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1. Cliches stick around for a reason.
They’re not always true, of course. All opposites, I’m guessing, don’t attract. Laughter, I’m guessing, is not always literally the best medicine. Haste doesn’t always make waste.
That said, a lot of happy marriages are between two polar opposite types of personalities who merge to become an almost perfect couple, building upon each other’s strengths to overcome individual weaknesses. Laughter is proven to help with stress and depression, and quite often, when we’re in a hurry, we are careless.
There’s a football expression that is somewhat cliche: If you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one.
Is that literally true? Well, no. If you have two quarterbacks, it stands to reason, they each have their own set of talents and abilities. However, if you’re deciding between two, it also stands to reason, one hasn’t truly emerged as the best quarterback on the roster.
It’s early, of course, but one can’t help but wonder if that’s what Ole Miss is dealing with here in early September, one game into the new season.
Jaxson Dart started and played the lion’s share of Saturday’s 28-10 win over Troy on Saturday afternoon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Luke Altmyer will draw the start and presumably play the majority of Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against Central Arkansas.
Kiffin has long said he’d prefer not to rotate quarterbacks. He doesn’t want to pull a quarterback after a mistake. He knows how critical confidence is for a young quarterback, as evidenced by his sticking with Matt Corral early in 2020 after a six-interception game in a loss at Arkansas. A year later, Corral was basically perfect in Ole Miss’ 52-51 instant-classic win over those same Razorbacks. Adversity led to growth, and Kiffin managed it brilliantly.
Now Kiffin is faced with a similar challenge. It’s not exactly a secret. Dart and Altmyer are different. They have different strengths. Dart has a ton of talent. He’s got charisma. He’s smart. He’s hungry. He’s got arm talent, athleticism and toughness. He just has a penchant at times to turn the ball over. He threw an interception Saturday on a throw that was poorly timed.
“Those don’t work,” Kiffin said, “and they certainly don’t work in this conference coming up.”
Altmyer, meanwhile, protects the football. He checks the ball down when defenses play soft. He’s quieter than Dart, but players have total respect for both young men. Coaches, I’ve been told repeatedly, just want to see that Altmyer is willing to push the ball downfield, between the hashmarks, when plays are there to be made. Against good teams — and the schedule is littered with them in October and November, the offense is going to need to be balanced and explosive if Ole Miss is going to have any chance to repeat what it did in 2021. Altmyer took one of those shots in the fourth quarter Saturday, but his intended receiver, tight end Michael Trigg, appeared to fall down on his route.
Ole Miss’ longest pass play Saturday was 22 yards. The Rebels have a dynamic running game, one led by a pair of stars in the backfield, but they’ll need more than that against the LSUs, Texas A&Ms and Alabamas of the world.
“We have to hit some of those,” Kiffin said.
Kiffin loves to make NFL comparisons. He’s uniquely positioned to do it, as he grew up the son of a legendary NFL assistant and had a short stint as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. He referred to the Troy and Central Arkansas games as “preseason games,” and he couldn’t be more right. Ole Miss wasn’t losing to Troy and it isn’t losing to Central Arkansas. Those games are perfect for experimenting.
At some point, however, Kiffin needs to choose one — unless one simply won’t emerge, at which point, it’s going to be more than fair to wonder a bit about that cliche I mentioned at the beginning.
2. There were plenty of bright spots on Saturday.
Some 27 players made their Ole Miss debuts, helping Ole Miss to its 10th straight home win. Ten straight home wins would’ve been a fantasy just a few short years ago.
There was a lot of focus on TCU transfer running back Zach Evans, who rushed for 180 yards and could’ve easily gone over 200 had the Rebels kept the ball on the ground in the second half, but it was his former Horned Frogs teammate, Khari Coleman, who stole the show on defense. The linebacker had eight tackles, including five behind the line of scrimmage.
Tysheem Johnson picked off where he left off a year ago, recording 12 tackles. Central Michigan transfer Troy Brown added 11.
"Going into the season, everybody thinks the linebacker group was the question mark, so we just wanted to go out and play physical, play what we have been taught,” Brown said. “Every single down, just get to the ball and play hard. I feel like we showed that for our first appearance.”
