BARNEStorming: Ole Miss Football and other Thoughts Around the College Football World

Each week, our Steve Barnes brings you his unique take on all things college football in his weekly edition of BARNEStorming.

OXFORD, Miss. — In recent years, Ole Miss has brought home several trophies from bowl games and rivalries. But the Rebels have another unofficial title that did not come with hardware: Ole Miss could claim the Peach State Championship.

Since 2022, the Rebs have beaten Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Mercer.

And notice the term was “beaten,” as opposed to “defeated.”

In 2022, Ole Miss whipped Georgia Tech 42-0 and again in 2023, 48-23. Also that season, the Rebels crushed Mercer 73-7. Georgia and Georgia Southern each went down in Oxford. The Bulldogs lost 28-10 and Southern took a 52-13 beating. Ole Miss got off to a good start this season, whipping Georgia State 63-7.

Saving you from scrambling  for a calculator, Ole Miss has beaten Georgia teams 306-60 during that span.

It is no wonder Kennesaw State has not called Keith Carter.

GROUP OF FIVE PERIL

In this age of college football with the current playoff system, for a Group of Five team to make the field, that team has to be perfect or very near it. To put it in southern parlance, that team has to be plum good, not pert near.

Two teams that were in the conversation to make the playoffs are already out of the running. Boise State fell to South Florida in its opener, 34-7. The Broncos play at Notre Dame Oct. 4 and to get back into the playoff conversation, they would have to blow out the Irish in South Bend. Even with an improbable win there, BSU still lost to another Group of Five team by 27 points.

Army should certainly be out of the running for a playoff berth. The Black Knights took a loss in the opener to FCS Tarleton State. The game went into double overtime, but it still goes in the loss column. The committee will not take a team that lost to an FCS opponent no matter how good the Texans are.

Army goes to Kansas State this week, but even a win there will not offset the Tarleton State loss.

The teams that are still standing are all in the American Conference since Louisiana from the Sun Belt lost to Rice. Memphis, Navy and Tulane are in the best position early in the season.

SPEAKING OF TARLETON STATE

Do not be shocked if the Texans are the next team to make the jump from the FCS to the FBS.

Tarleton State has three attractive qualities that will have the attention of the Group of Five conferences and even perhaps the Big XII.

First, TSU has a quality athletic program. Next, the school has money as it is located in the middle of Texas oil country. Finally, it is in the Dallas-Fort Worth media market.

The media market might be the most important aspect of the FBS wanting Tarleton State.

Does anyone believe when Florida Atlantic was scooped up by the American Conference and Conference USA swiped Florida International it was because those two have athletic prowess? No. It is because both of those schools are in the Miami media market.

Same with the Big Ten. Rutgers (New York market) and Maryland (Baltimore/Washington D.C. markets) bring television ratings in areas where the conference had no footprints.

SPEAKING OF TULANE

The Green Wave opened their season by stuffing Northwestern in a school locker. Tulane beat up on the Wildcats 23-3 after feeling it bad been disrespected by the Big Ten team.

Saturday was the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina destroying a good chunk of New Orleans. The Green Wave’s first game back after the storm featured the team in white jerseys. The team requested Northwestern allow them to wear white again to honor the victims of the storm, despite being the home team. Northwestern denied that request.

That brings us the quote of the week from Tulane coach Jon Sumrall.

“When you disrespect the city of New Orleans, you’re going to run into it,” Sumrall said. “I’m not trying to be a jerk, but don’t disrespect the city of New Orleans.”

Well said, coach.

KARMA IS A FEMALE PUPPY

Nico Iamaleava found that out Saturday. The quarterback left Tennessee for UCLA for what seems to have been a bigger payday.

After his debut with the Bruins, we hope the money was worth what he got against Utah.

He completed just 11 passes for 136 yards, threw an interception and was sacked four times in the 43-10 loss to the Utes.

Iamaleava also discovered the game day feeling is not the same in Los Angeles as it is in Knoxville. Only 35,032 fans showed up at the Rose Bowl.

That is not like a Neyland Stadium crowd.

THE COOLEST STORY OF THE WEEK

Prior to the Ole Miss-Georgia State game Saturday, a bit of crime occurred during pregame warmups.

Georgia State defensive back Tyler Scott decided he did not like the decorative chain Ole Miss defensive lineman Da’Shawn Womack was wearing pregame. So Scott ripped off the piece of jewelry from around Womack’s neck, then taunted him with it, tossed it into the stands and ran to the Panthers’ locker room. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin called the situation “wild.”

Womack was approached by law enforcement to inquire about him pressing charges. The defensive end declined saying he would rather let the guy play.

Womack ended up with six tackles in the game, five of them solo stops, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry.

Scott did not record a single statistic.

COOL NAME OF THE WEEK

We are going with Texas Christian receiver Joseph Manjack IV.

Even cooler than the name itself, the kid’s great grandfather, grandfather and father also sported the Manjack name.

In the TCU decisive win over North Carolina, Manjack had a pair of catches for 24 yards.

To put that another way: Man, jack, you have some game.