REACTION: Ole Miss 2024 Schedule is perfect for Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels

Ole Miss received Manna From Heaven in terms of the 2024 SEC football opponents release the other night we will explain why we will explain why this has us so so excited you are locked on Ole Miss your daily podcast on the Ole Miss Rebels part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks for making the lockdown Ole Miss podcast your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube We're part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hi I'm Stephen Willis and this is the locked on Ole Miss podcast Eve Thursday night was it Thursday night or was it Wednesday night sorry Wednesday night the SEC revealed its 2024 opponents for every team and some teams got brutal absolutely terrible schedules but Ole Miss almost got the best case scenario for what they were hoping for now if you look at what I thought the best case was it was avoiding Georgia Alabama Texas um yeah Georgia Alabama Texas and Tennessee from the tier two area as well as keeping some of our permanent Rivals the LSU game the Mississippi State game the Arkansas game as well so when you looked at the combinations that could pop up there was an opportunity for Ole Miss to have an absolutely brutal schedule and honestly there's going to be people that call this a brutal schedule and next July because that's just what they do but this one you avoid Texas you avoid Alabama you avoid Tennessee you're going to have to face Georgia and LSU but you were going to have to face probably one of those in regardless and this sets Ole Miss up for a very good run in 2024. we've talked to you repeatedly that we were all building towards 2024. the the 2024 was imported for the Ole Miss football season and the one thing that Ole Miss couldn't control that made people a little bit nervous was this schedule release this is why it was such a big deal is because this was completely out of Ole Miss's control now if Ole Miss would have gotten Georgia Texas Alabama and Tennessee all of a sudden you're like whoa you gotta get the worst case scenario the playoff all of a sudden sudden isn't an option but if you look at the opponents that Ole Miss got this year they ended up with LSU Oklahoma Texas A M and Florida out of the tier one and they got South Carolina Kentucky um Mississippi State and Arkansas out of tier two and that's that's a nice mix that game you can get nine wins from that game now it's important you can't get nine games and go to the playoff if you lose to Wake Forest you have to win that game that is the must win on the schedule forget all of the SEC games if you drop that game in Winston-Salem the playoff probably isn't available to you at this point but this schedule you can get you would rather have Oklahoma than Texas because they're six and seven football team and they went to the Cheez-It ball last year and lost the Florida State good team they're going to turn around they're going to recruit well but you would rather take a team that is further down on the rebuild scale than Texas who beat Oklahoma last year 49 to nothing so you do not want Texas at this point you might next year you know in 2025 you might be okay with that but 2024 you're perfectly fine with Oklahoma Florida same situation as Oklahoma they're down on the rebuild in 2023 they're not projected to even go to a bowl game that is a road game you would take even though they're a tier one type team that is normally pretty good you catching them at the right time now with the transfer portal all of this could change much much more rapidly than it could before but it is a situation that you have to keep in mind those are two tier one teams that you're happy to get LSU good they're going to be fine Georgia is the best team in the com country so those are your tier one teams going into 2024. if you look at your tier 2 teams all of those games are winnable and all of those games are always winnable you've got Kentucky and Arkansas um two teams that struggle to win in Oxford you get one in Oxford you go to Fayetteville Ole Miss has trouble winning in Fayetteville I will admit that they have trouble winning in Fayetteville but they're going to get over that hump before too long it's just going to happen KJ Jefferson graduating they're going to graduate some players Sam Pittman might be on the hot seat if he doesn't do well in 2023 we will see how that goes Mississippi State man at the end of what Mississippi state has to go through in 2024 that that one could be just a blessing honestly that that could be something worth paying attention to we'll explain to that a little bit later on and at South Carolina difficult game Israel troop who um is a co-host of my co-host um on SEC after dark who played at Georgia said his least favorite place to play was Columbia South Carolina and we all remember I think it was the last time Ole Miss went to Columbia South Carolina wasn't in 2009 was the last time we went there surely we've played there since then sure either way but that 2019 or they were they they were able to win that game um South Carolina was as well South Carolina's come to Oxford a couple of times a few times honestly they were here in 18 20 and they'll be back in 24 or we'll play them again in 24. so it's going to be interesting South Carolina game is a uniquely fun game I'm kind of I'm kind of like that one on the schedule but we will see it is going to be a really really fun thing for Ole Miss moving forward there's not really a whole lot you can say but if you were looking for an excuse that a playoff