There was no other headline than this: Missouri got screwed by the NCAA.

Despite self-reporting academic cheating to the NCAA because of an academic tutor doing academic work for “12 student athletes”, including completing online coursework that “included assignments, quizzes or exams”. The NCAA added: “She completed an entire course for one student-athlete and completed portions of a placement exam for two student-athletes.”

Mizzou was thumped with a bowl ban, three years of probation, a vacation of records in which football, baseball and softball student-athletes competed while ineligible, a 5% reduction in the amount of scholarships in each of the football, baseball and softball programs during the 2019-20 academic year, recruiting restrictions which included a seven-week ban on unofficial visits, a 12.5% reduction in unofficial visits, a seven-week ban on recruiting communications, a seven-week ban on all off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations, and a 12.5% reduction in recruiting in-person or valuation days.

Missouri appealed, and the NCAA turned it down.

The school was outraged, and put out this statement. “We are deeply disappointed and appalled by the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee’s decision to shirk its responsibilities and simply uphold sanctions that are not consistent with precedent or even common sense.

Despite this frustrating and disappointing outcome, the University of Missouri and Mizzou Athletics will continue to stand for integrity, and we will become stronger despite the challenges we are faced with today. We have outstanding student-athletes in all three affected programs and they are building something special here at Mizzou

Today’s decision raises serious questions about whether the current NCAA enforcement system encourages or discourages cultures of compliance and integrity. While we have exhausted our NCAA appeal avenues, we will continue to advocate for meaningful reform within the NCAA enforcement process.

Today, about 180 student-athletes who had nothing to do with the actions of one rogue part-time employee will pay a steep price. NCAA enforcement officials noted that prior to the violation the university employed a robust institutional system to ensure rules compliance. Once the problem was known, we self-reported immediately, held individuals accountable and cooperated with the investigation in what NCAA officials described as “exemplary” fashion.

Meanwhile, a recent case involving Mississippi State University with similar circumstances as Mizzou’s yielded a very different result. MSU, like us, acted with the highest integrity. MSU’s case followed a new NCAA process that was not available to us and resulted in an outcome that, we believe, was more reasonable given the circumstances. The inconsistency of these decisions make it difficult for anyone to comprehend how Mizzou could receive such harsh sanctions.

In its decision on our case, the appeals committee wrote that a greater discussion and a better process is needed. We could not agree more.

It wrote: “This committee believes it is critical for the NCAA membership to discuss and evaluate the application, assessment and precedential value of infractions cases not only when parties agree on mitigating and aggravating factors, but also the appropriate precedential value and approach for cases in the entirety of the infractions processes. Doing so would better equip this committee and the Committee on Infractions in discharging its duties, and in turn improve the infractions process and yield better guidance for the membership as a whole.”

We strongly disagree that the appeals committee did not have the power to correct this mistake. The point of this process was not to use a formula to reach a conclusion, but to bring the benefit of consideration and judgement to achieve consistency with its final decision.“

Twitter’s great in the morning. You can catch up with the daily highlights, wonder why people wake up and immediately write about hating or loving things about Donald Trump (DRINK SOME COFFEE PEOPLE!), as well as the usual prayer requests, sniping between Georgia and Florida fans, SEC rankings, excited-about-the-future Vols pictures (CUE HALF-NAKED MAN IN ORANGE AND WHITE OVERALLS)…..and a number of Mississippi State fans already asking for the head of Joe Moorhead.

After all, the Bulldogs have lost four straight, including a stunning loss on the road to Tennessee and blowouts by Auburn and LSU.

It’s been miserable.

This season, we’ve seen the Cowbells that were so loud last year have gone very, very quiet.

It’s gotten so bad that a hater’s created a ‘Fire Jo Moorhead’ page – even creating T-Shirts (Ironically, they are also advertising pro-Mississippi State gear, too (just in case you didn’t think it was an anti-Cowbell vendetta).

Look, we know it was going to be a step-down from last year. A school like Alabama can lose three defensive players to the first round of the NFL Draft and not blink, but Mississippi State (like a lot of other schools), can’t. So when Jeffrey Simmons, Montez Sweat and Jonathan Abram – went off to get paid, it left a huge hole. After all, this was one of the Top 5 defenses in the nation last year.

Also, it was going to be a step-down because the school’s talisman, Nick Fitzgerald, left, and Aeris Williams, who was in a more-than-capable duo with Kylin Hill, took someone’s advice and went off to seek NFL gold (he’s hasn’t been picked up since a failed trial with the Indianapolis Colts, since you ask).

