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#RCRMailbag Answers Your Questions on Tailgating Food, Gus Malzhan, and Scheduling

We talk other things too, obviously.

By The Ghost of Jay Cutler, smeargle, and Whiskey Wednesday
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODA

Whiskey: No. I know that we're waiting on two waivers ourselves that don't really make more sense than Golson's, but there just isn't much precedent for what Golson did (inter-division transfers are super rare), much less having a waiver for such a situation approved. I don't wish Golson ill or anything, but his decision did dick us over quite a bit.

Ghost: No, and I hope he gets denied all sorts of things from here on out. He asks a girl out? Denied. He brings a dollar off coupon to a Chick Fil-A? Denied. He tries to block Fadol Brown on a bull rush? De. Damn. Nied.

Smeargle: Not at all. If he was transferring from somewhere miles away like UCLA or Boston College, it might be more understandable. Now I love my grandparents as much as the next, but hell...a couple hours to drive to see them isn't worth a hardship waiver.

Whiskey: That's actually a really tough question. I certainly think that Malzahn is a better coach, but not necessarily a better fit for Ole Miss. Freeze did well in 2012 because he 1. identified a JUCO QB who could elevate the program 2. managed to orchestrate an offense without a lot of OL talent. In the long term, I think Freeze is a better fit because he is more likely to stay longer and establish a program. Having 10-15 years of 7 wins as the absolute floor would be really big for the program as a whole.

Smeargle: Hard to say but Malzahn definitely feels more like a "big name" coach than Freeze does now. Of course this might be because he's just coming off from appearing in the national title game and Freeze hasn't even sniffed Atlanta yet. If we had taken Malzahn over Freeze, it definitely would have been a bigger "name" splash, but the humble approach has worked really well for Freeze so far and I like the team aura it has created.

Ghost: They're both so similar in terms of their coaching styles and their recruiting abilities, but I do think that Hugh Freeze is a better fit at Ole Miss from a cultural standpoint. Still though, I bet Malzhan's offense would be pretty rad if he had Laremy Tunsil and Laquon Treadwell to work with.

Whiskey: It's a pure toss-up between Vandy and Boise, to me. I can't see either team beating us barring some bizarre circumstances, but I'd give the nod to Vandy, just based on past history and their ability to give us fits every year.

Ghost: I've got to go with Boise. It's the first game of the season at a neutral site against a team that relishes being the underdog. While I'm confident in the Rebs heading into that one, I wouldn't be shocked if Boise causes us some headaches and even pulls it out.

Smeargle: Boise. Vandy lost too much this past season to be relevant.

Ghost: I don't want to fight a rooster. I want to fight Houston Nutt. If that means fighting fifty of them - FIFTY! - then so be it. I think I'd have to bum some shin guards off of a soccer player and dust off the ol' nine iron, but it's a winnable fight.

Whiskey: a Houston Nutt-sized rooster is basically a velociraptor, so no thanks.

Smeargle: One Houston Nutt-sized rooster...all I'd have to do is throw a Denny's menu style playbook at it and it would spontaneously combust.

Ghost: Picking one dish as the best here isn't going to be easy. I like food of any sort so long as it's well prepared with good ingredients, and there are few things I'll shy away from (ketchup on hotdogs notwithstanding). Looking at that menu, the one thing that stuck out to me was the whole smoked beef tenderloin, something which is pretty phenomenal in any context, let alone a tailgate. If someone rolls up into your tent and sees a whole beef tenderloin featured front and center, there's a 99% chance you're making them and their tailgate feel inadequate. Also, Currence is charging market price for the beef, so you know it's going to be fresh, quality meat and not out of a shrink-wrapped freezer package.

I'm sure Currence's pimento cheese and chicken salad are great and all, but that's pretty standard stuff. Rolling out a whole loin of beef though? That's top-shelf tailgating.

For the worst, I'll go with the corn on the cob, just because I'm not sure why anyone would pay that much for corn on the cob, nor am I sure why anyone would look at all of the sides offered and say "yep, we're gonna get some corn."

Whiskey: I'll take them grits and grillades, with about a half dozen of the little muffalettas. The sides actually sound kinda boring (unless his mac and cheese is the jam). Pimento cheese sausage balls and the smoked crawfish dip both sound pretty freaking great. If you're going to order tailgating from Currence, don't get any damn fried chicken. Not saying that his wouldn't be good, but some foods don't keep very well in a tailgate situation, and the breading on fried chicken just doesn't hold up well, in my opinion.

Smeargle: For Groving, I try not to eat anything too heavy, so I'd probably stick with a couple of those roast pork sliders with onion jam and a small plate of buffalo chicken and smoked crawfish dip. Vegetable and egg casserole sounds a bit too generic for me to be interested.

If you'd like to have a question answered next week, tweet using the #RCRMailbag hashtag. If it's a good question, we'll answer it, and if it's sports-related we're more likely to give it a go.