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This is the final saga in the story of a football "coach." Crazy even before he was harassed and dismissed by the school he loved, Houston Nutt left Fayetteville for the red, blue, and greener pastures of Oxford. Little did he know that in those very pastures where his horses roamed in the rolling hills of North Central Mississippi, he would come across the irradiated National Letter of Intent of Brandon Bolden, turning mild-mannered Houston Nutt into RECROOTIN' DALE! Where do we find our once-revered-now-maligned hero today?

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Chief Editor and Master of the Universe Ghost of Jay Cutler gave me the thumbs up to administer The Cup's ballot in the Blogpoll.  What is the Blogpoll?  Jim Bankoff is glad you asked:

The SB Nation BlogPoll Top 25 is a transparent, authentic weekly college football poll. More than 100 of the most knowledgeable college football bloggers representing fans from virtually every rooting interest align weekly to rank the Top 25 college football teams. Every ballot is available for review.

We bloggers also have the snotty, straight-from-our-parents-basement way of doing a thing we call "Resume Ranking," which makes no sense in the preseason when no games have been played.  Presumably, we try to avoid 2004-flavored poll stasis and constantly reassess every team based on their performance on the field.  That is all to say that this ballot is likely to make even less sense now than it will make after we've played a few games.  And that's saying something.  To illustrate how dumb this is going to look in 14 weeks, we've scoured the Internetz (Hail!  HAIL THE INTERNET!) for the most Sprival'd unofficial nicknames of the Best Most Remembered Teams of 2011 from 2010!

Interesting commentary after the jump!

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This is the story of a football "coach."  Crazy even before he was harassed and dismissed by the school he loved, Houston Nutt left Fayetteville for the red, blue, and greener pastures of Oxford.  Little did he know that in those very pastures where his horses roamed in the rolling hills of North Central Mississippi, he would come across the irradiated National Letter of Intent of Brandon Bolden, turning mild-mannered Houston Nutt into RECROOTIN' DALE!  Where do we find our hero today?

RECROOTIN' DALE! sits indian style on top of his desk in his plush corner office, decorated with the stuffed, preserved heads of various barnyard animals and one mounted paper mache likeness of a moustachioed man with a bronze plate beneath reading "Negative Slant Brandt."  New offensive coordinator Dave Lee is seated statue-esquely in a metal folding chair, hands on his knees, motionless, looking forward.

RD!  Honestly, Davey, I'm glad you're here, but I am just ten-gallon tore up about having to let go of the other Dave.  I mean just tore up.  You know, it hurts me to see good people suffer.  We were like family, you understand, Dave.  I mean, I never even got the chance to even actually talk to or, I guess, even see the man.  But, nevertheless, I assume he moved to Oxford with his family and such.  And just, dagnabit, had to have brought the whole dadgum clan with him over here from . . . y'know, wherever.  And I guarantee you, a man of integrity like that, he prob'ly even came to practices and all.  Take a memo . . . memoooooo . . . that's a funny word.  Take a letter for me.  "Dear Coach . . ." uh . . . Dave what was that other Dave's name?

DL:  Accessing memory.  Accessing memory.  Searching results.  Primary result: "Rader."

RD!  Aw . . . daggumit, DeeLee.  That name sucks.  Let's just go with Coach Dave.

DL:  Affirmative.

RD!  Dear Coach Dave . . . thank you for your dedicated service to Ole Miss football.  I assume they paid you.  Nobody let me know one way or the other.  Seems like nothin' gets done without my say-so around here.  Anyhow, I hate that we couldn't really work together so much this past year.  I hope you enjoyed doin' y'know whatever you've been doing these past couple months in Oxford.

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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 . . .

What does the Rebel Roundballers' 4-2 start portend?

There are plenty of things about the beginning of basketball season about which to be both excited and disappointed.  The contributions of newcomers Dundrecous Nelson, Nick Williams, and Demarco Cox are encouraging.  The Rebels are scoring just under 75 points per game, which is, obviously, enough offense to win another 20-something games and contend for an NCAA berth.  Of course, that slow start in Coral Gables was about as disheartening as a half of basketball could be.  No pattern has emerged regarding the offensive presence or absence of any one player.  Even Chris Warren's performance or lack thereof has not consistently been the factor that won or lost us games.

Whatever your feelings about the 4-2 start, dropping any more games before SEC play will color me concerned.  Arkansas-Little Rock and Southeastern Louisiana are RPI Top 100 teams remaining on the schedule, but I rather doubt that their early RPI rankings are indicative of the quality of their squads.