But this isn’t a step-down, this is a tumble.

THE OFFENSE HAS BEEN PUTRID

Quarterbacks-wise, it’s been miserable. Keontay Thompson, who was meant to be Fitzgerald’s successor, was injured, then put himself in the transfer portal, but has not played a snap yet this season. Tommy Stevens, who played in Joe Moorhead’s system at Penn State, has also been injured, leaving freshman Garrett Shrader to pick up everyone else’s problems.

The Mississippi State offensive line was meant to be good. It had the experience.

But good? It’s been a horror show. The line has given up 22 sacks so far this season – the worst in the SEC and 106th in the nation. It’s therefore no surprise that Shrader currently stands 11th in the SEC in pass completion percentage (55.1) and 13th in passing yards (1,022)….he was running for his life.

The offensive line hasn’t helped Kylin Hill, who’s been gutsy. Last week against A&M he had his best running outing for the season (about 150 yards), but he hasn’t had anyone backing him up. It’s meant that while he leads the conference in rushing attempts (793), he’s only 13th in rushing yards per attempt (5.1).

I for one will be stunned if O-Line coach Marcus Johnson is not fired at season-end.

DEFENSE HAS DROPPED LIKE A STONE

The defense has been atrocious. It only leads Vanderbilt and Arkansas in points given up (31 points per game), gives up an average of 6.4 yards per game (second-worst in the SEC), and is equally below-par against pass and run. Again, we’re not surprised given the talent that’s been lost, but still…

THE PROBLEMS ARE BOTH INHERITED AND NOT 

Although Mississippi State fans might want Moorhead out, there is one bear in the room – the NCAA. In late August the World’s Worst Governing Body Except FIFA handed down sanctions to the team after a tutor was found to have helped 10 football ‘student athletes’ in completing general chemistry assignments. All of them have been hit with eight-game suspensions, which has battered the team’s depth, and led to uncertainty as to whom is going to start one weekend to next.

Now, we don’t know if the NCAA sanctions were a result of Moorhead’s efforts to ‘get his players eligible’, but we can presume that a complete lack of oversight from Moorhead and the rest of the Athletic Department will have helped to scupper the season.

ON THE RECRUITING SIDE?

Recruiting-wise, Mississippi State isn’t Alabama, Georgia or LSU, but it’s fine. It’s ranked 8th in the SEC so far (up from 11th), and so far he’s gotten some strong jucos and a speedy quarterback – something he relishes.

SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

Mississippi State AD John Cohen has repeatedly denied the fact that Moorhead’s being recruited by college football’s biggest laughing stock, Rutgers. You can see why the rumors have taken place. Moorhead was a former head coach at Fordham in New York, and then was the offensive coordinator at Penn State. A move to the North-East, people surmise, might be a good move.

But will Moorhead move or be moved? We don’t think so. He’s got more of a long-term plan in place.

Give him time, Mississippi State fans. Remember, y’all gave Buddy Croom 5 years.

Today was a fun yet weird week for the SEC. The weird stuff happened at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, where the  No.3 Dawgs lost in double-overtime to a South Carolina side that was a 23-point underdog, but had also lost to Alabama, Missouri and, er, North Carolina.

In Baton Rouge, LSU beat Florida 42-28 in an awesome game in the Bayou, with the Bayou Bengals surviving mostly by superior firepower on a night that featured parachutists coming down from heaven, a raucous crowd, College Gameday, and a lack of Gary Danielson.

And on the other end of the spectrum, an awful UNLV team ran away from a terrible Vanderbilt side, Tennessee got its first SEC win of the season over freefalling Mississippi State and Kentucky beat Arkansas,

Elsewhere, Alabama cruised by Texas A&M, Missouri pretty comfortably beat Ole Miss in a comfortable one.

