Ole Miss moved up from ninth to seventh in both the AP and Coaches polls this week. Miami moved up to No. 1, followed by BYU, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Indiana, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, UCLA and Utah.
Ole Miss burst out to a 21-3 halftime lead and defeated No. 13 Missouri, 31-3, as the Rebels celebrated their 99th Homecoming game. The No. 7 Rebels defense gave Missouri a field goal on its opening offensive drive of the game before shutting down the visiting Tigers on their next 10 offensive possessions. The defense was led by Will Echoles and Tah’j Butler as they held the Tigers to 39 rushing yards. Former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons threw for 340 yards but could never get the Tigers into the end zone. The Ole Miss defense held one of the country’s top running backs, Jamal Roberts, to only 39 yards on 20 carries. Roberts was coming off back-to-back 200-yard rushing games against Florida and Texas A&M. Trinidad Chambliss passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another. It was Chambliss’s 19th consecutive game in which he threw for a touchdown. Kewan Lacy rushed for 122 yards while Makhi Frazier added 101 ground yards. Ole Miss won its 15th consecutive home game, winning for the first time over Missouri since 1974. Ole Miss (5-1, 3-1) will travel to battle the Arch Manning-led No. 18 Texas Longhorns Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Texas (4-2, 1-2) lost to visiting Florida Saturday.
Mississippi State was at a huge disadvantage playing LSU in Baton Rouge without star quarterback Kamario Taylor and top running back Fluff Bothwell. The Tigers took advantage of six MSU turnovers in a 31-0 win. Bulldog signal caller Billy Puckett was the first true walk-on freshman quarterback to start an SEC game since Georgia’s Stetson Bennett did it in 2020. Puckett threw 121 yards while Kolin Wilson, also starting for the first time, filled in for Bothwell and rushed for 75 yards. The Bulldogs’ defense, which played so well to begin the season, did not play so well Saturday. The Bulldogs (4-2, 2-2) will play Oklahoma for the first time Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Southern Miss returned home for the first time in a month but fell for the fifth consecutive time as it lost to Arkansas State, 23-13. The Red Wolves had a 20-minute advantage in time of possession over USM. The Golden Eagles (1-5, 0-2) will host Louisiana-Lafayette for Homecoming Saturday at 4 p.m. in Renasant Stadium at The Rock.
Jackson State defeated Alabama State 27-17; Alcorn fell to Prairie View A&M, 41-38; and Mississippi Valley State lost to Bethune-Cookman, 34-14. This Saturday, JSU (6-1, 3-1) travels to Bethune-Cookman while Alcorn (4-4, 2-2) and Valley (3-5, 2-2) each have an open date. Valley will host Alcorn Saturday, Oct. 31, in Itta Bena.
Delta State downed Ferrum, 24-7, while Belhaven slipped past Greensboro, 19-10, and Millsaps ran past Sewanee, 62-14. All three teams will be at home this Saturday as Delta State (3-3) tangles with West Alabama, Belhaven (3-3) takes on Southern Virginia and Millsaps (5-1) meets Trinity.
Northwest won over Itawamba, 31-9, to grab sole possession of first place in the Mississippi JUCO football North Division. The Rangers are 5-0 within the North Division while Itawamba and East Mississippi are 3-1 in the division. The Itawamba Indians will host East Mississippi this Thursday. In the South Division, East Central made things interesting by scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to upset Gulf Coast, 31-20. Hinds leads the South Division with a 4-0 record while Gulf Coast is 3-1. The teams will meet in Perkinston Thursday. Jones College made a historic comeback as it scored four touchdowns in the final eight minutes of the game to stun Southwest, 41-40. The Bobcats’ final score came with 13 seconds to play. Coahoma secured its first win of the season by defeating Mississippi Delta, 35-23.
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show Tuesday and Friday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest is Jason Scarborough, host of Audibles. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smartphone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube and listen to the archived shows.
