The Defining Moments of 2008

As you are well aware, its February. And our basketball season has pretty much been about next year for the past two months. And we don't even have a game this week until Saturday. So naturally, we're gonna talk about football. "But" you say, "baseball's starting up soon! You could write about that!"

Well, the guys over at Red Solo Cup are cranking up the baseball coverage just fine, so feel free to peruse their pre-season takes if you're into that kind of thing. Forward Rebels, in the meantime, will do the only logical thing during this slow athletic period and look not to a preview, but to a postview. Backwards, Rebels.

Backwards to a recap of 2008 in the only way we know how. We're not going to pick some title that will tempt the Sports Deities to humiliate us for another five years. We're simply choosing a totally accurate and official list of the Eight Most Defining Plays of the 2008 Season. Note what we're not calling it. "Greatest." "Exciting." "Important." "Orgasmic." None of these adjectives will suffice.

These are plays that we believe best sum up our season. If someone were to put a gun to our head and say "HEY! You have to define Ole Miss's football season by selecting EIGHT PLAYS. Be prepared to defend your answers!!!" We'd be like "Woah. Why eight?" And they'd be like "Because it was 2008 smartass!!!" And then we'd go "OK that just seems a little arbitrary and lazy. I guess it was 2008 and all, but you'd only have to pick 2 more to get to a nice round number..." and then they'd just go "LISTEN dipshit I took Samir Husni and he said its cool to choose non-round numbers in listmaking to increase reader interest by lending an air of creditiblity to the selection process now SHUT UP and do it..." Wait what?

Anyhow, let's start with these two plays. These are listed in decending order, BTdubs, as the rest of the list will appear gradually over the next few days:

8.) Bye Bye WildBoyz. Hello WildRebel. Dexter scampers 32 yards for a TD from new-fangled offensive formation in first game of year.

Granted, in August, no one associated with Forward Rebs was doing nearly as much blog reading / message board lurking as we do right now, but we genuinely don't remember much "Wild Rebel" speculation during the preseason. Surely people were talking about this. Surely people had seen it in practices. But we just don't recall there being that much WildRebel buzz.

Whatever the case, we doubt anyone predicted the formation would debut with such a splash. Jevan had already announced his arrival with a long touchdown pass to Shay, but it was Dexter who put the Rebels up for good late in the first quarter against Memphis.

With the game tied 7-7 Dex took the snap from the shotgun formation, faked a hand off to a scampering Brandon Bolden, and darted around John Jerry's right side before turning north and covering 32 yards for the touchdown. A collective lightbulb went off in Frebs' little corner of the South Endzone. "Woah," everybody seemed to gasp simultaneously, "this could get fun." The play itself foreshadowed a diverse offense that was the lightyears smarter than the Orgeron years and a metric ton more creative than anything David Cutcliffe could envision in the midst of a mescaline binge nightmare.

In the short term, Dex's run foreshadowed the type of trickery that would lead to Bolden's 37 yard pass to Snead later in the game. For the long-term, the play announced a formation that would keep defenses on edge for the next 12 games - which was about the same amount of time it took us to truly appreciate the mad-hattery of Kent Austin.

7.) Peria Places Index Finger Over Mouth: Bryant-Denny Shushes

Of Going Down, And Going Down Swinging

Bryant-Denny Stadium is a pretty underrated place to play when it comes to toughness. No, a 2:30 October kickoff in Tuscaloosa isn't Death Valley at nightfall, but 90,000 + drunks hellbent on a perfect season is plenty enough to cause a ruckus. And you better believe they were rocking and rolling after Dexter McCluster's fumble with 12:00 minutes left in our game this past year.

Understand the context of that moment. We weren't, by any stretch of the imagination, expected to make much noise in that game or on the year. Sure, we had beaten Florida. But that game could be written off as a fluke while the South Carolina and Vandy losses were still fresh on everyone's mind. Bama was coming off upsets over Georgia and Clemson. We were staring at going below .500 on the year while they were eyeing a No. 1 ranking. Also, they put up 24 points in a very ugly first half that saw us trailing by three TDs.

