Neal McCready's postgame columns are brought to you by Meadowbrook Wealth Advisors of Raymond James, a team in Jackson providing planning and investment guidance to clients across our state and surrounding areas. Financial Advisors Bill Geary, Logan Phillips, Chris Correro, and Ryan Geary are partners with a commitment to personalized service. Call them at 601-368-2215 and see if they might be a good fit for your financial goals. Raymond James & Associates Inc,. member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC.
OXFORD -- Ole Miss scared the hell out of Alabama Saturday.
A 24-point underdog, the Rebels simply don't have enough talent on defense to compete with Alabama's deep, explosive offense.
The Rebels have weapons on offense, but it's simply an unrealistic request to ask Ole Miss' offense to go out-score the Crimson Tide.
They damn near did it anyway.
Sure enough, the expected came to fruition Saturday, as No. 2 Alabama outlasted Ole Miss, 63-48.
As the game slowly got away from Ole Miss late, I caught myself thinking about the next time Alabama makes the trip west to Oxford, in 2022. What will that game look like? Knowing the answers today to a question that can't and won't be answered for another 23-25 months would allow one to draw conclusions.
Sure, there are wildcards to address. For example, is Nick Saban, who turns 69 on Halloween, still the Crimson Tide's coach in 2022? He'll be in his 70s by then, but there are no signs today that he's ready to slow down and go into the grandfather business. Even if he does step away by then, it stands to reason Alabama's roster will still be incredibly deep and talented.
However, knowing what Alabama at Ole Miss 2022 looks like would tell us so much about just how successful the Lane Kiffin era will be in Oxford.
That will be Kiffin's third season at Ole Miss. He and his staff would've had two full recruiting classes and likely several forays into the transfer and grad transfer markets by then. The roster should much more closely resemble what Kiffin is looking for in the fall of 2022.
Presumably, COVID-19 will be a memory by 2022. What does attendance look like then? How excited are fans? Has the Kiffin excitement waned or has it ratcheted to a fever pitch? Those answers would tell us so much. My bet, by the way, is on the former and not the latter.
A certain New Orleans quarterback, now a sophomore, will be a senior in the fall of 2022. Would Arch Manning be committed to Ole Miss or another program by then? Would Ole Miss be in a heated battle for his signature? Who would be the Rebels' quarterback on that afternoon/evening when Alabama next comes to Oxford? Could it still be Matt Corral, who would technically still have eligibility in 2022? Could it be Luke Altmyer, who could be a redshirt freshman or sophomore by then? Could it be 2022 target Ty Simpson? Maybe it's current freshman Kade Renfro or a transfer somewhere. I'm guessing young Manning would be interested in that answer as well.
If Kiffin is lined up to land Manning, he would be the most popular Ole Miss coach since Johnny Vaught. If he's not, he'll either already have his guy or the bloom would be coming off the rose in north Mississippi. Again, and I'm just guessing, I'd have to think young Manning is more than a little intrigued at the idea of playing in Kiffin's offense.
What does Kiffin's staff look like in 2022? Has he been able to hold onto Jeff Lebby, DJ Durkin and Chris Patridge? Has he shifted things around to bring in different assistants? Has he brought in coaches to stimulate recruiting? Again, those are answers that can't be provided today. Lebby's performance so far this season, including an incredible plan Saturday against Alabama, has been nothing short of stellar. It's going to be difficult and costly to hang onto this staff as composed.
It's my opinion that the rest of Ole Miss' schedule this fall is less challenging than the test the Rebels were presented with on Saturday. Ole Miss should win at Arkansas in seven days and at Vanderbilt in 21. Auburn, which comes to Oxford in between those two games, will be favored over the Rebels, but not in such a way that makes that game an impossible task for Ole Miss. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think the Rebels will have a real shot against Gus Malzahn's Tigers.
Ole Miss could -- maybe should -- beat South Carolina, could pull off an upset at Texas A&M, will have a real shot at home against Mississippi State and have a very strong chance against the defending champions at LSU in early December.
Make no mistake; I'm not predicting a 7-0 close to Ole Miss' season. The Rebels have too many defensive woes to pull that off. That said, I do believe Ole Miss is going to grab some wins the rest of the way, continuing to build program momentum.
"We just gotta keep pounding away at it," Kiffin said earlier this week. "That's what coaching is. Things don't happen overnight all the time. You never know how long it takes."
Kiffin likes to use an analogy about bamboo. One waters bamboo religiously and, at least for a while, there is very little evidence of new growth.
"All of a sudden, it hasn't grown for a long time and it starts growing a lot," Kiffin said.
Ole Miss saw a lot of water, literally and figuratively, Saturday. The ultimate results Saturday were predictable. If there was growth, one couldn't see it on the final scoreboard.
Two years from now, assuming the Ole Miss program has been watered the way Kiffin plans, there should be bamboo everywhere. If the program has grown the way Kiffin hopes over the next two years, the gap between Ole Miss and Alabama should have been closed precipitously.
What two years from now looks like is fascinating to ponder. One thing's for sure: Kiffin won't sit back and accept the status quo. It's clear he will fight for change.
The next time these two programs square off in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, we will all basically know where this process is headed. If you're the betting type, bet on Ole Miss. If they're this close right now, imagine where they'll be in 24 months with reinforcements.
