Look at the above picture. Warren Norman's diving into the end zone in overtime to give the Commodores their first lead of the game — seven precious points, which the cadets would have had a tough time matching against the Vandy defense.
Wait! Look more closely. It's the ghost of Doc Blanchard, whose number had been retired about 90 minutes earlier. See him? No. 35? He's standing at attention. And he's creating an intergalactic force field around the end zone. And yes, the ball has popped into the air and in two seconds it will have rolled out of the back of the end zone for a touchback to set up Army's victory field goal.
I'm not going to analyze this game anymore. It was freaking Armed Forces Day at West Point. You take away any one of about 15 wacky plays and judgment calls and the Commodores win by a couple of touchdowns.
Sure, we had questionable playcalling and woeful offensive line play and 12 penalties for 99 yards and were minus 2 in turnover margin. We also had superior talent.
You play that game 10 more times and we win at least nine of them.
Which brings me to last year's Ole Miss game. The Rebels had far superior talent, including eventual first-round draft picks at left tackle and defensive tackle and way better offensive skill players and one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. They moved the ball up and down the field but lost the turnover battle and the red zone scoring battle and the battle for fewest penalties.
And so the Rebels lost. The fans were livid. Houston Nutt was a chump, etc. And look what happened the next week. Ole Miss beat Florida and went on to have a fantastic season.
I'm not suggesting you buy Cotton Bowl tickets, or make any bowl plans. But I think we're going to turn this around. We're going to be competitive here on out. How, I have no idea. But I believe it will happen.
