Game Eleven: Mississippi at Wake Forest

Of all the games, I've watched this year, I think this might have been the best. It was close from start to finish. Played well by both teams and coached well by both staffs.

So here are some thoughts on what I saw....

....If you read the Fan Blog regularly, you know that I am a fan of Jim Grobe. You know that I think Wake Forest can be pretty good. But there were times yesterday when Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt outcoached Grobe. Still in the end, the Deacons had enough to knock off Ole Miss, on a last second field goal from Sam Swank 30-28.

....I think the matchup shows the difference in the ACC and the SEC. In my opinion, Wake has every chance to win the ACC. Ole Miss is not going to be any better than the sixth or seventh best team in the SEC this year. Yet, they played yesterday and seemed to be extremely evenly matched. There wasn't a lot of fluke in this game. It was just a good football game.

....Jevan Snead is going to be a real good college football quarterback. You may remember Snead as the guy who battled Colt McCoy for the Texas job two years ago. Now he's, throwing darts for Ole Miss. He threw for four scores yesterday and looked very good doing it. He's a classic drop back passer and he throws the ball very well. He has enough mobility to escape a pass rush. He's got three years to play with Ole Miss and I think they'll be extremely happy when he leaves.

....I hope Houston Nutt gets treated a little bit better at Ole Miss than he did at his alma mater. He actually steps into a pretty good situation. Ed Orgeron the former coach was a good recruiter, so Ole Miss might not have as bare a cupboard as many programs. And Nutt is a good enough coach to make that difference. He brought his Razorback set from Arkansas, it's the Rebel now, and will balance the run and pass out of it.

....Wake had a lot of trouble getting the offense established yesterday, but once they got the running game going, particularly with Pendergrass in the second half, it really made their spread go. Riley Skinner is a solid quarterback, but he needs a running game to help him.

....The week off should help Wake, and then they goto Florida State in two weeks. The 'Noles will be sort of an unknown at that point, as they play no one of consequence before than. But that game will do a lot to determine how things work out in the ACC this year.