The Rebels had closed the gap to 14 points in the third quarter, and had just begun to make the hometown Tide fans nervous when Dex put the ball on the ground for the umpteenth time in the still young season. Bama's coronation party was back at full force when the Tide offense took the field. Saban played it safe after a short gain on a pass play, electing to send his Senior Glen Coffee up the middle between All-American Antoine Caldwell and Outland Trophy winner Andre Smith.

The Truth shoved Caldwell with his left arm, literally put left guard Mike Johnson on his ass, and met Coffee two yards into the backfield. Coffee lost the football in the midst of that collision, and Kentrell Lockett had recovered it by the time Peria's 300 pounds came crashing down on Coffee's torso. It wasn't until Forward Rebs had replayed the play several times later that night that we realized how quickly the noise in that stadium had gone from deafening to non-existent. It was the closest thing sports can get to the scene from Animal House when Otter walks in on Otis Day and the Knights at the nightclub. Peria's hit was the 'record scratch' noise.

Anyhow, four plays later Snead hit Shay on a stop-fade in the endzone and the Rebs had closed to within one TD. We all know how that turned out, but the statement Jerry made with that one play spoke volumes about the difference in attitude this team would display for the rest of the year. It's worth noting that the Rebs wouldn't lose another game for the rest of the way. Oh to have been a fly on the wall during that Bama halftime speech.

What's that? You thought the Defining Moments would come from wins? Please. The two greatest plays of Forward Rebs' entire fanhood didn't really end ideally. We are Ole Miss, after all. Watch for the rest of the list throughout the end of this week.

A Sighting of the Demigod Hermanus! (and some dude named Peria)

Apologies for the slow week this week, gang. Things are just now getting back to normal at the office. I'll try to review some of the previous couple of weeks' goings on either today or tomorrow.

In the mean time, after months of googling his name and hanging out at buffets in Baton Rouge, I've finally found some more footage of my man Herman Johnson. Yessssssssssssssssss. Discovering this video on Nafoom today felt like sweet relief.

You'll remember that the last time we saw Big Herm was during CBS's tribute to Him during the inaugural Magnolia Bowl back in November. We found out the guy likes the movie Madagascar and the dessert peach cobbler. Our last glimpse of him was on LSU's last drive, when he showed mercy to DK, remember?

DK was all: bull rush > swim move > spin juke > sack of Jefferson. And Hermanus was all: "Awe, this guy probably wasn't even the biggest baby in his county! Ha! Poor little fella. I'll just pretend to get pushed five yards back and then fall to the ground and let him have this sack on this, my very last play at Tiger Stadium."

Anyhow, it turns out that Hermanus hasn't forgotten his humble ways. At this week's Senior Bowl practices, the Demigod is trying to boost his draft stock, along with Peria and Big Mike, who is also featured in the video (spoiler alert: Big Mike's plays leave a little to be desired). Fast forward to about the 3:50 mark in this video, though, and check out what happens if you move Hermanus inside to OG and ask him to handle the Truth one on one.

HatTip to some dude named VanillaFace on Nafoom.

Tracy Rocker: And a Good Day to You, Sir

Defensive Line coach Tracy Rocker goes to Auburn. *Yaaaaaaawwwn* OK sorry. Lets talk about it.

1.) We wish him the best, and can't really blame him. He's going to his alma mater. He has family who live close to Auburn. He got offered 350,0 Wait! What?

2.) He got offered $350,000. From Auburn. To coach their defensive linemen. 2a.) Now we really can't blame him, but 2b.) what in the hell is Auburn doing? Bringing in and overpaying a bunch of exciting but largely unproven assistants does not mask the fact that the guy calling the shots really isn't that good at coaching football. Make no mistake: We would LOVE to be able to pay a position coach $350K. But if we could do that, we probably would splurge a little more on the head guy. Just sayin'.

