College notebook: Ole Miss’ squirrel steals the show; Bulldogs and Statesmen make bad history

Published 2:05 pm Sunday, October 27, 2024

By Ernest Bowker

The day the squirrel went berserk, in the football stadium dirt, in that sleepy little town of Oxford.

It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival, and they were jumpin’ and shouting for the Rebels “Hallelujah!”

Ole Miss beat Oklahoma 26-14 on Saturday as Jaxson Dart threw for 311 yards and one touchdown, and the defense shut out the Sooners in the second half. The biggest star of the game, though, was a squirrel that got loose on the field near the end of the first quarter.

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The squirrel came onto the field with 1:26 left, and caused a brief delay. It first ran from about the 35-yard line to the 17, then laid down. As stadium staff approached it, the squirrel jumped back to its feet and ran into the end zone as the crowd at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium roared in approval.

After scoring its first career touchdown, the squirrel ran off the field and was not seen again.

USM loses in Stringer’s debut
Reed Stringer’s debut as Southern Miss’ head coach wasn’t a disaster, but it was not a win, either.

The Golden Eagles (1-7, 0-4 Sun Belt) played James Madison tough, but lost 32-15 on Saturday to take their sixth loss in a row. Stringer took over as Southern Miss’ interim head coach when Will Hall was fired last weekend.

After Kenyon Clay scored on a 15-yard run early in the third quarter to pull Southern Miss to within 23-15, James Madison blocked the PAT and returned it for a defensive two-point conversion. Alonza Barnett III later threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Cam Ross with 12:05 left in the fourth quarter to put the Dukes ahead 32-15, and they closed it out from there.

Clay finished with 94 total yards — 69 rushing and 25 receiving — and one touchdown, while Connor Gibbs kicked three field goals including a 54-yarder.

Southern Miss allowed nine sacks, gave up a kickoff return touchdown to start the second half, and had a punt return touchdown of its own negated by a penalty. James Madison only outgained Southern Miss 357 yards to 319.

Southern Miss has a bye week before playing Marshall at home on Nov. 9.

“I’m proud of the way they showed up to play this football game after a tough week. I felt good about the way we practiced all week, and I felt good about the way they responded, but you don’t ever really know until you snap that ball. Right from the first step, you could tell they were playing inspired ball,” Stringer said. “Like I said, I’m proud of them. I am not as proud of the lack of execution on some things, though. We had some very costly penalties, and we had some things where we shot ourselves in the foot. In a ballgame, if you look statistically, it’s really, really close and that ended up being a 17-point game.”

Mississippi State makes history
Mississippi State made history during its 58-25 loss to Arkansas on Saturday — just not the kind it wanted.

It was the seventh consecutive game in which the Bulldogs have allowed 30 points or more, breaking the school record of six set in 2003. The 58 points was also the most allowed since the 2016 team also gave up 58 in a loss to Arkansas.

Arkansas had 673 total yards on Saturday and only punted once. It rushed for 359 yards as two players — Braylen Russell and Rashod Dubinion — each had more than 100. Quarterback Taylen Green completed 23 of 29 passes for 314 yards and five touchdowns.

Mississippi State ranks 124th out of 133 FBS teams in scoring defense.

“The frustrating part today was that we had made such improvement. We had played better and better. We had played some really really good units and done some things to give us a chance to win games and then today we took a step back,” Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said.

Mississippi State (1-7, 0-5 Southeastern Conference) will play at home on Nov. 2 against Massachusetts (2-6). UMass is tied for 121st in the FBS in scoring offense, at 19.1 points per game.

Delta State loses a marathon
Delta State played the longest game in its history Saturday and wound up with nothing to show for it.

The Statesmen rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter before losing 47-45 to North Greenville in quadruple overtime. Dre’ Williams threw a two-point conversion pass and Delta State missed on its attempt to give North Greenville the win.

The four overtime periods are the most Delta State has ever played. The previous school record was three, in a 40-34 loss to Valdosta State in 2015.

Choctaws break out
Mississippi College almost scored more points in one game Saturday than it has all season.

The Choctaws (1-7, 1-5 Gulf South Conference) had three players rush for at least 89 yards, and only threw one pass as they beat Erskine College 42-7 for their first win of the season.

Mississippi College had been held to 10 points or less in six of its first seven games, and scored 54 total until Saturday.

Lamonte James rushed for 185 yards and four touchdowns, Marcus Williams had 119 yards and two TDs, and quarterback Preston Godfrey finished with 89 yards.

Godfrey’s only pass was an incompletion late in first quarter, on the Choctaws’ second drive. They ran the ball on their last 53 offensive snaps.

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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