| Tuesday, September 19, 2017 |
| Wanted: Generous college alums to fill financial void left by Legislature | |
 | As state funding steadily decreases, Mississippi's eight public universities must become more self-reliant in tackling the backlog of campus construction and renovation projects as well as paying for everyday educational expenses. During its 2017 session, the Mississippi Legislature declined to approve any bond requests that would have financed projects totaling $569,878,901 on the university campuses. Alumni giving, long the financial bedrock of athletic foundations, is becoming an increasingly important revenue resource for academic support. "Donations from alumni are incredibly important to universities," said Commissioner of Higher Education Glenn Boyce. In a survey conducted by Mississippi Today, Mississippi State University ranked No. 1 with 17.6 percent of its alumni contributing $38.8 million to the school during fiscal year 2017. |
| Bulldog Bash 2017 largest in event history | |
 | Bulldog Bash took place Friday, with people from Starkville and beyond coming to spend time exploring the Maroon Market and listening to live music for the first time in downtown. This year's Bulldog Bash was reported to have the highest attendance in the event's 18-year history. GSDP Director of Tourism Jennifer Prather told the SDN attendance was in excess of 30,000 Friday night. Prather also said the Partnership was working on getting a more specific number. While no official numbers have been compiled yet, the Partnership reported downtown businesses saw increased customers due to Bulldog Bash. Prather said restaurants in particular saw a higher influx of customers. She said the Partnership was working to compile more data on the event's economic impact. For the first year hosting the Bash on Main Street, I'm very pleased with the efforts of the MSU Student Association and the cooperation with our city to make this event an overwhelming success," Prather said. |
| Mississippi Power donates to anatomy lab at MSU-Meridian | |
 | Eddie Kelly, left, Meridian Division Manager for Mississippi Power, and Terry Dale Cruse, head of campus for Mississippi State University-Meridian stand near a plaque naming the Mississippi Power Anatomy Lab in the Rosenbaum Health Sciences Building on the Riley Campus in downtown Meridian. Mississippi Power's contribution funded the lab, which houses the state's first digital cadaver. The anatomy lab plays a central role in educating students majoring in exercise physiology and is a critical component of the proposed master of physician assistant studies program at MSU-Meridian. |
| Miss Mississippi calls pageant life-changing experience | |
| Miss Mississippi Anne Elizabeth Buys didn't walk away with a crown, but she did make several new friends during the Miss America pageant, which she called a life-changing experience. "If I got to paint a picture of the perfect Miss America experience, it surpassed it," Buys said. Buys said the new Miss America, Cara Mund of North Dakota, became one of her friends during the time she spent in Atlantic City. "She was in my group, so we spent the whole week together," Buys said. "I remember being backstage and seeing her talent and thinking, 'That is so cute.'" Buys brought home some scholarship money from Atlantic City and will be returning to Mississippi State University to finish her degree in communication after her reign as Miss Mississippi comes to an end. |
| Childhood illness started Martinez-Guerra on a path that ended in a lab at ERDC | |
| Water has flowed through Edith Martinez-Guerra's life, carrying her in its current from a one-room house in El Salvador with dirt floors she shared with seven relatives to a career as an environmental engineer at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg. From the time she started school, Martinez-Guerra wanted to "wanted to make it in school until the end." She received her bachelors in civil engineering from Arkansas State and her masters and Ph.D. in civil/environmental engineering from Mississippi State. It was at MSU where she first heard of ERDC and the wastewater team and saw the potential of fulfilling her dream of working with water. She has been employed as a Research Environmental Engineer at ERDC for a year now. |
| Consumer Protection Experts Warn of Growing form of Identity Theft | |
 | Imagine being pursued by bill collectors for treatment of a condition the person doesn't have. Medical I.D. theft is outpacing financial identity theft nationwide according to Susan Cosgrove with Mississippi State University Extension. She says medical identity theft is more valuable because of the high cost of health care. "They can obtain medical care. They can get prescription drugs or they can commit medical fraud in your name," said Cosgrove. Cosgrove recommends checking itemized medical bills, insurance statements and credit reports for erroneous charges. |
| UK hopes to expand U.S. trade by opening Mississippi office | |
