Speed Limit 18

      Well, our Rebels absolutely whipped those Tigers up and down the field all day Saturday. Hotty Toddy! I’m angry that Houston wouldn’t punch it in for another easy score to make it 38-13, because 31-13 doesn’t do this game justice. With Notre Dame’s loss to lowly Syracuse, the Cotton Bowl is all but locked up for the Rebels. Hotty damn Toddy!!

– Cassius B. Ware

… Go to Hell you Sons of Bitches!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

     Okay, so these were basically all the pictures I had left, so that is why there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to them. 

     Go to Hell, LSU, Go to Hell!

– Cassius B. Ware

      Today’s “Why I Hate LSU” is brought to you by Cassius B. Ware.

      Why do I hate LSU fans? Wow, that is a huge question that can’t possibly be packed into a concise and readable (much less family-friendly) article, but I will at least try to give it my best shot. Let’s try to organize this into four overarching categories:

1)   Classlessness – Much has been made of the barbarism of LSU fans here at The Limit over the past few days so I won’t delve into it too much. If you need any help figuring this one out and you aren’t planning on attending the game tomorrow (because if you were it would be readily apparent to you what I mean by “barbarism”), direct your attention to the posts below, particularly the pictorial essay. Dovetailing on those thoughts, I add the fact that on trips to Baton Rouge in the past I have endured all of the following: nasty ass goatees, liquor bottles flying at my head, an old man in the upper deck pouring his full cup of Coke down onto people a few rows over from me, learned countless new cuss words when I was an 8 year old boy, mayonnaise was spread all over my car, “Tiger Bait” (that is such a stupid thing to say), attempts to convince me that the stadium was on the complete opposite side of campus than it actually was, and countless attempts to start fist fights. A few questions to the people involved in that which I have mentioned above: do you look in the mirror and think that goatee looks good? Who in the hell carries mayonnaise around with them at football games? Old man, you need to realize that you are going to die soon and it is about time for you to realize that you will have to answer for crap like that… ahh, who cares, go to hell old man LSU fan, go to hell.

2)   Odor – They smell like corn dogs… every last one of them.

3)   Baton Rouge – When I imagine hell, Baton Rouge is what I see. Are there more offensive and upsetting colors to wrap a town in than purple and yellow (important to note that they are NOT gold… the Saints are gold… the are yellow… like mustard… for corndogs)? Where is the history and the culture? You are home to an allegedly great Southern university, why isn’t there anything remotely cool in Baton Rouge. If I want strip malls and interstate, I’ll go to Shreveport. What in the world does Baton Rouge have to offer? Nothing. It is all classless, without culture, and just generally unattractive. In a strange way, everything there is to be understood about LSU can be understood in a visit to Baton Rouge.

4)   Unfounded Arrogance – This one is particularly relevant given the slew of LSU fans who have taken to reading The Limit of late and sending me remarkably ignorant emails. If you are having a hard time reading my big words LSU fans, just read these: YOU ARE STUPID.  For some reason, LSU fans think they have some great sense of entitlement to speak condescendingly to Ole Miss fans. This phenomenon is a fascinating one to me and I think it is, for the most part, only a pattern in the younger LSU fans. Don’t get the wrong, the old LSU fans are utterly and completely depraved and awful but at least they realize that there is a degree of hateful respect between the two universities. Not so with the younger crowd. A classic example comes from Scott Samuelson who writes, “OLE MISS SUCKS, they’ll never win anything… have they ever won anything?” Here is a history lesson for young Scott:

• Ole Miss has won 3 national championships to LSU’s 7
• Ole Miss has won 6 SEC titles to LSU’s 10
• Ole Miss has won 19 bowl games to LSU’s 20.

