Media plays into Nutt's plan

by BrianWalker'sElbow on Oct 4, 2009 10:02 PM EDT Comment 14 comments

At the end of 2008, Ole Miss became the sexy pick for success in 2009. Jevan Snead had thrown 16 tds and only 3 ints to end the season, and the defense had vastly improved. All of the "experts" picked us in their top 10 to begin the next season. The hype was building.

The summer came, and the Rebels graced two regional covers of the Sports Illustrated preview editions. The hype was building. Then, this question came:

"There's a perception, whether it's fair or not, that you have been a better coach when you're not picked to do well than when you are picked to do well, as you are this year. What is your take on that?"

Houston responded, "Last year, the same group of experts picked us towards the bottom. Same group of experts now picking us toward the top. We tell our team: 'What does that mean?' Doesn't mean anything. You are going to be hunted."

It was a beautiful love story. A coach that poured his life into a university is run off by its mentally deranged fans. However, he was welcomed with opened arms to Ole Miss where he promptly "turned around the program."

Then, something bad happened. The same "experts" that had pumped up the Rebels turned their backs on them.

On September 24th, Nutt's Rebels gave them more ammunition by falling on the road. "Expectations too much for Rebels!!!" cried the masses (ESPN, Al.com, Gonzohog). "They couldn't handle the pressure!"

The idea that South Carolina was underrated or that winning on a Thursday is really hard never crossed their minds. Did the media cry that USC couldn't handle the hype when it lost to Stanford or Oregon State on a Thursday night? What about when Oregon lost to Arizona on a Thursday night? Has any other team played more Thursday night games since 2000 than South Carolina?

Anyway, I digress. Gonzohog, Finebaum, and others claim victory over Houston Nutt and then climbed back into whatever hellhole they came from.

The Rebels tanked in the polls by falling 17 spots in the AP poll and 14 spots in the Coaches' Poll. On October 3rd, they played a good bit better, and Snead finally showed a couple of flashes of what he was capable of last season. The D looked outstanding. OM had gotten a 16 point SEC road win. That would gain the media's respect again, right? We can climb back on our throne as media darlings, correct? Everyone expects their to be an SEC West deciding battle in Oxford on October 10th. WRONG.

Team Speed Kills, the SBNation blog that covers the SEC, wrote this on Saturday, "Which game will go further to deciding the SEC West Championship: Alabama-LSU or the Iron Bowl? It's debatable whether the Bayou Bengals will even be undefeated in the SEC when they go to Tuscaloosa on Nov. 7. They might be the most controversial Top 5 team in recent memory -- well, aside from Ole Miss a few weeks ago, anyway. Meanwhile, Auburn looks like a serious player for the division title, even if the Tennessee game shows they're not quite as good as they've looked the last four weeks."

In the same article, they spoke more specifically about OM: "Is Ole Miss back to being relevant? That's 397 yards of offense in a 23-7 win over Vanderbilt -- which, I'd remind you, is just as good a job as LSU did against the Commodores. Jevan Snead wasn't great, gaining 7.0 yards per passing attempting and throwing 3 TDs and 3 INTs. But Shay Hodge's 122 yards receiving and a 160-yard performance by the ground game led the Rebels to the win."

However, no one respects Ole Miss anymore. We're no longer the "hunted." There are new media darlings on the scene. Auburn is 5-0 and the Iron Bowl is shaping up to be great for TV ratings. LSU is defining what it means to be lucky. Alabama is a complete team. Is there room for 4 great teams in the SEC West?

No. All of these teams will play one another soon enough. One will knock the other two out of the top 10 (or keep them out in Auburn's case) more than likely. Maybe they will mutually knock themselves out of the top 10.

No one expects Ole Miss to contend. No one expects Ole Miss to contend. I'll say this one more time, No one expects Ole Miss to contend.

Here's my argument using everyone's flawed, pre-season logic: the Rebels are about to turn it on because "There's a perception, whether it's fair or not, that Houston Nutt has been a better coach when he's not picked to do well than when he's picked to do well."

We're no longer the hunted. The hype is no longer hanging over our shoulders. When teams play us, they'll be unable to "get up" for the game because "we are Ole Miss" and "overrated."

I expect us to make a run because no one expects us to and Houston Nutt is simply a better coach in that situation. What are your thoughts?

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All I know is that Houston Nutt is 30-19 against the spread

as the underdog since 2000. He isn’t any worse of a coach when he’s favored.
But he is really great at getting his players to play the big games. Ole Miss might come up short this weekend, this year. But, we aren’t going down without a fight.

by Knob Creek Reb on Oct 4, 2009 10:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't know why "everyone" has buried OM

after a Thursday night road loss to a pretty good team. Maybe OM isn’t hunted by the media, but I doubt the opposing players and coaches look at it that way. Only if they’re foolish.

by artiger on Oct 4, 2009 10:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

don't confuse what the fans, media think

for what the coaches and players think. it is easy for the media to dismiss om as underdogs, but don’t think the coaches and players have. It’s like when some fan will say something like, you’d better not over look (insert cupcake). well guess what i’m just a fan. i can overlook them and not worry about it, but most teams just go out there and play football if they have a decent coach.

by 1st and 15 on Oct 5, 2009 6:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Part of my point

is that the media’s theory that Nutt is a better coach when underrated is just silly. I agree with you, artiger and 1 and 15, that the coaches and players are not too concerned with whom the media has and has not dismissed.

