Magnolia State Roundup: MSU seeking second straight SEC road win
Published 10:32 am Saturday, October 28, 2023
The regular season is beginning to wind down for college football teams across America. Let’s look at who’s playing where this week in the Magnolia State.
Mississippi State (4-3) at Auburn (3-4)
2:30 p.m., Auburn [SEC]
Mississippi State went on the road last week and won a rock fight 7-3 at Arkansas. A replay of that type of game is highly possible as Auburn is playing the kind of offense this year that’s making people question the long-held title of “offensive guru” surrounding Hugh Freeze.
Last week at Arkansas, MSU did something it hasn’t had to do much over the last four years, win a game without Will Rogers at quarterback. The 4-year starter was injured and replaced by Vanderbilt transfer Mike Wright. It’s not known at press time if Rogers will be back this week.
Freeze inherited a mess at Auburn after the firing of Bryan Harsin and he knows that recruiting better players is going to be one of the biggest keys to getting his team out the ditch it’s in. That’s a message that Freeze continues to preach to Auburn supporters, the same ones that booed the Tigers on their home field last week against Ole Miss.
I’m a sucker for nostalgia though and hope Auburn and Mississippi State turn the clock back to 2008 on Saturday afternoon. If you remember, the final Tommy Tuberville coached Auburn team won 3-2 that year against Mississippi State and Sylvester Croom in a game where the highlights lasted less than 30 seconds.
It was gloriously ugly football to watch, and we might get a replay of it on The Plains this weekend.
Ole Miss (6-1) vs.
Vanderbilt (2-6)
6:30 p.m., Oxford [SEC]
There used to be a time where it felt like Vanderbilt had won more games against Ole Miss than any other SEC program. The Commodores beat the Rebels in six out of eight meetings between 2005-2012.
Order has been restored in the universe of late though as Ole Miss comes in having won four in a row against Vandy and none of those games were particularly close.
I had a buddy that went to a frat party at Vanderbilt one weekend and swore that he saw people there studying beside the kegs. That same friend was known to exaggerate, but I believed him when he told us that story.
Lane Kiffin likely can’t wait to get this one out of the way so he can focus his full attention on tweeting about Jimbo Fisher ahead of a Nov. 4 matchup with the Aggies in Oxford.
Southern Miss (1-6) at Appalachian State (3-4)
2:30 p.m., Boone, N.C.
Southern Miss head coach Will Hall announced he’d be giving up play calling duties beginning this week against Appalachian State. Hall also said that the quarterback position would be evaluated this week during practice as the team looks for a spark following a 55-3 loss at South Alabama.
I hear Boone is lovely and it’s a Sun Belt Conference member-school where I’d love to catch a game one day when the Golden Eagles are in town. Just not this year.
Jackson State (5-3) at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-6)
2 p.m., Pine Bluff, Ark.
The Jackson State defense had three interceptions, 12 tackles for a loss and eight sacks last week in a 21-6 win over Mississippi Valley State.
The Tigers can likely put up the same type of impressive numbers when they travel to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday. JSU started a new quarterback against MVSU in Syracuse transfer JaCobian Morgan. Morgan prepped at Canton High and saw action earlier in his career with the Orange before transferring to JSU.
Alcorn State (4-3) vs.
MS Valley State (1-6)
2 p.m., Lorman
Ironically, one of the leading playmakers for Alcorn State is also a Syracuse transfer in running back Jarveon Howard.
Howard, who prepped at East Marion, rushed for 156 yards on 14 carries last week in a 31-7 dismantling of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Braves, Southern University and Prairie View A&M all have 3-1 records at this point of the season in the West Division of the SWAC.
Mississippi College (3-4) at North Greenville (3-5)
1 p.m., Tigersville, S.C.
If you read the roundup last week, then you know that I called the Choctaws winning at home against Chowan State. MC delivered on my interest in Gulf South Conference (GSC) handicapping with a 38-21 win in Clinton.
Something is telling me that the Choctaws are going to play like road warriors this week and get another win, this one over their Southern Baptist brothers at NGU.
Belhaven (7-0) at
Maryville College (5-2)
12 p.m., Maryville, Tenn.
This will be the biggest test thus far in 2023 for the Blazers as they look to stay atop the USA South Athletic Conference standings. Last week Belhaven had little trouble with Methodist, winning 45-10 on homecoming in Jackson.
Maryville, which is a school of just over 1,000 students located in the Smoky Mountains, is one of the 50 oldest colleges in the US. The Scots won 25-22 last year at Belhaven in the first ever meeting between the schools.
Millsaps (1-7) at
Trinity University (6-1)
12 p.m., San Antonio, Texas
Centre College beat Millsaps 59-20 last week in Jackson. This week’s opponent, Trinity University, is ranked No. 5 in one NCAA Division III poll and No. 6 in another.
Back in 2007, the ending of Trinity at Millsaps was all over ESPN and many other news outlets. Trailing by two with two seconds left, Trinity started throwing lateral after lateral that ended with a 60-yard game winning score that culminated with 15 laterals. Nothing that cool will likely happen this week.