| Monday, October 30, 2017 |
| Harvard visitors to take look at region's economic triumphs | |
 | Some unusual visitors will come to learn the story of the Golden Triangle's economic success this week. Twenty Harvard Business School faculty members, led by Senior Associate Dean for Research Jan Rivkin, will visit the region to meet with local government leaders and officials with the Golden Triangle Development LINK. Rivkin, speaking with The Dispatch, said he learned about the Golden Triangle from James Fallows' features about the region in The Atlantic, and more recently a CBS "60 Minutes" segment on LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins. During their time in the Golden Triangle, they'll meet with LINK representatives and government leaders from Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. They'll also tour East Mississippi Community College's Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Mississippi State University's National Strategic Planning and Research Center, Steel Dynamics and PACCAR. |
| MSU faculty member honored by national accounting organization | |
 | Associate Professor Bradley S. "Brad" Trinkle, a member of the Mississippi State University College of Business faculty, recently became one of four contributors receiving the first Best Paper Award of the Journal of Information Systems, academic publication of the American Accounting Association's Accounting Information Systems section. Since 2011, he has been a faculty member in the Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy, a major unit of the university's College of Business. "Understanding Compliance with Bring-Your-Own Device Policies Utilizing Protection Motivation Theory: Bridging the Intention-Behavior Gap" was the title of a report Trinkle co-wrote with former MSU faculty colleague Robert E. Crossler, now of Washington State University. James H. Long and Tina M. Lorass, both of Auburn University, were the other authors. |
| Campus briefs: Rain garden at MSU garners national recognition | |
 | Landscape architecture and graphic design students at Mississippi State University worked side by side to build a sustainable water management demonstration garden. Their efforts paid off in a national award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. The MSU rain garden, funded by a $20,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, has been honored in the society's student collaboration category. "Both landscape architects and graphic designers partner often in the real world and each discipline fosters different perspectives," Cory Gallo, associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, said in an MSU news release. "This project gave students a chance to learn from each other by viewing the same problem from different angles." |
| MSU Lyceum Series features famous U.S. dance troupe Friday | |
| Ailey II, the high-flying dance ensemble, is next up on Mississippi State's 2017-18 Lyceum Series calendar. The Nov. 3 performance begins at 7 p.m. in Bettersworth Auditorium of historic Lee Hall. General admission tickets are $25 each; $20 for university employees and senior citizens; $10 for children. Purchases may be made online at events.msstate.edu. Ailey II is a subset of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, founded four decades ago in New York by the noted choreographer whose name it carries. Now led by Troy Powell, Ailey II continues to feature the nation's best young talents. Its distinctive style includes turning, bending and jumping across large distances, contracted muscles that create forceful, angular lines, expressive hand movements and African American cultural influences. |
| African-American Studies 10th anniversary at MSU culminates with Black Studies Conference | |
 | Mississippi State University will welcome prominent black studies scholars next month for a two-day conference celebrating the culmination of the African-American Studies program's 10th anniversary. Free to all, the conference gets underway Nov. 5 with a 6 p.m. film screening and panel discussion for the award-winning 2016 documentary "Agents of Change" in the Colvard Student Union's second-floor Bill R. Foster Ballroom. Rick Travis, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will give opening remarks. Panelists include the film's co-director Frank Dawson, interim dean of career education at Santa Monica College's Center for Media and Design; Shirley Hanshaw, MSU professor of English; and Jerry Varnado, attorney at law, activist and San Francisco State University graduate. |
| Haupt assumes new leadership role in MSU's College of Architecture, Art and Design | |
| Jeffrey Haupt, who previously served as the painting concentration coordinator in the Department of Art, was recently named associate dean for Mississippi State University's College of Architecture, Art and Design. The move allows Associate Dean Greg Hall to concentrate his work as interim director of the college's Building Construction Science program. Haupt received his Master of Fine Arts from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art. He began his teaching career in 1997 at Indiana University and then taught at the John Waldron Arts Center before joining the Mississippi State art department faculty in 1999 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to full professor in 2010. |