So, yes, clearly LSU has a more illustrious football past than Ole Miss (that has never been at issue), but don’t act as if we are Vanderbilt or something. When you do that you only show your own ignorance and you stomp on one of the historically great rivalries in all of college football (in its heyday, this game had national title implications every single year). Now, Claude Balls (clever) would take issue with the stat about our national championships saying among other things, “They won the Mythic National Championship in 61.” Claude, I grant the point that Ole Miss has never won an AP National Championship, but there are a number of reasons for this. For example, in 1959 the Rebels did not win the AP national title, but did win a number of other national titles. Why is that you ask? Because, the AP released their polls prior to the bowl games. In the bowl games, Ole Miss avenged their one loss of the season with a 21-0 ass beating of LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Every poll that was released after the bowl games named the Rebels as champions. If that isn’t convincing enough, note that Jeff Sagarin ranks that team the third best team in the history of college football in the rankings he released in 1995. So, if they are the third best team in college football history it seems safe to say they earned recognition as national champions at least to some degree, right? The common argument you would think would follow this is that all of that was in the 50’s and 60’s, right? Right. So, it would seem likely that LSU has been the utterly dominant force of the two teams in the past 30 years and the rivalry has dwindled into irrelevancy, right? Wrong. Another history lesson for you young, ignorant LSU fans: if LSU were so superior to Ole Miss, then why do they have the exact same number of losing seasons since 1990 (seven a piece)? The ironic thing is that prior to 2004, the number was a quite lop-sided 7 losing seasons for LSU to 3 for Ole Miss! That doesn’t sound like a lop-sided rivalry to me… Even in the past five years, in the midst of the most illustrious stretch in LSU football history while Ole Miss was enduring its worst stretch in 30 years, the outcome of the games hasn’t been very indicative of this apparently huge divide in these two programs (three of the five games have been decided by 3 points). Anyway, what is my point? My point is that these coon ass Johnny-come-lately LSU fans think they have become a part of a football dynasty that is and always has been far superior to Ole Miss. If you were a freshman at LSU in 2004 and had never watched college football prior to that, then that makes sense, but the reality is that that notion is patently false. LSU has been good of late, but they did not freaking invent football. So, I hate (okay, I don’t hate it) bursting your arrogant bubble Scott Samuelson, but you don’t really have that much on me when it comes to college football fanhood. On the other hand, I’ll have my ACT score/beautiful wife/self-respect until the day I die. Go look in the mirror, shave the goatee, and try to come to grips with the pathetic reality that is your life as you hang  all of your self-worth on a football team that looks destined to be a mediocre 7-5.

Go to Hell LSU.

– Cassius B. Ware

 

 

    

      The time has come. Playing in what is, perhaps, our biggest game since our 2003 showdown with the Tigers, Ole Miss has a chance to reestablish itself as a legitimate part of the national college football scene. Make no mistake, this game is as big and exciting as everyone says it is and more.

      What is at stake? Okay, first of all, what is at stake is pride. The past two weeks here at The Limit have been devoted to communicating our hatred for LSU. That hatred is real. We hate them. They hate us. When we walk into that stadium on Saturday, they are going to tell us to go to hell, and we are going to tell them the exact same thing. Politeness has no place in Tiger Stadium on Saturday. But, on top of winning for the sake of beating people we hate, winning can do wonders for our program. If we win, we almost certainly go to the Cotton Bowl. If we lost, my money is on going to the Liberty Bowl. That is a big difference. A team in the Cotton Bowl is a major player in the world of college football. A team in the Liberty Bowl is a team that is just glad to have a winning record for a change. Everyone in America expected us to be the latter this season. A Cotton Bowl berth would turn a lot of heads and change a lot of perception very quickly. Furthermore, a win over LSU does wonders for recruiting. When you beat the last two national champions (LSU and Florida) in the same season, it is easy to convince high school football players that your program is the next big thing. High school football players are young and impressionable and like being a part of the next big thing, so beating LSU makes actually becoming the next big thing a lot easier. On top of that, we will have greatly distanced ourselves from Mississippi State and should be able to dominate them in recruiting over the next few years. State went to the Liberty Bowl last year. Now, they are right back where they belong. If we go to the Liberty Bowl, it will be easy to think that Ole Miss will follow the same path as MSU… but if we are in the Cotton Bowl, you become a lot harder to write off.

      So, how do we win? Well, there are a lot of things we are going to have to do to win this game. The matchup pits strengths against strengths and weaknesses against weaknesses. We are going to need to play a complete game to come away with a win this weekend. The most interesting matchup will be upfront, as two of the best defensive lines in the country goes against two exceptional offensive lines. Both teams run the football with authority and both teams are among the best in the country at stopping the run. I fully expect Peria Jerry, Greg Hardy, Marcus Tillman, and Kentrell Lockett to play out of their minds. These kids have been longing to beat LSU the whole time they’ve been at Ole Miss and right now they smell blood in the water. Charles Scott is what makes LSU’s offense go, but I think the Rebels will contain him. I don’t expect him to average 4 yards per carry, which is what the Rebs will need to accomplish to win this game. On the other side, I don’t expect Cordera Eason to average 4 yards per carry either. Their defensive front is not going to be anything like the one we shredded for 350 yards last week. Our offensive line is going to be very physical and we are going to try to run the ball down their throats. If we are pissed off enough, we might very well accomplish that, but I don’t expect it. If we rely on the run too much, we will lost this game. If Dexter can come in and break a long run for us at some point, that will be a huge plus, but I don’t expect us to be able to consistently run the football on them all day long. We can’t try to establish the run, like we did against Alabama, and end up getting three and outs over and over again. We need to be creative. This game is going to be won through the air.

     Our biggest weakness is our pass defense. Their biggest weakness is their quarterback. Whoever, of these two, sucks less on Saturday, will win. If our mediocre secondary can pick off two passes, we win. If Lee can play smart and take of the football, he can shred our secondary with their far superior WRs and they will win. What I think is our secret weapon is the defensive line. Lee makes bad decisions under pressure, and if our defensive line is playing with the reckless abandon that I expect them to, then he ought to be under pressure all day long. Mark my words, Greg Hardy will be responsible – one way or another – for at least one interception on Saturday. When that happens, if we can take advantage of it and turn it into points, I think we win the game. Their passing game will have success on Saturday. They actually throw for a lot of yards and a decent amount of TDs (they aren’t Auburn), but they also make mistakes. Making them pay for their mistake is where this game will be won. On offense for the Rebs, the game will be on Jevan Snead’s shoulders. I said at the beginning of the year that he will win us one game on his own and lose us one on his own. Saturday is his time to win us one on his own. LSU’s secondary is suspect and our running game is going to need the passing game to open things up for it and keep the defense honest. LSU is going to dare Snead to beat them. Here is the problem: when Snead feels like he needs to win the game on his own, he is awful, forces throws, and loses us the game; however, when he thinks he can let the running game so the work and his job is to manage the game, he is exceptional. Somehow he needs to win us this game without ever realizing he is doing so. Kent Austin needs to throw quick, conservative passes on first down all day long, letting Snead get into a rhythm and putting him in good third down situations throughout the afternoon. If Snead isn’t having to make the big play, he suddenly becomes free to actually make the big play… I know it sounds strange, but it is true.

     So, in summary, I think this game ultimately comes down to making Lee pay for his mistakes and smart play-calling by Coaches Nutt and Austin. If they can keep LSU off balance enough to run the football well while also allowing Snead to play a smart, safe game, we can and will beat them. This team is destined to win this game, and they can feel it. That is what will be driving our big fellas on the defensive line and offensive line. And, when that is working in their gut, I don’t think anything can stop them. Ladies and gentlemen, its time.

     Go to Hell LSU, Go to Hell!

     Ole Miss 24     Louisiana State 20

– Cassius B. Ware

 

     I just saw this picture and thought it needed to be posted. I’m speechless… And these people think they are better than us? Please.

     A few girls who I think are on the school newspaper at LSU decided to dress up like Alabama-Tusc. fans a few weeks ago to see exactly what it was like to go behind enemy lines in Death Valley. I’ve been in those shoes and it is an exhilarating experience to be harassed like that and then whip their ass come game time. As a matter of fact, it is going to be pretty sweet doing it in two days. That being said, for those of you who haven’t had that experience, you can find a good account here. I’ve been cussed at and had liquor bottles thrown at me when we scored touchdowns and all the good wholesome fun that there is to be had in Baton Rouge. But, then again, I am a guy, so I expect things like that. For them to treat two girls like this is pretty incredible. Everything that I said below about LSU being “barbaric” and wholly lacking in “social gentility” seems confirmed by this report. Read it judge for yourself.

– Cassius B. Ware

     This post begins a series leading up to Saturday in which various contributors from SpeedLimit18.com will offer their thoughts on why they, personally, hate Louisiana State University. Part One is brought to you by The Yammering Yoknapatawphan.