3.) Last point: we are not losing sleep over this. Rocker's unit was dominant this year. No denying that. But it helps when you've got an All-American senior leading the group. It's not like Jerry was horrible before Rocker got here, either. The kid has been unblockable since early in the 2007 season. I remember listening to the '07 Georgia game on the radio and noticing how many times they called his name. Other people just didn't take notice because we were a terrible team with a losing record. Also, there was an even more dominant player on that defense, remember?

Greg Hardy, for the record, was much better under the Ogre than he was under Rocker. Obviously, you have to factor in injuries and other *ahem* issues. I only bring this up because unwitting Tiger fans will likely attribute Ole Miss's D-line dominance under Rocker to Hardy, because they've heard his name a few times before.

True, Lockett came into his own under Rocker. But Lockett was just a freshman in '07, and couldn't have been expected to contribute at such an early age. If someone wants to argue that Lockett's success is due to Rocker, we could counter that Powe's underwhelming season (at least relative to his initial potential) can also be attributed to Rocker. It'd be a disingenuous argument, but the point is we never do know. We'll see how Lockett develops next year under a different coach. Our guess is that he's even better.

The biggest effect this coaching change will have is this: will it influence Hardy's decision to leave or to stay. We certainly hope he stays. We'll know soon enough.

The second biggest effect, legitimately, is that it gives us a chance to post this ridiculous video that we like to call "The Truth visits the Carnie Folk." Enjoy.

A Little More Truthiness

Seriously, Peria Jerry might be my favorite human being in the history of human beings. Consider this quote from the Commercial Appeal article that ran this weekend on Peria. Its from his former coach at Hargrave.

"He is the toughest kid I've ever coached here. Peria is just plain mean."

Remember how being the laziest man in Los Angeles put the Dude in the running for the title of 'laziest man in the world' in the Big Lebowski? Well, when the head football coach at a quasi-military academy that exists, as far as I can tell, solely for the purpose of turning hard-assed, violent, talented but troubled football players into disciplined young men calls you the "toughest kid (he's) ever coached," that at least puts you in the running for toughest man in America, right? Trick question. We already know that Peria is the toughest life force in the galaxy.

Also, somewhere early in that article, maybe the third paragraph, the guy who wrote it wrote something that could vaguely be construed as referring to Peria as the Truth. Frebs' influence grows by the day.

Anyhow, Frebs is back from the holidays and will have much to discuss over the next few days. It's going to be a busy week at work, and the New Year festivities will likely cause a moral hangover and general feeling of "fart brainery" but we'll do our best to keep all 7 of you readers mildly amused over the course of the next week. A belated and sincere Merry Christmas to you.

Truthiness

Silver lining, Jarrett. Your day's over and you didn't throw any TD's to the other team.

Off to never neverland...

Just came across this picture and decided it was too much not to share. The gentleman in red there is far and away the scariest human being on the planet. Yeah. It's Shark Week, Sly. Bring your floaties. More images of the coming destruction to follow.

Ed.: Its worth noting that the Oracle spake thusly: "Peria will be foremost on (Lee's) mind."

Mulling it Over: Despite a Moral Hangover

HN: Ha ha hoooooo. Hey hey Frebs! Hows it hangin, bud? I'm just livin it up, just lovin life. Just lovin this school here and this here helmet. Pleased as pie. Walkin on sunshine. Happier than a pig in shit! Get it!?! A PIG!!! hahahaha! IN SHIT!!! Like Arkansas!

FR: Uh yeah, hey coach. I get it.

HN: Well, lil' buddy, you're not looking too good. I mean, ha, we just uh, just beat LSU.

FR: Believe me coach, I know. I celebrated after the game like Randy Marsh on election night. Dancing. Hollering. Calling the dinosaurs. I'm paying for it today, ya see.

HN: Aw hell Frebs. Grow a pair and let me know what I need to know about these Rebels following that win.

FR: *Sigh* I'll try, Houston. I'll try.

• 
  
  First and foremost, Houston, lets see the forest for the trees here. Big time players show up in big time games. I know you come to me for "insight" and "details" and stuff, but the most obvious observation is also the most important one: Jevan Snead and Peria Jerry are men among boys. Just because they're your best players doesn't mean that we shouldn't mention that sometimes. Now believe me when I tell you that I wish Jevan would turn in that performance every game, but there is something comforting in the knowledge that the guy shows up in a big way when the lights are at their brightest. His three best games have come against ranked opponents and on the road. As for the Truth, Coach, he went ahead and settled things for me, personally, on Saturday. My firstborn, boy or girl, will be named Peria. Wife won't even have a say in the matter. Little Peria Frebs "Sharky" Barnes.

HN: Yeah, ha. I figured you'd say that about Peria. Djoo see him hit that backup QB? You know, the one who was only in the game because Peria demolished the guy in front of him?

FR: Yeah I saw th...

HN: Man alive! I thought that Jefferson kid was going to come up headless. I mean, huh, I like Peria and everything but I uh, I ain't trying to kill nobody Frebs.

FR: It was LSU, Coach. Que sera sera.

• Now, after the watching the game, Coach, I will say I'm a little disappointed with CBS. I mean, it had been a long week at the office. Weather had been bad. Dealing with some things at home. All I want in this life is to settle in on Saturday afternoon, knock back a few brews, and learn a little bit about my man Herman Johnson! But Nooooo! CBS panned back to the damn FOOTBALL GAME like three times right in the middle of the "Ode to Herman Johnson" they were running in the first quarter. Come the fuck on Verne! I'm tryin to hear about the demi-god Hermanus here! So far, all I know is that he loves macaroni and peach cobbler, and that his favorite movie is Madagascar. And of course, he was the biggest baby in the history of the universe. I expect a full apology from CBS, and an "Ode to Herman, Vol. II" during next week's LSU / Arkansas game.

HN: Uh, what? Is that the big fella on their OL?

FR: Yeah Hootie don't worry about it. DK ruined the very last play that guy will ever have at his home field. Way to show up for your obligatory one play, DK.

• Anyhow, other than Peria and Jevan, you've also gotta give game balls to the following people, in this order: Kendrick Lewis, Mike Wallace, Tony Fein, Big Mike and Rob Park.

HN: Rob Park?

FR: Yes, Robbie. Did you see when the cheater/mini-me Trindon Holliday waved everybody off, then picked the ball up and started to run, despite the clearly audible whistles from all the refs that made all of our players stop and head for the sideline? Remember? And then all the Carnie Folk in the stands started booing loudly? Well, Rob Park chased the little booger down into the endzone and patted him on the helmet and obviously said something smart assed.

HN: Aw hell he wasn't being a smart ass. Rob told me he just told the kid that he loved his work in Bad Santa.

• OK Coach, I know everybody is going to be asking you about this, but I'd like to go on the record and say that I'm glad we kneeled it out on the one yard line. Not entirely because its classy, but because it is simultaneously demoralizing. NOTHING says "I'm better than you" than actually having to show mercy to your enemy. You know those bastards hated that. Even though that cheating DE came in and tried to take a cheap shot, we still did the right thing. And mercifully for him, I think Daverin Geralds or somebody got into Big Mike's ear and convinced him that he didn't need to pulverize the unsuspecting DE.

HN: Well, we had to have a little mercy, Frebs. I mean, huh, we dominated those Carnies for four quarters. All phases of the game, Frebs. Also, before I forget, Coach Nix told me to tell that Oracle bitch to go drink some bleach. "Big things for Charles Scott?" Yeah, Tony Fein gave him a big old cockpunch! Hayyyyoooooooo! Anyhow, this piece is supposed to be about what the win means, Frebs, so what can you tell me, you know, going forward?

