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Laurel 24 Meridian 21 Second Quarter Track meet going on at Ray Stadium.

Laurel 18 Meridian 21 Second Quarter Track meet going at Ray Stadium.

Laurel 18 Meridian 14 Second Quarter

I went to see the State-Florida game in Gainesville in 2010. Last time we played there thanks to the SEC scheduling geniuses. I was not impressed with the campus or the stadium for that matter. We stayed with some friends that live in GNV. We had a great weekend and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Though we did most of our partying at our friends home and just went to the game a little early and walked around campus for a while before going into the stadium. We were harassed a good bit since we were State fans. People are not nearly as friendly there as they are at State. Of course winning the game was the icing on the cake. It was very enjoyable walking out of the Swamp as the winner. Florida fans were not nearly as arrogant then. All that to say that there seems to be a voodo hex over UT when they play Florida as UF has dominated the series over the last 30 years. So I will not be surprised if the Gators pull the upset.

Listened to the end of EMCC’s game and from listening to the radio guys, they just flat let a team with much lesser talent beat them. Of course, Coach Glen Davis at Co-Lin is known for squeezing out as much as he can from his talent.

There are two practice fields that provide quite a bit of parking along with the paved parking. One is for the band and other is for the football team. That could be an issue if this ever came about but as I mentioned it is a long shot at best.

Plans have been put in place to replace the scoreboard and improve the press box (which is probably one of the largest in the state). Obviously, those take $$$. Coach Boyles is working on getting the team back up where they should be. The improvements will come with the team. He has already engaged with alumni to build the support of the team up again. That will take time but I can tell you people around the community are excited about the Wildcats again. Cheyenne Trussell is an excellent AD as well and he is doing a tremendous job with the athletic department. I think those proposals and more will come to fruition in time. I would think it would be a long shot to host a couple of state championship games but the idea is intriguing and may come to have some merit in the future. We will see.

That was the long time tradition of the stadium. The W side center was for season ticket holders and SW stands were Meridian general seating. And the NW seating was for the visitors. The entire E side was home. Half being the student section and band and the other half general seating. Some of the visitors would complain but they had a 2500 seat section to sit in. This year they have moved the home side to the west and the visiting now sit on the E side. Crowds are pretty small these days.

In 1982, that did happen. It was the beginning of the playoff era and Gulfport played West Point for the 5A championship in Ray Stadium. Gulfport was a heavy favorite and jumped out to an early 14-0 lead but WP settled down and came back to win 21-14. WP fans sat on the E side and GPT fans on the W side. WP probably had 3K and on the W side it was probably 4K for a total of 7K. There were a lot of Meridian (like me and one of my buddies) neutral fans who attended the game and we generally were seated on the W side. After that they were at MC in Clinton for several years before moving to the Vet. I think it could be a cool venue for for some of the smaller schools as CC mentioned. Though I doubt it happens. But who knows it could ease the logistics of having seven games on one field.

The last big crowd at The Ray was around 2014 when we played South Panola. The crowd was about 12-13K. In the heyday of the OG-Meridian rivalry (2003-2013) crowds would be in the 9-10K range. The record crowd was in 1966 when we played Provine (they were very good in those days) for the Big 8 Championship. The crowd was 18K. They set up bleachers behind each end zone and bowl around the N end of the stadium was full as well. Years back , we would always play Laurel the first game of the year and it was always a grudge match. They did not like us and we did not like them. Great respect for each other but it was always a battle. Between the Bricks and Ray Stadium would be full each year as the visiting team always brought a big crowd (a one hour drive up/down I59). That was always a lot of fun. Unfortunately, in recent years attendance has been sparse. Hopefully, as Coach Boyles continues to rebuild the program more fans will come back to the Ray to enjoy a game.

With the new divisions, you can theoretically be 3-7 or even 2-8 and still possibly be in the playoffs. But a team can gain or lose confidence with these early games. For Meridian, we need to win games to build some confidence. So Friday is very important for us IMO.

I know both of these teams are flying well under the radar at 0-3 and 1-2. But this is one of the most storied rivalries in the state. Meridian leads it 44-30-5 so this will be the 80th edition of this game. And that is with us only playing each other sparingly over the last 30 years otherwise this game would be well over 100 games played. All that said, both teams right now appear to be a work in progress. I hope my Cats can avenge the loss last year and come out with a victory but it will not be easy. I will say Meridian 35, Laurel 21 and that will even our record at 2-2 and keep the Tornadoes winless.

They may be the worst team you have played so far but Enterprise is even worse than Clarkdale so you will out worst them for the loss.