 | Great Britain plans to open a U.S. branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society in Mississippi, part of a push to strengthen U.K.-U.S. ties and trade post-Brexit, British news agencies are reporting. The Telegraph in London reported: "The move has added significance given both Theresa May, the prime minister, and Donald Trump, the American president, have signaled their desire for a U.K.-U.S. trade deal after Brexit." "Indeed one of Mr. Trump's closest political allies, Phil Bryant, the governor of Mississippi, has agreed to serve as the branch's chairman of the board of governance," the Telegraph said, adding that officials from both countries have already held "scoping talks" for the trade deal, which could not be made until the U.S. formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Bryant on Monday posted on Facebook that he is "delighted" the RCS is opening its first U.S. branch in Mississippi. |
| State to collect taxes on online lodging rentals | |
 | The Mississippi Department of Revenue will begin collecting Mississippi sales taxes and local tourism taxes on short-term lodging rentals made through such companies as Airbnb. Kathy Waterbury a spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, confirmed Monday via email that a new regulation, which will be final Sept. 28, will tax short-term lodging rentals, such as homes, apartments or even rooms in homes the same as the state taxes hotels and motels. Waterbury said, the purpose of the new regulation "was to reflect changes in the hotel/motel industry and to make clear to interested parties that these type businesses meet the definition of a hotel as provided" in Mississippi law, which places the tax on the gross sales of hotels/motels. According to various published reports, including some cited by Waterbury, Airbnb will begin collecting the sales tax and tourism tax on its rentals and remitting it to the state on Oct. 1. |
| State has halted use of Russian software in election systems, Hosemann says | |
| U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson on Friday urged Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to remove any Kaspersky Lab software from Mississippi's elections systems over fears of Russian hacking. But Hosemann said he made that call about a month ago, after he first heard concerns over the company's possible ties to the Russian government. He said the Kaspersky antivirus software, sold throughout the U.S., was being used in three Mississippi counties, Adams, Franklin and Wilkinson. One has already switched to another brand and two others are in the process, Hosemann said. "On Aug. 18, we notified all our circuit clerks of potential vulnerabilities of Kaspersky software and at that time determined three of them were using it," Hosemann said. "All have responded. One I know has already changed and two are in the process." |
| States ask insurers to prioritize non-opioid pain treatment | |
 | Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is joining forces with attorneys general from 34 other states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia to urge health insurers to review their policies for pain management treatment to spark higher use of alternatives to opioid prescriptions. The top government lawyers in 35 states signed a letter to the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans. The group asked insurers to make coverage of non-opioid treatments such as physical therapy and massage a priority. "The status quo, in which there may be financial incentives to prescribe opioids for pain which they are ill-suited to treat, is unacceptable," the attorneys general wrote. The letter targets prescribing powerful drugs for chronic pain, a practice several studies have found is not effective. |
| Establishment gears up for Steve Bannon's war on the GOP leadership | |
 | If "war" against the Republican establishment is what former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon wants, then war is what he will get. Deep-pocketed supporters of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other GOP leaders have resolved to fight a protracted battle over the next year for the soul of the party in congressional primaries. The first battle will conclude this month in Alabama, where the incumbent senator -- establishment-backed Luther Strange -- is fighting uphill against former state Supreme Court judge Roy Moore, a conservative evangelical jurist who has twice been removed from the bench for defying legal decisions. Known If they decide to put serious sums into groups taking on establishment candidates, hedge fund magnate Robert Mercer and his middle daughter, Rebekah, could help fuel the GOP's latest internecine battles. Mercer has contributed $50,000 this summer to a new super PAC, Remember Mississippi, set up by an aide to state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who is considering challenging GOP incumbent Sen. Roger Wicker. |
| Military budget would swell under Senate bill | |
