Reb's Extra Effort Seems So Right but Ends So Wrong

It's a mortal fact that we don't have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore.

However, the only American president ever to resign from office in disgrace uttered something even more universal earlier in his career. It was something like this:

There are things in life that just aren't fair.

Tell that to the Ole Miss Rebels.

Their margin of error on what could have been a dream season had been reduced to near-zero when a poor decision doomed them in Death Valley last weekend.

And yet, Rebel errors were surprisingly aplenty against Auburn yesterday, including this Bo Wallace fumble within the goal posts' shadow:

Despite this, Ole Miss was driving for the winning touchdown in the game's final 90 seconds. It was 3rd-&-3 on the Auburn 20 with the Tigers clinging to a 35-31 lead.

That's when Wallace found star receiver Laquon Treadwell in the flat near the left hashes, flipped him the pigskin, and let him do the YAC magic he can do so well.

Treadwell literally willed himself to paydirt, shedding all tacklers but one, linebacker Krist Frost, whose claw-like grip on Treadwell changed everything:

At the one-yard line, Ole Miss appeared to have positioned itself for a come-from-behind victory and survivorship in what amounted to a preliminary knockout battle for a CFP berth.

At the goal line, Ole Miss had fumbled the ball, lost the game, probably lost its shot at a bracket spot, and worst of all, lost Treadwell to a broken leg and dislocated ankle. He was carted from the field into immediate surgery.

That's a lotta bad happenings in one measly yard.

So, the Rebels will revert to their customary role as SEC West spoiler wannabe, and the Tigers -- as good as they are -- continue to live in it. Recall that, save for a boxed incompletion by all-everything WR Tyler Lockett and Kansas State's brutal kicking-game performance, Auburn would have had a less-than-zero-error scenario entering Oxford.

Who would've thought that Tigers are cats that also needed nine lives? Adding K-State along with Alabama and Georgia last season to this escape at Ole Miss, they're now down to five.

With Georgia and Alabama still on the 2014 schedule, they may need to burn a couple more.