Bulldogs4

Meridian 14 Hattiesburg 0 Hattiesburg with a huge blunder. Did not cover the kick off and Meridian recovered at 1 yard line. Basically gave us a TD.

Meridian 0 Hattiesburg 0 end of 1st quarter Quite frankly neither team looks very good.

State is nowhere close enough to be good enough to be looking ahead. Missouri is the total focus and they are a top twenty team to boot. I don’t think you have any worries about that happening. The teams are pretty evenly matched but State’s speed and athleticism should give us an edge. Plus the crowd will help carry us as well. I was looking at the tickets remaining and it looks like maybe one thousand give or take. So I think crowd might be right at 60K which will make it a rowdy atmosphere .

Ole Miss @ Florida. I agree that with Chambliss Ole Miss will find a way to win this game. People forget that Florida is coming off an emotional win as well. It may be a bit ugly but Ole Miss wins 34-21. Mizzou @ State. Missouri is a good team but State has seemingly closed the talent gap. I look for State to play well and get the victory 35-24. Texas @ Tennessee should be a good game. Texas seems to get all the luck and Tennessee seems to find a way to shoot themselves in the foot. Texas 20-17. Okie @ Jawja. Usually when people write off Oklahoma they surprise everyone. Look for them to make this an ugly low scoring game. Georgia wins but it will not be pretty. 24-14. A&M @ LSU. LSU lets Ole Miss beat them twice. A&M comes off the mat from an eight count and beats LSU 27-20. SCAR gets boat raced by Bama in the first half but scores some late to make the score more respectable. Bama 42-28. Vandy @ Auburn. Vandy’s luck runs out but Aubie is not that good so look for an ugly game. Auburn 20-17. Tulsa @ Arkansas. Arkansas finds a to get a win as Tulsa self implodes. Arky 23, Tulsa 21. USM @ Tulane. A once competitive rivalry is renewed. Unfortunately for USM, they are on the wrong side of the talent on the field. Tulane 38, USM 17.

If the crowds start getting bigger, maybe they will do that. I agree with you. I liked it much better with that setup as well.

When Will Hall was at UWA, I really thought he was a rising star in the coaching ranks. But he left there to go to West Georgia. He had great success in the Gulf South Conference (which historically has always been known as SEC Lite) at both schools with three conference championships. But that did not translate into success at USM, which in the present day, sadly is in a hole that I am not sure they will ever completely climb out of. I think Anderson can have some moderate success but I fear the ceiling is relatively low.

We played Hattiesburg every year back in the Big 8 days and then we were division rivals for some years through 1980’s and 90’s. And yes, Hattiesburg wins were few and far between through those years. But that was a long time ago and I don’t think that necessarily will affect this game. I still think you have to give Hattiesburg the edge but I look for a much closer game this year. Meridian is vastly improved and this game will IMHO be the best measuring stick for this team to date. Ocean Springs is way down and I think we got the big head against Neshoba Central. We were somewhat better at Starkville but no where near being a top ten team and Columbus is worse than awful. So this game will show me where we stand. And I am glad to play Hattiesburg again. For decades (1920’s-1990’s) Laurel was our biggest rival and with a lot of hate. I miss those days. Man when we played Laurel in any sport, it was going to be physical and very competitive. And Hattiesburg as well to some degree but because we dominated the series in football it was not nearly as heated. Probably around 20 years ago or so we played Hattiesburg at the Rock and that was a fun night for Meridian. I think we won by 40 points and there was probably 7-8K in USM’s stadium including a large contingent from Meridian. Friday, we will be lucky to have 3-4K at Ray Stadium. We had a decent crowd for the Columbus game and this one will probably be a bit larger. But HS football just does not draw large crowds in the present day.

I was kind of afraid of this. I read somewhere that 75 players on the roster this year were not on the roster last year. Obviously there is a good bit of turnover nowadays but that many is a recipe for failure. I do think he will have success in the years to come but this year is going to be a struggle. Another thing is Connecticut seems to actually have a decent team this year. Hopefully they can have some success in the Sunbelt. Still have the conference games in front of them.

Both Ole Miss and Florida will be coming off emotional wins. Florida is at home. I think it will be a shoot out which favors Ole Miss. I think they will find a way to win it.

Kudos for Golding going for two, although I don’t think that they were really going for two on the the first play. But goaded LSU into jumping offsides and then a second time. Which made it easy after that.

Great second , third and fourth quarters for State! Shades of the Auburn game in 2021. Kamario was awesome after a shaky start. Which I kind of had a feeling that might happen. To see him settle down and play like he did was a great confidence booster! Plus the defense played very well especially in the third quarter. Holding them to four FG’s was the difference in the game.

