he'll play before Week 6, and, really, the road to Miami goes through a former Tulane graduate who Steve Spurrier once pegged as the Redskins' future.
The SEC coaches meetings rolled into Destin, Fla., this week, and Lane Kiffin washed ashore.
You know Kiffin, the man who brought a Molotov cocktail to the SEC tea party, the guy who coaches like tickets have to be sold for the latest WWE event. You halfway expect for him to enter press conferences wearing orange tights, grab the mike, scream invectives at his rivals, then spike the microphone, kiss his biceps, and leave without taking questions. Kiffin coaches college football like Vince McMahon helms the WWE, it's all about creating a buzz.
But like recent offseasons, there's talk that Brett Favre is mulling a comeback, even though, at this point, everybody just wants him to go away. (I mean, seriously, when Peter Kingwrites in his MMQB column that "I know you're sick of this story. We all are...", it might be time for Favre to permanently retire to the ole fishin' pond.)
As we watched the Al Davis vs. Lane Kiffin saga unfold in Oakland over the past two seasons, it was difficult to not feel some sort sympathy for Kiffin.
After all, he was a young, up-and-coming head coach that seemed to be trapped in the firm grasp of Davis' lair, having little to no control over what was actually going on with the football team he was, supposedly, coaching.
Last year there was an enormous blowup in the blogosphere about whether or not Nick Saban's massive over-signing was ethical or not. A few months, one Jimmy Johns nose-candy arrest, and a half-dozen suspicious medical scholarships later, and Saban managed to cram his class in and even had scholarships left over.
This year Alabama is recruiting within reason, but it's another SEC coach messing with the kids he's in charge of: Steve Spurrier. First, he's told senior non-starters to GTFO:
As Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen embarks on his first coaching search since hiring Mike Shanahan in 1995, one name is generating more buzz than all others: Bob Stoops.
Yes, Stoops, the head coach at Oklahoma who will lead the Sooners into the national title game on Thursday, appears to be a candidate for the Broncos job. Or at least, Bowlen wants him to be a candidate. The Denver Post reports that Bowlen has tried to contact Stoops, but it's not clear whether Stoops is willing to listen. Although the folks in Oklahoma might be getting worried, would Stoops see the Broncos job as a step up?
I'm not so sure. When I was at the NFL scouting combine last year, I heard a few coaches marveling at the $6 million Stoops was scheduled to make in 2008. I'm not sure that Bowlen -- who still owes Shanahan $20 million over the next three years -- would give Stoops much more money than he's already making. And I'm not sure that Stoops wants to leave Oklahoma, where he has total control over everything, for the NFL, where coaches just don't have the same level of authority.
The only reason for Stoops to leave Oklahoma for the NFL is if he just thinks he's accomplished everything he wants to accomplish in college football, and feels it's time to find a new challenge. But before he makes that leap, he should give his old buddy Steve Spurrier a call.
As Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen embarks on his first coaching search since hiring Mike Shanahan in 1995, one name is generating more buzz than all others: Bob Stoops.
Yes, Stoops, the head coach at Oklahoma who will lead the Sooners into the national title game on Thursday, appears to be a candidate for the Broncos job. Or at least, Bowlen wants him to be a candidate. The Denver Post reports that Bowlen has tried to contact Stoops, but it's not clear whether Stoops is willing to listen. Although the folks in Oklahoma might be getting worried, would Stoops see the Broncos job as a step up?
I'm not so sure. When I was at the NFL scouting combine last year, I heard a few coaches marveling at the $6 million Stoops was scheduled to make in 2008. I'm not sure that Bowlen -- who still owes Shanahan $20 million over the next three years -- would give Stoops much more money than he's already making. And I'm not sure that Stoops wants to leave Oklahoma, where he has total control over everything, for the NFL, where coaches just don't have the same level of authority.
The only reason for Stoops to leave Oklahoma for the NFL is if he just thinks he's accomplished everything he wants to accomplish in college football, and feels it's time to find a new challenge. But before he makes that leap, he should give his old buddy Steve Spurrier a call.
Lane Kiffin, the new, hip, happening Tennessee Volunteers head coach, got an early welcome to the world of the SEC from one of its elder statesmen recently, as Ye Olde Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, decided to point out that young Lane had spoken with recruits before he was actually introduced as head coach of the Vols.
The South Carolina coach, who had a history of taking verbal jabs at Kiffin's predecessor, Phillip Fulmer, questioned whether Kiffin broke NCAA recruiting rules by contacting Tennessee recruits before he was cleared to do so.
Jarvis Giles, a running back recruit from Gaither High School in Tampa, Fla., told several media outlets that Kiffin contacted him early Sunday morning - a day before he was scheduled to be introduced as the Vols' new coach.
Spurrier noted that he didn't retake the recruiting test until after he was introduced as the Gamecocks' new coach and joked that Kiffin might have called Giles as "an interested observer.''
That's the beauty of the OBC -- he manages to make a joke out of a pretty serious allegation, simply by using his charming Southern demeanor. And obviously Kiffin is covering up any potential wrong doing by pointing out that he took the test before his hire was actually announced; whether or not he acted in accordance with the rules seems irrelevant unless there's a dated test that can prove him otherwise.
The better part of all this is that right away, we have a heated coaching rivalry between two SEC would-be powerhouses, not to mention the makings of a super awesome visor war.
The SEC coaches meetings rolled into Destin, Fla., this week, and Lane Kiffin washed ashore. 
In February, the Vikings sent a fourth-round pick to the Texans, and in return, got quarterback Sage Rosenfels. He's penciled -- and I can't stress this enough -- in as the starter, what would be Minnesota's fifth in six years. 
As we watched the Al Davis vs. Lane Kiffin saga unfold in Oakland over the past two seasons, it was difficult to not feel some sort sympathy for Kiffin. 
Last year there was an enormous blowup in the blogosphere about whether or not Nick Saban's massive over-signing was ethical or not. A few months, one Jimmy Johns nose-candy arrest, and a half-dozen suspicious medical scholarships later, and Saban managed to cram his class in and even had scholarships left over. 
As Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen embarks on his first coaching search since hiring Mike Shanahan in 1995, one name is generating more buzz than all others: Bob Stoops.
Lane Kiffin, the new, hip, happening Tennessee Volunteers head coach, got an early welcome to the world of the SEC from one of its elder statesmen recently, as Ye Olde Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, decided to point out that young Lane had spoken with recruits before he was actually introduced as head coach of the Vols.
