From Coach Fedora’s twitter account:

Good News. DeAndre Brown was released today. They will start gearing up his workouts today.

This is not an April fools joke. Mississippi State fans can bid to be a football coach… in the Spring game, that is.

The winning bidder will become the head coach of the “White” team in the spring game, which will be televised live by CSS. As head coach, the lucky fan will participate in staff meetings as the teams are “drafted,” give the pregame speech and make the tough gameday decisions for their team.

Whoa whoa whoa… I thought Maroon was the only color that mattered. (Racists.)

[credit Joey Sparks]

Southern fans, vote now to get a custom cover for this years Athlon College Football preview.

…but we’re not jumping to conclusions.

Hating Tennessee gets more fun everyday with Lane Kiffin at the helm.

Accusing others of breaking rules they didn’t break.
Breaking rules, then apologizing before they get caught.
Lying about firing people. (Seriously, who would fire someone for being late to pick you up at the airport?)

Everyone in your office will be discussing the topic until lunch, so you might as well have an answer ready.

A collection of the Super Bowl ads is available here.

…and just because I’m perpetually 8-years-old.

Remember that 4-star player we talked about last week? The one about the Ole Miss recruit who picked Southern Miss… then Ole Miss played the “we don’t know who you’re talking about” game?

It continues…

Gone from the list is Kendrick Hardy, who by all accounts, waited too long to commit and ended up with only a committable offer from Southern Miss. He committed to USM last week.

Bless your hearts.

{Click image to enlarge.}

You don’t have to love Ole Miss to appreciate this Christmas card. Geuax Tigers!

To quote Deadspin: “I bet that it took these Mississippi fans all of, oh, three seconds to find an LSU fan drunk enough to pose with.”

Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora received a contract extension Monday — one lasting through 2012.

At 7-6 (a record equal to that of previous coach Jeff Bower in 2007) one would shrug their shoulders and wonder if the Eagles were prematurely celebrating, like their Mississippi State counterparts.

Once you look at the numbers (and take into consideration the effect it has had on recruiting) it’s easy to understand why everyone in H’burg is so excited.

Southern Miss broke 36 school records and tied six more during the year. The offense enjoyed its highest ever national ranking in total offense at No. 20 in the FBS, after tallying a school-best 5,636 yards as well as a school-best per game average of 433.5. The Golden Eagle defense did not surrender over 100 yards rushing in each of the final five games and forced 29 turnovers during the year which ranked tied for No. 10 in turnover margin in the FBS.

Click image to enlarge.

This is the best (worst) picture of the DeAndre Brown leg break that I’ve seen yet. Though, as one commenter pointed out, look at the concentration on his face. After breaking two leg bones, he’s still thinking about making the catch.

He’s supposed to make a full recovery and be ready by August.

{credit: Karen Howell}

After Southern Miss opted to forgo any non-Saturday football games in 2008 (e.g. mid-week college football in exchange for TV time) Dave Brown (VP of Programing) wants more black and gold in his life…

“We try to work around the NFL and the baseball playoffs, but we have certain dates that we know we want to fill and certain teams we know we want. From Conference USA, Southern Miss is a team we’d like to get on next year, and Boise State against Tulsa is obviously a game we’ll take a look at.”

Why I love Gerald McRath. The Southern Miss Jr. declared for the NFL draft…

“I’ve graduated with a degree in sports administration and business and now I want to work my butt off for the pros,” McRath said from his Georgia home.

{Another angle of “The Block” can be found here.}

I’ve probably spent less time on the computer over the last 12 days combined than I do on your average weekday, therefore I thought it was high time I addressed one of the most entertaining bowl games we’ll see this season: Southern Miss vs. Troy.

Needless to say I was fired up beyond belief. Not since the drive home from the 2003 TCU game has a post-game car ride ever been so sweet.

Southern Miss started the season 2-6, dropping 5-straight at one point during the season. To win a bowl game against a worthy opponent, and to finish with a winning record for the 15th year in a row (less than 10 NCAA D-I schools can boast of this). The bowl game itself was the perfect analogy for the 2008 season.

Troy had an excellent team this year, playing it close with Ohio and could’ve (should’ve) beaten LSU at home. Their 8-4 record going into the bowl game was proof positive.

The game was not without a downside. DeAndre Brown’s injury (see video below) was the break heard round the world. Though university physicians say that he’ll be back, running wind sprints by July 1st.

The quick Year In Review:

Terrible officiating.

Gold jerseys are debuted.

Lack of discipline.
Crying myself to sleep.

All.Gold.Uniforms.

Longest play ever.

Best bowl (kinda) ever.

New Orleans Bowl Highlight Reel

DeAndre Browns Leg Break

Troy’s Kicker Throwing a Temper Tantrum

I pick on Mississippi State enough, so I thought I’d say something nice (it being Christmastime and all) because I really, really like the new Mississippi State logo. I also love the fact that the AD said that the ‘maroon helmet is here to stay.’ Smart choice.

Alright. That’s all. State can go suck a log.

Chelsea and I fly out at 7 AM (bleh) Saturday morning, New Orleans bound with the New Orleans Bowl on Sunday night. (Southern Miss vs. Troy — the battle royale)

Can we expect to bump into any of you there? (I’m sure my question will produce some entertaining answers.)

New coach. New logo.

Mullen is the only color that matters!

I really like this guy…

Phew! Ranking all 34 bowls over at ESPN.com… the result?

33. R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Southern Mississippi vs. Troy
8:15 p.m., Dec. 21 (ESPN)
First-year Golden Eagles coach Larry Fedora kept intact former coach Jeff Bower’s streak by guiding his team to a bowl game for the seventh consecutive team. Southern Miss will have to beat Sun Belt champion Troy to keep intact another one of Bower’s streaks: six consecutive seasons with at least seven victories.