     In 1959 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Billy Cannon returned a punt for 89 yards to score LSU’s only touchdown against the #3 Ole Miss Rebels, enough to beat the theretofore undefeated Rebels, stealing away a consensus national championship from Johnny Vaught’s outstanding squad.  Cannon broke about 8 tackles and sprinted down the sideline, earning himself the Heisman trophy perhaps on that play alone.  The year before, he had led the Tigers to a 14-0 win over the #6 Rebels and on to a national championship.  I would argue that these two games are the root of my existence as a self-loathing Ole Miss fan.  Perhaps one could argue that the emergence of Bear Bryant at Alabama and Mississippi’s resistance to segregation were ultimately what undid Ole Miss as the SEC’s powerhouse.  Both of those points are valid and probably true.  However, the psychological damage of dropping both of those games has taken its toll on the generations of the Rebel Faithful who have come up since that time, even if they are unaware.

       Of course we cannot forget that the Rebels have found their occasions to make life miserable for LSU as well.  One of my most salient memories comes from watching the 1997 LSU game, where the Rebels shredded the #3 ranked Tigers (fresh off an SI cover and a win over #1 ranked Florida) en route to a shocking upset in Baton Rouge.  The following year, I can clearly recall Armegis Spearman’s face — painted like a ghost — hunting down LSU running backs all afternoon.  After Cory Peterson hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass in overtime, the Rebels managed to hold the Tigers in overtime to pull off another great Halloween win.  My brothers and I trick-or-treated in the Grove that night as the Mississippi autumn sun descended into the trees of red, yellow, and orange.

       Unfortunately, the past five years have been tainted with shame and heartbreak.  Two blowouts and three golden opportunities blown.  The images of Eli Manning picking apart the yellow britches in Baton Rouge seem almost as ancient as those grainy images of Billy Cannon darting down the field.  The memories of Armegis Spearman and scarfing down candy on the ride home to Jackson are relegated to the same genre of nostalgia associated with the first things of adolescence.  What still remains is the sense of longing and deep-seated disappointment for the victories that might have been.  Why could one man not take down Billy Cannon?  Why did Doug Buckles step on Eli’s foot?  In both instances, a reversal of fortunes would not have guaranteed a different outcome, but would have preserved more dignity than self-defeat. 

       For whatever reason, LSU brings out the best of us and the worst of us.  They are the opposite of us.  Yes, we both enjoy our bourbon.  The food in Baton Rouge on Saturdays is undeniably the best, and there is no question that the Grove is the greatest display of hospitality and class in all of college football if not all of sports.  As a child of home shared by a Mississippi man and a Louisiana woman, I will not go so far to say some of the things that have been said in the past.  However, having been raised within that dichotomy, it is undeniable that LSU and Ole Miss are diametrically opposed.  Ole Miss represents Southern culture in its most hierarchal form, with its rules and expectations never transcribed but engrained into the minds of children from birth by their mothers and grandmothers.  The University remains one of the smallest in the conference, and in doing so has maintained a sense that what we have is something special, something that we are truly a part of, rather than just being one of the masses of disconnected consumers of sports entertaiment.  Oxford, the home of William Faulkner and all of his Compsons, Snopeses, and Sartorises, maintains an aura (or “effluvium” as Faulkner would say) that forces you to think that perhaps those characters really are still real and that they transcend the town’s limits to reach something much more central to the heartbeat of humanity.  The Oxford square, with its restaurants, bars, and shops, offers the best pregame and postgame experience of any other town in the SEC.  That’s just a fact.  Perhaps, there is more to do in Nashville, but that has nothing to do with Vanderbilt and especially not the game.

       LSU on the other hand, has become another large state school.  The game day experience, the tailgating and parties are far more out of control.  They simply would not enjoy the quaintness and austerity of the Grove.  Baton Rouge is another larger metropolitan area, complete with plenty of concrete, strip-malls, high traffic, and no personality.  The idea of wearing one’s Sunday best to a football game, an idea foreign to most everyone outside of Mississippi and Alabama, has no appeal.  They would much rather wear a purple or gold t-shirt or an LSU jersey.  While there are plenty within the Rebel faithful who would rather that be the case at Vaught-Hemingway, I would argue that while I hate walking around in slacks and a button-down in the Mississippi September, I appreciate that it is a tradition that is a unique connection with those fans and alumni who have gone before us.