| The Senate has overwhelmingly approved a sweeping defense policy bill that would pump $700 billion into the military, putting the U.S. armed forces on track for a budget greater than at any time during the decade-plus wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senators passed the legislation by an 89-8 vote Monday. The measure authorizes $700 billion in military spending for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, expands U.S. missile defenses in response to North Korea's growing hostility and refuses to allow excess military bases to be closed. The 1,215-page measure defies a number of White House objections, but President Donald Trump hasn't threatened to veto it. The bill helps him honor a pledge to rebuild an American military that he said had become depleted on former President Barack Obama's watch. |
| From Colonel Reb to Rebel Black Bear to -- a Landshark? Ole Miss considering mascot change | |
| The University of Mississippi is reopening the thorny issue of mascots, more than a decade after the controversial decision to drop Colonel Reb. The Associated Student Body (ASB), the university's student government, announced Monday that a campus-wide vote will consider changing the Black Bear mascot adopted after Colonel Reb's demise to something considered more catchy: a Landshark. Not everybody is captivated by the idea. "Let me get this straight," Colonel Reb Foundation Student Chairman Wess Helton said in a release. "The Ole Miss administration wants to change their current failed mascot to one that got even LESS support in their sham 2010 mascot election?" The organization supports bringing back Colonel Reb. University representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on the referendum. |
| U. of Mississippi police, fraternity presidents respond to recent sexual battery incidents | |
 | Three incidents of sexual battery have been reported to the University Police Department over the past two weeks. The most recent incident happened late Friday night in the area of West and Poole Drives and is still under investigation. "This is an ongoing investigation," said Chief Tim Potts of UPD. "We are still trying to identify the suspect, but we feel like we have a good start. If this doesn't go as planned, we will release physical descriptions to the public." According to the Clery Crime Report, the incident occurred at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house on campus. In that same Clery Report, a warrant was issued for assisting information, which Kappa Sigma gave in the form of house surveillance footage Friday night. This report comes during a recent spike in sexual offenses on campus. Potts confirmed this was the third incident within the last two weeks. |
| Mississippi Awards First Diploma in Degree-Completion Push | |
| A Grenada woman is the first person to earn a degree under a new Mississippi program aimed at helping people finish college. Debra Harris earned a bachelor's degree in general studies from the University of Mississippi in August. The university says Harris first began studies in 1977, then resumed classes in 1996, but didn't finish either time. Harris applied to the state's Complete 2 Compete website, expecting to hear that she needed more classes. But she was soon told she was already eligible for a diploma. State officials say records show more than 2,400 former students have enough credits for a bachelor's degree without additional courses. |
| Meridian Community College takes second look at banned books | |
| Photo: Meridian Community College's Todd Library will be observing Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom to read, beginning Sunday, Sept. 24. Taking another looked at some books that were considered banned and/or challenged are third semester Associate Degree Nursing Program students Jonathan Adkins of Decatur, left; Lori Ward of Hattiesburg; and Brianna Hickey of Terry. Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community -- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers and readers -- in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. |
| Auburn student raped on campus 'Tiger Transit', 2 bus drivers arrested, police say | |
 | Two men -- both Tiger Transit employees -- are charged in the sexual assault of an 18-year-old Auburn University student. The Auburn Police Department on Monday announced the arrests of James Don Johnson, 32, and Tony Martin Patillo, 51. Both men are charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in connection with the attack that happened Friday night on the campus shuttle. As the investigation continued, detectives determined that the female, who "appeared to be incapacitated," got on the bus near Magnolia Avenue in Auburn. While on the bus, she was sexually assaulted by Patillo, an employee of First Transit which operates Tiger Transit. Further investigation showed that Johnson, who was driving the bus, engaged in actions to perpetuate the crime while Patillo was in the rear of the bus raping the victim. |
| Fraternity shuts down LSU chapter after pledge's death, urges prosecution of those involved | |
