Gosh Almighty, Is Ole Miss Really No. 4?

The biggest, best, and most intriguing game of the college football weekend is tonight -- Ole Miss at South Carolina. There are storylines aplenty, and we'll dive in to them all in a moment, but first, let's consider just how big of a game this is for Houston Nutt's Ole Miss, the stealthy No. 4 team in the country.

Let me repeat that, Ole Miss is now the No. 4 team in the country! You're shocked, right?

That's because the Rebels have only played twice, an opener on Sunday -- followed by the always frustrating second week bye -- and then last week against Southeast Louisiana. Chances are you didn't notice either game. So this game represents Ole Miss's debut on the national stage. Will it wilt or will it prove that Ole Miss can be known for something more than women in sundresses and the civil rights movement?

Meanwhile, on the other sideline, Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks have played three games, two of them incredibly difficult road games. They won against North Carolina State by four and lost against Georgia by four. Win this game, and at 3-1, the Gamecocks' season can still be a bright and shining success. Lose? Well, lose, and the Liberty Bowl looms. Memphis is lovely in early January. Or not. Yep, the stakes are high, my friends. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

South Carolina fans have been waiting for this game. Like their long-dead hero, the Swamp Fox Francis Marion, South Carolinians have been laying in wait in the misty swamps of the Palmetto State. They've ironed the blue flag with the palmetto tree, they've washed the white visors so they'll sparkle in the bright lights of Williams-Brice Stadium, been sending double-entendre laden e-mails about the Cocks all day, hauled the oysters to the back porch and left them there to be picked up in a mad dash to the fairground. Hell, many of them are already drinking in Five Points to prepare for this game, this exact moment in the season. The oysters all boil down to this.

Game-

Cocks.

Meanwhile, nervous Rebel fans are staring at the clock. Believe it or not, this is one of the two toughest road games they'll face all year -- the other is at Auburn -- and all season long they've been terrified of this Thursday night spectacle, the game when their team finally gets introduced to the nation. I've already written about the preseason trepidation, but now they're shutting down the Magnolia State, battening the proverbial hatches, opening the lower drawer of the desk and mixing the whiskey in early with the coke. This isn't a game to be enjoyed in the Grove; those will come later. This is a game to survive, a game to make the hatefest at home against Alabama in two weeks the most magical Saturday in Oxford since any day William Faulkner strolled into town.

Hotty

Toddy
We've been critical of them in the past, but thanks a ton to ESPN for Thursday night football. Even more importantly, thank God that decent games are set to be played on Thursday night. Now let's dive into some storylines worth paying attention to tonight.

1. If this is Steve Spurrier's final year, which I thought it was before the season began, this is his last chance for a truly seismic victory in his career?

OK, OK, he gets Florida in Columbia in November, but if you really think he's winning that game your visor is on too tight. This is it, the game when Spurrier can prove he's still got that magic. That at least for a night his 29-23 overall record at South Carolina, and 15-18 mark in conference, doesn't matter.

Is Steve Spurrier a legend slinking off the football stage, or can he, football's own prince of the forward pass, stage one last stirring victory in the age of spread formation-football?

At the end of the night, will Columbia party like it's 1999?

2. Is Ole Miss's Jevan Snead up to the hype?

Last year at this time Snead was most famous for being Colt McCoy's back-up. Now he's projected as a top-10 NFL draft pick by many scouts. Against Memphis he played an awful first half, but since that time he's improved. Of course, the competition has worsened as well.

Tonight, Rebel fans get their first look at the quarterback they hope will lead them to their first SEC Championship game since divisional play began and their first SEC title since 1963. Or to put that in a historical context, their first title since the year John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Yeah, it's been a long time.

3. Remember that South Carolina won at Oxford last year.

Many incorrectly believe that after last season's victory over Florida, Ole Miss did not lose again. Wrong. The next week the Gamecocks rolled into town, withstood an early 14-3 deficit, and went on to win 31-24. For Rebels fans this was the first sign that Ole Miss couldn't withstand the hype -- the Rebels had been featured on Sports Illustrated after their Swamp victory.

So don't buy into the fact that these teams are impressed by rankings at all. South Carolina knows it can play with the Rebels; the Gamecocks proved it last year.

4. Ole Miss is only favored by three points.

If you ever needed a sign of how rugged and crazy Thursday night football can be, look no further than the line. If South Carolina wins, this game will be trumpeted as a huge upset. But it won't actually be one. These are two teams that are virtually even. The individual result might not suggest it, but if these two teams played 100 times, South Carolina would win at least 45 times.

South Carolina has won and lost by less than a touchdown already this season. I have a feeling that's going to happen again.

5. Stephen Garcia is still only a redshirt sophomore.

I know for every fan, especially South Carolina fans, it seems like he's been in school much longer. Partly that's because of the arrests, partly that's because Garcia's recruitment was such a public contest, but now that he's here, what is really capable of?

I don't think anyone knows, not even Steve Spurrier.

So far this season, Garcia's completion percentage is up about 10 points. Is he going to continue on this trajectory and make a vast leap forward or is he going to remain inconsistent? Tonight will go a long way towards answering this question.

6. Is Houston Nutt a top-tier coach in the SEC?



In 10 years at Arkansas, Nutt went 42-38 in the SEC. In his first season at Ole Miss, he racked up five wins and three losses. So after 11 seasons of SEC football, Houston Dale Nutt is now 47-41 all-time.

This is not the record of an elite SEC coach. Putting that record somewhat into context against a coaching peer, in just 8 full seasons and a few games, Mark Richt already has 48 career SEC wins against just 18 losses.

If Nutt is going to establish himself as a legitimate force in the SEC, he has to win this game. Has to. Nutt also has to answer the criticism that he can only coach when people expect lesser results for his team. In the past his best years have all been unexpected. That has to change.

Now.

7. Will either of these teams contend in the SEC?

It's probably too early to call this a must-win game for Ole Miss. Certainly, if the Rebels lose this game they'll drop off the national stage and have to deal with being called overrated. But they can still bounce back in two weeks and beat Alabama in Oxford. Since the Rebels also get LSU at home, if they win both of those games, there's a very good chance they'll win the SEC West. That's no matter what they do tonight.

But if South Carolina loses this game to fall to 2-2 on the season, it will be eliminated from SEC East contention after only two games. Still worse, in one four-game stretch the Gamecocks have to travel to Alabama, to Tennessee, and to Arkansas. When they finish that run, they still have Florida and Clemson left to play in Columbia.

Bottom line, crack open the oysters and pour some sweet tea vodka, it's game time.