However, isn’t it silly that the media is dismissing us this early in the year which, by their logic, enhances Nutt’s ability to coach? (therefore they shouldn’t dismiss us). Crap, I cannot figure out how to word my point.

by BrianWalker'sElbow on Oct 5, 2009 8:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I kinda get what you're saying.

Basically, the media is dumb and spends as much time covering their own asses as they do setting themselves up for situations against which they will need to cover their asses. I’m still pissed at the whole “Ole Miss is soooooo overrated” sentiments surrounding the South Carolina game from the very same media guilty of overrating our Rebels.

Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
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by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Oct 5, 2009 8:46 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

keep in mind...

the media – and this includes us on the blogosphere – is reacting to the perception of the program in the general populace not the actual situation that might exist. while there are plenty reasons to question the professionalism of the boys in the press, i have a hard time believing they have their shit together enough to coordinate something such as a trend like this to any degree.

more likely, this is the herd mentality at work. if there is a sense a team is “hot” (or not) at a given time, that team are obviously going to get more coverage and, in turn, that coverage will reflect that. and this isn’t just for stories that espouse the designation, but also those that write about it to refute it. it all works to put forth a general perception that might not be completely in accord with the actual state of affairs.

obviously, as a website covering the team itself, you would not be constrained by this more general perception – your readership is much more selective and, most likely, better versed in the issue at hand. still, the need to put the record straight ends up falling to folks like us for that very reason.

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by kleph on Oct 5, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Here's my thing....

if we win against Alabama (a tall task), then you know that people like Kirk Herbstreit will be saying, “See, there’s a reason this Ole Miss team was ranked so high going into the season” when he just said that we were severely overrated.

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by Juco All-American on Oct 5, 2009 9:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes yes yes yes

They will claim to be right either way

by BrianWalker'sElbow on Oct 5, 2009 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sports journalists and weathermen...

…are two of the few professions where you can be wrong nearly all the time and still keep your job.

RollBamaRoll.com

by Nico2.0 on Oct 5, 2009 10:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No plan at all

I get what you’re saying, but if Coach Nutt’s plan really was “lose to unranked Gamecocks on a night when all of America is watching, thus destroying any chance at widespread respect for the rest of the year—no matter what happens, because then we can BRING IT,” well then, he is a veritable genius, sir. However, might I suggest that the plans all involve winning games? It’s technically the point of the whole shebang.

All teasing aside, as a Mississippian, and as a ‘Bama fan who’s long ridden the OMG NATIONAL CHAMPS THIS YEAR BRO train, I tried my best to help my Ole Miss friends rein it in. “You’ll be on the cover of all sorts of things, and it will feel so good, but then . . . but then you will lose to Louisiana Monroe,” I choked, tears welling up with buried pain.

Then somebody would punch me in the belly and yell JEVAN 4-EVA (seriously, out loud they said that) and I would go “well, have a great fall from grace.”

The real problem is that good teams always prepare for their opponents, no matter who they are. I think there’s a question whether Texas Tech was ready for the Rebs last year—they sure as heck didn’t look it as the points piled up. Ditto for my beloved Tide against Utah (who?), who played like Florida on amphetamines. It was like we weren’t even ready.

So yes, Bama will be ready for Ole Miss—and so will any other team who doesn’t want to drop a game to a low-ranked or unranked team this year, like so many have.

Further, I’m not so sure Coach Nutt is any better under pressure than otherwise. In a strong 8-5 2007 year at Arkansas, he managed to beat Ole Miss and LSU, but dropped critical games to Bama and the Vols, as well as losing to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl—with the two best running backs in the country.

This is going to be a good year for y’all, but I don’t think you can spin any SEC loss as anything other than a heartbreaker.

Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world.

by gorjus on Oct 5, 2009 11:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

All of your points were dead on except for the

Arkansas loss to Mizzou in the Cotton Bowl. Nutt was already the head coach at Ole Miss at that point.

Red Cup Rebellion - Changing the Culture of Ole Miss Athletics
Take a picture, trick.

by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Oct 5, 2009 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The one thing you fail to mention about 2007....

is that your offense was statistically better than it was in 2006. Your defense was worse though, and that’s why you went 8-4 (8-5 with the loss by Herring in the Cotton). You lost some key players on defense, but your fans still expected Arkansas to be better simply because you returned two stud RBs on offense.

by RebelBruiser on Oct 5, 2009 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs