This year’s All-Area team best I’ve seen
This season’s EAGLE All-Area football team was released in Thursday’s sports section. Unfortunately for me, space prevented me from writing a column that would appear next to the story on the back page.
So instead of it appearing on Thursday, I thought sharing my opinion on this year’s team was important.
For those who may have missed the players who made the team, Lafayette junior running back Demarkus Dennis was named Player of the Year, while another 11 Commodores who helped the school win the Class 4A state title made the first-team squad. Three other LHS players were named honorable mention.
Oxford had seven players on this year’s team, while Water Valley had five. Both the Chargers and Blue Devils each had three players receive honorable mention status. (December 17, 2010, Page 6A)
MSU’s White claims Conerly Trophy
Two years ago, Chris White was a lightly recruited linebacker who garnered just two scholarship offers from Football Bowl Subdivision programs before deciding to play for Mississippi State.
It’s become pretty obvious the Bulldogs hit the jackpot.
White won the Cellular South Conerly Trophy on Tuesday night, an honor given to Mississippi’s top college football player. The other finalists were Jackson State quarterback Casey Therriault and Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis. (December 1, 2010, Page 7)
Nutt shoots down rumors, talks future
Diana Nutt won’t be needing to purchase snow gear anytime soon.
During Monday’s end-of-the-year press conference at the Indoor Practice Facility, Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt, Diana’s husband, denied Internet rumors that he was interested in the head job at Colorado, vacated by the firing of Dan Hawkins. (November 30, 2010, Page 8)
BLOG: Nutt denies rumors, discusses future
During this afternoon’s press conference Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt confirmed that the internet-based rumors suggesting he was interested/had accepted the head coaching position at Colorado to replace Dan Hawkins were just that — rumors. (more…) (November 29, 2010)
Bulldogs maintain control of “Golden Egg”
A season that got off to a bad start and never got on track finally came to an end for the Ole Miss Rebels in the form of a 31-23 loss to the No. 25 Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday night in front of a crowd of 58,625 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Despite a desire to make amends for last season’s loss to the Bulldogs, the Rebels were thoroughly outplayed again by the visitors from Starkville.
Ole Miss (4-8 overall, 1-7 in the Southeastern Conference) gave up 498 yards to the Bulldogs (8-4, 4-4) in the loss and made several key gaffes on offense that prevented them from ending the season on a high note. (November 29, 2010, Page 1B)
MSU hurts Rebels with screen passes
In Ole Miss’ victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on homecoming, the Ragin Cajuns ran a string of halfback screen passes that hurt the Rebels for short gains until they adapted.
On Saturday, the screen pass wasn’t used as much, but when the Mississippi State Bulldogs did call the screen, they were able to hit home runs twice.
The go-to player for Mississippi State on the screen plays was freshman running back LaDarius Perkins, who finished the game with three receptions for a game-high 140 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 98 yards rushing. (November 29, 2010, Page 1B)
MSU holds on to claim another Golden Egg
Hello from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., where the No. 25 Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-4 overall, 3-4 SEC) and Ole Miss Rebels (4-7, 1-6) are set to meet in the 83rd edition of the Battle for the Golden Egg. (more…) (November 27, 2010)
Rebel seniors reflect on good memories
Saturday evening’s game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the annual “Egg Bowl” will be the final home contest for 18 Ole Miss seniors. The class, which includes safeties Johnny Brown and Fon Ingram, linebacker Jonathan Cornell, and Oxford native Zach Brent, helped changed the fortune of the program over the past few seasons with back-to-back trips to the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic.
Two of the seniors who will honored before Saturday’s game, defensive tackle Jerrell Powe and defensive end Kentrell Lockett, could return next year, but for the majority of the class, the matchup with the Bulldogs will be the final time the group gets to put on the red and blue together. (November 25, 2010, Page 9A)
Better effort not enough to lift Rebels past No. 5 Tiger
A better overall effort one week after suffering the most disappointing loss in Houston Nutt’s tenure wasn’t enough to lift the Ole Miss Rebels past the No. 5 team in the country Saturday afternoon.
Every ounce of energy the Rebels could muster gave them three different leads against LSU in the second half, including two in the fourth quarter, but in the end it was the Tigers who had just enough energy to pull out a thrilling 43-36 win over the Rebels in front of a capacity crowd at Tiger Stadium and a national TV audience watching via CBS. (November 22, 2010, Page 1B)
Rebels, coaches pleased with improved execution
The ultimate goal for the Ole Miss Rebels heading into Saturday’s matchup with the No. 5 LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium was to return to Oxford with a big upset win.
That didn’t work out for the Rebels against one of their biggest rivals, but the effort and overall execution of the team was much improved a week after suffering a disappointing loss at Tennessee.
Ole Miss finished the game with 420 total yards and scored points almost at will in the 43-36 loss. The defense was unable to hold the Tigers late in the game when it mattered most, but the unit didn’t give up a ton of explosive plays that have hindered them in other losses this year. (November 22, 2010, Page 2B)