“We obviously have a high standard of how we expect to play around here, so the goal is to get 1-0, but we need to improve a lot,” Kiffin said. “We’ll turn it into a positive over the next 24 hours. Sometimes when you play great in the first game, then they don't listen to you and think that we've got everything figured out. As painful as it is to watch, it’s good sometimes, so we have their attention and we got to improve and got to do better.”
3. Up next: Central Arkansas.
The Bears did some good things in their season opener on Thursday night, just not enough of them to overcome Missouri State Bears at First Security Field at Estes Stadium in Conway, Ark.
The visiting Bears jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime and held off the home Bears 27-14 in front of a crowd of 10,277.
UCA's defense dominated MSU's offense on the opening series of the game, holding the Bears to minus 12 yards on three plays. After going three-and-out themselves, UCA forced another punt on MSU's second possession, then drove down to the MSU 17 before missing a 35-yard field goal.
From there, MSU had a drive end in a fumble and then scored three consecutive times, with a 36-yard field goal by Jose Pizano, a 5-yard scoring run by quarterback Jason Shelley and a 10-yard touchdown pass from Shelley to Hunter Wood with just 35 seconds remaining in the first half.
UCA got it to midfield late in the half but junior quarterback Will McElvain was intercepted at the MSU 41. McElvain, a transfer from Northern Iowa, completed 18 of 31 passes for 173 yards, with a touchdown and pair of interceptions in his UCA debut.
"Man, our guys played hard,' said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "I think we're going to continue to get better. There were a lot of new faces getting shots tonight. We know we can play with them, and they're good. I think that's the sentiment in our locker room right now, just the frustration that if the ball bounces our way here or there, we just get Shelley down on one or two of those scrambles... and we had him close and pinned up. Then maybe it is a different game.
"But I thought our defense played a whale of a game. They held their offense to 20 points, and held them to field goals. Just played really, really good all night. So I'm really encouraged in that aspect. "
MSU added another Pizano field goal late in the third period before the Bears finally got on the scoreboard to open the fourth quarter. McElvain took it 12 yards for his first UCA touchdowns with 12:21 remaining. That was shortlived as Montrae Braswell returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a clinching touchdown.
McElvain found redshirt freshman Myles Butler with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 9:35 left to play. Hayden Ray's kick cut the UCA deficit to 27-14. The Bears took advantage of an MSU fumble by Jahod Booker that UCA transfer linebacker Corley Hooper fell on at the MSU 13.
The Bears had two more shots, with one ending in an interception and the final drive dying with an incomplete pass in the end zone with 1:05 on the clock.
Sophomore running back Darius Hale, a freshman All-American and the ASUN Freshman of the Year last season, finished with 99 yards rushing on 18 carries, while fellow sophomore Kylin James added 84 more yards on just eight carries, along with three receptions for 23 yards.
"I think in the second half they (MSU) could pin their ears back because they knew we were going to be one-dimensional," said Brown. "We were just trying to get in the game and didn't mix in a ton of running game, which probably hurt us in the second half, because we had to. That's just the product of us putting ourselves in that situation.
"But this team, I'm very encouraged by. Obviously at time, we looked like a very good football team, and then at times we didn't. And that's frustrating. I was disappointed in some of our breakdowns on specials teams, the kick return. That was really a backbreaker after we had a little momentum. And obviously missing two field goals didn't help us.
"All in all, a lot to build on. We'll get better from this. The fun part about that is, you get to go play Ole Miss now. That's a little bit of a daunting task, but again, one we'll be excited about. It's a long season, we've got 10 more shots."
Shelley completed 18 of 30 passes for 266 yards and one touchdowns and was sacked four times by UCA defenders, including twice on the opening possession of the game. All-American Ty Scott caught eight passes for 160 yards for the visiting Bears.
"Shelley was hard to get down at time," said Brown. "I thought we contained him for the majority, probably three quarters of the game. But he was able to squirt loose a couple of times, and that's why he is who he is. He's had a ton of success doing that.
UCA finished with 341 yards of total offense, including 168 on the ground. Sophomore Chandler Caughron averaged 43.5 yards on six punts. Sophomore safety Tamuarion Wilson topped the UCA tackle chart with eight solo stops and a forced fumble, while sophomore transfer defensive end David Walker had four tackles for loss (-14 yards) and a pair of sacks.
Saturday’s trip to Oxford kicks off a three-game road trip for UCA.
