The first College Coaches Football Poll came out last week with Texas ranked first and defending national champion Ohio State ranked second. The teams will open the season in Columbus, Ohio, on the morning of August 30th. It is the first time in history that a No. 1 and a No. 2 ranked team have ever met in a season opener. The teams met last January in the College Football Playoffs with Ohio State racing past Texas, 28-14.
Penn State followed Ohio State in the polls and the Nittany Lions were followed by Georgia, Notre Dame, Clemson, Oregon, Alabama, LSU and Miami in the Top 10. SEC teams in the second ten were South Carolina (13), Ole Miss (15), Florida (17) and Tennessee (18). Texas A&M was ranked 21st.
The inaugural HBCU Power Rankings came out this past week. Jackson State is ranked Number 1 followed by North Carolina Central and Southern University. Alcorn came in at eighth while Mississippi Valley was ranked 20th. Seven SWAC schools were listed in the Top 20.
Football season is only three Saturdays away. On August 30, Southern Miss will host Mississippi State at 11 a.m. The Golden Eagles held their first preseason scrimmage this past Saturday morning. Braylon Braxton, one of four quarterbacks to take snaps on the day, threw for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Braxton is a Marshall University transfer who was named the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
Mississippi Rookies Shine
Jaxson Dart was 12-of-19 passing for 159 yards and a touchdown in leading the New York Giants past Buffalo, 34-25. The former Ole Miss Rebel led three consecutive second quarter scoring drives.
Travis Hunter played on both sides of the ball as Jacksonville fell to Pittsburgh, 31-25. Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy playing for Colorado, caught two passes for nine yards as he played 11 snaps. The former JSU Tiger also played eight snaps on defense. Another Jacksonville Jaguar is former Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens, who was 11-of-18 for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Shedeur Sanders, a former JSU Tiger, was 14-of-23 for 138 yards and two TD passes in leading Cleveland over Carolina, 30-10. Shedeur’s brother Shilo is a defensive back for Tampa Bay. Shilo played 37 defensive snaps for the Bucs and had a solo tackle in their 29-7 conquest of Tennessee.
The Saints fell to the L.A. Chargers, 27-13, on Sunday. Spencer Rattler started at quarterback and was 7-of-11 for 53 yards. He was also the Saints’ leading rusher with 22 yards. Tyler Shough was 15-of-22 for 165 yards with a touchdown. New Orleans will host Jacksonville this Sunday.
Baseball News
Former Southern Miss baseball pitcher Hurston Waldrep won his second straight game with the Atlanta Braves. He is 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA. The Georgia native was the winning pitcher vs. Cincinnati in the Speedway Classic in Bristol, Tennessee, and followed that up with six strong innings against Miami this past Saturday.
The Biloxi Shuckers will meet the Columbus Clingstones Tuesday-Sunday. The Clingstones are the former Mississippi Braves franchise. Biloxi has won 11-of-18 games from Columbus and these six games will be final regular season contests between the teams.
Former Ole Miss Rebel Kemp Alderman was named the Double A Southern League player of the week for July 28-August 5. The Decatur native had nine hits, with two home runs, and drove in eight runs for Pensacola.
Mississippi State will travel to Pensacola on October 18 to meet Florida State for a baseball scrimmage at Blue Wahoo Stadium, the home of the Miami Marlins Double A Southern League team.
Golf
Southern Miss incoming freshman Jake Moffitt will be one of 312 golfers competing in the 123rd United States Amateur Championship that is being held this week in San Francisco at the Olympic Club. Moffitt qualified by winning the Mississippi State Amateur Championship in Saucier earlier this summer.
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show Tuesdays at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area.
This week’s guest will be Jeff Roberson talking about his book on the “Stories from Ole Miss Baseball”. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube and listen to archived shows.