Now now, that is four letters but not a four letter word…LOL

I have no idea what to think about LSU-State. LSU is a 10 point favorite and they may very well cover that but in general our games with LSU since 2013 have been close losses or wins (2019 excepted). We will see how it goes Saturday. Game is basically a sellout. I thought the crowd was great Saturday night against AZ. I will not be able to be there Saturday but hopefully the crowd can be our 12th man. LSU 28-24. GT-OM. What appeared to be a cake walk is shaping up to be potentially be a competitive game. It could similar to AZ-State but not an OT game. If OM lets them hang around it could be interesting. OM still wins 42-34. GT scores a late TD to make it look closer. I am pulling for USM but if Tulane’s QB is back give me the Green Wave 28-16. If the second string QB plays then 21-19 will be the final in a heartbreaker for the Eagles. TN, CO, KSTATE, UGA all win.

Basically these teams are even. Enterprise is two points from being winless and Clarkdale is two points from being 1-2. I think Clarkdale makes it two in a row with a win over the starship 24-23. Clarkdale’s one point loss to West Lauderdale is more impressive than Enterprise’s one point win over Lake. The other two games were blowout losses. I know Enterprise is at home but the Cdawgs will beat the Edawgs in this one albeit it will be close.

You got that correct. Enterprise is sleeping this year. 1-2 and should be 0-3. Props that the team plays hard and is well coached, though.

Well I enjoyed a nice adult beverage when we got back home from the State game (about midnight) and saw the last six minutes of Auburn/Cal game. At least Auburn and State rendered the PAC-12 from the unbeaten ranks this weekend. Did not get hammered though I slept very after I went to bed…LOL

Milroe might not be the starting QB in two weeks. You know the most popular person on campus is the back up QB.

Good observation there. Fish may have been concerned with De Lora throwing a late pick. He can be great and terrible QB on the same play. But you are right. They kind of started playing not to lose instead of trying to win the game. For State, great call on the screen pass and Pittman breaking the tackle and going to the house was a bit of redemption for the offense. Defense played well overall against a very good offensive team. Offensively, we are still figuring things out. Which is understandable. The problem in football is you only have twelve regular season games to play. So opportunities are limited. Obviously, the task gets harder this coming Saturday. Going back to my picks. I was almost spot on with Ole Miss-Tulane 37-20 (42-24). Otherwise, I crapped out on State, USM, Bama, Colorado. Colorado has earned some accolades and we will see how they fare going forward.

First give Arizona credit. They are a good team and they are going to beat more teams this year than they lose to. De Lora is a shifty QB but he hurts himself with turnovers. 4 INT’s tonight negated a 32-46 performance with 300+ yards passing. Interesting that he was originally signed by Mike Leach when he was the coach at Wazzou. State has a lot work to do. I have been cautioning everyone that our offense is still a work in progress. In my original analysis, I said we needed to cash in on our scoring opportunities. We did not in the first half. We got stopped on 4th and goal and we missed a FG. We should have been up 24-0 or at worst 20-0 in the second quarter. So that was a huge key in letting AZ stay in the game. And to their credit, they came back and got the game to OT. At the end of the night we found a way to win the game. For AZ, though they outplayed us particularly in the second and fourth quarters, it is hard to win a game when you turn the ball over 5 times. State had zero turnovers. And the correct call was made on the fourth down play that ended the game. Gut wrenching loss for AZ but a good win for State and I think it will be a win that is going to look better at the end of the season.

Starship went down again. Captain Kirk err EBB must be standing in the corner now in time out.

Well I was not able to go and was listening for a while on the radio. But when I checked the score late Friday evening, that was what was showing as the final score. So it is what it is… Were you able to attend?

Starkville 28 Meridian 21 Final. Starkville won but I think we are improving as a team. Not there yet but Coach Boyles and staff are doing a good job so far. I am excited about our team going forward.

As I have noted, the white out does not bother me since it is one of our colors. I don’t think uniform colors will have anything to do with winning or losing this game. AZ is certainly improved but they were similar to us in that the game was close in the third quarter with NAU. It was 14-3 when AZ blocked a FG and ran it back for a TD. That broke the game open. But it could have been an 8 point game at that point. As we all know, neither team did much beyond just winning each respective game. Our DL will need to dominate the LOS to disrupt their offense. They do have some playmakers on offense but if we win the LOS then we can neutralize those players from making a lot of big plays. Offensively, I think we will be able to move the ball. Just need to cash in on our opportunities. Avoid turnovers. Special teams will hopefully be strong for us again. But the biggest key to winning is for our DL to dominate the LOS.