Ole Miss stayed perfect holding off a pesky Auburn squad, 48-34, this past Saturday to take over first place in the SEC West. The No. 7 Rebels' ground game was unstoppable as running backs Quinshon Judkins and Zack Evans, along with quarterback Jaxson Dart, all rushed for over 100 yards as the Rebels wore down the Tigers defense rushing for 448 yards. Dart also threw for 130 yards and three scores. The only negative was the Rebels defense had problems slowing down the Tigers' run game as they rushed for 301 yards. Ole Miss (7-0, 3-0) will now hit the road to LSU (5-2, 3-1) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the CBS National Game of the Week.
Jake Lange came off the bench to lead Southern Mississippi to their first ever Sun Belt Conference win as the Golden Eagles rallied for a 20-19 win over Arkansas State. Lange brought the crowd of over 27,000 alive at M.M. Roberts Stadium as he directed scoring drives of 95 and 55 yards in the final ten minutes of the game. The Eagles’ Frank Gore Jr. rushed for 96 yards on 19 carries and climaxed the 95-yard drive with a 30-yard gallop. Janari Dean then tallied the go-ahead touchdown on a 3-yard scamper to put the Golden Eagles up with only 2:12 to play. This week, the Golden Eagles (3-3, 1-1) will play at Texas State (3-4, 1-2) before returning home on Thursday, October 27, to host Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Kentucky Wildcats (5-2, 2-2) defense held Mississippi State to only 225 yards of total offense in securing a 27-17 win over the visiting Bulldogs. The Wildcats' ground attack rushed for 248 yards and totaled another 239 yards through the air against the Bulldogs. Mississippi State entered the game scoring over 40 points per game with two back-to-back wins over Texas A&M and Arkansas. The Bulldogs' run game was non-existence with only 22 yards while quarterback Will Rogers was 27-of-37 for 203 yards and one TD. MSU defensive back Emmanuel Forbes tied an SEC record with his fifth career pick-six as he scored on a 59-yard interception return. The No. 24 Bulldogs (5-2, 2-2) will head to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 6 Alabama (6-1, 3-1) this Saturday night.
The HBCU’s No. 1 ranked Jackson State Tigers dominated Bethune-Cookman as quarterback Shedur Sanders threw five touchdowns in the 48-8 Tiger win. The SWAC East leaders defense tied an NCAA record with three safeties in the contest. The Tigers, 6-0 overall for the first time since 1983, will host Campbell this Saturday. Alcorn (3-3, 2-1) fell to Southern, 21-17, and will now host Texas Southern Saturday at 2 p.m. Mississippi Valley (0-7, 0-3) fell to Alabama State, 24-9, and will now host Bethune-Cookman.
Delta State rolled up 494 yards on the ground in pounding West Alabama, 20-7. The No. 10 Statesmen (7-0,4-0) will travel to Shorter this Thursday night. Mississippi College (4-3, 3-1) downed Valdosta, 49-40, and will travel to West Florida this Saturday. Belhaven (5-1, 3-1) rolled over Greensboro, 59-7, and will host Southern Virginia this Saturday. Millsaps (3-3, 2-1) was blanked by Birmingham Southern, 28-0. The Majors will host Rhodes this Saturday night.
Mississippi's junior colleges had six teams ranked in the Top 20 in the country in last week’s national polls. Northwest was ranked No. 2, followed by Jones at No. 4, East Mississippi at No. 7, Pearl River at No. 17, Gulf Coast at No. 19 and Hinds at No. 20. In JUCO action last week, Jones and Northwest stayed perfect while Northeast upset East Mississippi. Other winners were Gulf Coast, Hinds, Holmes and Pearl River. This Thursday's games will have Northwest (7-0) hosting Holmes (4-3), Jones (7-0) traveling to Delta (0-7), Coahoma (3-4) hosting Northeast (4-3), Co-Lin (3-4) heading to East Central (0-7) and Hinds (4-3) entertaining Gulf Coast (4-3). In Saturday play, East Mississippi (4-3) will host Itawamba (3-4) and Pearl River (4-3) will travel to Southwest (2-5).
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show each Tuesday and Friday at 6 p.m. WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest is former pro golfer and Golf Channel announcer Jim Gallagher, Jr. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome; go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube to listen to archived shows. Dale has been writing sports since 1973. Contact him at ddmckee18@yahoo.com.
