Post season thoughts...

[WildRebel]

Great finish to a strange season. Overall, I think the season was a success. No, we didn't accomplish what we thought we could but there were highlights. We missed the SEC champ on a 4&25 play which I have to admit, *beep* me off and can't stop thinking about it. Don't think I remember beating Bama, LSU, auburn and state in the same year which feels good on the other hand. Hopefully, we land the sugar bowl which will cap off another 9 win season. For me, this is success because of where we were not too many seasons ago. We'll continue to improve and once this program develops a winning mentality, the sky is the limit. I truly believe that is what happened this year. We have to learn how to stay mentally focused and be the hunted.

[AtlantaRebels]

If we win we will have 10 wins... a new level of winning bro. Hope we can build on that and stop losing to the little guys

[BobReb]

Agreed. I think we are building something here. And I credit CHF, Archie, and AD for the jobs they have done. Stick to the path. It looks promising to me.
Ole Miss is relevant again. What more need one say?

[WildRebel]

Agreed. I think we are building something here. And I credit CHF, Archie, and AD for the jobs they have done. Stick to the path. It looks promising to me.
Ole Miss is relevant again. What more need one say?

Yep, can't speak enough about how much it means to have a staff committed. I think the right people are in place to build a solid program.

Truth is, ole miss isn't a place to demand sec champs and undefeated seasons(lol at the crapshow in Baton Rouge) just yet. What CHF has done here so far is anything short of a d*** miracle. This football program was a wreck and quite honestly lacked talent in a major way. To be in this position just 4 years later is crazy.

[WildRebel]

If we win we will have 10 wins... a new level of winning bro. Hope we can build on that and stop losing to the little guys

Correct. I meant to say cap off another 9 win regular season and a sugar bowl bid.

[Titles 'R Us]

We have a history with the Sugar Bowl that few other teams have. This would be our ninth bid, and if we win, we would be 6-3 all-time. That's a great legacy. I also agree with other posters that the 4th and 25 conversion by Arkansas is very difficult to forget. According to the rule book and because that was a fourth down play, the ball should have been dead on the ground and not able to be advanced. But there's nothing we can do about it now but go out and win the Sugar Bowl. Everything points to 'Bama beating Florida and going to the playoff. That's fine, since we beat 'Bama, and they'll bring the SEC lots of money. But so will Ole Miss with a Sugar Bowl bid.

Relevance in today's football world is very hard to achieve, even more difficult to sustain. I'd like to see us replace our D coordinator, BTW.

[lewindha]

We've had a great season. Arkansas will sting for a while. Memphis was a bad loss. Florida cheated.

Freeze still made some boneh-headed play calls. But, he let Werner start calling plays and we got better. Didn't hurt that we got Tunsil back about the same time.

Speaking of Tunsil. I know how good he is and what he's meant in the last few games. But, I will always blame him for our losses this year. That team you saw Saturday night was good enough to go undefeated. No way Memphis beats us if Tunsil is there. And things could've gone different against Florida with him there. Maybe not, but you see what our offense has done since he's been back.

We would probably benefit from a new OL coach and I think we could attract a bigger named DC at this point. But, with how the season ended, I doubt we see any changes. And that's OK, for now.

We beat A&M, Bama, Auburn, LSU, and State. You really can't complain too much about that. We'll break through at some point if we stay on the current path.

[rebeljim]

I'll be shocked if we make any staff changes. I do think we need to make some staff changes, but I don"t make the calls.

[BIG CLINT]

Just my opinion we blew our chances with the Florida and Memphis loses. Yes it should have been our year and a little defense with Ark would have taken us to Atlanta. No doubt I believe we would mop the floor with Florida this time and have another SEC title we've been wanting for years. Still though we would be going to the Sugar Bowl like it looks like we are now if Bama beats Florida. So I think considering we lost to Florida and Memphis we came out of it the best we could and I can live with that we just need to win our bowl game.

[WildRebel]

We've had a great season. Arkansas will sting for a while. Memphis was a bad loss. Florida cheated.

Freeze still made some boneh-headed play calls. But, he let Werner start calling plays and we got better. Didn't hurt that we got Tunsil back about the same time.

Speaking of Tunsil. I know how good he is and what he's meant in the last few games. But, I will always blame him for our losses this year. That team you saw Saturday night was good enough to go undefeated. No way Memphis beats us if Tunsil is there. And things could've gone different against Florida with him there. Maybe not, but you see what our offense has done since he's been back.

