It's time for a special edition of The Mailbag, presented by Whitney McNutt of Tommy Morgan Inc. Realtors.

For 200 weeks now, I've asked for your questions. For 200 weeks, you've delivered. That kind of cool. Thank you to Whitney McNutt for believing in this content item each and every week. I appreciate you, Whitney.

So once again, I asked for your questions and you came through. So here we go...

I try not to judge. You never know what someone is going through, I suppose.

As for cop/crime shows, I really don't know. I liked The Lincoln Lawyer a lot when I binged it while traveling this summer, but I'm bad and getting worse on pop culture. I've never seen a single episode of The Wire, for example.

Those would be two good suggestions, actually. Freeze would make a little noise at Missouri, I think. So would Fleck, who's proven to be a very solid program-builder at Minnesota. It's just a very difficult job.

First, thank you for noticing. I have found I'm pretty much toast by Thursday night (my work week begins on Sunday morning and goes through post-game writing on Saturday), so I appreciate the kind words.

As for the show, no, I'm going to every game the rest of the way, assuming I'm healthy enough to do it. Subscribers pay for written content, and that's been lacking some prior to this season. I feel I've shored that up, for the most part, so far this season. By the time I finish the post-game press conference and finish writing, the game has been over for at least two and usually three hours. I make an appearance via phone on Chase's postgame show during that time, but me getting there to do the postgame show is unrealistic.

Frankly, by the time I close the laptop on Saturday after the game, knowing Sunday is going to include 10 Thoughts, three player shows and usually a solid 10 hours, the last thing I want to do is talk about football.

We're talking 1989/1990 or so here, so we're talking Nintendo, Microsoft, Jell-O pudding pops, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. Maybe some Umbro or Levi's. Looking back, we were cooler than we get credit for.

So, it's a mixed bag. On one hand, Kentucky can't tackle what it can't see. Also, Kentucky could throw right into coverage because it can't see the Ole Miss defenders. On the other hand, if, for some reason, Ole Miss decides to throw, Dart might not be able to see his receivers. They'll just blend in. It's definitely a factor.

Wow. There's a lot there. As you said, I don't tailgate. To me, college football is a job. I've taken my family to exactly one college football game. One. My son, who turns 16 Tuesday and who has lived eight minutes from a SEC stadium since he was less than two years old, has been to three college football games in his life. I've taken him to one, and that one was six hours away from Oxford. I haven't been in the Grove on game day (not counting the day I covered Katy Perry's appearance) in at least 12 years. I never would have imagined it would be this way when we moved here 14-plus years ago, but that's how it played out. Life's funny.

I "tailgated" at at Arkansas game earlier this season, but it was really going from one apartment to another and I was trying to keep an eye on the Georgia Tech-Ole Miss game. It was hot. There were lots of people. It was fine, but I've evolved into more of a sit in the corner of a sports bar and watch a game by myself sort of guy. I used to really enjoy being around a lot of people. Now I fight what feels like something akin to social anxiety disorder. Needless to say, I'm far from the expert on the craft of or the appeal of tailgating.

However, ESPN is shelling out the big bucks, and it's about to be shelling out even bigger bucks. The schools happily, giddily take that money. It comes with a price. ESPN wants programming on Saturdays. It wants to go right from the silly pregame show that you all seem to adore straight into a big game. No, it's not worried about your tailgate. It's worried about your eyeballs. ESPN picked Tennessee-LSU for next Saturday morning. Everyone in Baton Rouge is pissed.

But this is the new normal. I'm just the messenger. If it were up to me, they'd play every game at 9 a.m. and I'd be done with my work and smoking chicken wings and enjoying a bourbon on my patio by 4 p.m. It's not up to me, however. It's up to the people who pay the exorbitant TV rights, and they want games all day.