Anyway, so here are our SEC rankings:

1. LSU (6-0): Joe Burrow is quickly becoming involved in the Heisman conversation. They beat Florida on Saturday night in a shoot-out. We know that their defense isn’t great, but their offense just keeps on coming. It should be interesting to see if passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Joe Brady is around next year. Because of his miracles with the LSU offense this year, we suspect he’ll either get his first head coaching job or he’ll get an offensive coordinator’s job at a bigger school. He won’t be short of offers.
2. Alabama (6-0): The Alabama wide receivers are so damned quick. Tua is so damned good. Najee Harris is an unstoppabe running back. The Tide on the offense are awesome. Can LSU stop them? We will see. But right now, they are second on strength of schedule alone.
3. Florida (6-1): We said that this was a very good Gators side when they beat Auburn, and nothing has changed here. But defensive injuries meant that the Gators struggled late. Still, Dan Mullen’s team could well see Alabama or LSU in Atlanta again at the SEC Championship Game. They are that good.
4. Auburn (5-1): Idle, and watching carnage around it actually helped the Tigers. And got them healthier.
5. Missouri (5-1): Kelly Bryant has got this offense buzzing, but Cale Garrett’s injury at linebacker could take the Tigers back a few notches when they face the big boys in Florida and Georgia.
6. South Carolina (3-3): The merry-go-round that is the SEC East (Missouri beats Georgia who beats South Carolina) doesn’t mean South Carolina’s a better side than Georgia, but it happened.
7. Georgia (5-1): “I always thought they were overrated anyway” said a friend of mine – a student at Georgia – after witnessing the horror show on Saturday afternoon. For me, this has blown Georgia’s chances of getting into the play-off. Because even if the Bulldogs DO get to the SEC Championship Game, the Committee will ask the question: “Yeah, but who did they lose to?” The Bulldogs will go up the rankings again soon, but right now, they are a middle-of-the-road SEC side.
8. Texas A&M (3-3): Texas A&M lost to all the teams we thought they’d lose to, and struggled with Arkansas. This Aggies team aren’t that great.
9. Ole Miss (3-4): If Ole Miss could gel two quarterbacks into one (Corral’s arm and Plumlee’s legs), they would be golden. But right now, Ole Miss is mediocre.
10. Kentucky (3-3): We don’t know what to think of the Wildcats, but they beat Arkansas after sliding a little. They aren’t great, but they have taken a massive step back from last year. Their new QB Lynn Bowden is pretty useful, though.
11. Tennessee (2-4): The Volunteers’ victory breathed hope into the country’s laughing stock, and there is once again hope around Neyland. Who would it have happened after they went toe-to-toe for one half with Georgia.
12. Arkansas (2-4): The Razorbacks are playing with a bit of fire suddenly. Sure, the defense struggled against a Kentucky freshman QB today, giving up a 13-0 lead before losing 24-20. Right now, November 11th looms large…a match-up with Mississippi State that they should be favored in.
13. Mississippi State (2-4): We know that they beat Kentucky a couple of weeks ago, but this program is in such freefall that if you put these two together again, we’d be betting Kentucky all the way.
14. Vanderbilt (1-5): If Vanderbilt’s AD was a least bit clever, they should fire Derek Mason now and get a jump on a search for a head coach. He’s a great guy, but there’s nothing else to say. He’s got to go.

It’s Week 7 in the SEC, and things are suddenly getting interesting.

On Saturday night we’ve got the battle of the unbeatens as Florida travels to LSU. College Gameday will be there. It’s a night game in Death Valley, and thank God, Gary Danielson will not be there. Earlier, Alabama will go to Kyle Field to play Texas A&M on the CBS 3.30 game, and Georgia hosts South Carolina to start the day. Otherwise, it’s Mississippi State going to Tennessee (12pm), the battle of the NCAA-sanctioned as Ole Miss travels to Missouri, and a game that no-one should subject anyone to watch as Arkansas travels to Kentucky. Oh, and UNLV travels to Vanderbilt.

To say the least, it’s cardiac Saturday in the SEC. On both ends of the spectrum.

Anyway, once again we’re going with the order of interesting. And good. But mostly interesting.

