Generally, we are the "authors" of "content" around here - "here" being a blog and not a message board. Recognize, we do, that you've come here not to contribute, but to consume. Nevertheless, there is the sporadic occasion where, either for our benefit or for to exercise the thinkifiers of the masses, we ask you a question. Today's question is . . .

"Are you pleased with the re-hiring of Derrick Nix?"

I think there are arguments to be made each way in this debate. He seems to be a good recruiter, but the lack of progression of our backs under his tutelage can be supported statistically. Whether that's his fault, I'm not sure. Anyway, what do you think?

Last Monday, I wrote an article about our potential coaching candidates and the systems they ran. I wanted to look into, briefly, what we could expect from our major candidates. Fast forward just over a week, and the Rebels have hired Arkansas State Head Coach Hugh Freeze to right the ship. This story will take a more in depth look at our new head coach's abilities and tendencies and attempt to piece just how the Rebels will fit in with the Freeze system.

Freeze's offense at Arkansas State was a spread option ("sproption") designed in an effort to utilize athleticism and speed on the outsides as well as a scrambling quarterback. About Freeze's potential scheme, I said this in the aforementioned article.

Hugh Freeze's offense has already set more than ten Arkansas State offensive records. Freeze's no-huddle approach focuses on quarterbacks making the decision to run or pass in space. I'm sure most of you know this, but this offensive style eliminates the defense's advantage of not having to defend one player (the quarterback). When a defender in the flats is faced with covering a receiver or attacking the quarterback, they can easily end up caught between two options, allowing either.

Back to Freeze, there is a small concern that he tries to get too cute with playcalling, devising a significant number of trick plays. I understand how that could be disconcerting to several readers, but trick plays make highlights, and when they work, you smile. While Freeze was wide receivers and passing game coordinator under Ed Orgeron, we gave him one game to be offensive coordinator. In that game, 2007 against LSU, Freeze's offense put up 466 yards of offense and provided a blueprint to hang with the Tigers. The next week, we went away from Freeze (because Ed Orgeron was really silly).... and the rest is history.

I've been able to watch a good bit of Freeze's offense since writing that article - thank you YouTube. I've taken a lot away from what I've seen. Click the jump to read more about his offense and how we will presumably utilize it, per my analysis.

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Whoever our next coach is will have to hit the ground running in terms of recruiting. We can't afford to have a terrible class immediately following the best freshman class we've had since 2007. The state of Mississippi isn't very deep in terms of SEC talent this year, but there are players to be had, and we've got to get some of them.

It's also important for our next coach to evaluate what we already have committed and decide who to keep from that bunch. After the jump, check out five players we have committed that we should keep and five players who are uncommitted but need to be pursued.

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Generally, we are the "authors" of "content" around here - "here" being a blog and not a message board. Recognize, we do, that you've come here not to contribute, but to consume. Nevertheless, there is the sporadic occasion where, either for our benefit or for to exercise the thinkifiers of the masses, we ask you a question. Today's question is . . .

Are you comfortable waiting for the completion of a bowl game for a "B-list" hire, or would you rather go with a C or D list right now who can hit the ground running?

This question is not an indictment of any particular coaches we're pursuing. I'm not calling any candidates "D-list." It's simply a hypothetical question about what is important to our fans.

Generally, we are the "authors" of "content" around here - "here" being a blog and not a message board. Recognize, we do, that you've come here not to contribute, but to consume. Nevertheless, there is the sporadic occasion where, either for our benefit or for to exercise the thinkifiers of the masses, we ask you a question. Today's question is . . .

Is the Ole Miss football head coaching job an attractive one? Why or why not?

We will not defeat #1 LSU this Saturday.

You know it, I know it, they know it, our team knows it, Houston Nutt knows it. Hell, even Hotty Toddy Man knows it. We didn't need to be bettered by Louisiana Tech at home by twenty points to know this.

Our team is just too inept, chaotic, lackadaisical, and uninspired to beat, well, anyone, let alone the single best college football team in the nation.

Sure, Saturday's game might be closer than the experts think, with a few big plays here and some defensive stands there keeping it a competitive match early - a la the Arkansas and LSU games. But if you've got visions of ankle-breaking punt returns for touchdowns, 80 yard bombs to a wide open Donte Moncrief, acrobatic Charles Sawyer interceptions, comfortable running lanes dominated by a thundering Enrique Davis, and passes thrown to and caught by Derrick Herman, then I must insist, sir or madam, that you are deluding yourself.

We can't win this, and we won't win this. We've got a lame duck head coach leading a team which appears to have already checked out on the year going up against the crazier-than-hell, luckiest sumbitch alive in Les Miles who, I imagine, is quite fed up with this notion that one Houston Dale Nutt "has his number." It will be a thrashing, complete with bizarre playcalls that somehow work in LSU's favor every, single, time; jaw-rattling violence that sends a chorus of hushed "oooooh"s throughout the Rebel crowd; Tyrann Mathieu injuring people for breathing in his direction; and the wild flailing of arms and churning of legs in a chaotic clustering in a hot mess of humanity - all played out over an hour's time divided intervals of five-to-ten painful, painful seconds.

It will get ugly and could, perhaps, get even uglier than the Alabama game.

No folks, no matter how badly we want to win this football game against a team many of us would consider our chief Southeastern Conference rival, we can't.

But there is something we can do.

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As I watched the Rebels lose by twenty points to Louisiana Tech, I began looking for any reason to stick around in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium just before halftime, as I'm not one to leave games early. After quickly scanning the field and then the stands, and realizing that I would have nothing more interesting to do, I thought I'd watch the coaches call plays. I figured that maybe I could put all of those years playing EA Sports games to work to actually decipher what exactly our scheme is. 

I casually glanced at the sign someone - a graduate assistant, perhaps - on our sideline was holding up at the moment to signal what I would presume was a play call to our players. At that moment, we had the ball on offense, and the signaler happened to hold up a sign that read "T.S."

I joked with the people unfortunate enough to still be in the stadium at that moment that I would bet that freshman wideout Tobias Singleton would be getting the ball.

"Ha," I thought. "Wouldn't that be hilarious?"

Then..... he did. On a speed sweep.

"No big deal, "I thought. "I just sorta lucked into that one, right?" Then we quickly noticed a pattern as we watched the playcalling signs for the rest of the game.

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Generally, we are the "authors" of "content" around here - "here" being a blog and not a message board. Recognize, we do, that you've come here not to contribute, but to consume. Nevertheless, there is the sporadic occasion where, either for our benefit or for to exercise the thinkifiers of the masses, we ask you a question. Today's question is . . .

Who should be the next head coach of our football team?

We had a Monday Discussion on the same topic immediately following the loss to Vanderbilt. I'm interested to see whether opinions have changed.

Back then, I said Kevin Sumlin. I was the first to mention him, and a couple of people agreed with me. I would guess the numbers supporting him are higher now. Therefore I'm going to take credit for the "Kevin Sumlin to Ole Miss" meme. A lot of y'all are tossing around names like Alabama DC Kirby Smart, Auburn OC Gus Malzhan, and the unemployed Mike Leach. Who would you, dear reader, like to see and why? We've got a poll up and a comments section which needs fillin', so get to it.