Not surprisingly, all 12 of this week’s football games featuring SEC teams will be televised, with one of those games being the SEC opener between Georgia and homestanding Vanderbilt at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. That game will be shown on the SEC Network.
The football season opened last Saturday with No. 8 ranked Florida taking a narrow 24-20 win over Miami (Fla.) in a nationally telecast game on ESPN. This Thursday Texas A&M plays host to Texas State at 7:30 p.m. n the SEC Network.
Saturday’s other scheduled SEC games and the networks they will be shown on are as follows in chronological order: Ole Miss at Memphis, 11 a.m., ABC; Mississippi State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, 11 a.m. ESPNU; Toledo at Kentucky, 11 a.m., SEC Network; Duke vs. Alabama in Atlanta, 2:30 p.m., ABC; South Carolina vs. North Carolina, 2:30 p.m. ESPN; Georgia State at Tennessee, 2:30 p.m., ESPNU; Portland State at Arkansas, 3 p.m., SEC Network; Georgia Southern at LSU, 6:30 p.m., ESPNU; Oregon vs. Auburn, 6:30 p.m., ABC; and Missouri at Wyoming, 6:30 p.m. CBS Sports Network.
— Austin Bishop
JUNIOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL THIS WEEK
The most powerful junior college football league in America will begin another season this Thursday night as all 14 teams will play. The schedule has Jones at Coahoma, Holmes at Co-Lin, East Mississippi at Hinds, Pearl River at Itawamba, Gulf Coast at Delta, Northeast at Southwest and Northwest at East Central.
— Dale McKee
NOT SO FAMILIAR RIVALRY
Surprisingly enough, Saturday’s 11 a.m. college football match-up at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans between Mississippi State and Louisiana-Lafayette is just the sixth match-up between the two schools all-time.
Despite being just one state over the two schools have only played three times since 1987, including this year’s contest. Four of the five previous contests have been played in Starkville with the first ever meeting between the two schools — on Oct. 23, 1908 — being played at Columbus, Miss. The Rabun’ Cajuns won that contest. State won the four at starkville, including a 56-10 win last year, which is the most points ULL has ever scored MSU in a game.
— Austin Bishop
OLE MISS
EXPECTED TO BE HEALTHY
SATURDAY
Ole Miss head football coach Matt Luke says his Rebels should be in good physical shape headed into Saturday’s 11 a.m. road contest at Memphis.
“I think we are coming out of camp relatively healthy,” Luke said. “I think the biggest question mark is still Alex Givens. We are trying to integrate him, doing a bunch a walk-throughs and a bunch of conditioning stuff. I think he is still day-to-day at this point, and we will know more Tuesday and Wednesday. Other than that, we are pretty healthy.”
The game will be televised on ABC.
— Austin Bishop
HOPSON FAMILIAR WITH USM-ALCORN MATCH-UP
Being on the sidelines when the University of Southern Mississippi plays Alcorn State in football is nothing new for USM head coach Jay Hopson. It will, however, be his first time to be on the home sidelines when the Golden Eagles play host to the Braves Saturday at 6 p.m.
Hopson was the head coach at Alcorn the last time the two teams met, as his Braves fell 26-20 to USM in 2014. The Golden Eagles hold a 2-0 advantage in the series, winning the first meeting 52-0 in 2009.
Southern Mississippi is 7-0 all-time against Southwestern Athletic Conference teams, holding a 3-0 mark against Jackson State, with two wins over Alcorn and one each over Southern (La.) University and Prairie View A&M.
— Austin Bishop
