The colonoscopy continues at Ole Miss.

The Rebels’ uncertainty was compounded Wednesday at Archie’s School with the release of the football program’s amended NCAA notice of allegations.

The biggest news: Ole Miss is docking itself a bowl game in 2017. Other than that, things couldn’t be murkier if Ole Miss had actually released the notice of allegations.

You see, for now, there is no paper trail to chronicle serious charges that put coach Hugh Freeze squarely on the hot seat, and the future of Ole Miss football in a bit of a fog.

For the first time in anyone’s memory, a school responded to an NOA with a bit of spoken word performance art. In a 21-minute video posted to YouTube, the Ole Miss chancellor, athletic director and coach reacted to the allegations with what amounted to a slickly-produced (sarcasm added) infomercial.

The only thing missing was Chuck Norris hawking gym equipment. In this case, Ole Miss bulked up, once again proclaiming its relative innocence.

We’ll see.

Hostage videos have been more uplifting than what chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, AD Ross Bjork and Freeze tried to spin. For the moment, they controlled the narrative. Now we’ll see if they can get Rebel football out of this mess relatively unscathed.

Freeze famously told me 11 months ago that the four-year football investigation by the NCAA had been like “a four-year colonoscopy.” I can’t imagine what the analogy is now.

Here’s what we now know for sure (we think):

  • Ole Miss continues heap mounds of blame on former assistant Chris Vaughn.
  • Ole Miss continues to build a wall around Freeze shielding him from blame.
  • Approximately $20,000 in cash, merchandise, food and drinks allegedly changed hands between Ole Miss supporters and recruits. Not good.
  • Laremy Tunsil’s draft night bombshell that he claimed to have taken money from an assistant isn’t included in the allegations. Not bad.
  • Lack of institutional control and failure to monitor is the biggest charge. Never good.
  • Ole Miss is rolling the dice. There’s no way of knowing what the NCAA will eventually do.

All of this despite the school self-imposing that one-year bowl ban in 2017. That is in addition to 11 scholarships docked over four years from the initial NOA, a six-figure fine and other self-imposed penalties.

Is that enough contrition?

Penalizing yourself is always a crapshoot. Coming off a 5-7 season and last place finish in the SEC West, a bowl ban could be (happily?) moot. Ole Miss potentially moves on and has the case decided by next season’s kickoff, certainly before next year’s National Signing Day.

Or the Rebels could get a lot worse.

There were eight new allegations Wednesday. Added onto the 13 previous allegations, there are now 21 total. Ole Miss will fight most of the major assertions including what seems to be most glaring: Freeze “violated head coach responsibility legislation.”

That’s a Level I violation that seemingly means Freeze could be suspended for up to a year. The school indicated it will vigorously fight the charge.

“The allegations announced today are serious,” Bjork read from a prepared statement.

Negative recruiting can be worse. Lingering sanctions may have already begun.

A somnambulant video, more damning allegations, no paper trail and the same disclaimer still applies in all NCAA cases: There’s what we know, what we think we know and what can be proven inside that infractions committee hearing months from now.

A colonoscopy indeed.

“One of our core values is love,” Freeze said on the video.

Freeze and Ole Miss might want to add a team of lawyers right about now to protect those core values.