1. No.7 Florida at No.5 LSU (-13.5): Death Valley is going be LOUD. Give Cajuns 12 hours to consume grain alcohol, and it’s going to create quite the atmosphere. Throw in a rivalry game where both sides don’t like each other (they’ve played each other every year since 1971) in the least, and the fact that the last seven games have been decided by 8 points or less. Oh, and Florida fans are still mad at LSU’s band playing during Tom Petty’s ‘I won’t back down’. No doubt that the LSU fanbase will be asking Florida’s fanbase to do something bestial to Mike The Tiger which is both dangerous and weird. There’s also the fact that both teams are unbeaten, with Florida’s defense actually playing better than LSU’s, but LSU’s offense is apparently the 5th wonder of the world (according to the press), with everyone getting orgasmic over Joe Burrow. LSU will be spreading Florida out all day, but Florida have great defensive playmakers to combat LSU. We can’t believe the spread’s as high as 13-1/2 in the favour of LSU. Prediction: LSU squeaks by 6 in a classic. 
2. No.2 Alabama (-17) at No.24 Texas A&M: No. 3 on Texas A&M’s horror show of a schedule will be at Kyle Field, as Nick Saban trots into town to face off against Jimbo Fisher, who’s having a distinctly ordinary year. The chaps at Solid Verbal pointed out that Alabama’s rush defense isn’t special, but then again, nor’s Texas A&M’s rush attack. The secondary will find Kellen Mond easy to deal with. This could get ugly early — and we’re not just talking about the poor audience who have to listen to Gary Danielson. Prediction: Alabama by 31.
3. Mississippi State (-7) at Tennessee: If you like pure, unbridled trainwreckery on both sides of the ball (if you like good offense watch Texas vs Oklahoma or if you like a good slaughter watch Georgia vs South Carolina), then THIS IS THE GAME FOR YOU. I can’t think of where both teams have been good this year, but that’s what might make it interesting. For a half against Georgia, Tennessee believed in itself when QB Brian Maurer came out. He’ll face a somewhat easier defense in Mississippi State, who are struggling with so much loss on the defensive side of the ball, and aren’t great offensively either. This could be fun mayhem. Prediction: Oh screw it. Tennessee by 3. Maybe 13-10.
4. Ole Miss vs Missouri (-12): There’s a lighter air in Columbia right now, as the NCAA have told Missouri that the result of their appeal against sanctions will come to light in the next two weeks. Since their awful showing against Wyoming, Missouri has done exactly what’s been required of them. Eyes will be on Kelly Bryant and whether he’s going to be massively affected by his knee brace, but LB Cale Garrett is done for the season after getting injured against Nevada. Ole Miss showed some teeth against Alabama in the first and final quarters of that game, but we honestly don’t know what to think about the Rebels. Prediction: Missouri wins by 10.
5. South Carolina at No.3 Georgia (-23 1/2): This is going to be easy going for the Bulldogs against a very, very ordinary South Carolina team. Even if they aren’t having the best of it in the first half, Georgia can adjust so well that they can blow sides away. This will be one of the sides they blow away. Prediction: Georgia by 31
6. Arkansas vs Kentucky (-6 1/2): This is going to be one of the most odious games of the season. Prediction: Arkansas by 7 in an utter trainwreck of a game.
7. UNLV vs Vanderbilt (-15): Here’s why this is more interesting that Arkansas vs Kentucky. UNLV is 1-4 and hasn’t scored more than 23 all season, and the LOWEST the defense has given up is 30. On Vanderbilt’s side, they are 1-4 and their only victory has been against Northern Illinois. The reason why we like it is simple gambling. UNLV gives up 5.28 rush yards per game, and Vanderbilt’s not exactly awful. So here’s our prediction: Ke’Shawn Vaughn puts up 150, and Vanderbilt wins by 21. 

OTHER GAMES PREDICTIONS:

Oklahoma by 18 over Texas

Notre Dame by 21 over USC.

The biggest question stemming from the NCAA’s recent announcement that Missouri would be banned from the 2019 postseason is: Will Kelly Bryant stay with the Tigers?

The bylaws allow him to transfer without penalty, so he could take off and start at one of Missouri’s SEC rivals immediately.

Although Missouri is in a powerhouse division with Georgia and a revamped Florida, the arrival of Bryant signalled to Missouri programs that the team was on the up-and-up – maybe towards a New Year’s Six Bowl Game.

However, with the rules of a postseason ban, the only non-regular season game the transfer from Clemson will see will be on his TV.

Sources are saying that Bryant will stay, but unless Bryant makes an announcement, the question marks are going to get asked.

Of course, you can guarantee that the likes of Auburn and others who were chasing his signature will be telling him what a bunch of crooks Barry Odom and his team are (when in actual fact tutors doing academic work for football players has been going on for time and memorial), and Odom will have to battle to keep his player.

Missouri has been hit with a postseason ban for 2019 by the NCAA over academic infractions.

According to the NCAA, an academic tutor at the Columbia-based school completed academic work for “12 student athletes”, including completing online coursework that “included assignments, quizzes or exams”. The organisation added: “She completed an entire course for one student-athlete and completed portions of a placement exam for two student-athletes.”

