At a press conference held on Monday, JSU head football coach Jack Crowe said he felt that Ole Miss, who the Gamecocks will open up against this Saturday, is a football team that is “under esteemed.”

The game will reunite Crowe and Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt, who was hired by Crowe when he was head coach at Arkansas to be his wide receivers coach.

Crowe stated that there are two things you need to have the foundation of a good football team, a defensive line and a quarterback. With starting Gamecock quarterback Marques Ivory on one side, and defensive tackle Jamison Wadley flanking him on the other side, Crowe acknowledged that he felt JSU had both of these components.

However, he went on to say, “I think Ole Miss is probably going to end up with the best defensive line and the best quarterback in the SEC.”

Crowe fully expects former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to play on Saturday for the Rebels.

While the Gamecocks will certainly be the underdogs, Crowe says that that while there are mismatches he feels that there are places where the Gamecocks have the advantage.

Crowe fully expects to see Ole Miss run the ball at them. “Ole Miss and Alabama are two teams that will bring the running game at you and say, ’Hey, you’ve got to stop this.’

“We’re comfortable with that approach,” said Crowe. “We look for a physical football game up front.”

Last week I had the privilege of doing a feature story on JSU walk-on Shawn McAllister, a graduate of Pleasant Valley High School. Here is a little update; not only did Shawn make the 60-man traveling team but because of his hard work he also earned a scholarship.