Based on their performance through a competent (if not challenging) early schedule, are the Rebels destined to be led by their senior point guard to an elusive NCAA berth or will Madison Square Garden be, once again, the goal in alternative?

After fourteen exciting weeks of football, only one regular season contest remains (and that between 8-3 Navy and 7-4 Army, neither of which, spoiler alert, are featured in this week's Red Cup Blogpoll ballot).  I almost believe that all twenty-five of the teams in this ballot deserve to be ranked, though I inflated my opinion of some squads liberally based on their conquests of questionable conferences (you'll understand what I mean after the jump).  Here, first, are the non-controversial Top 5:

Auburn 13-0 / 6-0 / 6-0
Ore 12-0 / 1-0 / 3-0
TCU 12-0 / 1-0 / 5-0
Wisc 11-1 / 1-1 / 4-1
Stanford 11-1 / 0-1 / 3-1

Those records you see there are Overall Records / Record Against Then-Ranked Teams / Record Against FBS Winning Squads.  The only controversy might be between the Badgers and the Cardinal, but by virtue of their win lone win over a ranked team (Michigan State, remember?) Wisconsin gets the nod.

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Earlier today, we told you about Hugh Freeze and his quick ascent to the top job at Arkansas State.  In just one year in Jonesboro, the Indians? Hawks?  Red Wolves went from a bottom 20 to a top 30 offense in the country with Freeze at the helm.  You might be a little surprised that Freeze has been in Jonesboro, since about this time last year he accepted the job as offensive coordinator at San Jose State.  But screw that if you can stay in the Dirty, right?

Michael Oher wasn't the only one congratulating/lamenting Freeze's promotion at the Natural State's other FBS program.  We pretty much begged Houston Nutt to hire the guy in the wake of Kent Austin's decampment to Cornell.  We don't know which (if any) positions might be open on the Rebels' staff, but it's never too early for speculation.  Both sides of the ball could use at least one new coach that focuses on a specific aspect of the game.

Though Freeze is in the news, we've got, first our Christmas Wish List for the defense.  It's assignment football that has our attention like a Red Ryder B B Gun.  After the jump, we have a fairly reasonable list of folks who might be able to help the Rebels in this area.

I, personally, am not advocating that anyone be fired.  If ouf defensive staff can outline some credible reasons for me to believe that they are the right choice for the Rebels going forward, I am willing to listen.  Like our head coach, I don't believe that Tyrone Nix (or any other coach) turned into a terrible coach over night (Dave Rader did so over the course of many decades).  But just in case, here are some ideas.

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Quickly though you may want to turn your attention away from the 107th meeting of Mississippi State and Ole Miss (and particularly the second and third quarters of that game), we need to exorcise some demons.

After the first quarter, I turned to my compatriots, Ghost and the_drake, and wistfully commented that our defense was playing well enough to win the game.  State first four drives resulted in punt, punt, fumble, and turnover on downs with just two first downs and 56 offensive yards.  Then, the wheels came off, as State scored twin touchdowns on drives of 88 and 82 yards.  Just before the second half, State turned the ball over on downs, but neither that turnover nor a second-quarter interception yielded points.  The third quarter began with Ole MIss fumbling and punting twice, leading to a touchdown and a field goal by the Maroons.  At this point, the score was 31-9, and the Rebels were giving up hope.

Defensively, the Rebels were led by Cornell, Shackelford, and Powe, who combined for 27 tackles and four tackles for loss.  Those were about the only bright spots, of course.  And even in that, Perkins, Chris Relf, and Vick Ballard combined for 210 rush yards.  After the first quarter, there was little reason to smile when it came to defense.

After the jump, I review the game more thoroughly by answering, post hoc, the deeply analytical questions posed to us by For Whom the Cowbell Tolls.

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Only one more week of regular season SEC football.  I understand that they continue to play regular games in the Big East, Pac-10, and Big Ten.  Good for them.  We're winding things down in the Dirty South.  And that means we're winding down the Blogpoll.  We've got our ballot posted after the jump, where you will find a change in the Top 5, the return of the Big East, and the Cup showing its patriotism.

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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 better HATE STATE, we ask you a question. Today's question is . . .

Who makes up / enforces the team rules?  And is there some better method for ensuring compliance with them?

Perhaps, you did not notice but some of our players have taken their role as "rebels," to a whole new, unspecified level.  That's right, great keeper of the codex of "Team Rules," I am calling you out.  After Monday's announcement that Melvin Harris has been suspended for an unspecified violation of your potentially draconian (or embarrassingly relaxed - there's just no way of knowing) rules of conduct, I want to know what is up with all this rule-breaking.

