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 ...
Not that the Rebels would have, but am I the only person who watched the first quarter of the Alabama/Kentucky game and thought that the Rebels could have a two-score lead should Alabama be so accommodating for them?
Call me a homer; just do it after the jump.
Don't go putting text in my HTML that ain't there, but Kentucky used Randall Cobb's quickness effectively in the first quarter to get some first downs. Most folks, I think, would stipulate that Dexter McCluster would have been able to do all Cobb did and more. Meanwhile, Greg McElroy did finish with a career day against the not-quite-Arkansas-like defense of the Wildcats, but everyone did see him start 2-9, right? It may be all coach-speak but Nick Saban told the Montgomery Advertiser that he wasn't happy with his team's performance on Saturday.
"Some people think winning cures everything," he said, "and I am certainly happy that we were able to win, but I also think you have to focus on the symptoms of what you need to do to improve. It's no different than when you start to get a cold. If you do nothing about it, you'll surely get the flu, but if you try to take care of yourself, maybe you minimize your chances of getting sick. Certainly that's what we want to do with our team to maximize our potential to continue to get better."
Despite Saban's metaphorical language, he is holding the flu excuse in his pocket. No, what Saban is telling the Advertiser is that for the brief and occasional moment against Kentucky, his team did not look like the complete team we have been talking about since September 5. There were flaws.
Who knows if the Rebels will be able to exploit any of these. Saban is a crafty fellow. He will be pounding on the heads of 20-year-old men in the hopes that they will not be complacent with their shortcomings. He will tell them he expects perfection. But my biases can't leave me be, and I can't help but thinking that - for Ole Miss - that game could not have played out any better. Flaws exposed, but no wounded pride. Isn't that exactly what you want the opposition to be - in fact, what Ole Miss surely was heading into Columbia - proud, but a little flawed?