 | Though questions about the recent death of an LSU freshman fraternity pledge remain unanswered, hundreds of students and faculty gathered Monday evening to remember Maxwell Gruver as a "gentle giant" whose outgoing personality and unconditional love defined his 18 years of life. About 700 people -- mostly students -- filed quietly into Christ the King Catholic Church on the LSU campus for a memorial Mass honoring Gruver, who died last week after leaving the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house. University officials have referred to his death as a possible hazing incident and police investigations continue. In response to the circumstances surrounding Gruver's death, Phi Delta Theta formally revoked the charter from its LSU chapter Monday morning, saying it has information that some of the LSU members had violated fraternity policies, including its Alcohol Free Housing policy. |
| LSU completes medical marijuana contract, drug could be available by mid-2018 | |
| Louisiana State University has completed its contract with a company that will grow medical marijuana and says the drug is expected to reach patients by mid-2018. The LSU AgCenter announced Monday its deal with Las Vegas-based GB Sciences is signed. The AgCenter says the company will start renovating its production facility immediately. Lawmakers agreed to a framework for dispensing medical marijuana in 2015, but only allowed the agricultural centers at LSU and Southern University to grow the product. Southern hasn't yet chosen its grower. The law will eventually get medicinal-grade marijuana to people with cancer, a severe form of cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy and other diseases. |
| Symposium brings experts to Texas A&M to discuss infrastructure issues | |
 | Streamlining the regulatory process, encouraging innovation and making sure the public understands the importance of a given project must be priorities if the U.S. is going to try to resolve its infrastructure problems, according to experts in the field. Federal officials, along with their counterparts at the state and local levels, were at Texas A&M University on Monday to participate in a national symposium on barriers and opportunities for infrastructure renewal. "We have a public deadline of the end of the month to have everything ready to go [but] frankly any moment we could hear from a tweet that we've got to go right now," said Finch Fulton, deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy in the U.S Department of Transportation, referring to President Donald Trump's inclination to make such announcements via social media. |
| U. of Missouri ranks near bottom in salary comparisons | |
 | At the University of Missouri, the only faculty members who aren't the worst paid at public members of the American Association of Universities are men who hold full professorships. At an average salary of $128,700, men who hold full professorships at MU make $24,691 less than the average for male full professors at the association's 33 public universities. Only the University of Oregon has a lower average, at $128,300. Full professors who are women fare worse -- both in comparison to the other association schools and in the pay equity gap at home. Among schools in the Southeastern Conference, MU has the worst average pay for assistant professors -- young academics looking to make their mark and earn tenure -- and second to last for associate professors, the faculty group most recently granted tenure. MU ranks last in the conference for pay equity among full professors. |
| Race was most talked-about concern in U. of Missouri's 2016 campus climate survey | |
 | A year after campus protests garnered national media attention, race still weighed heavily on the minds of University of Missouri students, faculty and staff, according to the results of a campus climate survey released Monday. Race and racism were noted in more narratives than any other identity or concern in respondents' elaborations on conduct at MU, according to the 578-page report on MU. The survey was conducted by Rankin & Associates Consulting at all four campuses in the University of Missouri System in fall 2016. It was in the final weeks of a contentious presidential election full of inflammatory rhetoric, and the effects of the 2015 protests were still being felt, including in the high turnover among campus leaders. The report noted that the culture of MU and the country at the time the survey was administered was relevant to the results. |
| Three arrested in violent Georgia Tech protests after police shoot student | |
| Anger over the police shooting of a Pride Alliance leader at Georgia Tech turned violent Monday night, as protesters who had attended a vigil on the campus set a police car ablaze. Two police officers received minor injures and one of them was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, a Tech spokesman said. Three people were arrested and charged with inciting a riot and battery of an officer. They were identified by authorities as Vincent Castillenti, Jacob Wilson, and Cassandra Monden. It was not immediately clear if they were students at Tech. At 9:28 p.m., Georgia Tech tweeted that students should "shelter in place" due to "violent protests on campus." Officers from the Atlanta Police and nearby Georgia State University were called in to assist Georgia Tech police. |
| Lipscomb president apologizes again after menu choices for African-American, Latino students come under scrutiny | |
