Bulldogs4

Looks like the Ole Miss women took a page out of the men’s playbook….LOL They are drilling the State women in the first half. Looks the 14 game winning streak is history. Which is not a surprise. Ole Miss is much the better team this year though Doug Novak has done great job as HC at State to this point under very difficult circumstances.

Unfortunately, Natchez just sits out there by itself and not close to anything. The only way you go to Natchez is to be intent on going there. Beautiful town with history but with regard to HS sports it is always going to be like that. When Meridian was in the same district in football it was a 197 mile trip one way. But for 99% of teams, overall travel should be much better with this new outline. Plus you can schedule some cool OOC games. My previous opinion stands though. Cut the regular season down to 10 games and start the season the weekend of Labor Day.

Great effort by Ole Miss. Lack of depth caught up with them in the second half plus the last minute of the first half was a disaster. Auburn is really good this year.

Obviously Auburn is wearing maroon uniforms tonight. Complete duplication of last Saturday for Ole Miss.

It was definitely a must win for State. Bama - State is usually a slobber knocker and tonight was no different. Now we will see if State can sustain it on the road against Florida. We will see. Now we will see if Ole Miss can pretend they are playing State instead of Auburn tonight. If so, someone will light up Auburn for 30+ points and Ole Miss will win going away. If they realize they are playing Auburn, then forget it.

I think it would be great. Next thing would be to cut the regular season down to 10 games with the start of the season being the Friday before Labor Day. Playing football games on the 15th-20th-25th of August is asinine. I know it is still warm at the beginning of September but those two weeks make a big difference. When I was growing up the season did not start until the second or even third Friday of September, depending on the calendar. It is beyond stupid that they play football games in the heat/humidity of the middle to the end of August. It is not fair to the players, coaches or the fans. Rant over. I do think seven divisions is good and it will cut down travel considerably by having fewer number of teams in each district.

My relatives are pretty level headed and appreciate what they have had over the history of the team. They are also big State fans as their #2 team so they do know what losing is like as well. As a matter of fact several of them are State alumni as well.

Everything normal Ole Miss lights State up for Fifty in one half and then scores 51 total against A&M. A sure two game parlay would be to take Ole Miss at home against State and then whoever is playing Ole Miss in the next game (if it is on the road). Regardless of how many points in either game.

I have quite a few relatives that live in AL that are Bama fans (legit fans and some who are actual alumni) and none of them expected to win last night. In fact most during the season did not expect this years team to go this far.

Bama should win but because 99.9% of the neutral fans are picking the Tide, they will probably blow it. Everything points to a Bama victory and until Georgia beats Bama that will remain the perception. On the field, Georgia is the only team that can match Bama talent wise. But mentally, Bama has a big edge. So my heart says Bama wins but my head is undecided.

One thing is for sure. Kermit Davis being a State guy understands the rivalry and his guys play at a higher level with more intensity than State’s players have under Howland when we play each other. Under Howland we have been bad enough be to average and good enough to be average. He has not had that signature win or run of wins that says “this team is on a roll”. I never expected a Final Four necessarily but with the talent that we have had over the last 4 years, we have definitely underachieved. OTOH, Kermit Davis does a good job of squeezing out every bit of his talent from his players. If he had State’s players, he would have a top 15/20 team this year. Still a long way to go this year so we will see what happens. The only way I see State getting the fans to buy in is to win at least four of the six games against Bama(2), LSU, Auburn, KY and the rematch with Ole Miss. Right now the chances of that happening are lower than Biden being re-elected in 2024.

Everything is normal. Ole Miss is lighting us up in the first half. Would not expect anything less.

If they are ready, I am glad for them. I just hate to see these guys that are outside top two rounds leave early and then end up with nothing. I mean two rounds of the draft is 60+ players. That is not very many slots. For him, I hope it works out and from judging on what you guys are saying he is ready. But still….

That is an interesting thought. If that happens, then Kiffin would remain at Ole Miss until at least 2027 unless Arch leaves before then. Overall that would be good for Ole Miss and Mississippi in general. But given Kiffin’s butterfly approach to coaching it is hard to envision him staying lit at Ole Miss for that many years. You never know though. Of course if Altmeyer develops into a good QB then Arch may struggle to get on the field his first couple of years (if in fact he does go to Ole Miss). It would be good for both of us if Leach and Kiffin stay in place for a while. Both schools would be competitive in the SEC and I think each would more than hold its own against the rest of the league.

H O W L A N D Some Ole Miss players include Joiner, Murrell, Fagan, Ruffin, Brooks etc. Some State players include Molinar, Smith, Brooks, Jeffries, Moore, Davis etc. Now you are up to speed on State’s Coach and some of the players names. Other notes of items include: oldest basketball rivalry in the SEC, game will be at the Pavilion, tip-off is 7:30 p.m. or 1930 on Saturday, January 8, 2022. State leads the overall series but Ole Miss has had the upper hand over the last 9 years.