run could not happen in 2024 you're going to have to find something different than the schedule because let's just be honest about this you when you look at the schedule if Ole Miss goes 10-2 they're in the playoffs they go nine and three they're in the playoff as long as they don't lose to um Wake Forest okay so the Georgia game and the LSU game does not really matter it's the other games that are going to be important tons of games that Ole Miss could win or Ole Miss can lose on that schedule so if we're building towards 2024 and I'm I've claimed for months and my everydayers can attest to this that this team has been building towards 2024. this schedule is perfect for that build like I said the schedule was the one thing that Ole Miss could not control going into the 2024 football schedule season it could have been something to wear a playoff run and anything was just not an option that's what that playoff or bust meant on the thumbnail you could add a schedule that was completely easy that you can win 10 or 11 games and you could have one that is absolutely brutal and the worst schedule in the history of Ole Miss football was absolutely possible and that just could bust your season right there I am extremely extremely excited about this football schedule for Ole Miss football and what it could mean Ole Miss in 2023 they're trying to maximize it they're trying to do what they need to do to be what they need to be essentially to be a competitive team for the playoff in 2024 that 12-team playoff it should be circled underlined whatever you need to do and do that because you have the talent to get there these have been the most talented teams the past couple of years that have happened in my lifetime and one of those teams went to a sugar bowl and won 10 games if you do exactly what they did in 2021 you're in the playoffs the goal every single year should be get to the playoff anyway when we come back we're going to talk about Oklahoma is going to visit the Grove for the first time um in 2024 I'm pretty excited about that and we'll also kind of talk about that Mississippi Road slate and the Alabama schedule that is um popping around and it just it feels punitive I'm going to drop a conspiracy theory on you as well but first I do want to let you know that Today's Show is um brought to you by bird dogs you know bird dog shorts make you look good they have like 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lockdown college and enter promo code locked on college for a free Yeti style tumbler with your order that is birddogs.com lockdown college for a free Yeti style tumbler you want to want to take your bird dogs off we promise you lockdown's NBA Mock Draft special is here and it's bigger than ever follow along with the entire first round and a six episode ultimate mock draft experience only locked on can deliver all episodes are available now on lockdown NBA big board on YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcast all right the schedule came out honestly good shape I'm extremely excited about it and we did a reaction show live stream last night with all the locked on hosts well a good number of them I think there's 12 or 13 in there from the SEC this kind of went back and just kind of did a quick thing about the schedule that they've got and games that you're circled and stuff like that basically you don't have time to do a full interview or else we'd have been there four hours but we were able to get out of there in like 40 minutes which is the credit for Chris to Chris Gordy who is kind of um traffic directing as this went on because as the schedule was being released we were already on air so it was like bang bang bang bang so we we had a good time with that I mean we're up heck over 500 views now and my stream was released on my channel specifically as well got um near 60 in 20 minutes or something like that so thank you very much for tuning in for that we're gonna think of different ways to do that maybe have another one of those right before the football season I want to do a preview show that has like released Friday night um to where all the locked on hosts get in there and talk about their specific game just have 30 minutes to an hour of that I think people would really enjoy that and you would get local perspectives that are involved with the team um specifically um get their perspective of what's going on I think that'd be fantastic as well anyway tonight we did not forget about Tom vanderford he will be on tonight as well we just wanted to talk about Damon Williams in the third segment who's out at the Elite 11 finals and talk about how exactly he is doing as well um pretty pretty fired up about that um he had he had a decent day not the best he wasn't um he wasn't known whatever a top performer of day one but you know there's 20 something guys out there and they're all all really good players so Oklahoma though will visit the Grove in Oxford at some point during the 2024 season and this is going to have Oklahoma fans excited this is going to have um ole Miss's fans excited because we do like showing off our toys to somebody that's never seen them before and real similar to similarly to what Texas saw in 2012 I expect Oklahoma to see something similar to that in 2024. and that should be a fun game like I said you you they're the tier one team that you want to start with with Florida these these um if you could have thrown Auburn in there is the only way this would have been better if you could have changed Georgia to for Auburn is the only way the tier one part of the schedule would have been better and if you'd