Of course Tony Grimes and Delvin Jones were suspended for the game against LSU.  Their loss for that game possibly contributed strongly to the Rebels' poor defensive showing against the Tigers.*  And, though rumors floated, Rishaw Johnson's dismissal came was because of a "violation of team rules."

This also comes on the heels of Rodney Scott's maybe-departure from the team, and, of course, Patrick Patterson's suspension and eventual dismissal were, also, hash marks on the "team rules" board.

Here's a sub-question (with a HT to @IACGodfrey) that I might regret asking: did Nutt's Arkansas players do their best James Dean when it came to the dark and shadowy world of team rules?

It's not like I think that the coaching staff is suspending or dismissing players for no good reason.  And I appreciate that these young men's laundry need not be aired out for our entertainment (or to our ridicule at the hands of hypocritical State fans, who I wish were still doin' it da right way).  But is all this rule-breaking something about which we should be concerned?

*If you believe this, click here to find out if you are a moron!

With the Egg Bowl upon us - and the Hate Week thread still to come - it is our suggestion that you follow "Mr. Freezy" Kyle Veazey (seriously, if he had no hair and was painted blue, he'd be a dead ringer for this Batman villain).  I am, and that's how I ran across this 1991 masterpiece from Sports Illustrated by Ed Hinton entitled "The Dixie Cup," which suggests that when it comes to Mississippi State coaches, the tune never really changes.

Whether its "Mississippi" or "TSUN," taking a look back at Hinton's piece from 1991, shows that the tune of Mississippi State, their coaches, and their fan base hasn't changed much in the last twenty years.

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Red Cup Rebellion Ballot - Week 12

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Auburn Tigers	1
2	Oregon Ducks	-1
3	Boise St. Broncos	1
4	TCU Horned Frogs	-1
5	WHITE SHIRTS! YELLOW BREECHES!	--
6	Michigan St. Spartans	6
7	Wisconsin Badgers	-1
8	Stanford Cardinal	-1
9	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-1
10	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
11	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	-2
12	Alabama Crimson Tide	-1
13	Arkansas Razorbacks	--
14	Missouri Tigers	1
15	Oklahoma Sooners	5
16	Virginia Tech Hokies	8
17	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
18	Nevada Wolf Pack	--
19	Texas A&M Aggies	4
20	USC Trojans	--
21	Arizona Wildcats	-2
22	Iowa Hawkeyes	-8
23	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	-7
24	Northwestern Wildcats	--
25	Utah Utes	-8
Dropouts: Baylor Bears, Florida Gators, Michigan Wolverines

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

Your HATE WEEK Blogpoll ballot features some tumble-wumbling by Mississippi State.  Also Utah's in there.  No one is really sure why.  Discuss!

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 . . .

Buy or sell:  the Rebels stay in the game until Jarrett Lee torches our young secondary.

Simple enough question, I think.  Lee, benched in 2008 for sucking hard against Ole Miss, has not been benched for good.  After the Alabama game, LSU Coach Les Miles said, "It's a two-quarterback system where both quarterbacks contributed significantly."  

In most circumstances, I think Jordan Jefferson is Miles's man, so I expect Jefferson to start the game.  But let's assume, for no reason in particular, that the Rebel defense assists him in making some poor, costly decisions, keeping Ole Miss in the game.  What would bring this series back around like a game-changing performance from the very Texan whose career seemed over at the hands of those Landsharks who have gone curiously missing?  And, if Lee is to play, is there even a chance our secondary can stop him, or, anybody?

There is "Alabama HATE WEEK" and "Vanderbilt HATE WEEK."  There is even "Mississippi State HATE WEEK," but for many Rebel fans of an age and sensibility similar to mine, there is only one HATE WEEK that needs no modifier.  It fortuitously comes when it does - at the beginning of deer season and just before Thanksgiving - because, often, Rebel fans will have to cope in its wake by either shooting something, gorging ourselves in ceremonial gratefulness, or a combination of the two.

If this can't get your hate levels up, you're missing something.

Nominally, the "Magnolia Bowl," I prefer my unofficial nom de guerres "The Battle for Billy Canon's Heisman," "Hurricane State Hostilities," and "The Gamblers' Game" because those names better reflect that state similarities and shared experiences that have fomented discord between our fan bases for decades.

