Ole Miss has its hearing set with the NCAA and even though it’s just a date it is another step forward for a lengthy process all parties need to come to an end.

With as many of three days of hearing before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, Ole Miss make its case in the areas where it disagrees with charges and it will make a case against the overall charge of lack of institutional control.

The NCAA notified Ole Miss recently that it stands by all of its 21 charges, including 15 level 1 violations. How this all ends will be determined in time but it is highly possible that the university will get more sanctions than the ones it has already self-imposed.

The most important aspect of the hearing date being set, however, is that this dark cloud is finally nearing a lift.

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions will make its final ruling six to eight weeks after the hearing, we understand, which means that we are no more than three months out from ending this once and for all.

It is time to move forward.

Any penalties will linger, of course. This year’s bowl ban and scholarship losses make competing in the SEC more difficult. Any additional penalties will further harm that effort.

But once this NCAA case is over we can start talking again more about everything Ole Miss does right, not wrong. And there’s a lot to talk about.