change Kentucky for Vanderbilt is the only way tier two would have been better and people are going to come up with different reasons to kind of poo-poo what I'm saying and fine show your work tell me why um because statistically this could have been a absolute bear for Ole Miss but Oklahoma coming to the Grove you get the feeling uh this was a welcome to the conference present for for the for the Oklahoma Sooners from the Southeastern Conference and they get to come do that they have a road game at Tiger Stadium they they they have a couple of bucket list items in year one especially since like Texas has already been to the Grove and they've been there in like 12 years 12 years ago they came to The Grove so they get another responsibility another thing as well that they they can check off but when you look at the schedule that Ole Miss got as well it's not going to happen because they're going to make an all new schedule whenever they start potentially the nine game schedule um in 2025 but you have the ability to wear if it is the opposite of the schedule for 2025 it's not horrible you Jews Georgie you'd pick up Alabama you can lose Oklahoma you'd pick up Texas things like that so really interesting I'm really excited about Ole Miss football moving forward also before we get out of here I want to talk about a conspiracy theory that I have and this I don't know if it's true I haven't heard anything about it this is just something when I saw it this is where my mind immediately went okay Mississippi State absolutely is getting punished for something if you look at their Road slate of at Georgia Texas at Tennessee and at Ole Miss they are absolutely getting punished now the adult Miss probably isn't in the equation but it was just added on because the Egg Bowl had to have happened but at Texas at Tennessee and at Georgia that feels punitive whenever you look at their home schedule it's okay it's okay but they have four or five losses just immediately baked into their schedule before anything can possibly go wrong Alabama is the other team in the Southeastern Conference they got an unbelievably brutal schedule LSU Georgia um oh at Oklahoma Tennessee they that worst case scenario that I was talking about for Ole Miss they almost got it the only difference is they're Alabama and people are going ahead and set that bar at a different location so here's my conspiracy theory the southeast southeastern conference is punishing Mississippi State and Alabama through the schedule this is a message being sent by the Southeastern Conference to Alabama and Mississippi State why well those are the two schools that were whipping up votes to ruin the nine-game conference schedule the SEC just thought they had the SEC did all this work on this schedule and was ready to go and all of a sudden they whipped up enough votes you had Alabama and Mississippi State ring leading you had Mississippi State talking to the lower tiers tier two schools yet Alabama trying to get Victors in the tier one variety and what you have is this that we have where they just kick the can down the road and they played an eight-game schedule but in that eight-game schedule those two schools got punished Alabama does not play Ole Miss or Mississippi State they have just a unique schedule and I guess you throw Vanderbilt a road game at Vanderbilt is like hey here you go this is just we're going to throw you a bone a little bit but it that's that's a crazy hard schedule you can it's a schedule you can look at then you can see Nick Saban winning eight games in that schedule it's ridiculous uh Mississippi state that that road schedule I'm telling you is punitive and that's something that Mississippi state has to honestly deal with and get ready for the 2025 vote because before that get schedule is even getting played they're going to talk about the 2025 season to where I imagine it'll be an eight-game conference schedule they're talking about they want the 2044 schedule to come out because of what's going to happen I don't know if they're going to be able to do that and I I just don't know if they're going to be able to do that but yeah Mississippi State and Alabama I do think got punished anyway coming up in the last segment of today's show Demond Williams is at the Elite 11 finals we'll tell you how day one went for the young signal caller stick around all right thanks for making the locked on Ole Miss podcast your first listen every day we're available on all platforms including YouTube locked on podcast Network we're a proud member of it and it is your team every day all right Damon Williams is out in California at the Elite 11 finals and we've been on this for weeks at this point we're we're big fans of demand and we think he can be very special now one thing that we've told everybody is these type environments are not meant for Demond Williams his skill set is not the type person that would overly Excel in this environment now that is an excuse for him that that's just the truth that's not a place where an 11 100 guy is going to an effective defense an effective coverage and that's going to affect exactly how you perform but we did mention that a camp like this is a perfect place for Damon Williams to refine his passing ability and that sounds like exactly what he has done on three and Zach Berry had this article out heck um I think it was Friday morning we talked about day one that Demond Williams um really showed out showed off his arm strength there's people obviously in attendance of it Demond had a good day now he was not in the top performers of the day which Elite 11 is known for