| Students go on Mississippi State dairy farm tour | |
 | Elementary students from the Golden Triangle and beyond got to have some fun while learning about agriculture Friday at Breakfast on the Farm. The event was held at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station Bearden Dairy Research Center. Children had an opportunity to tour the farm, pet calves, milk a cow and participate in face painting and other fall festival activities. A breakfast including Mississippi State University milk and ice cream was also served. Assistant professor of animal and dairy science Amanda Stone said the department hoped to make Breakfast on the Farm an annual event. "We are much further removed from agriculture than any generation in the past, so it's important that everyone understands where their food comes from so they can make educated decisions on it," she said. |
| Volunteers participate in national service day | |
| The Maroon Volunteer Center and Volunteer Starkville celebrated national Make A Difference Day by cleaning local parks, beginning with the J.L. King Senior Memorial Park. A group of Mississippi State University students participated in the cleanup day on Friday as part of a class project. "This is part of a service project where we go around and volunteer where we can and give back in the community," sports studies major Brianna May said. "For our Small Group Communication class, Amy Knight wanted us to do service projects. We're giving back and seeing a different perspective of other peoples' lives compared to ours." Accounting major Brian Haadsma is also a part of the small group communication class. "We decided this would be a good place to start, with picking up the parks," Haadsma said. |
| Lottery committee plans final meeting | |
 | What is expected to be the final meeting of House Speaker Philip Gunn's lottery study committee is scheduled for Nov. 16 at the Mississippi Capitol. Gunn formed the study committee in April in response to efforts in the House to pass lottery legislation. After the November meeting, the plan is for legislative staff to compile the information garnered by the nine-member committee into a report to be presented to the Mississippi House before the 2018 session starts in January. The study committee, as its chairman Rep. Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, had said from the beginning, will not take a position on whether the state should have a lottery. Whether that report leads to Mississippi enacting a lottery remains to be seen. |
| Governor proposes putting Medicaid eligibility with DHS | |
| Gov. Phil Bryant will ask the 2018 Mississippi Legislature to move authority for determining the eligibility for those applying for Medicaid benefits to the Department of Human Services. "Gov. Bryant has asked the Division of Medicaid to submit a plan to transfer eligibility determination responsibilities to the Mississippi Department of Human Services," said Clay Chandler, a spokesman for Bryant. "The governor believes doing so would increase efficiency and ultimately save taxpayers money. This method was successfully used until 2004." Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, former House Public Health chairman and considered one of the chamber's experts on Medicaid-related issues, said Medicaid always has had its own eligibility workers and it would be bad policy to remove them. |
| Judge allows new challenge to House Bill 1523 | |
 | A federal judge has said plaintiffs can ask the state for names of county clerks who have recused themselves from marrying gay couples, opening the door to the first legal challenge to House Bill 1523 since the law took effect earlier this month. On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves lifted his stay on the 2014 case that challenged Mississippi's gay marriage ban. This move effectively allows the plaintiffs to test whether the state's so-called religious freedom law, in effect since Oct. 6, violates Reeves's 2014 order giving gay couples the right to marry. The crux of the issue centers on the part of House Bill 1523 that allows county clerks to refuse to marry gay and lesbian couples if they have a "sincerely held religious belief" opposing gay marriage. |
| Confederate Emblem Causes Unequal Treatment, Attorneys Argue | |
 | Attorneys say in written arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court that the Confederate battle emblem on the Mississippi flag is "an official endorsement of white supremacy" and lower courts were wrong to block a lawsuit challenging the flag. The arguments were made in papers filed Friday by lawyers for Carlos Moore, an African-American attorney who sued the state in 2016 seeking to have the flag declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery. In papers filed Oct. 18, attorneys for Gov. Phil Bryant said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct to say that Moore failed to show he suffered harm because of the flag. Moore's attorneys, led by Michael T. Scott of Philadelphia, responded Friday that "government speech endorsing one race over another" is a violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. |
