It’s an all-Delta battle filled with shades of green in McCool Stadium on Saturday as the Delta State Statesmen host their neighbors, the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils.

The schools in Cleveland and Itta Bena are separated by 40 miles but didn’t start playing against each other until 2000. DSU is 5-1 in the series, including a 28-17-win last season in Itta Bena.

MVSU didn’t play last week and lost on a late field goal to Central State 24-21 in a game played in Chicago at Soldier Field on Sept. 2.

Delta State did play last week and the 2-0 Statesmen went kind of viral when their head coach Todd Cooley posted clips on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter (when can we just start calling it “X”, I’m asking seriously).

Those clips show how in the fourth quarter a Delta State player got hemmed up on the sideline of the home team, Chowan University. It’s hard to tell what is going on, but it’s clear to see that the Chowan players are giving the Delta State players the business and some Chowan fans get involved in the melee too.It’s hard to clearly make out what’s happening though as the quality of the video looks like it was shot through the porthole of a submarine with a handled camera from 1998.

The Gulf South Conference announced this week that six players from Chowan will serves varies suspensions for the incident and that one of those players will miss the rest of the season. Additionally, a fan will be banished from the Chowan stadium for the rest of the season.

Never heard of Chowa, don’t feel bad, you’re not alone. The school located in Murfreesboro, North Carolina is spending two years in the Gulf South Conference before moving to the Conference Carolinas in 2025.

Nevertheless, they’ve made the news for the wrong reasons after just one game in the GSC. Delta State beat Chowan 42-18 and should be favored by a similar spread this week over MVSU.

Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

Mississippi College vs. West Georgia

Saturday, Sept. 16

Clinton

The Choctaws, who have some great new branding and logos, went to Wichita Falls, Texas last week and played a NCAA Division II heavyweight in Midwestern State. Mississippi College lost 30-17 in a game they led 17-13 after three quarters.

MC will start Gulf South Conference play this week with a home game against West Georgia. WG is 1-1 after beating Limestone 21-19 and then losing last week at Texas A&M Kingsville. 

Last season, the Choctaws beat West Georgia 39-38 on the road. That was part of a three-game winning streak that saw MC win three in a row over WG, Shorter and Valdosta State. 

The season ended with a four-game losing streak though as MC finished 4-7. A home win over West Georgia would bode well for the hopes of Choctaw fans as the GSC regular season is a murderer’s row of Division II heavyweights including perennial national contender West Florida.

Millsaps at Sewanee

Saturday, Sept. 16

Sewanee, Tennessee

Sewanee: The University of the South. Man, that place just sound like it’s expensive to attend, doesn’t it?

Located in Sewanee, Tennessee and part of the Episcopal Church, a year at Sewanee will set you back around $65,000 for tuition, room, board and fees. 

You’ll get a top-rate education, no doubt. If I had a degree from Sewanee, I would definitely have a sticker somewhere on my car that said, “Sewanee Alum on Board.”

Now are the Sewanee Tigers good at football? 

No. If you get on their website and click back through their old season results to find a winning season, just know the archive ends in 2006 and there are none between then and now.

Don’t read this as criticism though, as I do not pass much judgement on anyone under the level of professional athlete. 

You’ve got to really love the game if you are playing at Sewanee or even Millsaps. With tuition that high, you know those professors are assigning a pile of homework.

Sewanee is 1-1 and Millsaps is 0-2 after losing 53-2 last week at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.