In only the last seven games - five of which I've seen in person - the Rebels and LSU have gone through the SEC West Showdown in 2003 that propelled the Tigers to the BCS Championship, the 49-7 curb-stomping in Nick Saban's final season in Baton Rouge, a twenty-point LSU comeback over the Orgeron-led Rebels in 2006, a dominating 31-13 Rebel victory in Death Valley, and a little clock mismanagement that LSU fans call the "Mississippi Meltdown."

While And the Valley Shook is a fine SBNation colleague, Baton Rouge is my favorite road-trip in the SEC, the cooking will be damn good this weekend, and I fully expect that dozens of Tiger fans will dole out hospitality in portions equal to their overbearing, vulgar, and unwelcoming rhetoric ("TIGER BAIT!!!  Just kidding; want a beer?"), this week is HATE WEEK because beating LSU is the pill that cures all my frustrations.

Nothing.  NOTHING compares to beating the Bayou State Bengals in the Swamp.  And there is no margin of loss to any other team that cuts quite as deep as a loss to General Sherman's University.  Get thee, back, Respect.  This is the state university of America's armpit about which we speak, a school that, by observing its student body, one comes to the inescapable conclusion that that majority of its academic recruitment fliers are sent to Hooters and New Orleans brothels.  A school that draws such a large contingent of Texans because, surprisingly, there are some that are too arrogantly douche-ey for even the Lone Star State.  Plans were scrapped for a recreation of the Statue of Liberty (un-draped and holding The Scales of Narcotics) neath which a plaque was to read:

"Give me your drunk, your foul,
Your barely-clothed skanks yearning to snort coke,
The wretched refuse of the nation's bowel.
Send these skanks, still vodka-soaked,
I lift my lamp with a drunken howl!"

It was thought to be un-inclusive and in bad taste, as cocaine was considered by Shreveport natives and other matriculants from the Northern parts of the state as the drug of the bourgeoisie.

I give thanks every fourth Thursday in November (and, in fact, most Thursdays, and, in fact, most days) that I am color blind and so can travel to Baton Rouge safe from the opthamological invasion of violent violet and and gaudy gold to which many of you will be subjected.

In sum, my hate is strong.  Channel your hate.  Foster that hate.  Coddle it and feed it images of Eli lying frustrated on the turf.  Let that hate grow and hate, hate, HATE on haters!

Heading into the final two weeks of most teams' regular season, a clear Top Five has emerged in both major polls, and, I suspect, the Blogpoll.  In recent weeks, work life has kept me from working the poll, much less other blog duties.  For the next two weeks, at least, I am in blog-plosion mode, but my poll ballots will be a great deal more subjective/conventional.  We'll say that I have been too consumed with the only two hate weeks that, for me, are really legitimate.

This week's ballot is brought to you by blind rage.

I hope you find it satisfactory, nevertheless.

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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 . . .

Is there a doomsday scenario where we should break Randall Mackey's redshirt?

No news yet on whether Jeremiah Masoli will be available this weekend's back-against-the-wall bowl in Knoxville.  Nathan Stanley had a decent, but not awe-inspiring, game against the University of Louisiana, which is located in Lafayette.  Hopes of a third straight bowl get super-dicey if the Rebels do not win in Neyland.*

Unlikely though this sounds, Tennessee's moribund offense makes this more likely than the sun-rise:  the game could turn into an ugly, mistake-fest of 17 total points.  If the Rebels are in that kind of game in the fourth quarter needing to score to maintain any distant hopes of a day-trip to Birmingham, might you call up Mackey?

Maybe by the end of the day, this will be pointless conjecture because Masoli has been declared "probable" or better.  Maybe the pressures of a full week of starting-quarterback-mindet will have Stanley prepared to McElroy the Rebels to a victory.  But maybe neither of those things happen, and the offense stalls like death row inmate small talk.  If that happens . . . you got to play to win, Joe Rogan.  2012 will just have to take care of 2012.  I want this fantasy-ride of a potential thirteenth game to last as long as possible.

Instant gratification machine says, "If necessary, play Mackey."

*HOLY CRAP THAT SOUNDS DAUNTING CIRCA 1999!

It was a busy weekend for your resident Blogpoll correspondent.  From Thursday night to Sunday afternoon, I was busy with some charity work that I do on the regular.  Consequently, I watched ZERO college football, making me absolutely unqualified to do a Blogpoll ballot.  Will that stop me?  Nosireebob.  But it will change my strategy a bit.  Your normal resume balloting will return next week when I will I'll probably stop being so tough on two-loss teams.  Any other criteria changes you'd like to see, just let me know.