          The fact of the matter is that when these teams meet at Death Valley on Saturday, they will be representing two completely different communities, one that values a hospitable aristocracy and one that prefers more democratized debauchery.   My point is, that is not why I hate LSU.  It’s not because they are our opposite, but because they were the other ones on the field for our most epic self-defeats and failures.  They have made our wounds deeper.  Billy Cannon was even born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and perhaps even knew Olivia’s family before Cannon’s father took a job in Baton Rouge.  Perhaps if he had stayed in Philly he would have been one of the Rebel greats and #20 would be retired in Oxford instead of Baton Rouge.  That’s always been the case with us and LSU when it’s mattered most.  What could have been?  That’s why I hate LSU.  That’s why I hate Billy Cannon.  The streak has been severe.  But the tables have turned, and a new day has dawned for Ole Miss and the Rebel Faithful.  There is pain, yes, but there is hope.  It all starts on Saturday.

 

     Okay, so this one actually has nothing to do with LSU, but rather is simply a feature on Dustin Mouzon. Dustin drew the start last week, which was a good thing. The discouraging thing was that Mouzon drew the start over Cassius Vaughn. Why Marshay Green remains in the starting line-up is beyond me, but we are on our way to the Cotton Bowl so I can’t really complain. Anyway, this clip would be stupid if it were about a backup defensive back, so I’m glad he is starting again. Check it out:

              Okay, so here is my official stance on the “Magnolia Bowl.” I think it is stupid. There, I said it. I think this is a terrible idea. Why do we need a trophy to signify a rivalry? Pure, unadulterated hatred has sufficed for over half-a-century, why do we need a trophy now? It isn’t like the Egg Bowl. At least there we have an interesting backstory to explain why we now have a trophy. There was a big fight, chairs were broken WWF-style over people’s heads, and to prevent future violence they instituted a peaceful trophy ceremony. As it turned out, the football on the trophy looked more like an egg than a football, so it became the Egg Bowl. Here, there has been no violence and there has been no clever anecdote (unlike LSU-Alabama, which inevitably will now be called the Shotgun Bowl). On top of all that, why, of all things, is the trophy a magnolia? Yeah, I know it is the state flower of both Mississippi and Louisiana, but who cares! This game is not really about living close to each other. This game hasn’t always even been about football – there have been many years where one, or both, of these teams has been down and this game didn’t have any significant implications whatsoever. And, you damn sure better believe that this game has not ever been about the exclusive rights to the magnolia as our state flower.  This game has always been about one thing: hatred. We hate them because they are inbred, cajuns with no semblance of sophistication or social gentility. They hate us because we have all of those things. Ole Miss is a university that is socially and culturally superior to LSU, and they hate it. So, when they come to town, we are so offended by their barbaric nature that we tell them to go to Hell, and they, naturally overcome with envy, respond likewise. This game needs no trophy, and if there were to be one it should be a pair of pants that we trade back and forth, half khaki/half blue jean shorts. As a matter of fact, I am officially going to start lobbying for this: get the pants, move the game to Halloween every single year, and call it the Class Versus Coon-Ass Bowl. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

– Cassius B. Ware

 

     This first video just gets me pumped up. I’m glad we are headed back in this direction. A win Saturday would do a lot to achieve that end. Too, the first video should offer some context within which to watch video #2.

     #2 is a video from the worst day of my life. If you look somewhere around the 11th row of section F, you might be able to see my head literally explode from excitement. Between trying to put my head back together and watching the rest of the game, it was all down hill after this… but, I’ve never been happier in my life than I was in these few fine seconds.

     By the way, for those of you who are experiencing sensory overload with all of the pictures and videos of late, I apologize. Substantive writing will return to SpeedLimit18.com soon (hopefully later today), but there is just too much fun to be had with Google Images, YouTube, and LSU Hate Week, to let these resources remain idle. Bear with me and I hope you are enjoying the change of pace.

 

     Enjoy.

 

     Again, I am just going to let the images do the talking. While looking at these, compare with the classy scene you will see in the Grove on an average Saturday. Why do we hate LSU? Because they are inferior human beings than us. Here is proof:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Who are these people !?!?!?! Are they even really “people” or are they subhuman? I would tend toward the latter. And what is with the pimp motif? Yeah, guys, y’all are really working it… so much so that you attract all of the lovely ladies pictured above. 

     Dad, thank you for raising me as an Ole Miss fan.

– Cassius B. Ware