 | Lipscomb University President Randy Lowry apologized again Monday after discussion over a dinner he hosted for African-American students last week grew beyond centerpieces that held stalks of cotton to encompass a menu including greens, corn bread and macaroni and cheese. "We have many, many events at our house, and we're in Nashville, Tenn., so you know, kind of Southern comfort food is served a lot at the university, at most restaurants in Nashville, and we serve it in our home," Lowry said in an interview. The menu for the Thursday dinner for African-American students included turnip greens, macaroni and cheese, and corn bread, foods closely associated with African-Americans. The night before, the president hosted a dinner for Latino students at which the menu included flank steak, fajita chicken, salsa, street corn and Spanish rice. Lowry did not hear any concerns about the menu choices during the events, he said. Those issues were only raised later. |
| What DACA's End Could Mean for Colleges | |
| Colleges have recently been inserting themselves into the conversation on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program shielding undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and allowing them to work legally in the country. University leaders condemned the Trump administration's decision to end the program, arguing that DACA recipients are strong students and productive members of the workforce. College leaders say they have myriad reasons to oppose a prospective repeal of DACA. Undocumented students, they argue, often bring unique viewpoints and backgrounds to campus, excel academically, and contribute to the economy after graduating. But recent developments have also raised questions about the financial impact such students have on the campuses themselves. What, if anything, would DACA's rollback mean for tuition revenue and enrollment numbers at colleges across the country? These questions are tricky to answer, in part because the program's future is so uncertain. |
| Trump Administration Taps New Leader for Black-College Initiative | |
 | Johnathan Holifield, a consultant and former NFL player, has been appointed executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges, the White House announced at the opening ceremony of the annual black-college summit on Monday. News of Mr. Holifield's appointment was first reported on Saturday by HBCU Digest. Mr. Holifield will start on October 2, and his office will be housed in the White House, alongside a deputy director and an assistant, a Trump-administration official said. The four career staff members who currently work on the initiative will remain at the Department of Education. The shift of the initiative's top leadership to the White House is a result of an executive order signed in February by President Trump. |
| Chilling study shows how hostile college students are toward free speech | |
| Columnist Catherine Rampell writes in the Washington Post: "Here's the problem with suggesting that upsetting speech warrants 'safe spaces,' or otherwise conflating mere words with physical assault: If speech is violence, then violence becomes a justifiable response to speech. Just ask college students. A fifth of undergrads now say it's acceptable to use physical force to silence a speaker who makes 'offensive and hurtful statements.' That's one finding from a disturbing new survey of students conducted by John Villasenor, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and University of California at Los Angeles professor. ...colleges alone are not to blame for these findings. Other data suggest that freshmen are arriving on campus with more intolerant attitudes toward free speech than their predecessors did, and that Americans of all ages have become strikingly hostile toward basic civil and political liberties." |
| Court sides with newspaper; strikes a blow for open government | |
 | Longtime Mississippi journalist Charlie Mitchell writes: "During the hurricanes early this month, the Mississippi Supreme Court quietly struck a blow to ratify people-power in city halls and courthouses around the state. The court affirmed that public boards, councils and commissions violate the law when they split into small groups for closed huddles to keep their thoughts and plans under wraps. The case was Mayor and City Council of Columbus vs. The Commercial Dispatch. It started almost four years when a Dispatch reporter, Nathan Gregory, learned that the town's mayor organized a series of duplicate morning and afternoon sessions with city council members to go over economic development and other topics. Three of the six council members were invited to the morning sessions and three to the afternoon sessions. Gregory asked to sit in and permission was denied. Gregory, The Commercial Dispatch and others who persisted and outlasted with private funds the Columbus attorneys, are to be commended." |
SPORTS
| Dan Mullen: Georgia is a difficult challenge because it has 2 top running backs | |
