Lucky Rebels lose to A&M due to two really bad calls

     Whenever I write anything about football, I always preface it by saying I'm not an avid fan, I just enjoy watching the Rebels play from time to time. So my opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt.
     I was at the Texas A&M game Saturday, and of course you, dear reader, likely already know what I'm going to say. But before I get there I'm share my partial good fortune.
     I usually attend games by virtue of tickets purchased on StubHub. Tickets for the lesser games can often be had for $5-10 (or even less) after shipping. That's for seats in Section M, which is good enough for me. But when the UTEP game rolled around a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to find a couple of seats in the Rebel Club advertised at a reasonable price. And what do you know but at that game our Rebel Club neighbor saw that we were "strangers" and told us he might have tickets for the A&M game. So I paid full price for a change and got some great tickets.
     The bad news was that the stadium water pump was broken so there was no water in the Rebel Club, nor in any of the upper levels, apparently. This meant the drink machines wouldn't work, and of course, no restrooms. They eventually brought in canned drinks and we took the elevator down to the second level to relieve ourselves. It was far colder than we thought it would be and we really weren't prepared, so it was nice to be able to retreat into the heated club.
     We weren't prepared for the weather at all. I set up a tent in the Grove Friday night at 9 p.m. Tent setup is a real sight to behold, as the Grove is completely empty at 9 p.m., and by 9:10 it is completely covered with tents. I put our tent at "half-mast," with the legs un-extended. As it turned out, we wouldn't see the tent again until after the game.

     When tailgate time came, the weather was so bad we decided to just join our friends for a "tailgate" around our dining room table. We didn't get wet. We didn't get muddy. We didn't get cold. We enjoyed a glass of wine. A good time was had by all.
     The Rebels played a good game Saturday. A&M made a remarkable number of errors, so the Gods of Chance were with us until the end. We got lucky and should have won. Two bad calls cost us the game.
     The first bad call was when Ole Miss sacked A&M's quarterback Manziel for a safety. There is no question but that it was a safety. But the officials apparently got confused, and instead of giving Ole Miss two points and possession brought the ball to the two yard line. It's two points numbskulls, not the two yard line! (I know they ruled it wasn't a safety. It was).
     And then was the decision by Ole Miss to try for the first down instead of punting in a fourth and inches situation with 3:02 left to play, Ole Miss leading 27-23, with the ball on the Ole Miss 39. Most people would say punt every time, but I can see the strategy in trying to keep the ball. What I say is, if you want to go for inches, don't use a shotgun formation! Don't throw the ball backwards three yards when you only need to advance it 10 inches!
     Did Steve Sloan and Ed Orgeron get together and call in that play? They must have.

     OTHER COMMENTS: I took a bathroom break during halftime, but Jinny said the Texas A&M marching band was phenomenal.