Your game against Vanderbilt next week is getting buried in the 3 p.m. slot because the Commodores suck and they think no one will watch it. It's not there so that you can enjoy a few hours at the Nashville bar scene prior to kickoff. Arkansas-Mississippi State is at 11 a.m. to give the SEC Network something quasi-compelling out of their pregame show (I can't comment on it, as I'm not sure I've ever watched it), but Tennessee-LSU is getting what the networks view as a marquee spot because it's the matchup that will draw more eyeballs.

Ole Miss, like everyone else, is going to get games at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and, if it's really good, an occasional 2:30 p.m. slot. That's reality. Here's a harsher reality, especially once the new TV gig is struck and Oklahoma and Texas join the league: If Ole Miss keeps raising its profile, it's going to play more and more 11 a.m. games. I guess if enough people like you protest that... oh, hell, I can't even finish the sentence. It's just the new reality, same as it's been for a while.

College football has become a TV product. If it wasn't that prior to 2020, that year sealed the deal. If the schools want/like the money -- and they really, really, really, really do -- they're going to ask how high when the networks tell them to jump.

So, while I somewhat understand your frustration, I'm not sure what to tell you. If I were you, and your Grove day meant that much to you, I would be fixing myself a Mimosa in the Grove around 7:30 Saturday morning. I'd enjoy three hours of Grove time and take my buzzed self to the stadium for what should be a really good game. Then, I'd either go celebrate or drown my sorrows in the Grove from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. or so and then I'd likely walk to the Square and find a place to have dinner/another drink. I saw where Ole Miss is going to leave the Grove open until 6:30 p.m. I mean, if that's not enough of the Grove, I must be really missing out.

It sounds like you have lots of friends and family that will be there, so frankly, that sounds like a nice day.

I am going to the stadium very early, pouring a coffee and working on 10 Thoughts prior to kickoff. I'm going to write for three hours or so in the press box, light a fire outside and hopefully grill a steak for my wife that evening, my work day done by 6 or 7 p.m. Maybe I'll watch a night game. Maybe, and more likely, I'll be tired of football and watch Iron Chef America on The Cooking Channel. But I'll be enjoying the cool weather and a little down time after a long week of writing and podcasting. Why do sports writers -- at least the ones of us who aren't fans -- like early kickoffs? Now you know.

Or you can get mad about it, I suppose. When Ole Miss draws the 8 p.m. slot, it's tough, but I just do it. It's my biggest fear, frankly, with the Texas A&M game. I worry about a late start, writing until the early hours of the morning and then figuring out a way to get back to Hobby to catch my flight home. That won't be convenient and it won't be particularly safe, but I can assure you ESPN isn't worried about convenience or safety or anything other than ratings.

And that's not going to change.

I can't stand Elvis. I don't get the appeal of The Beatles at all. Credence Clearwater Revival is the worst band I've ever heard. Crosby, Stills and Nash should be arrested for crimes against eardrums. That's what immediately comes to mind.

I am an 80s kid. I loved Prince. I just loved his music. I still do. I liked Chicago a lot. Take my man card; I don't care. I thought they were really good. I liked Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Queen, The Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, Journey, Duran Duran, Aerosmith and Foreigner. Like everyone else, I wore out that Michael Jackson cassette tape. I liked Bryan Adams, Phil Collins and Kool and the Gang.

Damn, now I just want to sit around and listen to 80s music for a day. Those were good times, but I was too young and too busy trying to grow up to just sort of soak them in.

Ole Miss would be pretty rested after an open date. Alabama would've just beaten LSU in Baton Rouge. Ole Miss would be pretty jacked up and ready. Alabama is so used to big games that they are always prepped mentally. That would be an incredible atmosphere. By the way, that game would kick at 2:30 p.m.

No, and I have 17 million reasons to think that.

As to the offense, no, I don't really buy into that vanilla talk very much. If Evans is out -- and I bet he's not -- it's Judkins. But listen, at some point, Ole Miss is going to have to get effective via the air. Teams are going to put an extra man in the box and make running difficult. That's coming.

As for Kiffin, he seemed genuinely annoyed Monday. And while I think I think a lot like he does about a lot of things -- I'm not sure what that says about either of us -- I think he's a little off-base here.

