Former Choctaw County High School standout Ja”Marcus Bradley hauled in passes for 110 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns as homestanding University of Louisiana defeated Liberty University 35-14 on Saturday night to pick up its first win of the season.
Bradley scored on a 2-yard pass from Levi Lewis with 21 seconds left in the half to break a 14-14 tie and then scored on a 58-yard connection with Lewis to open the third quarter to put the winners up by two touchdowns.
Bradley, who now has 12 catches for 203 yards on the season, and the Ragin’ Cajuns play host to Texas Southern at Cajun Field on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.
— Austin Bishop
ONLY FOUR JUCO TEAMS REMAIN
UNDEFEATED
Just two weeks into the season 10 of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges football teams have at least one loss, with four of those being winless. That leaves four teams — Northwest, Copiah-Lincoln, Gulf Coast and Hinds — at 2-0.
While week one features a pair of major upsets — Hinds beating top-ranked East Mississippi and Coahoma stunning Jones — there weren’t any stunners this week. EMCC bounced back to beat Pearl River 49-15, Co-Lin nipped Northeast 14-7, East Central beat Itawamba 34-14, Gulf Coast rolled over Coahoma 36-6, Hinds edged Miss. Delta 19-17, Jones beat Holmes 23-7, and Northwest defeated Southwest 29-10.
North and South Division play begins this week, with the lone cross-division game being Gulf Coast at Holmes. South Division play has Co-Lin visiting Pearl River, East Central traveling to Southeast and Jones hosting Hinds. In the North, EMCC entertains Itawamba, Northwest hosts Miss. Delta and Northeast travel to Coahoma. All games are on Thursday night.
— Austin Bishop
TENNESSEE’S 11 A.M. GAME BIGGER THAT IT LOOKS
If at first glance, Saturday’s 11 a.m. contest between Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee seems like a laugher for the Vols, that glance must have taken place in July. The last week of August and the first week fo September have been a disaster for the Volunteers who have lost back-to-back home games to Georgia State and BYU.
The game between the Vols is set to be shown on the SEC Network and may have a few more viewers than normal just because SEC fans are interested in the future of UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
Other 11 a.m. SEC games this Saturday have Mississippi State hosting Kansas State on ESPN and Georgia entertaining Arkansas State on ESPN2.
The 2:30 p.m. CBS game has South Carolina hosting Alabama, while at 3 p.m. the SEC Network has two games — Southeastern Louisiana at Ole Miss and Colorado State at Arkansas. The rest of the SEC TV schedule for this Saturday is as follows: Kent State at Auburn, ESPN2, 6 p.m.; Florida at Kentucky, ESPN, 6 p.m.; Lamar University at Texas A&M, ESPN, 6 p.m; Northwestern (La.) State at LSU, SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.; and Southeast Missouri State at Missouri, SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.
— Austin Bishop
SABAN SAYS
SCHEDULING IS AN ISSUE
After watching his Crimson Tide crush visiting New Mexico State 62-10 on Saturday, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban says he has no problem at all playing a tougher schedule.
“We try to schedule the best teams that we can schedule,” Saban said. “We can only play the people who are willing to play us. I have said my opinion about playing 12 Power 5 schools, that’s what I’d rather do."
The Tide has non-conference home games remaining against the University of Southern Mississippi on Sept. 21 and Western Carolina on Nov. 23. Alabama opened the season with a 42-3 win over Duke in Atlanta on Aug. 31.
Last season’s non-conference games for Alabama were against Louisville in Orlando and home contests against Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and The Citadel.
— Austin Bishop
STATE RANKED NO. 23 IN POLL
A 2-0 start to the season – both by double-digits – has Mississippi State football into the Amway Coaches Poll at No. 23 this week following a 28-15 win over USM last week.
State, which has put up 38 points in each of its contests, has now been ranked in 20 out of the last 26 Coaches Polls dating back to Oct. 29, 2017. The Bulldogs finished the 2019 campaign No. 25 in the poll. State is receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25.
— School Reports