The NCAA also hit Mizzou with three years of probation, a vacation of records in which football, baseball and softball student-athletes competed while ineligible, a 5% reduction in the amount of scholarships in each of the football, baseball and softball programs during the 2019-20 academic year, recruiting restrictions which included a seven-week ban on unofficial visits, a 12.5% reduction in unofficial visits, a seven-week ban on recruiting communications, a seven-week ban on all off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations, and a 12.5% reduction in recruiting in-person or valuation days.

The NCAA also fined the football, baseball and softball programs $5,000 plus 1% of the budgets of the football, softball and baseball budgets.

Missouri will appeal the ruling.

Missouri head coach Barry Odom said about the fines: “The committee’s decision was completely unjust and unfair – to our team, to our staff and to our alumni. I’m very grateful for the clear, decisive and unified leadership we have here at Mizzou, and I’m looking forward to doing whatever I can to assist with the appeals process. Together, we will fight for this institution and I will damn sure fight.”

The Kansas City Star said of what happened: “Mizzou is taking a harsh penalty here for a misdeed it did not and could not be reasonably expected to know about in real time. The school, by all accounts, cooperated and followed protocols once the misdeeds were known. Mizzou would’ve been better off lying. Or, taking UNC’s example, better off creating, controlling and expanding the misdeeds throughout campus and over many years.” It added: “There is no evidence that Mizzou’s athletic department knew about or would have condoned the tutor — unnamed in the report but known to be Yolanda Kumar — completing course work for athletes.”

Ole Miss was one of the most entertaining teams of 2017. You can’t argue with that. If it wasn’t arguing its case about bribing different players to come play in Oxford, then it was the head coach getting ousted for making calls to escorts in Tampa and not using a burner to do it. And then came the actual college football season, where they dropped about 32 points on teams using a high-octane offense and gave up about 35 using a defense with more holes than the Titanic. It was pretty awesome.

In the off-season of 2018, it’s been a bit of a step-up because there hasn’t be a dead hooker found in a school locker, although QB Shea Patterson managed to get away from Oxford to go to Michigan, and WR Van Jefferson, who was the team’s second-highest receiver, transferred to Florida.

How will things fare this year? The fans don’t think it’ll be great – season ticket sales are down compared to 2017, but things might go otherwise.

HIGH-OCTANE OFFENSE

The best WR in the SEC is back in Oxford. Now Ole Miss can only pray he remains healthy. That’s AJ Brown, who’s freshman season yielded a mind-boggling 1,252 yards and 11 TDs. He’s already spent a little bit of the offseason out with a hamstring injury, and Ole Miss fans want the bad juju done now rather than in the fall.

Quarterbacks-wise, the loss of Patterson really isn’t as big as people make out. Patterson only played in 7 games in 2017, but the end of the season was taken over by Jordan Ta’amu, who threw for 1,684 yards and 11 TDs with 4 INTs. During that time he was more accurate than Patterson, and he’s also more of a running threat than Patterson. That’s not to say that Patterson won’t have a better career in Ann Arbor, but Oxford is hardly going to crumble with this kid playing.

As well as Brown, Ta’amu will be throwing to DeMarkus Lodge (698 yards, 7 TDs) and DK Metkalf (646 yards, 7 TDs), which means that even without Jefferson, secondaries will have a lot to fear.

D’Vaughn Pennamon and Eric Swinney will lead the way rushing, although we’re probably less enthused about them than if now-left RB Jordan Wilkins (1,011 yards, 9 TDs) hadn’t taken so much of the workload. Pennamon and Swinney will have a heck of a job to do.

The Rebs also bring back 4 starters from the line, which should make things interesting.

BUT CAN THEY PLAY DEFENSE?

If 2017’s anything to go by, then the answer’s no. Leading tackler DeMarquis Gates and top-sack artists Breeland Speaks and Marquis Haynes are all gone. That’s not great. Although the team’s bringing back a lot, they weren’t great tacklers in the first place, so it’s doesn’t fill us with confidence.

After the unit had just had 8 INTs, things have to improve in that region, too. CJ Moore and Javien Hamilton – who had 3 INTs each last year – are both back, but…..but….You get it. We don’t hold out a lot of hope.

