2018 Red Raider Football Opponent Hit With NCAA Sanctions
It's not a surprise but Ole Miss has been hit with a bevy of sanctions after numerous infractions were found in the last few years. Ole Miss and Texas Tech open the 2018 season on September 1st in a neutral site affair in Houston.
According to SBNation.com, here is an outline of the most potent sanctions:
- An additional bowl-ban year (2018).
- Because of that total two-year bowl ban, NCAA rules state Ole Miss players are now free to transfer elsewhere without sitting out a season.
- Probation running concurrently with current probation for a total of four years.
- Financial penalties.
- A total scholarship reduction of 13 over a period of years. That’s in addition to the 11 over four years that Ole Miss self-imposed, which already meant three or four fewer scholarship players per year.
- Every coach named in the NCAA’s investigation has received a show-cause (essentially an NCAA blackball for a period of time). That doesn’t include new head coach Matt Luke, who wasn’t named. Former assistant David Saunders’ show-cause runs for eight years. Former staffer Barney Farrar faces five.
The Ole Miss Rebels had similar success to the Red Raiders with a 6-6 record and only three conference record in the SEC. Going into 2018 though, you can expect a challenging recruiting class and several stars transferring to programs not going through sanctions and bowl bans.
I'm feeling much better about my Texas Tech beating Ole Miss by 14+ prediction I made a few weeks ago on The Rob Breaux Show.