4. It’s time for my weekly ranking of the SEC.
1. Alabama -- Yes, it was Utah State. I get it. The Tide looked like a perfect college football team.
2. Georgia -- I mean, if the SEC Championship Game is for anything other than seeding in the College Football Playoff, I'll be shocked.
3. Texas A&M -- Yes, it was Sam Houston on the other sideline. Still, the Aggies' athleticism jumped off the page.
4. Florida -- Maybe this is premature, but Anthony Richardson's performance against Utah -- along with the game called for him -- likely sent some shock waves through the SEC.
5. Kentucky -- This is a shaky 5, but at this point, I'm all-in. The Kentucky-Florida game could be fun.
6. Ole Miss -- I didn't take much from the Rebels' win over Troy. The regular season starts Oct. 1.
7. Arkansas -- The Hogs' secondary took some injuries, but KJ Jefferson just made plays.
8. Tennessee -- Hendon Hooker and the Vols looked explosive in their opener.
9. South Carolina -- The Gamecocks handled a pretty solid Georgia State team on Saturday. Next up: A fascinating date in Fayetteville.
10. LSU -- The Tigers looked anemic on offense in a loss to Florida State in New Orleans.
11. Mississippi State -- The Bulldogs dispatched of Memphis easily, but it's possible that's more of a reflection on the Tigers than anything. It's too early to know.
12. Auburn -- The Tigers weren't great against Mercer, but we'll know soon enough. Penn State heads to the Plains next weekend.
13. Missouri -- The Tigers did some good things in the second half against Louisiana Tech. It's possible there's no terrible team in the league.
14. Vanderbilt -- The 'Dores are 2-0 with Wake Forest headed to Nashville Saturday. It would be a monumental win for Clark Lea and Co.
5. I could never be an Associated Press voter, as I’m not objective like the New York Times or CNN or The Washington Post or whatnot, but if I had a ballot, mine would look like this today:
A note: I'm assuming Clemson defeats Georgia Tech Monday night. If the Tigers lose, after we then completely re-evaluate the upcoming Ole Miss game in Atlanta, we'll just forget this ever happened.
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Texas A&M (Why? Fair question. My answer: The SEC is a bitch. It's the best teams. If I've got them as the third best team in the league, then hell, this is where they belong right now. But it's a fair question.)
5. Clemson
6. Notre Dame (If Ohio State is what we're all saying it is, the Irish belong high in the polls)
7. Michigan
8. Oklahoma
9. Baylor
10. Michigan State
11. Florida
12. Kentucky
13. USC
14. Miami
15. Pittsburgh
16. Ole Miss
17. Arkansas
18. BYU
19. Wisconsin
20. Tennessee
21. North Carolina State
22. Wake Forest
23. Houston
24. Texas
25. Florida State
6a. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was asked Thursday night about how playoff expansion could change the timetable on Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC.
“When we made the decision and announced July 2025, that entry date is based on their contractual agreement with the Big 12 and we were in the middle of do we expand the playoff?” Sankey said. “I’ve said, hey we go to 16, if you guys want to stay at four, I’m fine with that. When we’re at 14, we’re getting half the field twice in eight years, so I’m not threatened or concerned at somehow diminished access. I think we increase access. I do take a step back though because I think separate from Texas and Oklahoma, we’re looking at the health of college football across the country. Before the changes from this summer or the changes from last summer, I thought this expansion was the right direction and I’m one that still feels that way. There’s a lot of work to do to green light it, but I think it can bring the nation into the championship.”
Sankey said he knows the Big 12 is at least feeling out its television options, but he reiterated that the SEC will play no role in Oklahoma and Texas negotiating early exits.
“We’ll be attentive to what’s taking place,” Sankey siad. “I’m not unaware, but the ability to alter an entry date is primarily between Oklahoma and the Big 12, Texas and the Big 12 and then we’d have to alter our invitation. But the cart being behind the horse, that’s really between those entities.”
6b. Sankey also squashed one popular talking point from some in recent months regarding the league kicking out current members somewhere down the line. Sankey said the “absurdity of that conversation knows no boundaries.”
“I don’t know if that squashes it,” Sankey said. “Never been a conversation and shouldn’t be a conversation. There’s history with 10 of our members that dates back to 1932, two of our members to the early 90s and we’re a full decade, turning the page to the second decade here (at Missouri). You kind of forget, by comparison, the Big 12 participation was about, what, 15, 16 years for Texas A&M and Missouri. We’re over half that distance and just going, I think, gangbusters forward.
