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On days like today, I'm thankful to not live in SEC football country.
For those of you wholly uninitiated to the Cup, you'll know that I write this blog as an Ole Miss alumnus living in New England. Up here, people don't care about college football, and particularly not the brand of football we Southerners are accustomed to. So, on nights when the Rebels put forth one of the worst offensive performances of the season, I'm thankful that I can actually show myself in public without reproach. I'm thankful that this type of otherwise senseless nothingness (out of which we all derive so, so much joy and so, so much pain) doesn't impact my professional life, and only impacts my personal life if I want it to.
So, for a walk home from a friend's Thanksgiving party - where I was the only person awkwardly watching an otherwise meaningless football game - to be free from a cacophony of rivalrous goading, I am truly thankful. I couldn't have handled this game any better were I watching it even an hour's drive south of me.
For those of y'all who will have to endure what I'm thankful to be able to avoid, y'all have my sincerest sympathies. I dunno what else to say.
If you didn't see - and how didn't you? - Ole Miss played stupid, terrible, uninspired football tonight, and lost to an outmanned Mississippi State team by a touchdown in overtime. The Bulldogs offense was largely ineffective, failing to break the 300-yard barrier and really only looking alive once Dak Prescott came into the game during the second half. The Bulldogs defense was, as expected, stout against the run and forced the Rebs to throw. That forced the Rebs to pass, where things all ultimately fell apart.
Three interceptions and an overtime fumble later, and the Rebels finish the season 7-5, failing to spoil their rival's bowl chances. Bo Wallace, simply put, played his worst game as an Ole Miss quarterback tonight. We can look at gazillions of plays where, had things moved one way or another by a yard or, hell, even a few inches, the game would have been totally different (such is the nature of one-score games). But you can't look at the overall body of work of this offense tonight and help but be disappointed.
There's really nothing I can add. The offense played terrible football and the defense did everything they could to win the game. Mississippi State isn't the better team in terms of talent or coaching, but as far as effort and execution go, particularly in the fourth quarter and overtime, they beat the Rebs fair and square. It's upsetting to know just how easily this could have been won but wasn't but, alas, such as the Egg Bowl.
Hotty Toddy. I'll see y'all in Nashville. Maybe.
EDIT: Oh, and in case you missed it, "Billboards Claiming Ownership of the State" won the "Most MSU Shit Ever" tournament earlier tonight. This is appropriate, considering how common said billboards are bound to be over the next few months.