| Civil talk about Confederate symbols goal of Mississippi forums | |
| Confederate images evoke strong feelings, and discussions about the public display of flags or monuments can quickly turn rancorous. The director of the Mississippi Humanities Council, Stuart Rockoff, said he believed there must be a way to have calm, rational discourse, so the council provided two forums last week. In Jackson, philosophy professor Peyton McElroy told an audience of about 40 that monuments are pieces of public art that are "intended to make us feel something." History professor Anne Marshall provided context about when and how Confederate monuments became part of the Southern landscape. Marshall, who teaches at Mississippi State University, said Confederate monuments erected in the 1870s and 1880s tended to be obelisks or grave markers in cemeteries that would evoke a sense of mourning or loss. Those put up between 1890 and the end of World War I tended to be in spaces of civic power -- in front of courthouses, along main streets or in town squares. |
| Bannon eyes McDaniel for so-called war on GOP | |
| While former Trump White House Chief of Staff Steve Bannon's so-called war on the GOP continues in key American states, Bannon has his eye in Mississippi on state Sen. Chris McDaniel of Jones County. McDaniel's announcement on whether or not he will challenge Republican Sen. Roger Wicker is anticipated by month's end. "It's up in the air right now," said McDaniel, who added that Judge Ron Moore's primary win in Alabama last month "made the United States Senate race in 2018 much more compelling." Dr. Brian Shoup, a political science and public administration professor at Mississippi State University, said Americans are living in an era "where there's a great deal of consternation in both political parties." "Consequently, political entrepreneurs have that ability to tap into that," said Shoup, who added there is an "urban/rural divide" in America, as political affiliation has become a big part of the American identity. "... It is certainly the case that separating our heads and our hearts can be very difficult, and they often work in tandem." |
| Paul Manafort, former business partner to surrender in Mueller investigation | |
 | Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business partner Rick Gates will turn themselves in on charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election, according to a person familiar with the matter. The precise charges the men face were not immediately clear. Gates did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort. Manafort was spotted walking into the FBI's Washington Field Office Monday morning. While Mueller's probe has focused acutely on Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, investigators have shown interest in a broad array of other topics. |
| A Roadshow of Hate: Supremacist Rallies Fueled by Travelers From Afar | |
 | The white nationalist and provocateur Richard Spencer had left the University of Florida on Oct. 19 when the day's most serious trouble erupted just beyond the campus. Three of Mr. Spencer's disciples from Texas pulled up in a car alongside a group of anti-Spencer demonstrators, and soon, the police said, one of the three began to chant "Heil Hitler." After a protester hit the car with a baton, one of the Texas men pulled out a handgun and fired a shot. No one was injured, but the episode underscored a reality of the alt-right movement: that it draws energy, and some of its most violent support, from out-of-town sympathizers who regularly travel hundreds of miles to public events starring figures like Mr. Spencer. The roadshow aspect of these events -- one of which took place on Saturday in Tennessee -- makes it hard to determine just how broad the movement is. It also challenges the law enforcement officials who must police rancorous rallies filled with unfamiliar faces from far away. |
| A new type of drone, neither military nor civilian, is emerging | |
| To most people a drone is one of two very different kinds of pilotless aircraft: a toy or a weapon. It is either a small, insect-like device that can sometimes be seen buzzing around in parks or on beaches, or a large military aircraft that deals death from the skies, allowing operators in Nevada to fire missiles at terrorist suspects in Syria. The first category, recreational drones aimed at consumers, are the more numerous by far; around 2m were sold around the world last year. The second category, military drones, account for the vast majority (nearly 90%) of worldwide spending on drones. But after a pivotal year for the civilian drone industry, an interesting space is now opening up in the middle as drones start to be put to a range of commercial uses. |
| Degrees awarded at Mississippi colleges rise, but overall enrollment drops | |
