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By Andy Baeuerle
When a team sees success, it helps things greatly. When a team wins, fans will come. When a team wins, they get national recognition. But if they lose, things start tearing down. Fans won’t show up, and morale plummets. But a win always feels good no matter how good or how bad your team is.
Southern Miss 24, Louisiana-Monroe 7
In Week 9, after USM coach Will Hall turned over playcalling duties to his OC and QB coach, there was a great reward waiting for this. Southern Miss carried their first lead over a team at halftime since the Old Dominion game. Up 24-14 at the half against App State, USM did waste the rest of the game away to fall 48-38, but the guys actually fought and held their own. It’s clear a change is coming in Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss opened the game against ULM Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 20,193, though it seemed smaller in person. ULM has amassed two wins on the season over Army and Lamar (FCS.) Five minutes into the game, the Golden Eagles got their first points on the board after Magee native Chandler Pittman sent a 36-yard pass to the hands of Latreal Jones in the endzone. Southern Miss was able to keep a shutout 17-0 lead over the Warhawks at halftime and came out strong again in the second half despite allowing a ULM touchdown and only scoring once in the fourth.
With Will Hall’s job on the line, many USM fans question just how the season will end. The Golden Eagles still have to take on Sun Belt foes Louisiana (5-4) and Troy (7-2), as well as in-state rival Mississippi State (4-5.) Tough ending schedule.
#10 Ole Miss 38, Texas A&M 35
As far as the last 10 years, Ole Miss is, without a doubt, the best team in Mississippi. They have seen more success than Mississippi State and Southern Miss, as far as rankings, bowl games, and ranked wins. And head coach Lane Kiffin has no interest in letting the Rebels stop. But Saturday, we saw something typical of teams that win all the time.
Ole Miss dominated the Aggies in the first half on the offensive side of the line. Ole Miss had a 14-0 lead over Texas A&M before the Aggies found a small spark and shortened the difference to a 20-14 Ole Miss lead at halftime. Things then took a sharp turn coming out of the locker room. Halfway through the third quarter, Texas A&M defensive lineman Shemar Turner delivered a dirty low blow to Ole Miss lineman Micah Pettus. Turner was, in turn, ejected from the game for hitting Pettus. This penalty gave Ole Miss a first down on the A&M 6-yard line, where Quinshon Judkins ran for the touchdown on the next play, where that, plus a two-point conversion, gave Ole Miss the 28-14 lead. However, this was as good as it was getting for a while, as the Rebels let off of the gas for Texas A&M to catch back up, when, after messing around so much, Ole Miss let A&M take a 35-31 lead. All seemed lost for the Rebels, until a last-minute touchdown run from Quinshon Judkins put Ole Miss in the lead to win 38-35.
Now that Ole Miss has moved up to 8-1 overall, the Rebels are in line for their first trip to the SEC Championship Game. This trip, however, depends heavily on their performance against #1 Georgia on Saturday. In fact, this Bulldog-Rebel matchup will be featured on ESPN College GameDay. This will be Ole Miss’s sixth appearance on College GameDay, while it will be Georgia’s 35th.
Other Scores from Mississippi Teams in Week 10
- Mississippi State 3, Kentucky 24
- Jackson State 21, Texas Southern 19
- Alcorn State 44, Southern 21
- MS Valley State 7, Bethune-Cookman 20
- Mississippi College 14, West Florida 42
- Delta State 47, West Georgia 13
- Milsaps 13, Southwestern 42
- Belhaven 61, Southern Virginia 7
Week 11 Schedule for Mississippi Teams
Thursday, November 9
- Southern Miss (2-7) @ Louisiana (5-4) 6:30 PM, ESPNU
Saturday, November 11
- #10 Ole Miss (8-1) @ Georgia (9-0) 6:00 PM, ESPN
- MS State (4-5) @ Texas A&M (5-4) 6:30 PM, ESPN2
- Mississippi College (3-6) @ Delta State (8-1)* 2:00 PM
- Belhaven (8-1) vs. Brevard (5-4) 11:00 AM**
*: This will be the final regular season game for MC and Delta State. Delta has hopes to enter the Division II Playoffs. I will keep a cover of them as far as they go.
**: This will be the final regular season game for Belhaven. Belhaven also has Division III Playoff hopes and will be covered as far as they go.
MageeNews.com is an online news website covering Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.