Well the basketball version of the Egg Bowl (1st round) is Saturday in Oxford. Two things that are constant here. 1. The 1-3-1 will kill us. We act like we have never seen it before. 2. Somebody for Ole Miss will light us up for 30+ points. Regarding the coaches, Kermit Davis is a very good coach though Ole Miss seems to be in a bit of a rebuild this year. Team played very well at Tennessee the other night and should have won that game. Howland has done a good job at State. Talent has certainly been there but the overall chemistry of some of his teams has been terrible. Jury is still out on this years team. Once again it is loaded with talent but can they take the next step from being average-good to good-great? We will see as the conference season unfolds. Part of the issue for State was the girls were dominating the headlines for 3-4 years. The limelight is gone from there now and the focus has shifted back to the boys. Interest and attendance overall seem to be on the upswing this year. Saturdays game is very important for State. A win on the road against your rivals would be a huge confidence boost. But who wins is anybody’s guess.

I just had an interesting thought. Will the NIL deals eventually stop players from quitting their teams before the bowl games? I can see a scenario where the deal requires the player to participate in all of the teams games or they have to pay back their benefits to the provider. I also wonder if we will see a lesser number players jumping to the pros prematurely. Too many of them get bad information and then don’t get drafted or get waived and are left with nothing.

I think he will be an excellent NFL QB. Yes he will have to tone down some of his aggressiveness. But he has the intangibles that you cannot teach but only have by the grace of God. I don’t follow the NFL anymore except for Dak but I hope the Saints draft him. I think he would be a good fit in Payton’s offense.

Good article and hopefully some players will realize that there are consequences as well as benefits to the transfer portal. As already noted some players end up with nowhere to go.

RM, Thank you. Regarding the first answer, that is why a commitment is completely worthless. Until the paperwork is signed, notarized and the player starts class, it is nothing but speculation. On the second part, wow is my only answer there. If academics are not included in the minimum requirements (transfer portal and otherwise), then college football really is a joke these days. Only about .001 of players ever make it to the pros so the other 99.9 % become pros in something else. Academics should still be the primary focus of even the best players so they can hopefully be prepared to be productive citizens once they are on the N side of college. The NCAA has definitely failed in staying ahead of the curve on these items. As soon as this started becoming an issue several years ago, they could have put in some hard guidelines to follow and then tweaked them as necessary as time moved along. Instead they did nothing and now it is total chaos.

Between the Bricks is my favorite stadium as a visitor. Of course I am partial to Ray Stadium being from Meridian. By far more great players have played in that historic venue than any other stadium in the state. I am including visiting players as well. Not many true HS stadiums in Mississippi. Hundreds of fields but not many stadiums.

The transfer portal seems to be a double edge sword. While there are numerous success stories, some players end up in no man’s land without a home. I do think there needs to be some stipulations put in place. 1. The portal should not open until the season is complete for a given team. So if a team is in a bowl game, then a player is on the roster until the bowl game is played. If said player quits the team, he is not eligible for the transfer portal. Once the bowl game is played then they are free to enter the portal. In other words when a player starts the season with a team, he will finish the season before he can enter the portal. 2. This may already be in place but obviously they have to be in good academic standing before entering the portal. 3. Regarding coaches, a coach should be required to finish the season out with the team he is coaching. Unless he is fired with cause. Otherwise, coaches should complete their team’s season before entering their portal (pun intended). Any coaching changes should occur after the team’s season is complete (including bowl games). 4. Like the broken bowl system, the TP is breaking CFB. Overall, it is not necessarily a bad thing but there needs to be some order and some concrete guidelines that HAVE to be followed to make it work in an orderly manner. In any case, that is my two cents that are worth zero overall.

Plus when did Ole Miss adopt the colors of the Baltimore Colts?

I know the nabobs will say “I told you so” but I have the upmost respect for Corral for choosing to play in the Sugar Bowl and not quitting his team like so many other quitters have done. I would want him on my team.

Cincinnati played hard and well. But Bama is like Jack Nicklaus was in golf. In his heyday, Nicklaus almost always birdied the first hole. Same thing with Bama. First drive, they ran it down Cindy’s throat and had a 7-0 lead. Game over. Yes, the Bearcats battled but Bama puts so much pressure on by almost always scoring first. Bama was never remotely in danger of losing the game. Michigan-Georgia-did not see that coming. Thought it would be a slobber knocker with UGA winning a close game. But not a blow out that was not even competitive for one quarter.