Titles 'R Us wrote:The string of SEC games is broken up by an open date before Arkansas. So it's not eight weeks in a row of SEC games. At any rate, Freeze was hired and is being paid to make us competitive in the SEC. The toughness of the league overall is not going to go away, even if the SEC schedule varies.
There's no reason pre-season (sorry, didn't mean to make that rhyme!) to be already making excuses for why we're not going to improve, win more games or do better in the SEC. The bad hires of the past did damage to the program. But every single program in the SEC has made bad hires and recovered. Here are reminders that at least two of the programs that now seem invincible have not been in the recent past:
'Bama--remember Dubose? Mike Price?
LSU--remember Curley Hallman? Dinardo?
It also seems to me that if Freeze's first Ole Miss team gets off to a 4-0 start (or even 3-1) with the OOC schedule, the end result will be confidence-building. Forget 'Bama, LSU and Georgia for a moment. Why should A & M be viewed as a juggernaut when they will be trying to execute an offense that a C-USA HC implemented in a league without defense? And he inherits a team that gave up so many leads it was dizzying and cost their coach his job. Why should we automatically assume Arkansas is going to pick up where they left off when their HC is gone and the interim choice will be declaring bankruptcy once the season starts--a major distraction? I keep scratching my head when some of our own fans say that we will be lucky to win 3 or 4 games after a 2-10 season when James Franklin took a 2-10 Vandy squad and won 6 last year and could easily have won 8. Having a good head coach made all the difference there. Could make a difference here, too.
We do not need a miracle to win 6 or more games this year.
I did not say 8 weeks in a row, but it still is 8 conf games in a row. I don't think I am making excuses as much as pointing out the obvious. As a matter of fact, I always give us more wins than we end up with. I am just being honest with myself on the current state of the program. I think Freeze has done as good of a job as he could have to this point. He did a good job recruiting, only having a couple of weeks when other guys had years. He has energized the players and fan base, and has given a reason to be optomistic.
Having said that, I am not sure some of us realize the crap hole Nutt has placed us in. My REASONS of 5 wins, not excuses...
1. We lost the most gifted and arguably the most valuable player on the team in Brassell.
2. We will probably lose a few more players on scholly before the fall due to academics.
3. Our O-Line couldn't block a nursing home D-Line last year, and losing your best tackle doesn't help that a bit.
4. We lost the only offense we had at times last year, Bolden.
5. We are still not sure that we have an SEC QB on our roster.
6. Defensively we have no depth, especially at DB. (Did I mention we lost our best corner?)
7. We did not win an SEC game. You have to learn how to win again after experiencing that.
8. I don't know if I mentioned, we play 8 conf games in a row.
9. Houston Nutt ran this program into the ground over the past couple of years, will take more than a year to run a win total up.
10. That d*** black bear is still on the sidelines..
With that said, I think A&M, State, Auburn, and Vandy are beatable. I don't know about throwing Arkansas into the mix because their babysitter is going through bankruptcy. Their coordinators are running things that relate to football. We aren't going to beat every team that is beatable. Beating all of them would be a miracle. Thats why I say we probably go 3-1 non conf, then snag 2 conf games in A&M and maybe State. 5 wins...
