For Ole Miss, we’ll start with a look back to Saturday’s disappointing 31-24 loss to South Carolina.

Tyrone Nix, who had previously served as South Carolina’s defensive coordinator, watched his Ole Miss defensive unit become the get-well elixir that the ol’ ballcoach had been seeking all year.  Chris Smelley, who’s been up and and down and in and out of the line-up this year, went 22 of 32 for 327 yards and three touchdowns against the Rebel D.  “I didn’t think they’d go up and down the field like that on us,” said Houston Nutt.

Nutt singled out cornerback Cassius Vaughn as someone who needs to be more productive.



Of course, the defense wasn’t helped by costly fumbles from Dexter McCluster and Jevan Snead.

Snead’s fumble drained all of the energy from the Ole Miss sideline, and it’s those “here we go again” negative mood swings that have Nutt most frustrated.  “I was the only cheerleader on the sideline.  We’re still (in the game after the fumble).  But I look in our guys’ eyes and they don’t see it like that.”  If Nutt can’t get his guys to start believing, this could turn into a pretty long season for the Rebels… a team that was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated just one week ago.

Hey, maybe there is something to that curse deal.



Finally (and we’ll post this in the Mississippi State notes, too), ESPN’s “College GameDay” has now been to 10 of the SEC’s 12 cities.  Only Oxford and Starkville remain on the network’s to-do list.

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