Cutcliffe must handle QB situation
with wisdom

By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Sept. 16, 2004
In Mississippi, everything has something to do with race.
I don't like it. I don't know of anyone who does. But anyone who tries to deny it is kidding themselves.
This state was the focal point of the Civil Rights Movement, the largest social upheaval of the past century. Three of the most infamous murders in American history took place just up the road in Neshoba County.
Though the Civil Rights Movement is long gone, the wounds from those years of strife still run deep in Mississippi. They probably always will. And the long, deep scars from those battles touch nearly everything that goes on in this state.
Including football.
That's why Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe has to handle his team's newly-developed quarterback controversy very carefully.
During the third quarter of Saturday's 28-7 loss to Alabama, Cutcliffe benched starting quarterback Micheal Spurlock, who is black, in favor of backup Ethan Flatt, who is white. Spurlock's skin tone had nothing to do with Cutcliffe's decision, of course. It was the quarterback's performance Spurlock completed just 5-of-15 passes against Alabama that earned him a seat.
On Monday, Flatt was named as the team's probable starter for Saturday's game against Vanderbilt. The bottom line is that Flatt was a better quarterback than Spurlock.
But when black and white skin tones are involved in Mississippi, the bottom line is never the only line.
This isn't the first time Cutcliffe has had a potentially volatile situation involving black and white quarterbacks. The last time was in 2000, when Romaro Miller struggled through an inconsistent senior campaign. Waiting in the wings was a white redshirt freshman named Eli Manning, and Ole Miss fans made their choice quickly.
Every time Miller made a bad read or overthrew a receiver, 50,000 people suddenly screamed for Cutcliffe to yank the senior and put in Manning.
Most of those fans probably didn't care if Miller was black, white or lime green. And in the end, Cutcliffe stuck with Miller as the Rebels' starter, and young Eli Manning was used sparingly.
The senior, who happened to be a three-year starter, won out over the redshirt freshman. That was the way it should've been.
But did race at least factor into Cutcliffe's decision? I doubt he'd ever admit it, but you'd better believe it did.
At the time, Cutcliffe was in just his second year with the Rebels. He was still trying to establish a recruiting base, and there are easier places to do that than Ole Miss.
First of all, it's Mississippi not always an easy sell for an out-of-state recruit. A riot on campus in 1962 left two people dead when the school's first black student tried to register. The marching band still plays "Dixie," a song with Civil War allusions, and a handful of fans still wave the Confederate battle flag at home games.
Motives may be innocent, but try explaining that to a 17-year-old kid particularly when a host of other schools' coaches are telling their version of the story. Recruiters aren't allowed to badmouth other schools, but don't think for a moment that prospective black quarterbacks weren't told how Ole Miss fans "turned" on Miller.
That's the challenge Cutcliffe faced and now faces again.
So if he could quell some of those charges by sticking with an inconsistent but seasoned veteran, would he do it? You'd better believe it.
Of course, the quarterback controversy facing the Rebels today is less complicated and therefore, potentially more volatile. Among Spurlock, Flatt and redshirt freshman Robert Lane, there is no seasoned veteran to fall back upon. Spurlock, a junior, has played in a total of just four games. Saturday's game against Alabama was the first ever for Flatt, a sophomore who spent 2003 on the practice squad. And Lane has never taken a collegiate snap.
Although the Rebels' offense improved marginally in the second half against Alabama, Flatt's 5-of-12 passing performance was only slightly more impressive than Spurlock. That leaves Cutcliffe with even less a clear choice, with the players' skin colors looming like an elephant in the corner that no one wants to acknowledge least of all Cutcliffe.
Flatt will likely start on Saturday, but after that, what will happen is anybody's guess. If Cutcliffe sticks with Spurlock, he gambles that Spurlock will regain his poise something he has yet to do this season. If he goes with Flatt, he risks turning a promising 2004 campaign into a full-fledged rebuilding year.
And either way, Cutcliffe risks stoking the coals of a race debate that will probably always smolder in this state. For his sake as a recruiter, he must tread carefully.