The Upside Downside: Ole Miss

woof.

That was... not ideal.  This week the Downside is a veritable tailgate buffet of choices, an embarrassment of the opposite of riches.  For the Upside it's important to think about the things that truly make one happy and make life worth living, which in this case isn't really football exactly.

#GBHTailgate

By far the best part of this weekend was the amazing turnout for the first ever IRL Good Bull Hunting Tailgate.  Thanks to benevolent overlord cuppycup for working so hard to make this happen.  Thanks to our awesome sponsors who provided so much great food, beverages, and other much needed support.  And most of all, thanks to everyone who showed up to hang out with us and make sure this didn't end up a "lol sad internet tailgate" situation.  I had a great time and hope to meet more members of our community in the future.

Attendance

Thank you to the #12thMan, @SEC and Texas Attendance record tonight #MISSvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/NBVvoJ0qoi

— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) October 12, 2014

That is an absolutely unbelievable number.  Bravo to the 12th man that showed up in force.  Sadly not all of the other 11 men had the same courtesy.

Chicken. Fried. Hot. Dog.

It's real. And it's fantastic. pic.twitter.com/XTYgtiUfQe

— Hypno-Toad (@HypnoToad03) October 12, 2014

If you are strong enough of spirit and pure enough of heart, you can locate this beauty at a few select locations in Kyle Field.  It is worth it.  A word of caution: there are surprisingly few restrooms between College Station and Austin, a fact which you do not want to discover under duress.

Linebacking? Linebackering? Linebackage.

Whatever it is, we don't have it.  The linebacker corps struggled to contain the outside run or simply execute dead-to-rights tackling.  A&M just allowed the beautiful Dr. Bo to look like Vince Young as he carved our defense up with some of the bumblin'-stumblin'est running you've ever seen.  Perhaps Coach Snyder could prepare our team to face Bo by having them stop a sack of potatoes from tumbling down a flight of stairs.

I have just been informed that a sack of potatoes has just been added to the Heisman watch list.

Please stop hooking them.

I am aware of just enough X's and O's to get me into trouble.  I am also aware that the hook or comeback route is a crucial part of our offense, particularly in the "stick draw".  And everyone knows that the WR bubble screen is the most indefensible play in modern football - right up there with the corner fade.  That being said: how many targets did we have that were more than 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage?  I have no figures to answer that, but it is not a large enough number to give opposing safeties any incentive to stay at home and not cheat up a level.  Until A&M starts to challenge secondaries down the field more expect to see this problem get worse as defenses watch film and prepare to blow up our WR behind the line of scrimmage.

Rankings

Not the fact that we are still in them, which is humorous and also the most damning evidence of SEC bias to date. No this is more about who else is in them. Pay close attention to the teams that are ranked above us and know true abiding sadness.