IowaBear said:
"Bowl games are meaningless" words that have come straight from your mouth. Yet when it's convenient you'll use bowl games as bullet point
We can only judge teams based on the data points available. And as I've already pointed out, nonconference scheduling in this sport is an absolute joke, so there aren't nearly enough comparison points through those games.
I don't personally care about bowl games because I think the whole bowl system is stupid. But any team that lines up to play at any time deserves to be judged for the product it puts on the field.
Ole Miss has never been anything special talent-wise.
We've seen what a talent discrepancy looks like. Michigan State was more talented than us up front by a long shot in in 2014 (we still should have won, but they completely shut down our run game). Georgia was more talented than us in 2019 by a long shot (we still made a decent game of it, but we didn't stack up roster-wise). Ole Miss was literally incapable of blocking us on defense in 2021.
And the same thing happens almost every time they play Alabama -- and Georgia in the Kirby Smart era.
That program -- and Missouri, as well -- simply is not what you're trying to sell it as. It has never been.