There’s a pattern I’ve noticed when it comes to Ole Miss and Oxford. For years, when Ole Miss football was mediocre or irrelevant nationally, people loved romanticizing the place. They’d talk about how they’d always wanted to visit Oxford. They’d bring up William Faulkner, the food scene, the music, the charm of the town, the Grove, the pageantry. Ole Miss was treated like this fascinating Southern experience everyone wanted to see for themselves. But the second Ole Miss became a real threat in college football, the second it started competing for top recruits, playoff spots, and legitimacy on the national stage the tone changed. Suddenly, people are reaching for every negative stereotype they can find, using the school’s history as ammunition when it becomes convenient competitively or to score points on social media.