Talking sports …
The New Orleans Saints won a 31-26 nail-biter over the Carolina Panthers Sunday to advance to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.
The Saints (12-5) will play the Minnesota Vikings (13-3) next Sunday. New Orleans has never lost a playoff game in the Superdome with Drew Brees and Sean Payton at the helm. Brees threw for 376 yards and two scores as the Saints beat the Panthers for the third time this season.
It was the Saints' first playoff win since 2013 and their first home playoff win since they won their last divisional title in 2011. The Saints opened the season in Minnesota and lost, 29-19, to the Vikings.
… Ole Miss head basketball coach Andy Kennedy won his 100th SEC game as his Rebels downed archrival Mississippi State, 64-58, last Saturday. Ole Miss was trailing State, 50-39, with 10 minutes to play only to go on a 25-8 run. It was the Rebels' eighth win in their last nine games against MSU.
… The Lady Bulldogs of Mississippi State (17-0, 3-0) scored a school SEC record 111 points in their win over Arkansas last week. The Lady Bulldogs will host national champion South Carolina on Monday, February 5.
… USM baseball made the news nationally last week. Stony Brook University cancelled a three-game series with USM that was to be played in Hattiesburg in late February. The reason given was that the state of New York banned all non-essential state travel to Mississippi because of the State of Mississippi House Bill 1523. The Eagles will now travel 400 miles to Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, to take part in a tournament. USM, who won 50 games in 2017 and took the C-USA tournament, will open in Hattiesburg against Mississippi State Feb. 16-18.
This and That ...
— Belhaven University baseball coach Hill Denson was inducted into the American Baseball College Association Hall of Fame last week. The Bay Springs native won 1,058 games during his 31-year college baseball career at Belhaven and USM. As head coach of the Golden Eagles for 14 seasons, Denson won 468 games and produced 35 professional players. Denson has also been inducted into the Jones County Junior College Sports HoF, the Mississippi Semi-Pro Baseball HoF, the USM Sports HoF, the Belhaven University Sports HoF and the Mississippi Sports HoF.
— Belhaven hired a new head football coach to replace Hal Mumme. University of Delaware offensive line coach Blaine McCorkle was named head coach of the Blazers last week. He formerly played football for LSU (1995-97) where was a long snapper. The 19-year veteran of college coaching has also coached at Liberty University, Richmond University, UT-Chattanooga, Georgia Southern, UT Martin, University of the South and Tennessee Tech.
— McCorkle was also a student coach at LSU. His dad (Sam) is presently an assistant high school football coach at Oxford High School. The elder McCorkle was head coach at West Alabama for eight years as well as head coach for three years at UT-Martin.
— The Oakland Raiders were scheduled to hire Jon Gruden this week. The former Oakland and Tampa Bay head coach will sign a 10-year deal worth $100 million. Gruden last coached in the NFL in 2008 and has been the lead analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast for the last nine years.
Dale McKee, a resident of Waynesboro, has covered Mississippi sports for more than 40 years.
He writes a weekly sports column. You can contact Dale at ddmckee18@yahoo.com