putting out but he did have a really good day this is a quarterback that is going to be a sponge over the next couple of days he is going to take this in he is going to learn how to play quarterback at a higher level than he has to at Basha High School before he gets to Ole Miss he is going to be put himself into a position to where he's kind of good to go he's ready to ready for that workload so to speak in an Elite 11 environment this Camp is a perfect opportunity for demand he's going to be throwing off platform they're basically going to be doing patterns even though that doesn't necessarily happen for drop back you scramble by where like you're avoiding a defensive end you kind of go out six steps and you hit a ride receiver heading on an out route that that's the type stuff it's very scripted play as to where you can see exactly how he moves in the pocket how quickly he gets his head up can he make an accurate throw on the run and where's his ball placement and however he does on that it's going to be charted where it's scored like hey he gets an eight on that out of 10. I don't know the exact scoring system but they're going to add it up at the end and the person that has the highest number on all of his throws is going to be a top performer of the weekend that that's just the way this Camp goes now the counselors in this Camp it's important the instruction that he gets this is kind of like a graduate level class or may think of it in the AP High School quarterbacking class that's what the Elite 11 is and that's the reason that people are so excited that he went to this now Dylan raiola is the other person from Arizona that is there he's the number one player in the country he's a Georgia commit he's a five-star plus I think the first day he was like eight out of the top 10 performers at the elite 11. so it's one of those things where it's going to go up and down up and down and we'll see exactly how that goes we'll talk about it on Monday a Monday's show we'll talk about how demand did and where he finished and any stories that we might have seen about Damon Williams like I said really really excited I do hope everybody is having a fantastic friday remember Tom vanderford will be here he is a Friday night interview Saturday morning Brian Smith we're going to talk to Tim Thomas um and put him on Saturday night and Karen McCutchen if technology doesn't buy this we'll be around as well so we have a lot of good stuff in store for everybody it's it's the off season it's the worst month in college football of the year that month before media days is absolutely miserable after media days you've got story lines again to get you through fall Camp once fall Camp starts it gets easy Once game starts it gets really easy so do me a favor okay tell friend about the show have them subscribe get ready because as this moves on this is going to grow and grow and grow as this moves forward and honestly I want people to be a part of it as early as possible this this podcast is growing absolutely like a weed at this moment um we're on Pace to go over 4 000 I think by football season we are once football season starts it's going to take off the goal is I don't know I don't know what I said it was either six or seven thousand but that is my goal for football season with Chris beard we will not have this situation where people kind of lost interest in January and February and and then baseball tanked as well losing March so six month period of us trying to just be just crap scratch and call to get people involved um that may not be the case so we're getting ready to really take off as well um we're going to have Jason Simmons in the next couple weeks talking about his nil sock program with dead soxie um we're going to have some interesting guests the last three weeks or so we've had cochio and two players currently on the roster so we're going to grow it as our reach is being being able to grow so we do want everybody to have fun watching this we do not want you to take um Sports crazy seriously we're not we're not down for a harvey Updike type situation but we want you to have fun we want you to understand both sides of situations because I rarely just say something is going to happen I generally say either this or this could happen but it's probably here so we'll see this this year is going to be a lot of fun we're working on some stuff with locked on um real similar to the schedule release reaction that we held last night and pretty fantastic but I did want to come onto the lockdown Ole Miss podcast and talk directly about the schedule release so more of my thoughts were available and we have like a weekend weekend to marinate on it so it should be pretty good but remember when other people aren't doing stuff we're going to try and do Ole Miss every day because that's our thing Ole Miss every day because that matters that's what people want doesn't matter if there's nothing happening at the moment find something to talk about because people want to talk about Oma Sports so that's what we want to do anyway Tom vanderford is going to be on the show um tonight Brian Smith tomorrow Kara McCutchen's plan for Sunday we're going to try and get Tim Thomas on Saturday night talking about Chris Beard's Basketball Hall so pretty good stuff anyway thanks for making me locked on Ole Miss podcast your first listen every day every day is tomorrow on the show Brian Smith going to be talking about offensive lineman in the state of Mississippi should be pretty interesting indeed anyway we'll see you tomorrow take care [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]