As for your last question, I really don't know. I park in the parking garage and walk straight to the stadium. I don't have any interactions and, as noted earlier in this content piece, I don't go into tailgating areas or whatnot. I do know I would try to create entertainment opportunities between the Grove and the stadium that moved people in that direction, but it's possible the UM already does that and I'm just unaware.

Ole Miss has to win the line of scrimmage. The team that wins the LOS Saturday will win the game. That holds true 99 percent of the time, with apologies to Arkansas this past Saturday in Arlington. I've never seen a team dominate the LOS like that and still lose. If Ole Miss wins the LOS Saturday, it will be unbeaten when it heads to LSU on Oct. 22. Just watch the lines.

1. No. I took my ballot very seriously. I remember being stressed about it, often staying up very late on Saturday nights after Auburn games studying numbers. I joke about not being eligible to be a voter anymore because the AP "values objectivity," but I'm not sure I'd really want to do it.

2. I don't think so. Our schedules are so busy and we're not in the same place. Also, Jay is 4,876,971,234 times more social than I am. He'd love a big crowd or whatever. I wouldn't. It's really weird. I've become far more uncomfortable in those settings for whatever reason -- I mean, I know the reasons -- over the past few years.

1. No comment. I like a lot of you.

2. No comment. You can likely guess.

3. I'll never write a book. I don't want to write a book. I'm not talented/arrogant enough to write a book. I don't have the time to write a book. Anyone interesting enough to have a biography written about him/her would deserve it be written by someone far, far more talented than I.

4. I have no idea. He goes out a lot. I don't. We're never in the same place. He has quite the social life in Oxford. I don't. I have been out in Oxford twice this calendar year.

5. I can't say I have one. There have been some really funny moments on the beat. There have been some very difficult moments on the beat. I like winning, so breaking the stories about Ole Miss firing Nutt, hiring Freeze, firing Luke, hiring Kiffin were fulfilling. Being trusted with the story about Kennedy's resignation meant something to me, both professionally and personally. The 2013 recruiting cycle, from sitting down with Beverly Nkemdiche in a coffee shop in suburban Atlanta and realizing what was about to happen to making it to Crete, Ill., for Laquon Treadwell's announcement, was actually kind of fun.

But treasured moment? I don't know. I'm not sure I think about work in those terms.

It's been a ride I could never have imagined. It's been wild. I would never have imagined it would have been as negative as it has been at times nor would I have ever imagined it would have been as lucrative as it has been at times. I guess anyone's job changes them. That's certainly been the case for me here. Again, it's been wild. It's difficult to describe.

I would be giddy. I was really hoping for a Texas A&M losing streak/disaster. I thought we were going to get that the way the Arkansas game began. However, the Aggies escaped. I still think they've got losses coming. Hell, I might go to Memphis and cheer for the other team if the Aggies get relegated there.

I honestly don't know. I pretty much keep to myself. I talk to Nick Suss and that's about it. I suspect it's an in-state thing. It's provinciality. Some of those guys have turned Dart into something he's not but they simply won't change the narrative even if the facts warrant it.

Was it unprofessional? No. Was it necessary? No.

When I was transcribing it, I heard me mutter under my breath, "Oh, for the love of God."

My phone, which I use as a recording device for press conferences, was on the table in front of me, a few feet from Kiffin. I was worried for a minute the video would pick it up. It didn't.

He's a nice person. He's clearly had a rough time with his weight. At one point, he'd lost a ton. He appeared Saturday to have gained it back. I am apparently in the minority on this, but I don't think second-half attendance at a game against Tulsa is a very compelling storyline. Again, I am apparently wrong, but I guess I'm looking at the bigger picture.

I would be fascinated to see some studies as to what would happen if the price were increased $3 per month or even $5 per month. I suspect a lot would cancel. I would at least survey a broad swath of subscribers and ask. That said, it's so difficult to get people to subscribe in general. I know how hard I've worked and I feel the content on the site is better than it was before I got here, and while the site has grown, it's been a laborious, tedious process to achieve that growth.

