Morning Wrap: Hugh Freeze Agrees To Ole Miss Contract Extension

((ht: espn.com))

If you are asking yourself why are we posting a story on a college football coach getting a contract extension, then you aren't paying attention to the Coaching Carousel season.

Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze got his extension Tuesday morning. Complete with a pay bump--up to $4 million a year per reports.

And it's newsworthy because several blogs/outlets reported that he was the leader for the University of Florida open coaching job.

Those reports were obviously incorrect.

Freeze has gotten results each year with the Rebels, this year the team has been in the Top 10 most of the season and just beat arch rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, knocking the Bulldogs out of playoff contention.

Freeze announced the contract on Twitter:

Very blessed to be at THE University of Miss & work for and with great people and fans! REBELNATION, say it with me, I AM AN OLE MISS REBEL
— Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) December 2, 2014

His boss, Athletic Director Ross Bjork confirmed it:

Proud that we have @CoachHughFreeze leading our program & young men for a long time to come. Agreement is in place & future is bright!
— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) December 2, 2014

Morning Roundup: LSU Takes Down Ole Miss in Bizarre Finish

Usually it's LSU that ends up with the bizarre and strange Les Miles-ish type finish. But not on Saturday night.

#24 LSU upset #3 Ole Miss after one of the strangest finishes this season.

The Tigers were up by 3, 10-7 with less than 2 minutes to go when Ole Miss got the ball. All Rebel QB Bo Wallace had to do was get the ball downfield far enough to get at least a field goal to get the tie and put the game in overtime.

And Wallace moved his team down the field, albeit with the help bad pass interference penalty against LSU. He got them close enough for a potential 42-yard kick to tie the game.

That's when the chaos ensued.

Ole Miss couldn't decide what to do with :09 left and got a delay of game penalty, which backed up the kick 5 yards.

Still makable for most SEC kickers. Gary Wunderlich, the kicker is fairly accurate, but not with a big leg. His long on the season 46.

Instead, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze decided to run another play, it was 3rd down. Wallace dropped back with instructions to either throw a quick hitter to get closer for Wunderlich or throw the ball into the stands.

Wallace tried to throw it to a double covered receiver in the end zone.

It was intercepted. Game over, LSU wins.

Perhaps the only offensive highlight of the game--Leonard Fournette ran for 113 yards for LSU, who also turned the ball over 4 times.

The win moves the Tigers to 7-2 overall, 3-2 in the SEC. Ole Miss drops to 7-1, 4-1 in the SEC.

Your highlights from ESPN:

ICYMI: The Dirty Dozen Gets Scrambled

((HT: ESPN/SEC on CBS/Fox Sports/Northwestern Football)

Did you ever have one of those days where absolutely everything you thought was an absolute lock came crashing down around your ankles and left you in such a state that your pants wouldn't fit anymore...???

Let's face it... all hell broke loose at the top of the rankings (whether you choose to look at Brother Phil's Dozen or some other source) and sent it all in the blender for the foreseeable future...

Examples...

Starting in Oxford... it was proven once again that Alabama has SERIOUS special teams issues in their loss to Ole Miss where Bo Wallace would keep the football and stash it someplace after the game was over as he tried to escape the throng that stormed the field.
Oklahoma decided that a road game against TCU in their new digs was a great idea... It wasn't...and plays like this one Gary Patterson pulled out of the back of the playbook help. What kind of flaws do USC have...??? There seems to be the one glaring one right now... Late game focus... it came into play as Arizona State came from behind to surprise them Some would think that Miss State's win over Texas A&M was an upset... The HQ doesn't think so as their suspect defense was exposed and Dak Prescott went off in a 48-31 win But here's one last one for you to think about as we head to Sunday... Northwestern hosted Wisconsin and they weren't good hosts- beating the Badgers 20-14 in a bit of a mucker it looks like...

The Nkemdiche Brothers File Counter Lawsuit

((ht: clarionledger.com))

So...the Nkemdiche's fire back.

On the heels of a $2 million lawsuit filed by an Ole Miss student who claims he was assaulted by Rebels football brothers Denzel and Robert Nkemdiche and 3 more of their teammates, the brothers have returned fire.

The two filed a counter suit in Lafayette County Circuit court claiming they've been defamed and the accuser, Matthew Baird can't prove any of the claims he is making.

We first told you about Mr. Baird filing his lawsuit back on February 19th.

You can read that story RIGHT HERE

We should also note that while Robert Nkemdiche hasn't gotten in trouble for this or anything else with Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze, older brother Denzel was suspended from the team for Spring Practice and the team's first game just last week, the suspension was due to what was termed an "Unrelated Incident" last month. (Feb. 2014)

If you'd like to read more about the Nkemdiche's counter suit, the original story in the Oxford Clarion-Ledger is RIGHT HERE

Right or wrong, this raises tons of questions Ole Miss football and the Nkemdiche brothers. Robert was THE top recruit for the 2013 season and brother Denzel an All-SEC performer. They may in fact be perfectly innocent here and victims of Mr. Baird looking for money.

