Wiedmer: Houston Nutt should appeal loss to Jax State

If I were Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt, I'd appeal that 49-48 Saturday loss to FCS subdivision member Jacksonville State.

I'm not sure on what grounds, but I'm also still not sure why Nutt and the Rebels won their appeal for quarterback Jeremiah Masoli's immediate eligibility as a transfer from Oregon just three days after the NCAA ruled him ineligible.

If it worked against all odds once, Nutt should probably try again. Or maybe he should spend all week trying to figure out how the Gamecocks scored five touchdowns in their final six possessions against Ole Miss.

Whatever he does, he probably shouldn't schedule in-state FCS member Jackson State in the near future, just in case the fan base doesn't realize the name difference and breaks out in hives over the prospect of reliving the nightmare of Sept. 4, 2010.

Instead, Nutt should hope that Jax State coach Jack Crowe was right when he told ESPN.com, "I don't believe you could repeat these circumstances again in 100 years."

By then - if Nutt still wants revenge - he'll surely need to appeal to someone at the Pearly Gate.

Yet if Ole Miss was the only SEC school to unexpectedly lose on Saturday - Vanderbilt's narrow 23-21 Brainiac Bowl loss to visiting Northwestern was a toss-up at worst - Nutt probably isn't the only SEC coach currently being coldly critiqued by his fan base.

The ears of LSU coach Les Miles are almost certainly burning after the Bayou Bengals struggled to close out their game against suspension-strapped North Carolina in the Georgia Dome.

Miles may be one of only four SEC coaches to have won a Division I national championship, but he seems to be the least beloved by his boosters among the kingly quartet of South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier (who won his at Florida), Florida's Urban Meyer and Alabama's Nick Saban.

Yes, the Tigers won and they always seem to have national championship caliber talent, but their victories so often seem to take on the ease of a root canal. Then again, maybe it's merely defensive coordinator John Chavis, whose infamous "Mustang" prevent defense nearly prevented so many Big Orange triumphs during his UT tenure.

As for the rest of the league, Auburn's 56 points against Arkansas State proves yet again that AU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn should be on every disgruntled athletic director's wish list by the end of this season.

Kentucky winning a fourth straight game against Louisville proves that the UK brass made the right move in promoting Joker Phillips when Rich Brooks retired and South Carolina's Thursday romp over Southern Miss strongly hints that this may be Spurrier's best team since his Florida days.

Then there's Tennessee, which probably wishes it could play UT-Martin every week this season, but must now face Oregon and Florida in consecutive weeks. Given his legal background, new Vols coach Derek Dooley may want to follow Nutt into appeals court to see about overturning his schedule.

Of course, no one's schedule now appears tougher than our own UT-Chattanooga Mocs, who must now face the Ole (Dis)Missers after losing a 42-41 spirit-crusher to Appalachian State.

Much as Jax State went for two against the Rebels because Crowe didn't think his team could stop Ole Miss in a third overtime, UTC coach Russ Huesman used the same logic to go for two against the Mountaineers.

Unfortunately for the Mocs, Huesman's gamble failed while Crowe's succeeded.

But the Jax State coach's words after the Ole Miss game should also give the Mocs hope heading into their first road game against the Gamecocks. Said Crowe - who was fired at Arkansas in 1992 after losing to I-AA The Citadel - "If you stay in this long enough, it goes both ways."

May UTC prove him right sooner than later.

E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfrepress.com

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