Yes Columbus is that bad. Final Meridian 50, Columbus 8 Meridian is better but Columbus is just plain bad. Meridian -Hattiesburg next week should be a very good game. It should be an evenly matched game.

State @ South Carolina. In years past this would be a game that State would stub their toe or just get plastered. And while SCAR is generally good at home I think State finds a way to win this game. State wins 34-28. LSU @ Ole Miss. this game has been analyzed seven ways from Sunday. OM has a huge advantage at QB and some advantage at RB. Otherwise the metrics favor LSU. Head says LSU and Heart says Ole Miss. I think the crowd and the QB will carry Ole Miss to an improbable win. OM 31, LSU 29. Florida-Auburn…take the home team. I think both will struggle some this year but each has a promising future. Aubie 21, UF 13. A&M over KY by a closer margin than is expected. A&M 27. KY 17. Free Shoes @ The Pachyderms. Elephants squash the Injuns 30 - 12. Jawja 48, Pigs 17

Home School is exploding and in some areas private schools are seeing increases. Public school enrollment continues to decline which is sad in many ways. Unfortunately the environment in a number of schools is causing families to pull their children out and teachers to leave for either retirement or to teach in a private school setting. The money is less but the corresponding stress level is way lower.

IMO, Leavitt is a liability for LSU. In two games against State he did not impress me at all. Two years ago all he did was hand the ball off to Skattebo. Last year his passing was atrocious. And in the second half they ran the ball down our throats. And quite frankly we were fortunate to win that game at the end. Ole Miss has a huge advantage at QB and an advantage at RB but every where else it appears LSU is stronger. I will do my picks later.

The improvement in tackling has been huge to this point. It was and has been an obvious point of emphasis and we have had very few broken tackles in the first two games. That alone helps the defense immensely. We are going to give up some yards and points but when you eliminate the YAC, you can get off the field faster. That will be another key this Saturday in COSC. Seller’s is slippery so he will present a great challenge.

Interesting that State-SCAR has moved up the totem pole of importance. Both teams will be looking to use this game as a springboard to success in the Conference.

Kamario is not going anywhere. But people will talk. He is a State kid and I feel certain he is being well taken care of. If anything, State will be a desirable landing spot for players wanting to play with him.

Overall, we appear to be a well coached team with some talent. If we stay healthy, I think we can be competitive in every game even though a few those games will obviously be losses. Confidence is also a part of the equation. It will be interesting to see how we respond if we have a bad start and get down early. With our offense, I think we will have the ability to come back if that happens. And it will. But until happens it will be a wait and see situation.

I will be interested in seeing how Meridian responds after the extremely disappointing effort and game last Friday night. In no way am I expecting a win at Starkville but I hope we will play a cleaner game and be competitive in this game.

I like USM to cover the 32. I just think they will play well enough to do so. Auburn is coming off a very emotional win. I think they are in for a letdown. Auburn wins comfortably but it will not be a total blowout. 35-14. State-Minnesota. I am clueless here. I agree with the story line that it will most likely be State’s OL against their DL/LB’s. If they are reasonably good, I like State to win 38-28. If not, it could be a long day at the Huntington Bank Office. We will see. Texas over Ohio State 24-23 A&M wins over AZ State 26-20 KY pulls the upset over Bama and the heat turns up on DeBoar. KY 28, Bama 24. Oklahoma 40, Michigan 6. Missouri 17, Kansas 15. Utah 38, Arkansas 14 Ole Miss 40, Charlotte 10 Tennessee 34, Georgia Tech 10 LSU 20, LA Tech 14 (Officials add a second on to the clock at the end to give LSU one extra play. They score on a Hail Mary pass to win the game!!! LA Tech joins Western Michigan in a class action suit against GST (Game Saving Time).

Louisville out mistaked Ole Miss last night. The bad snap was the worst but using all your time outs in the third quarter was a major mistake as well. Chambliss is really good but his short stature hurt him on that third down play where he could not see his receiver. A first down there ends the game. It is very difficult to play a good team the first game of the season. Naturally there are going to be some growing pains and mistakes. Credit to Ole Miss in finding a way to win at the end. Both teams are worthy of their rankings.

Don’t think NC will beat WL 55-6. Neshoba should win handily but that is a rivalry and I figure West Lauderdale will play better. And Neshoba will have a let down after beating Meridian While Starkville will beat Meridian I don’t think it will be 47-16. I think Meridian will rebound from the disappointing loss at Neshoba and play a much better game this Friday night.