This Sunday’s Super Bowl will definitely have a big helping hand of Mississippi flavor. The cities of Horn Lake, Starkville and Yazoo City will each have two players in the game. The Mississippi Eagles are Fletcher Cox and Kenneth Gainwell of Yazoo City, Gardner Minshew of Brandon, A.J. Brown of Starkville and Nakobe Dean of Horn Lake. Other Philadelphia connections are MSU’s Darius Slay along with USM’s Quez Watkins and Cameron Tom. The Mississippi guys with the K.C. Chiefs are Darius Harris of Horn Lake, Chris Jones of Houston and Willie Gay of Starkville. Walnut Grove’s Jerrion Ealy was on the Chiefs’ practice roster. Another note of interest is Lucedale’s Ty Fryfogle signed a future’s contract (2023) with the Chiefs last month.
The USM Golden Eagles won two road games at Troy and Georgia State last week.
The Eagles (21-4, 10-2) are tied with Louisiana-Lafayette (20-4, 10-2) for first place in the Sun Belt standings. Louisiana is sporting a 10-game winning streak entering Thursday’s game while USM has won seven straight. The two teams will meet in Hattiesburg this Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. where the Golden Eagles are 12-0 this season. The Lady Eagles (15-8, 8-4) are two games behind 1st place Troy in Sun Belt play after splitting their two games this past week. USM ladies will remain at home this Thursday as they host Texas State at 5 p.m.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are on a three-game winning streak as they host LSU this week and travel to Arkansas. The Bulldogs (15-8, 3-7) won two SEC games over South Carolina and Missouri last week. The Lady Bulldogs (15-7, 4-5) did not play this past week as they prepared for a three-game slate this week against Tennessee, Florida and Texas A&M.
Ole Miss (9-14, 1-9) lost to Kentucky and Vanderbilt this past week. The Rebels will play at Georgia on Tuesday and host South Carolina on Saturday. The Lady Rebels (19-5, 8-3) are off until February 13 against Kentucky.
The MHSAA crowned several soccer champions last week as the nation’s number 1 high school boys’ soccer team in undefeated Clinton won the 6A title. Long Beach won their third straight 5A title while Bay High won the 4A title with St. Andrews winning the Class 1 title. In girls’ play, Saltillo won the 5A title, West Lauderdale took the 4A crown and St. Patrick won the Class 1 championship. The 6A girls’ soccer title was to be decided this week along with the MHSAA Bowling Championships.
Former Alcorn and Southern Miss head football coach Jay Hopson has been hired as the defensive back coach at South Alabama. Former Delta State and Gulf Coast Community College head coach Steve Campbell and former South Alabama head coach Joey Jones have been hired in off-the-field positions at Mississippi State.
William Carey won two of three games against Cumberland as Bobby Halford opened his 38th season as head coach of the Crusaders. This Friday and Saturday, William Carey will host Culver Stockton (MO) in a three-game set. Delta State (0-2), who lost a twin bill against Harding on Sunday, will have their home opener this Friday. All of our D-1 schools have to wait until February 17 before they begin the 2023 season.
NFL News
Tom Brady, the most decorated NFL quarterback in history, announced this past week that he is retiring. He has won seven Super Bowls and was named MVP of five Super Bowls. Brady was the comeback kid in many of his post season wins over his 23 years. Brady is expected to step into a role next season with Fox TV.
Sean Payton is back in the NFL as head coach of the Denver Broncos. New Orleans gained a first round draft choice and a second rounder in the 2024 drafts. Payton was still under contract to the Saints, necessitating a trade between the teams.
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome; go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube to listen to archived shows. Dale has been writing sports since 1973. Contact him at ddmckee18@yahoo.com.