FR: I can't tell you nothing, Coach. Go on with your bad self. In all sincerity, it means a lot to us to see our players searching you out after a big play, just for a high five. It means a lot to see them smiling on the sidelines. They love you, and perhaps surprisingly and maybe a little reluctantly, we do too, Coach. You are bat-shit crazy but we couldn't care less. Congratulations on a huge win, and keep 'em headed in the right direction. Forward.

Also, just a little FYI, it's Frebs' Sharkweek 2K8, Coach. Steer clear of the deep end.

The Oracle Speaketh

The Magnolia Bowl? Well, let me see...

Lot of predictions being thrown around about tomorrow's big game. Based solely on personal observation, most of the Tiger fans are calling for *gasp* an LSU win, albeit by small margins. Apparently the Kool-Aid runneth over this week for Rebel fans, as the majority believe *gasp* Ole Miss will win by a substantial margin. But the Oracle cares not for these predictions. She told you not to eat the red pills. She tells you now not to drink the red Kool-Aid. Take it away, Big O.

Oracle: Well well well. This really is a paradox, young ones. Lets play a little game before I get started: The team I'm picking has a young, turnover prone quarterback. They have a highly touted offensive line. They have a very productive running attack. They have a monster at defensive tackle. They are vulnerable against the pass. And, child, they have at least one headcase that will be the deciding factor. Now, are you weeping? Are you smiling? Of course you are.

Understand that these teams have much in common. Much in common. We'll have to look a little closer to figure this one out.

When Ole Miss has the ball: Do you remember, child, the first two drives of the South Carolina game? When Bolden and Eason ran wild through gaps as wide as Jackson Avenue? Yes, I see a strong start for the ground game this time around, too. The Tigers will come out emotionally spent from the past two adrenaline draining games, flat from the atmosphere of Senior Day, and the Rebels will score a touchdown on the opening drive.

I see Jevan coming out crisp. I see Shay with a big catch early. But things will get tougher from there. Just as Jevan is finding his groove, Lester will discover that pressure is the key to stopping Ole Miss. He'll send six at a time at the quarterback, and the Rebel OL will begin to buckle.

To counter, Houston will try the Wild Rebel for two series in the second quarter, to decidedly bad results. The second half will depend upon how well Ole Miss can hold off the pass rush. Look for a screen to Bolden for a big gain. I see the freshman shining in front of a hometown crowd. I see him with two TDs. I see two costly turnovers for the team.

Born on the Bayou

When LSU has the ball: Remember, child, when I told you Ole Miss would score on the opening drive? Well this does not bode well early for the Tigers. Lester will want to run the score up early, and will foolishly test the Rebels deep. I see a deep drive, but a costly interception for Jarret Lee. He hears too much, child. He hears the boos. He sees the things they write. He sees Peria, too. Peria will be foremost in his mind.

My head ain't filled with nothing but cats and rockin' chairs

Nonetheless, the speedster Byrd will be too much for the Ole Miss secondary to contain. He'll have a touchdown. And Lee will finish with 200 yards.

He'll have enough big completions in the first half to loosen up the box for Charles Scott. I see big things for Mr. Scott, child. Big things. 150 yards types of things. Two TDs types of things. I see three turnovers for the Tigers. The last of which is crucial.

And in the end: I see the troubled one, the one you call DK, he will make a crucial stop on the last drive as LSU tries to take the lead for the first time all game. He jars the ball from Lee's hands as chemically-imbalanced meets emotionally unstable. I see the kicker Shene tacking on insurance points in the last minute of the game. I see the Rebels leaving victorious, 31-24. And when this happens, young one, Kentrell Lockett will establish the Magnolia Bowl's first mini-tradition. He will run to the Ole Miss section with the newly created trophy and go Happy Gilmore with it, placing it to his pelvis and thrusting wildly. The crowd will go wild. He will, indeed, have that wood.