PREDICTION

Sept. 1 vs. Texas Tech (in Houston)
Sept. 8 Southern Illinois
Sept. 15 Alabama
Sept. 22 Kent State
Sept. 29 at LSU
Oct. 6 ULM
Oct. 13 at Arkansas
Oct. 20 Auburn
Oct. 27 OPEN DATE
Nov. 3 South Carolina
Nov. 10 at Texas A&M
Nov. 17 at Vanderbilt
Nov. 22 Mississippi State

Ole Miss has nothing to lose, so it’s going to let it all hang out next season. We think they’ll start the season with wins over Texas Tech and Southern Illinois before getting beaten by Alabama in a tighter game than most people expect. They’ll roll Kent State, lose at LSU, beat ULM and lose the funnest game of the SEC season to Arkansas – possibly in a game that sees both teams hit 50 points. We think they lose a trio of games to Auburn, Texas A&M and South Carolina before smashing Vanderbilt and losing a tight one to Mississippi State. 

SO WE THINK: 5-7. But even without the team going to a bowl game (or even having a chance to bearing in mind the sanctions), it’ll be so much fun to watch.

As much as Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts respects his father Averion, I’m sure there’s a little bit of him that wishes his Dad would have shut up.

Jalen Hurts didn’t need his father to tell the world about the man-to-man conversation they had in an interview with Bleacher Report. He certainly didn’t need Averion to repeat the words that he said to Jalen after his awful National Championship Game performance: “You f–ked up, you opened the door and put yourself in this situation…”Now it’s up to you to dig yourself out”.

Jalen Hurts certainly didn’t need Averion to practically threaten Alabama head coach Nick Saban LaVar Ball-style with his son’s transfer should he not get the starting job by saying: “My job is to do what’s best for Jalen—and make no mistake, Jalen is a quarterback, and he wants to play quarterback. He loves Alabama, loves Coach Saban and everything about that place. But he wants to play, and he will play…”. The whole “biggest free agent in college football history” smelt a lot like Ball, too.

Lane Kiffin agrees. The FAU coach – and former Alabama OC – said in January after the National Championship Game: “I want to take a poll of the hundred-and-whatever-30 coaches out there – head coaches – how many of them would have given anything to have him on their team? Probably every one of them, except maybe Oklahoma”. Right now, bearing in mind Baker Mayfield’s gone and OU’s love of the spread offense, Oklahoma would too.

Saban replied with the usual lines about everyone at Alabama competing for a place (it helps when every position on the team is three or four-deep) and how the matter, while public will be “handled in a very private manner”. Saban was never going to go crazy about this (he reserves this for perceived slights against him, his program, or anything that he can rant about).

SABAN HOLDS THE ACES

So what’s the future for Hurts? Probably, he’s going to be replaced by Tua Tagovailoa, who is going to come back from injury and he’s going to take the starting job for the 2018. Hurts didn’t help himself by a pretty awful performance in the Alabama Spring Game, going 19-37 with 1 INT and zero TDs, and earning himself a chewing out by Saban that went public on ESPN.

Then there’s the head-to-head with Saban. This is not a battle that Jalen Hurts is going to win. Not only does Saban not need Hurt, but he won’t be going to SEC rival, simply because of the bylaws that stop one SEC player going to another SEC school unless he’s spent a ‘full academic year’ at the school.  Then there’s the fact that Saban could try and stop him playing for any major program (like the Shea Patterson battle between Ole Miss and Michigan), citing the fact that ‘Bama ‘might meet them in the play-off’ (this might include Georgia Tech, for whom Hurts would be one of the better gets of 2018 if that happened). Hurts would probably end up playing for a fairly anonymous FBS program. He (or more’s the case his Dad), wouldn’t want to take the Mekhi Brown route of leaving Tuscaloosa to play at FCS level.

In other words, Hurts might well end up getting Hurts.

Ole Miss has avoided the feared ‘death penalty’ from the NCAA for its payment of recruits, but it hasn’t avoided damage.

The NCAA has said that Matt Luke’s team will be hit by another bowl ban in 2019, and also any senior player that wants to transfer from Oxford will be able to do so without needing to wait out a year to play again.

Also, Ole Miss has been given a scholarship reduction of 13 over a few years – which shouldn’t hit the Rebels’ depth chart as badly as it could have done.

The Rebels will also be hit with financial penalties, and all of Ole Miss’ staff will be given show-cause penalties, except for Luke.