“And we bring back rivalries that existed, believe it or not, the Southeastern Conference will have 25 percent of the Big Eight membership with Missouri and Oklahoma and there’s great history there. …Then you bring back Texas-Arkansas, which has legendary games back in the 60s and obviously the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry. That’s the focus. Been asked a couple times. It’s not even on our radar screen.
“When I moved to Dallas in the early 90s, Arkansas was a member, Texas A&M was a member and obviously Texas. I think it was a bit advantageous in the learning process, both the transition of Arkansas out and then the change to create the Big 12 and four of those members of the Southwest Conference ended up in the WAC. I worked two floors below Steve Hatchell’s temporary offices in the Big 12. I personally have benefitted from knowing a bit more history than maybe you normally would.”
7a. Sankey was asked about the possibility down the road that college football essentially evolves into two super conferences — the SEC and the Big Ten.
“I don’t think there’s a yes or no in there,” Sankey said. “I answer by going back to decisions made over time. Some good, some bad. The growth in our region and of our campuses, student enrollment, facilities, the expansions show the creativity of a way to go to 12 to create a championship game, go to 14, create a network, going to 16 hopefully we’ll have a few other things. …I think that’s positioned us really well, we have a philosophy, a shared culture and a desire to succeed, a desire for excellence. I think that positions us. I think that differentiates us. But there are outcomes, right? People want to affiliate. People want to be a part of that. Whether it’s student athletes, coaches, we’ve seen that with universities. I don’t think it reduces itself to two automatically.
"My mindset isn’t, we just go to that. We look at CFP expansion. We could stay at four and let the two figure it out between us, right? But to my earlier comments about national participation through that expansion, having value for everyone. We certainly don’t need it. I don’t know if the Big Ten really needs it. But I think there are benefits to both of us, but the benefits go beyond us.
“There are decisions that create outcome that create momentum that create success and achievement that bring people in and that is a distinguishing characteristic. But I still think others can be successful. And if I don’t think that way, then we become complacent and the last thing that I want us to be is complacent as a group.”
7b. Finally, Sankey was asked about the eight-game schedule versus the nine-game schedule and about the need or desire, at least, to protect certain rivalry games within the league.
“We can’t keep them all every year, but we can improve the frequency with which our teams travel through our campuses,” Sankey said. “Missouri’s in the East so Arkansas every year and then you take the COVID year out, it’s once every 12 years (everywhere else). The point of distinction is every year for as many as possible or the primaries as we call them and secondary rivalries or will more of those be every other year? We’re right now in the middle of the conversation. So when we were at this point last year had you asked me this question, I would have predicted when we get to Destin, athletics directors have asked us for a finish line there. When we went to Destin this year, we laid out all of the information but then we looked forward and our crystal ball was clear, but in retrospect, fuzzy.
“So what we said was there’s going to be continuing discussion about CFP format, we let that play out, we gather again in August. When we gathered again in August there was momentum that we are seeing speculated about (for a nine-game schedule). We knew the Big Ten media deal was likely to be resolved this summer. What we didn’t know was that there would be a membership transition. So we have now more points of information that I think can help us make a better decision.
“We’re watching other scheduling decision-making, but also understanding how to do this for our own position. We could move this fall, by the end of the calendar year. I think we’ve benefited our thinking process. We’ve actually dug more into tiebreakers, had a conversation with an AD looking at injury patterns that actually suggested we play more conference games. There’s a lot of thought going into it. It’s actually pretty cool.”
8. The NFL season begins Thursday in Los Angeles with the defending Super Bowl champion Rams playing host to the Buffalo Bills.
I’ve made my divisional picks in this space over the previous few weeks, so today, I’ll tell you precisely how the NFL Playoffs will play out. If you’re smart, you’ll race to Las Vegas and bet what’s left of your recession-depleted 401(k) on this not playing out in reality at all.