Mulling it Over: 59 - Zilch edition

HN: Yeah we beat 'em, and we beat 'em real durn good. And I told the guys I'm proud of their heart and that helmet and all that jazz. But, Forward Rebs, really, it was just UL-M, right? I mean what can I really tell about this team after they destroyed a nobody squad with only 2 wins in the Sun Belt Conference. Look at my eyebrows, here, Forebs. Skeptical. Unsure. Bat-shit crazy. I mean throw me a bone here. I got a couple big games comin' up and I'm a little lost.

FR: Well, first off, we're honored you thought of us, Houston. And we want to assure you you've come to the right place, because honestly, we've been thinking real hard about this win, too. Secondly, we're glad you came up with a nick-name for the site. It was starting to be too much of a mouthful, you know, when we were like talking about ourselves to our friends and stuff. Forebs. We like it. Anyhoo, let's just see what we can't glean about our squad as we head into the two most anticipated weekends of the year.

• Right off the bat, Houston, I'd like to call to your attention a period of my life that is painful for me to think about. There used to be a coach at our school, ya see, who kept these little mid-season bouts with cupcakes very interesting . See even when the games weren't really close, like say a 27-7 win over the Citadel in 2005, we'd still walk out of the game and into the Grove and just feel like we had just wasted 3 hours of our lives. The games were boring. They were frustrating. They were anticlimactic. And eventually, they became non-issues to a large majority of our fanbase. I went to watch the aforementioned 38-31 win over Northwestern St. and wasn't all that surprised to find that I could just walk right on down to a seat about six rows up on the 40 yard line. There may have been 10,000 people there. I could hear the refs when they scolded players. Could hear the cheerleaders talking about the party the night before. Could hear our program in the doldrums. I sent a text message to a friend of mine that just read: "All time low" - which was itself startling considering your Razorbacks had beaten us 44-7 just two weeks before on an afternoon when daytime fireworks knocked out the electricity to our embarassingly small Mediocre-Tron. The point is this, Houston: we won by a wide margin yesterday, and whether that was because the team we were playing was worthless is simply beside the point. We made big, exciting plays. We scored bunches of points. Our players and our fans had fun. Lets just enjoy these things, because we've been kicked around recently enough to know that they aren't a given. 59-0. Check plus.

HN: Well thanks, Forebs, but I think the bigger "warm 'n fuzzy" factor here is that I got Peria to a bowl game. I mean, weren't y'all talking about these seniors last week?

FR: Don't steal my thunder, Houston. Don't be a dick, man. Come on. I was getting there. And his name's the Truth. Anyhow:

• DK. Coach, DK. He back.
• I know I don't need to tell you what this does for our defense. On a team with CBs who might make one serviceable play a game, ol' DK becomes the most important component of our schemes. Our offense is gonna move the ball. Our front seven does well against the run. But when guys like Kodi Burns and Chris Smelley can have career days against us, finding a solution to our pass defense woes is the single most important aspect of our gameplans. And DK is the answer there. Now I know he claims to be only at 85%, but "getting better" as he plays on it. I'm no doctor, Coach, but I'm pretty sure that's not how a stress fracture in your foot works. I guess what I'm saying is, if I ruled the earf, DK wouldn't have played until next week. BUT, the fact that he's back and healthy and making sacks and even INTs (?), bodes very, very well for our team. Doesn't matter that he did it against Kinsmon Lancaster. He made the Angel Timothy cry, remember? Just make sure he remembers his shoes next week. Please.

HN: That's good Frebs, but what about my offense?