This week, though, we're totally switching gears.  For the last seven weeks, my ballot has been consistently whacky, landing Red Cup Rebellion in the category of "Mr. Bold," for ballots that are most deviant from the poll.  So, I thought, why not try to predict what the poll will be.  This week, I attempt to be Mr. Numb Existence.

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These notes taken from the official post-game notebook:

• Senior defensive tackle Jerrell Powe posted a career-high 1.5 QB sacks in the game. Powe had matched his previous high of 1.0 sack four times in his career.
• Junior cornerback Marcus Temple tied a career-high with seven tackles (five solo), which also tied for the team lead with Fon Ingram.
• Sophomore Tyler Campbell tied a career high with eight punts for a 47.9-yard average. He recorded five 50+ yard punts including a long of 58 yards and downed two punts inside the 20-yard line.
• Senior LaMark Armour set a career-high with six tackles (two solo) in his first career start. His previous career-high was three tackles against UAB last season.

After taking some constructive criticism in our Proofreadin' segment this week, I made two changes to the provisional ballot:  Boise State is my #2 team this week and Kansas State was bumped in favor of NC State, who, as EToHReb point out, did not get embarrassed on national television last week.

Before getting to the ballot, here is a fun fact that makes it different from the AP poll:  I left out two teams that the AP poll brought in (Florida and Oregon State).  Here is a fun fact that makes me like the AP poll:  I ranked South Carolina behind Alabama.  The nerve of me!  But, as I explained, before my Blogpoll ballot ever starts coming together I use five criteria to stratify teams.  Alabama met four of those criteria; South Carolina only met one!  Plus it will all wash out next week when Alabama tumbles in the poll after losing to Ole Miss, right? 

Finally, in an effort to totally discredit myself, I have voted in the top spot a team that got not even one top vote from AP pollsters.  Please leave a note in the comments section to inform me that you've decided to stop reading RCR because of my madness.

The ballot follows after the jump.

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Last week, we unveiled a new criteria for the Blogpoll ballot: a combination of five factors (spotless record, Top 50 win, multiple Top 50 win, Top 25 offense, Top 25 defense).  We put teams into strata based on how many of those factors they met.  We considered every undefeated and one-loss team in the country.  We're going to wait until next week before we include two-loss teams, since only a handful of two-loss teams have even one Top 50 win.

After the jump, you can see a table show all 30 teams with one or fewer losses and 1) their record versus the Sagarin Top 50, 2) their offensive yards per game (if they are in the Top 25 in the nation, statistically) and 3) their defensive yards per game (if they are in the Top 25 in the nation, statistically).

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Around the blogosphere, the embarrassment of our early season loss to Jacksonville State is beginning to wear off just a tad.  The swelling is going down, and our reputation is healing just about as quickly as one could expect.  Our egos, true to Rebel form, are about a half-step behind regional perception.  And - to build on what my esteemed colleague from Jackson, Mr. All-American, argued recently - no one in the SEC is really paying attention to our "cultural" issues (though I attribute some of that to the fact that Alabama is playing tragically, epically good football right now - a story which is, I think we can all agree, more interesting than anything made of foam). 

In looking for something, anything to fill the empty space of Rebel chatter, I was reminded by our loyal comment contributer tlcreb17 of a Houston Nutt maxim that should seem almost prophetically accurate in 2010.

Hint:  this is when they remember.

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I interrupt my self-imposed mascot silence to bring you this:

When friend of the Cup and NAFOOM'er EtOHReb asked whether I thought he could be on the mascot selection committee, my response was "I'm sure, but why?"  It seemed like an unnecessary headache to me.  Careful never to cross too far off into breaking confidences, he would later talk about how arduous and frustrating it has been trying to come up with the best options around which to build some new tradition.

"I'm excited about the possibilities of the final three," he told me recently.  Ah, the tender innocense of being naive.  I told him I thought that no matter how cool the renderings were, almost everyone would profess to hating them.  Ole Miss Rebels, many of us with at least a subconcious iconography that was forged 150 years ago, instinctively hate new things.  Add to that our youthful tendency to rebel against all things having the imprimatur of officiality to them - "face it Dr. Mao Tse Dan has done made this decision" - and you have an instant brew of disastrous response to anything, even your own personal Astronaut Mike Dexter.

Not surprisingly, Beezy Kyle Veazey (think about how he blogs more than Brandt and then say it like Count Dracula), tweeted "I expected the mascot ideas to get lampooned, but not totally crushed like what's happening tonight.  This is brutal."  That being said, I would like to temper my instincts to crush all things new and offer some feedback on these options.

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