The upcoming college football season will begin this weekend and in earnest next weekend. The Associated Press released their 2026 preseason football poll last Monday, and Ole Miss was ranked ninth. The Rebels were recently ranked tenth in the AFCA preseason poll.
College football kicks off in our state this week. Mississippi Valley travels to Nichols State on Thursday while Delta State will travel to Oklahoma to battle Northeastern this Friday. Jackson State visits Nashville to take on Tennessee State on Saturday while Alcorn will host Miles College that night.
North Carolina will take on Texas Christian in Dublin, Ireland this Saturday. Other games of interest on Saturday will have San Jose at USC, Hawaii at Stanford, New Mexico State at Florida State, Memphis at UNLV and N.C. State at Virginia.
Northwest Community College was ranked third in the preseason NJCAA football poll. Gulf Coast was ranked fifth while Co-Lin was ninth. East Mississippi came in at 11 while Hinds and Itawamba received votes. The JUCO season opens in Mississippi this Thursday.
2026 Dandy Dozen
The Clarion Ledger newspaper named their 12 best football players for the upcoming high school season. Named were Mitchell Turner of Louisville (DE), Caden Moss of Jackson Academy (OL), Antonio Berry of Tupelo (OL), Ben’ Jarvius Shumaker of Choctaw County (DL), Ty Keyes of Poplarville (RB), Frederrick Ford of Greenwood (LB), Sam LeJeune of Poplarville (DL), Tyson Robinson of Brandon (RB), Derwin Fields of Brookhaven (DE), Deven Robertson of Oak Grove (Prospect), Nash Morgan of Warren Central (QB) and Yohshawn Hudson of Winona (RB).
Cruisin’ The Coast is back for the 30th year, and it will be better than ever. Pre-registration is at 9,000 vehicles, which is up by 500 over last year. In 2025 Cruisin’ The Coast set a new record as 10,334 cars were registered. When it began in 1996 only 374 registered vehicles took part with an estimated attendance of between 25,000 and 30,000 people. This year’s event will be held October 4-11 with 12 cities on the coast at designated stops along the 45-mile route on Highway 90. The estimated attendance is expected to be 100,000.
Southern Miss sold naming rights of M.M. Roberts Stadium to Renasant Bank. The name change deal will be worth $13.7 million to the USM athletic program. The amount will be paid over a ten-year period, climaxing in 2036. The stadium, affectionally called “The Rock” built in 1932, was named Faulkner Field until it was changed to M.M. Roberts Stadium in 1976.
Jackson State University Athletic Director Ashley Robinson was hired by Texas Southern University as their new AD last week. Robinson in his eight years saw the Tiger athletic programs win 32 conference championships and two national championships. Robinson’s biggest accomplishment was the hiring of Deion Sanders. Alyse Wells-Kilbert will serve as interim AD. Wells-Kilbert has been at JSU for eight years and has been in collegiate athletics for 30 years.
The Biloxi Shuckers and Mississippi State announced that the Bulldogs will play a pair of games at Keesler Federal Park on Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10, as part of the Hancock Whitney Classic. The Bulldogs will play Auburn on October 9 at 6 p.m. and Southern Miss on October 10 at 2 p.m. Mississippi State will be the only SEC team to bring back all three weekend starters for the 2027 season. State has 13 transfers and 11 high school signees who will see their first action in an MSU uniform.
Southern Miss will make the trip after winning both the regular season and Sun Belt Conference tournament titles. The Golden Eagles hosted an NCAA Regional in 2026 and also won 40 games for the 14th time. USM currently has the longest active streak of 40-win consecutive seasons at ten. Auburn finished 42-22 last season, went 17-13 in SEC play and hosted a Super Regional.