| Mississippi State made a statement by beating then-No. 11 LSU 37-7 at Davis Wade Stadium. Dan Mullen will address the media Monday afternoon as No. 19 Mississippi State (3-0) moves onto prep for its highly-anticipated game in Athens against No. 12 Georgia (3-0) on Saturday (6 p.m. ESPN). |
| Nick Fitzgerald faces off with childhood favorite Bulldogs | |
| Nick Fitzgerald attended summer camps at the University of Georgia all four years of high school, hoping to make an impression and earn a scholarship offer from his home-state school. Fitzgerald grew up a Georgia fan and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Charles Pledger, who played cornerback for the Bulldogs in 1990-93. No matter how hard Fitzgerald tried or how many summers he spent in Athens, Georgia coaches had no interest in offering the Richmond Hill native as a quarterback. "We just didn't connect and they didn't want me," Fitzgerald said. "That's just how it happens." On Saturday, Fitzgerald will go back between the famed hedges of Sanford Stadium where his current Bulldogs will meet his childhood ones. |
| Nick Fitzgerald grew up a Georgia fan but that won't matter on Saturday | |
| When Nick Fitzgerald was in elementary school, he had an area rug at the foot of his bed in his room. The rug's colors: red, black and white. There was a large "G" in the middle of it. The curtains in Fitzgerald's room were the same color pattern and featured various logos for the UGA Bulldogs. Georgia football posters decorated the walls, including one of his uncle Charles Pledger, who played cornerback from 1990-93. Fitzgerald was born in Germany because his father Derrick was in the military and moved to Florida and then Illinois before his family settled down just outside Savannah, Georgia when he was about 8 years old. That was right around the time Fitzgerald went to his first Georgia football game. "He was a Dawg forever," Derrick said. "Georgia was his thing." Derrick emphasized the word "was" when he spoke. Things are a bit different now that Fitzgerald stars for Mississippi State as one of the country's best dual-threat quarterbacks. |
| Mississippi State moves up the food chain in the SEC West | The Sun Herald | |
 | The celebration is over for the No. 17 Mississippi State Bulldogs, who have gone from unranked underdogs to sudden dark horses in the SEC West. A 37-7 beat down of then No. 12 LSU last week at home has put many on notice that MSU could contend in the SEC this season. To continue to do that, however, they've got to win a game on the road in Athens, Ga., this weekend and the No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs (3-0, 0-0) stand in their way. "We're going on the road into a tough environment against an excellent football team," Dan Mullen said. "This week we come back and it's your first SEC road game. It adds different challenges to the picture. There's some uniqueness in it." |
| UGA defense that 'prides itself in stopping run' gears up for Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald | |
 | Georgia already kept in check one of the nation's top rushing quarterbacks this season. It gets a chance to further establish its run-stopping credentials Saturday night when Mississippi State and Nick Fitzgerald comes to town leading the offense of the nation's No. 17 team. "I think it's a huge challenge," Georgia inside linebacker Roquan Smith said. "They pride themselves on running the ball and we pride ourselves on stopping the run." Fitzgerald is the tenth leading rusher among quarterbacks nationally, averaging 80.0 yards per game with five rushing touchdowns this season. Notre Dame's Brandon Wimbush is No. 4. He rushed for 106 yards against Temple in week one and 207 against Boston College last week. In between, he was held to 32 yards on 16 carries by Georgia. "I think Wimbush and Nick are very different, very different type guys," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "Nick is a unique quarterback with his length, ability to see over. He's a lot faster than you think, deceptively." |
| Mississippi State has several ties to Georgia | |
| Mississippi State has multiple ties to Georgia on both its roster and coaching staff. Defensive end Chauncey Rivers and safety Johanthan Abram both played at UGA as true freshmen in 2015 while defensive coordinator Todd Grantham served in the same capacity in Athens from 2010-13 and tight ends coach D.J. Looney was an offensive graduate assistant there last year. Although Looney served on Kirby Smart's staff, coach Dan Mullen doesn't feel there is much benefit to that. "He's going to know some of the personnel probably a little bit better than on a normal week but I don't know that there's a significant advantage to that," Mullen said. |
| Three Bulldogs honored by the SEC | |
| Three Mississippi State players were honored as SEC Players of the Week by the league office on Monday. Junior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald was named Offensive Player of the Week while sophomores Darryl Williams and Jeffery Simmons were selected Offensive Lineman and Defensive Lineman of the Week respectively. Fitzgerald totaled 268 yards of offense and four touchdowns in the Bulldogs' 37-7 win over LSU. It is Fitzgerald's third career SEC Offensive Player of the Week honor. Williams was credited with three pancake blocks. It is Simmons' second straight SEC honor and is the first MSU player to take home back-to-back Defensive Lineman of the Week honors since Preston Smith in 2014. Simmons tallied a career-best seven tackles and 1.5 sacks. |