I know I'm not the only one to experience that, so I suspect that's the reason the price of a subscription has stayed the same since the Grant administration.

Wow. There are a lot. I remember going to Denver for Christmas and playing in the snow. I remember the year Ruston got a massive snow and we got a week out of school and we would basically ski behind three-wheelers the whole day. I remember that as a very happy time.

I remember childhood trips to Los Angeles and to Boston. My dad would have conventions or whatever and I got to go.

I remember going to Howard Griffin Land of Toys in Monroe. I remember this bakery in Monroe that my mom loved. Getting to go there was exciting. They had these gingerbread men with chocolate chips. That was a treat.

I remember watching professional wrestling with my brothers in what we called the playroom. I remember playing football with them in that room. I remember terrorizing our dog, Lucy, by tackling her. I remember when we got an Atari. We were loud. I imagine we drove our parents crazy.

I remember in the sixth grade I was in the gifted and talented program at I.A. Lewis and Mrs. Neal had us write a book. Most kids hated that project. I loved it. I wrote a book about a monster named Ralph who became president of the United States only to eventually resign so he could manage the New York Mets. I remember all of the other kids wanting me to read the next chapter. I loved writing. It was the first time that I experienced the escape writing provides. I'd go to my room and just write about Ralph. I'd get lost in that world and the words just flowed from my mind to my pen and to the paper. My parents would get super excited about that project, and I can remember how proud they were of my book about Ralph and all of the friends I imagined he had. I wish I knew where that book was now.

I remember turning my room in Ruston into a baseball field when I was a little boy and taking my stuffed animals and making them my baseball team. I made up a schedule and kept stats and all of that stuff. Earl the Bear was a dominant, power-hitting left fielder. Jacob the Turtle was the catcher. We weren't allowed to be bored, and frankly, I never was. At an early age, I was able to entertain myself, a gift that keeps on giving into my 50s.

I read a lot. I mean, a ton. I devoured books. My parents gave me a subscription to Sports Illustrated when I was a kid. I read it cover to cover every week. It cultivated a lifelong love of quality writing.

I remember riding my bike to Handy Foods to buy baseball or football cards. I remember playing whiffleball all day long in our neighborhood during the summers and flag football with socks as flags during the fall and winter. I remember shooting basketball and throwing a tennis ball against the brick wall for hours on end.

I had a great childhood. I was loved. I thought we were rich. I knew we weren't one of the elite families in Ruston and there were some of the "unfair" lessons we all learn (i.e. all-star teams, playing time, etc.), but I had a great childhood. The older I get, the more thankful I am for it.

It's weird. I was super excited about the season for a while and then Chet Holmgren got hurt and I've had a difficult time getting back into it. I was excited to see the Thunder develop. I knew they'd suck -- and they're going to really suck -- but there was something about watching this young team develop that had me fired up a little bit. Now, it's going to be more of the same.

Still, I'll get into it. I'm curious to see if Memphis can make the next step, whether the Lakers can find a way not to implode, if Kawhi Leonard can push the Clippers back into contention. Do the Warriors have enough to repeat? Can Kevin Durant save his reputation? Has the Celtics' window slammed shut due to chaos? Does Luka Doncic start to get unhappy? Can Minnesota take the next step?

It's a great league. I'll get back into it. For some reason, though, the Chet Holmgren injury brought me down more than I thought it would.

I'm for the kids. I get frustrated that my daughters can't get into games in Fayetteville unless they get in line five hours early. I find that unfair. I hate that the Ole Miss kids get stuck staring into a hot sun while standing on aluminum bleachers. I get it financially, but I thought Vaught-Hemingway was cooler when the kids were in the south end zone. Everything is about money, and that's life. But you won't catch me criticizing the kids for leaving early. It's hot. If they want to retreat to a more comfortable, pleasant place, I have no issue with that.