At one point late in New Orleans' 52-3 annihilation by an 0-4 Packers team last Sunday, the Saints radio play-by-play man said "The Saints have been totally inept in every conceivable facet of the game today."  Truer words have not been spoken.

Being a Saints fan has very few tangible benefits.  This is obvious, I know, but it bears repeating.  You know at the beginning of every season that bad things are going to happen to your team.  But getting beat 52-3 by the Packers is just absurd.  Jim Haslett and Aaron Brooks must have mortgaged their houses and bet on Green Bay.  How else do you only score three points on the Packers?  One way to accomplish that is to have your backup quarterback throw a 95-yard pick six, which Todd Bouman did late in the game.  

"That's the first time I've ever played in a game where we scored 50 points," Brett Favre said. "Who would have guessed it? We're 0-4, struggling, more guys hurt and even lose guys during the course of the game."

To make matters worse, the Saints laid this egg against the Packers B-team.  Green Bay was missing Javon Walker, Ahman Green, Bubba Franks and center Mike Flanagan, and also had both tackles playing on gimpy left legs.  Jim Haslett's on-again, off-again relationship with the hot seat may be warming up again.

Ole Miss Wins!
Now I know what Florida State fans felt like when The Citadel took them into the second half down only 13-10 earlier this season.  Ole Miss sleepwalked to a 3-0 halftime lead on The Citadel last week before taking care of business in the third quarter for a 27-7 win.  All in all, it was not the most inspiring of victories.  At this point in the season, though, a win is a win for the 2-3 Rebels.  

About the only thing worth mentioning from the game was the completely awesome flyover by a quartet of F-16 fighter jets before kickoff.  If you've never seen four fighter jets moving fast at low altitude, I highly recommend it.  It's an impressive sight.  But the best part came later, when two of the F-16s broke off from the formation and made individual runs over the stadium as low as they could go with full afterburners kicking.  Holy crap it was loud.  Now I know what the flight control guy from Top Gun was thinking when he told Tom Cruise not to buzz the tower.  You should have seen the scared looks on the faces of some of the old people in the stands.  I think most of them thought a bomb had exploded somewhere.

Watch out for Bama
Those of you who are regular readers know that I promise myself before the season that I will not bet on Ole Miss.  And that I usually break that promise at some point during the season.  I think I'm getting off on a technicality this weekend.

Because there is no way I'm not taking Alabama to cover 11.5 against the Rebels.  Since I'm betting against the Rebs, it doesn't count as a bet on the Rebs.  Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about when I say that Ole Miss is bad on offense can see for yourself on CBS Saturday morning.  Kickoff is at 11 a.m. CST, and I expect Bama to have the lead by sometime around 11:09 or so.  I might balk at taking a double-digit road favorite in Vaught-Hemingway at night (it's a different atmosphere, believe me) but the early kickoff will work in Bama's favor.

If you need a chuckle at someone else's expense on Saturday morning, click over to the game and watch Alabama's six-foot-eight monster right tackle Kyle Tatum pound undersized Ole Miss left end Chris Bowers while Ken Darby gets 6 yards a carry off-tackle.  Believe me, it will be a long day for Bowers in this one.

Bets
It was a middling weekend for The Average Joe at the window.  LSU poured it on late to cover against Vanderbilt, but Florida came up a point shy against Mississippi State.  I took Donnie Black's advice on Northwestern, which posted a straight up win as a 7-point dog.  I stayed off the NFL altogether last week.  That's where I lose most of my money, and I think I'll focus most of my efforts on the college game for a couple of weeks.  Or maybe I'll just bet every cent in every account on Bama and let it ride.