AFC:
1. Buffalo
2. Cincinnati
3. Kansas City
4. Indianapolis
5. Los Angeles Chargers
6. Baltimore
7. Tennessee
Wildcard:
Cincinnati over Tennessee
Kansas City over Baltimore
Los Angeles Chargers over Indianapolis
Divisional Playoffs:
Buffalo over Los Angeles Chargers
Kansas City over Cincinnati
AFC Championship Game:
Buffalo over Kansas City
NFC:
1. Green Bay
2. Tampa Bay
3. Los Angeles Rams
4. Philadelphia
5. New Orleans
6. Arizona
7. Carolina
Wildcard:
Tampa Bay over Carolina
Los Angeles Rams over Arizona
New Orleans over Philadelphia
Divisional Playoffs:
Green Bay over New Orleans
Tampa Bay over Los Angeles Rams
NFC Championship Game:
Green Bay over Tampa Bay
Super Bowl LVII: Buffalo over Green Bay
9. It’s time to eat. Here’s our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place, Lesson 150 — Braised Chicken and Peach Wraps.
Tailgating season is upon us. If you want to shy away from Abner’s or CFL, try this recipe on for size. It is easy to do and also can be used for your next cookout while of course watching the game.
Tidbit #1: To braise the chicken, start with your pan over medium heat and then add little olive oil. The chicken should be seasoned before and then place your first side down. It needs to be brown, like golden brown before flipping. After you flip, pour in the wine, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes. The reason you do this is so that the flavor of the wine absorbs into the chicken and it doesn’t try it out either.
Tidbit #1.2: When you take your chicken from the pot/pan, squeeze the lemon juice over and place the dill on top. This will create the taste of both without having to cook either which would alter the taste too much to not compliment the chicken. Let cool before slicing.
Tidbit #2: To brûlée your peach, you can just put the oven to broil and place the slices on a baking sheet. This adds a little smoky flavor to offset the feta. Really good idea just to do this in a salad btw.
Things you will need:
6 people
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 35 minutes
Glass Chardonnay
Utensils needed:
Work surface and chef’s knife
Saucepan with lid
Tongs
Microwave
Fridge
Ingredients needed:
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Bottle Chard
1 Container of fresh dill
1 Container of fresh mint
3 Peaches
1 Block feta
1/2 Red onion
2 Packages Uncle Ben’s Red Rice
1 Lemon
Wraps
Salt and pepper
Mise en Plac
Step 1: With your heated sauce pot, add in the seasoned chicken and sear on the first side. Pour in the wine after you flip the filets over just until the top of the chicken. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low to continue cooking for 15 minutes.
Step 2: Brûlée your peaches in the oven by slicing them 1/4 inch thick.
Step 3: Once the chicken is cooked, pull it from the sauce pot and let sit on your side plate. Squeeze over the lemon juice and place the dill on top. Once cooled, slice up.
Final
Step 4: Assemble your wrap with alternation of all of the ingredients throughout the body. Make sure to keep a few peaches near the feta and mint. That is a great combo. If you want some more flavor, drizzle over a thick balsamic vinegar, aka a good one. You will be in Greece then.
From the Mississippian in Paris, Bon Appétit!
10. We’ll have coverage of Ole Miss football, football recruiting and whatever else may come up this week on RebelGrove.com. Until then, here are some links of interest to me — and hopefully, to you — for your reading pleasure:
Tracking the 2023 NFL Draft: Anthony Richardson, Darnell Washington shine in Week 1
InsideNDSports - Notre Dame loses grip on upset bid of OSU but not its long-term promise
Why LSU WR Kayshon Boutte chose to stay, what he’s chasing
WATCH: ‘Mailman’ returns, Stetson Bennett nears $1 million in NIL earnings - dawgnation.com
Wisconsin's Offensive Line Scores Unique NIL Deal – OutKick
NFL win total projections for all 32 teams: Experts react to our model
Aaron Boone says outside noise has ‘creeped in’ with Yankees freefalling
Albert Pujols' magical, MLB-topping month at 42 is the stuff of legend: Stark's Weird and Wild
A team of MLB rejects achieved baseball immortality — as Bill Murray served the beers
Chicago Cubs: Jeremiah Estrada's long journey to majors
Ten MLB pitching prospects primed to make my top 50 in 2023: Tink Hence, Kumar Rocker, more
Hollinger: Everyone played their cards right in the Donovan Mitchell trade
FBI Official Accused of Shutting Down Hunter Biden Probe Was ‘Running Point’ on Key Witness
What Is Your Princess Diana Beanie Baby Worth? Inside The Legend
True story: Michigan fans meet in ESPN.com comments section, fall in love, just got married
From Tim Tebow to Joe Burrow, QBs have shaped Bengals coordinator Brian Callahan's style
