The Kansas City Chiefs won their second Super Bowl in four years and third in club history with a thrilling 38-35 triumph over the Philadelphia Eagles. The game was a nail biter for sure and was not decided until there were eight seconds to play when Harrison Butker drilled a field goal. The Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was named the game’s MVP. Two Starkville natives made an impact in the contests as A.J. Brown scored the Eagles’ first touchdown on a 45-yard pass play from Jalen Hurts. Brown had eight touchdown catches of 25-plus yards this season, the most by an NFL player since the stat was first tracked in 2006. Brown, a former Ole Miss receiver, caught six passes for 96 yards in the contest. The Chiefs’ Willie Gay, a former MSU Bulldog, had six tackles and two assists in the contest. Houston native Chris Jones had two tackles and former MSU player Darius Slay had four tackles for the Eagles. Two former Yazoo City stars also took part in the game as Fletcher Cox had one tackle while Kenneth Gainwell rushed for 21 yards, caught 20 yards worth of passes and returned a kickoff 11 yards for the Eagles. Former USM and Eagle receiver Quiz Watkins had one catch for eight yards in the contest.
The NCAA official start-up date for college baseball is this Friday when all of our Division 1 schools will be in action. On that day, Alcorn hosts Alabama A&M while Jackson State and Mississippi Valley travel to Houston for the HBCU Classic at Minute Maid Park. Jackson State plays Southern University while Valley tangles with Prairie View A&M. The Ole Miss Rebels open in Oxford by hosting Delaware while Southern Mississippi welcomes Liberty and Mississippi State entertains Virginia Military Institute this weekend.
The defending National Champion Ole Miss Rebels were voted fourth in the SEC Western Division preseason baseball coaches preseason poll while Mississippi State was seventh. The Western Division poll shaped up with LSU at the top followed by Texas A&M, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Alabama, Auburn and MSU. In the East, Tennessee was voted first followed by Florida, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Missouri. The D-1 national poll had seven SEC teams in the Top 10. The top 10 teams in the preseason poll were LSU, Tennessee, Stanford, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Wake Forest, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt. Southern Mississippi came in 18th in the D-1 poll. Southern Mississippi baseball, which was ranked in each of the five major national preseason polls, was picked to win the 2023 Sun Belt Conference in the baseball coaches preseason poll.
Southern Mississippi basketball won the mega matchup with Louisiana Lafayette and extended their winning streak to nine games and home record to 14-0. USM is just four wins away from producing the best turnaround story in NCAA D-1 basketball history. The Golden Eagles have a two game lead entering the week over Marshall and Louisiana in conference play. The Golden Eagles (12-2, 23-4) will host their final regular season contest of the season when they host Georgia Southern at noon on Saturday. The Eagles also travel to South Alabama this Thursday.
The Mississippi State Basketball Bulldogs have found the right team chemistry as they reeled off five straight wins and downed Arkansas and Missouri last week. The Bulldogs (5-7, 17-8) will host Kentucky on Wednesday night before heading to Oxford on Saturday. The Ole Miss Rebels (2-10, 10-15), who split games this past week, will travel to Florida on Wednesday night before hosting Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon.
The MSU Lady Bulldogs (7-5, 18-7) stunned Tennessee last week and defeated Texas A&M and will travel to Missouri on Thursday. The Ole Miss Lady Rebels (8-3, 19-5) will have their hands full this week as they travel to No. 3 LSU on Thursday and host No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday. The USM Lady Golden Eagles (9-5, 16-9) are in fifth place in Sun Belt play as they hit the road this week.
