The wait is over. The 2019 college football season opens this week.
Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Mississippi open this Saturday. Ole Miss will travel to Memphis for an 11 a.m. kick off, State travels to New Orleans to tangle with Louisiana-Lafayette, also at 11, and USM will host Alcorn State at 6 p.m.
Mississippi Valley will travel to Tennessee State on Saturday night, while on Sunday afternoon Jackson State will travel to Atlanta to battle Bethune-Cookman in a contest that will be televised by ESPN 2.
In Southeastern Conference action, Georgia visits Vanderbilt and Texas A&M will host Texas State on Thursday night. On Saturday, Alabama opens in Atlanta against Duke, South Carolina visits North Carolina, Missouri hosts Wyoming, Tennessee entertains Georgia State, Kentucky is at home against Toledo, Georgia Southern travels to LSU, Arkansas opens at home against Portland State, and finally Auburn meets Oregon in Arlington, Texas.
ROLLER COASTER WEEK FOR MSU
Mississippi State athletics got a mixture of news this week. Some of the news was good and some not so much.
The good news was that one of their best women’s basketball players in Jordan Danberry was granted another year to play. She is an Arkansas transfer that was the Bulldogs’ third leading scorer.
The not so good was they may have lost their backup quarterback Keytaon Thompson, as he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Thompson lost the starting quarterback battle to Penn State transfer Tommy Stevens.
The Bulldogs also dodged post-season bans as the NCAA has put the school on three years of probation in both their football and men’s basketball programs. The school reported that 10 football players and one basketball player was helped by a part-time tutor in an on-line chemistry class. The players involved will have to miss games during this season.
CHANGE IS GOOD
Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton left the last-place Kansas City Royals and signed with the first place Atlanta Braves this past week. Hamilton has been a plus for the Braves as a pinch runner and late-inning outfield replacement.
He drove in the winning run for the National League Eastern Division leading the Braves in one game, and stole two bases and showed his speed going from first to home on a teammate’s single. He also contributed two hits in his five plate appearances.
Dale McKee, a longtime sportswriter from Waynesboro.
who has been covering high school and college sports in the state since 1973, writes a weekly column about Mississippi sports for several weekly newspapers. He can be reached by email at ddmckee18@yahoo.com.