But the general rule these days seems to be where there is smoke, there's fire. The guess is the actual story of Baird getting beaten up probably lies somewhere in between both versions of the events.

((Note--Baird claims he was attacked by the brothers and the other players while unconscious. And the Ole Miss police department says they didn't have any reason to pursue the investigation))

We'll see how this actually plays out--aside from the lawyers making some money that is.

Gatorade Fail: Ole Miss Linemen Can't Find Coach To Celebrate Win

Haha! This is hilarious.

Check out what happened at the end of Saturday nights Ole Miss upset of LSU. Two of the Rebels offensive linemen grabbed a cooler of Gatorade with the intent of giving their victorious coach Hugh Freeze, the traditional Gatorade bath.

Great idea...except for one problem, in the chaos, they couldn't find Freeze:

Ole Miss Runs Past Vanderbilt In A Thriller

What a wild game in Nashville Thursday night

Two teams, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, who are trying to take a seat at the big boy table in the SEC battled and each played like they really wanted it.

The Commodores were up 35-32 late in the fourth quarter and things looked great for Vandy.

With 1:30 left and Ole Miss will possession at their own 25 senior Jeff Scott got the ball and took it the distance.

“Bo gave me the ball, I started to bend the corner and I said `OK, I gotta get out of bounds,’ ” Scott said. “But that’s when I saw Donte (Moncrief) seal his man and set the corner. I just hit up the seam. I think I surprised them because last year teams looked at me as undersized and they thought I’d go out-of-bounds.”

Scott didn't run out-of-bounds.  What he did was break the hearts of 'Dore fans.

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze liked the play, loved the result.

"I knew that it would be a good run play," Freeze said. "Obviously, I didn't know it would go all the way to the house. But I thought it would be a good run play." 

"They blocked us in space and (Scott) is fast," Franklin said. 





Jeff Scott finished with 138 yards and an Rebel hero for the week.

OSG High: Nkemdiche Decommits from Clemson- Ole Miss and Bama On The Clock...???

((HT: ESPN))

From FOSG Kipp Adams, it appears the first step in the process of finding the nation's number one recruit a new home is in place...

Grayson (GA) High head coach Mickey Conn has confirmed to Adams, via modern technology, that Clemson is not the current number one place for Robert Nkemdiche's services...

"I'm not talking to anybody about anything," Robert's mother, Beverly Nkemdiche told Adams. "I'm not talking about recruiting anymore. I'm not talking about recruiting with anybody."

Robert Nkemdiche told Adams separately that he expects Ole Miss defensive backs coach Wesley McGriff and Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon to attend his regular-season game Friday night when the Rams play Brookwood.

Nkemdiche is also in line to take another "unofficial" visit to Ole Miss with his parents on Saturday. It will be his fourth trip to Ole Miss where his older brother, Denzel, is a linebacker for Hugh Freeze and one of the team's leading tacklers.

Nkemdiche committed to Clemson over the summer in a now-famous (or infamous) Twitter photo with fellow Grayson teammates Alvin Kamara and Wayne Gallman. QB Nick Schuessler, who helped lead the team to its state title last year transferred from Mississippi State to add to the Grayson connection...

Here's Grayson making an early statement on GPB playing in the Corky Kell Classic...
((HT: GPB Sports/GHSA))

The HQ is still of the belief that the decommit is just the beginning and that Ole Miss and Alabama are still chasing Nkemdiche's talents...

Ess-E-Cee Media Day 3: Saban, Richt, Dooley, Freeze...

It was the biggest four crowds for the larger names in the conference for Day 3 at the Wynfrey Hotel in suburban Birmingham...

Coach Saban wants to, pretty much, be anywhere else other than answering silly questions from Media Folk... but he gave a few funnies and nuggets otherwise...
((HT: WVTM-TV))


Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze will learn that, today, people were nice to him...
After today, however, the opposition will want to make a point that the new guy from Arkansas State, Lambuth, and the "Other Side" will be made an example of...
((HT: WVTM-TV))


Derek Dooley wants a little less talk and lot more action from his Volunteers in a pivotal year for him on campus...

Terry Brooks is standing on the top of the mountain to do his live shot...
((HT: WBIR-TV Knoxville))
And, finally, CMR got to share his funnies and talk about the bad idea that it was to bring Isaiah Crowell onto campus... ((HT: WVTM-TV))
The HQ thinks Jarvis Jones is a bad man and is looking forward to seeing how many people will want CMR's head after another bad start- especially if they lose to Missouri early on...

Putting A "Freeze" To Losing At Ole Miss

Hugh Freeze, the new head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels, may have one of the toughest jobs in college football. 

The talent level at Ole Miss has dipped following the end of the Houston Nutt era.  That isn’t good when you compete in the SEC West, perhaps the toughest in college football.

Rebel fans have put their trust in Freeze, a coach who is part of a trend on college football,  former high school coaches with creative offensive minds. 

Freeze explains his plan for success in this clip from Fox Sports South.