• 350 yards is 350 yards, Houston. Let's not sleep on the fact that we ran for 350 yards on Saturday. There's only 60 minutes in a game, you know. I mean, did you ever play NCAA on like the super-easy mode just to try to build up those arbitrary points you got at the end of each game. Like "5 points for sacking the QB 3 times" and stuff like that. Well some of the tasks you had to try to get were just so ludicrously hard that I could never get them, even with like USC against Akron on super-easy mode. I'm pretty sure rushing for 350 yards was one of those. Again, check plus. Also, let's keep Dex back there. Run all 4 of them from the TB. I don't care if they each end up with 45 yards apiece. It works.
  

HN: I'd whip your ass at NCAA.

FR: That's enough outta you Hootie. Remind me to tell you about ol' George Teague. Anyhow

• The best part about this win is that it went just as planned. We made it through. No one got hurt. There was no drama or letdown that might cause added emotional baggage as we go into one of the most difficult venues in the nation next week. I don't know how much you know about this rivalry, bu

HN: You mean the Magnolia Bowl? What a buttarded ass name for a rivalry game.

FR: I agree but please don't interrupt, K?

• Like I was saying, this rivalry is paramount to us. It is probably the single most important three hour stretch in the Forward Rebs's calendar year. It can ruin an otherwise great 365 day span, or rectify an otherwise abysmal one. So we didn't need any distractions heading into it. Now the last time we went to Death V...

HN: Yeah listen kid the last time I was in Death Valley I got dat wood, aight. I'm audi 3000. Thanks and giggity.

Redemption Song OR How to get Motivated Against UL-M

I caught the second half of the MNF game this week and, like anybody else who tuned in to see that thriller, was thoroughly and pleasantly surprised that a Cardinals v. 49ers game could be that fun. I was even cheering for the Cards as Kurt Warner is the team captain of my fantasy team (the Amity Island Powe Folk). But shortly after the Cards D came up with the goal line stand as time ran out, ESPN zoomed in on Patrick Willis's face, and the guy looked like somebody had just murdered his dog. Buzzkill.


Its hard not to like the 9ers in the first place, what with all the young talent on that team and the utter likeability of Mike Singletary. But seeing how much it means to P. Willie really just endears him and that team that much more. I'm not one to lose sleep over the plight of a guy who makes millions playing a sport, but damn, Patrick deserves to be on at least one winner at some point. I got to thinking about how Ed Ogre screwed Patrick out of any semblance of a winning season, and it dawned on me how much this UL-M game should mean to the seniors on this year's Ole Miss team.


Not that guys like Mike Wallace and Dustin Mouzon and Jamarca Sanford and Jason Cook and Big Mike and the Truth (especially the Truth) ever needed any motivation in the first place. This is the same group that, it could be argued, have overachieved from the first day they stepped on campus. Say what you will about the number of wins they brought home the first three years, and how chic it is to be anti-moral victory these days. But this group of seniors consistently hung with the very best teams in the nation for the past four years, despite playing for the worst SEC coach in recent memory. I think about how they must've felt when Seth Adams hit Shay Hodge over the top last year to get within five yards of beating 'Bama. Or the way they must've felt when John Jerry came barging through the LSU line to block the extra point against LSU and take that game to overtime. Those plays weren't made because of superior talent or coaching. In fact, they were made in spite of the opposite.


That's why Florida this year felt like redemption.

And why you saw scenes like Powe getting his Great White on. These guys have come up inches short more times than they care to remember. Florida was their chance to break free from Doyle Jackson, from Jamarcus Russel, from the Ogre himself. Now they have the chance to close out - and this time they don't have to play over their heads to do it.

That's why I hope every last one of these seniors happened to see P. Willie's face on Monday night. I doubt they need reminding of just how frustrating these last three years have been, but in case they did, there it was spelled out on Patrick's face. Football (and life) is just more fun when you're winning. A win tomorrow would lock up at least a .500 season, and a bowl berth, and in light of the past three years, no one would argue that this group would go out winners if that were to happen.

It's true that they deserve a bowl this year - any bowl - but in order to do it they've got to take care of business tomorrow. Don't get caught looking to LSU. Handle your business. Forward, Rebels.