The most pointless of the NCAA penalties was the ‘vacation of all regular-season and postseason wins in which ineligible student-athletes competed’, which hurts nothing except school pride. The fans will still remember being there…and so will the players.

It added: “The panel noted that the case was the result of a culture at the university where rules violations were acceptable in the football program and reminiscent of similar Ole Miss infractions cases in the past.”

“This is now the third case over three decades that has involved the boosters and football program,” the panel said in its decision. “Even the head coach acknowledged that upon coming to Mississippi, he was surprised by the ‘craziness’ of boosters trying to insert themselves into his program.”

LSU suddenly look as though it has something to make its fans excited about. After the Troy disaster, the Tigers have won three straight (Florida, Auburn and Ole Miss), and even Danny Etling does not look as bad as Gary Danielson makes him out to be (some people think Gary Danielson’s better than WE think he is).

But are the Tigers the third best team in the SEC? It’s between them at Texas A&M. A&M was on a bye week, but with LSU’s road victory – albeit an Ole Miss team that is inept at stopping the run, they move up to third. Auburn’s also pretty good, too.

So here you are.

1. Alabama: Nick Saban will probably be yelling at backup QB Tua Tagovailoa for the next week for throwing a pick-six in the crushing of Tennessee. Hey, let’s be honest, the biggest surprise in college football this year would be if Alabama gets upset. Or if Saban actually calms down.
2. Georgia: Putting their feet up before the Cocktail Party next week, Georgia doesn’t have a lot of holes in its game either. The win at Notre Dame is suddenly looking better and better, although the Florida and Auburn games would really indicate how good UGA really is.
3. LSU: Derrius Guice ran for TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX YARDS on Saturday night. That’s right: TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX. Danny Etling’s performance of 9-13, 200 yards and 2 TDs (he ran in for one more) wasn’t terrible either.
4. Texas A&M: The LSU game on November 25th (basically to see who’s going to be the second-best team in the SEC West) suddenly looks really, really interesting. The November 4th game at home to Auburn may tell us a little bit, too.
5. Auburn: The destruction of a woeful Arkansas team showed what happens when a team plays for 60 minutes, not takes its foot off the gas after 20. As Auburn fans watching the LSU game would know. After the win Twitter wasn’t filled with cries of “Fire that ****er Malzahn”, as Auburn fans seemed more satisfied. We’re sure that’ll change if they lose to A&M and then Alabama in November!
6. Florida: The 6th-place is evident for the Gators’ mediocrity. They’d probably be lower if this poll was just based on offenses. The offense – for which Gus Nussmeir should be fired for at season-end – is a steaming pile of crap.
7. Mississippi State: Crushing Kentucky was hilarious, bearing in mind that everybody thought the Cats were sneaky-good. Nick Fitzgerald may not have been great passing (18-26, 155 yards, 1 TD), but his running game was great (12 carries, 112 yards, 2 TDs). Excuse me while I stand up and applaud.
8. South Carolina: We GET that Kentucky beat South Carolina. But still, we think that South Carolina would have coped better against Mississippi State than Kentucky did. Plus, Kentucky came back from a week off and still played badly.
9. Kentucky: To come from a bye week and play this badly deserves a demotion in our rankings. We still think the Cats will be bowl eligible by the end of the season, but this the kind of display that makes you excited. Luckily for them, 3 out of their last 5 games are winnable (the only one that isn’t is a trip to UGA on Nov 18. They play Tennessee next week).
10. Missouri: Missouri’s destruction of Idaho has given the Tigers a bit of momentum – something that the other 4 teams below them simply don’t have. Another awful performance by their secondary should see them safely ensconced at the bottom again!
11. Ole Miss: The loss of Shea Patterson against LSU gives Ole Miss offensive problems. The Rebels already have huge defensive problems. It’s a pity Ole Miss and Missouri don’t play each other this season – it could be the most entertaining game of the year, with the over about 750!!
12. Arkansas: The gray shirts matched the Razorbacks’ performance against Auburn: Miserable. They were given a hiding by the Tigers, and showed no interest in fighting back. With news that his buyout’s $10m less than people first though, Jeff Long will now be under pressure to fire Bret Bielema.
13. Tennessee: It’s OK, Butch Jones – Every team gets the living crap beaten out of it by Alabama. Butch Jones should be fired at season-end, though.
14. Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt has to get its running defense better if it’s going to come off the bottom. Before the bye week the team had no momentum at all, and we’re sorry to say were a worse team than Tennessee.