| Auburn-Mississippi State kickoff time, TV channel announced | |
 | Auburn's SEC home opener will kick off in a prime slot on Sept. 30. The conference announced Monday that the No. 15 Tigers' game against No. 19 Mississippi State at Jordan-Hare Stadium will begin at 5 p.m. CT and be broadcast on ESPN. The game will be Auburn's fourth at night through the first five weeks of the season. Auburn opens SEC play Saturday at Missouri. That game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and be broadcast on ESPNU. |
| Diamond Dogs hosting fall scrimmages in Jackson | |
| With construction ongoing of the new Dudy Noble Field, the NCAA has approved Mississippi State to hold some of its fall practices and scrimmages at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. MSU coach Andy Cannizaro made the announcement while speaking to the Tupelo Kiwanis Club. The Diamond Dogs will begin its fall practice schedule on Oct. 9 in Starkville and scrimmage at Smith-Wills Stadium from Oct. 27-29 and hold the Bulldog World Series there on Nov. 17-19. Practices are open to the public but all proceeds from $5 tickets during the Saturday night scrimmages will go to Batson Children's Hospital. |
| Quarterback Sean White dismissed from Auburn football team | |
| Sean White's playing career at Auburn is over. Head coach Gus Malzahn announced Monday that the junior quarterback had been dismissed from the team three weeks into his fourth season on the Plains. White was arrested and charged with public intoxication at 2:45 a.m. Sunday. The incident occurred just hours after the conclusion of the first game White dressed for this season. He was one of three Tigers players to be suspended for undisclosed violations to start the 2017 season, though he missed two games while Kamryn Pettway and Kyle Davis missed only one. White had been Auburn's backup quarterback after losing the competition with Jarrett Stidham during fall camp. He did not see the field in what proved to be his final game as a member of the Tigers, a 24-10 win over Mercer. |
| South Carolina AD Ray Tanner, Gamecocks address music volume, stadium complaints | |
 | South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner on Tuesday issues the following letter addressing Williams-Brice Stadium issued: "Thank you so much for supporting our Carolina student-athletes. Your passion for our Gamecocks is unparalleled and was never more evident than the great attendance Saturday night against Kentucky. I have heard from many of you concerning issues about your experience on game day. You should always have an enjoyable time when you visit one of our venues, especially Williams-Brice Stadium. After meeting with my staff, contractual partners and vendors, I would like to share with you what I have learned. Early in Saturday's game, we began experiencing water pressure issues in the stadium, severely impacting concessions and restrooms..." |
| Marcus Spears: LSU 'no longer a championship team,' has become 'very average' program | |
| After LSU's worst loss to Mississippi State in the series' 110-game history Saturday, former Tiger and SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears summed up his pointed feelings about the state of the Tiger program in less than a minute. "LSU fans, as an alumnus, we aren't who we think we are," Spears said in a segment on his new show, Thinking Out Loud. "We've become a mediocre football team, and a middle-of-the-pack, very average college football program. We have to stop believing that we are one of those teams that at the end of the year is going to be standing tall..." Spears went on to point out that LSU's conference record since 2012 is 25-16. "Put it on me," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said after the game. "We're going to look at our guys' play. Maybe we're not as good as we thought we were. We got handled on the front, both sides of the front." |
| Continental Tire to sponsor Blues Marathon | |
| Continental Tire is rolling to the rescue of the Mississippi Blues Marathon. The future of the race, which draws runners from around the world, was in doubt after its previous sponsor, BlueCross & BlueShield of Mississippi, pulled out earlier this year. This year's race, scheduled for January, was cancelled because of bad weather. John Noblin, the Blues Marathon race director, said Continental's sponsorship demonstrates the company, which is building a manufacturing facility in western Hinds County, is serious about "being a respected corporate and community citizen in both Mississippi and the Jackson area." Continental broke ground on the $1.45 billion tire plant in November 2016. The company has promised the state it would hire 2,500 workers, earning an average of $40,000 per year at the 5.2 million square-foot industrial facility between Bolton and Clinton. |
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