We would probably benefit from a new OL coach and I think we could attract a bigger named DC at this point. But, with how the season ended, I doubt we see any changes. And that's OK, for now.

We beat A&M, Bama, Auburn, LSU, and State. You really can't complain too much about that. We'll break through at some point if we stay on the current path.

I agree with most of what you said. I guess it's hard not to look back at the season and say "d***, we really COULD have been undefeated". Florida was flat out better than us that day and benefited greatly from home field...but yeah, I think we would wax their behind now. Memphis....wow, never dreamed this would be a loss, and I have no doubt 9 out of 10 we win, as luck has it, that day was that 1 game. Arkansas, defense was un characteristically terrible and still should have a W from that game. Again, our 3 losses are from teams I wouldn't have guessed preseason.

Oline needs change. Still not sure if it's all coaching but we do not have depth we need there either.

I'm not on the replace Wommack train yet. Sure, I've been disappointed with a few games this year but I did see change for the better at the end of the season. I don't think anyone thought we could stop Fournette like we did. Outside of a 30+ yard run, we bottled him up pretty good and made crucial stops the entire game. They also played State really well. I applaud our defense for that.

I too was disappointed with play calling at times this year, but am proud of Freeze for putting the pride aside and letting Werner get more involved.

It's time to make a statement in a big game. The sugar bowl would be the perfect stage. Hotty toddy

[GtownRebel]

It is strange that if we had beaten Ark like we should have and Tennessee had beaten Florida like they should have, both would be playing in Atlanta this weekend.

[Titles 'R Us]

I agree with Eric that Tunsil's bad decisions probably cost us the West, although the Arkansas' miracle play contributed to it. You can certainly make a case that Florida would not have had nearly the season they had without Grier on steroids. If Tunsil had played in the Memphis State game, we wouldn't have lost. The O-Line played ten times better the next week against A & M. Maybe that puke luck Arkansas play would still have happened, but even if it had, we would likely be going to the playoffs with a 12-1 record.

But, we can still build on this season. We're expecting a record 2016 recruiting class--Top Five. If we win the Sugar Bowl, we can point to New Year's Six bids and wins (two in a row for appearances) and go from there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but has any other SEC team had back-to-back New Year's Six appearances? I'm not buying the media naysayers who insist we won't be relevant next year with 'all our talent coming out.' Some of it will, but we'll keep replacing it with even better talent. That's what Saban does.

And another bottom line: we are the only team that has beaten Saban back-to-back since he came to Tuscaloosa. We're going for three in a row next fall. All of this means Ole Miss is totally relevant in today's super-competitive football world.

[GtownRebel]

Speaking of Tunsil. I know how good he is and what he's meant in the last few games. But, I will always blame him for our losses this year. That team you saw Saturday night was good enough to go undefeated. No way Memphis beats us if Tunsil is there. And things could've gone different against Florida with him there. Maybe not, but you see what our offense has done since he's been back.

We would probably benefit from a new OL coach and I think we could attract a bigger named DC at this point. But, with how the season ended, I doubt we see any changes. And that's OK, for now.

We beat A&M, Bama, Auburn, LSU, and State. You really can't complain too much about that. We'll break through at some point if we stay on the current path.

I have said the same thing to my wife about Tunsil...he made a very selfish move on his part and cost Ole Miss a chance to break through to the top this year. But we did have 9 wins and can get 10 via a bowl win. I can't gripe at all about the way the season ended as I didn't think we would beat the last two teams having lost to Arkansas the way we did. Obviously we weren't prepared to stop AR and some real coaching was done between that game and LSU. Plus, I think honestly that playing 10 straight games in a row put us at the point that we were tired and needed a rest. I said at the beginning of the season that 10 game stretch without a break would hurt us and I think the AR game was the game that got us.

But hey, this record I can live with unlike Georgia canning their coach for a 9-3 season. That folks is crazy.

[WildRebel]

I agree with Eric that Tunsil's bad decisions probably cost us the West, although the Arkansas' miracle play contributed to it. You can certainly make a case that Florida would not have had nearly the season they had without Grier on steroids.

I should probably leave this alone but I just can't. Please don't think Will Grier is the only player that has "failed" a test for steroids. Like it or not, it's widely used in a lot of sports. I would venture to guess there is more to why he got suspended for a year than just that.

[Titles 'R Us]

I'd have to agree that there was more to the Will Grier suspension than meets the eye. At any rate, Florida hasn't been anywhere near the team without him that they were with him. I think Alabama will beat them, but we would have, too.