| Enrollment numbers across Mississippi's public and private universities are down, but the number of degrees awarded has increased, which members of the Education Achievement Council said is generally a good thing. The rationale is obvious to council member Glenn Boyce. A person with higher credentials will have more economic stability and therefore be able to contribute more to the state's economy. "When the state of Mississippi is out there trying to land economic development opportunities, or they're trying to bring money into the state of Mississippi from outside, the first thing corporations are going to look at is do you have the kind of labor force I need to operate successfully and make a profit in your state?" Boyce said. "Either your state is going to educate people to a much more sophisticated level, or these opportunities are not going to be in consideration for your state." |
| MUW art students prepare for Art in Autumn auction | |
| The Art in Autumn Auction, a tradition of the Mississippi University for Women Department of Art and Design, will be held on Saturday, Nov. 4. The event, which is open to the public, will be in Summer Hall on The W campus, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Doors open with a silent auction of donated student artwork. The live auction, which follows, features work by art faculty, art alumni and other professional artists. This year, the art faculty will partner with Rho chapter of Kappa Pi, the student art organization that normally hosts the auction. This new partnership demonstrates the commitment of the faculty to its majors. Each year, the proceeds of the auction help a charitable cause related to art education or production. In the past, Kappa Pi has raised funds to purchase much needed supplies for area high school art programs, for example. This year, the auction will help the Department of Art and Design replace outdated and damaged classroom furnishings, some of which date to MSCW days. |
| U. of Alabama, ALDOT team up on key step to automated driving | |
 | The next evolution of driving is coming to Tuscaloosa. In a partnership with the Alabama Department of Transportation, the University of Alabama is funding the installation of technology that will, ultimately, pave the way for automated driving. Bharat Balasubramanian, executive director of the University of Alabama's Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies and a former head of research and development for the German automotive corporation Daimler AG, said it could be two to four more decades before drivers can relinquish the steering wheel. But Balasubramanian and his team at Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, ushered in technologies already in use today, such as adaptive cruise control and blind spot assistance during his 34 years with the company. Those systems, paired with the devices being installed at major intersections across Tuscaloosa and Northport, will one day lead to a whole new driving experience. |
| Georgia woman allegedly stole controlled substances from Auburn University's veterinary college | |
 | A Georgia woman was arrested for allegedly stealing multiple controlled substances from the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. Auburn police said 26-year-old Caroline Clarke Schroeder, of Macon, Georgia, turned herself in for 20 counts of possession of controlled substances at 12:31 p.m. on Thursday. Police said they received a report from the veterinary college about the thefts of controlled substances that occurred over a period of several weeks. The police started the investigation in early October. Schroeder was identified as the offender in all the thefts. On her Facebook page, Schroeder states she's an anesthetist at the veterinary college. |
| Auburn University researchers seek out volunteers to study cancer | |
 | A big pink bus is traveling throughout Alabama, from Mobile to Huntsville and the small towns in between. Dubbed "The Gene Machine," it resides in the parking lot of Green Hall at Auburn University when it's not on the road. The Gene Machine serves as a mobile recruitment center for Auburn University researchers who study the genetics behind breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. "Mutations in cancer risk genes have been identified," said Madison Chandler, a graduate research assistant working toward her Ph.D at Auburn. "The most common ones are BRCA1 and BRCA2. People can get tested to see if they have a mutation, and to evaluate their level of breast cancer risk for themselves. But all of the known mutations in the cancer risk genes only explain about 30 percent of hereditary breast cancers. So there's approximately 70 percent that's still genetically unsolved." |
| While LSU frat pledge Gruver's death brought drastic action, past hazing violators got off easy | |
 | In 2013, LSU's chapter of Pi Kappa Phi hosted an event for its new member class called "Big Brother Night." At that gathering, LSU would later allege, fraternity brothers quizzed the pledges, imposed consequences when they answered incorrectly and forced them to chug alcohol. The hazing described by university officials strongly resembles what Phi Delta Theta brothers called "Bible study," a game that police say ultimately led to the death of 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver on Sept. 14. An autopsy found that Gruver died with a blood alcohol level of 0.495. Police say he was forced to repeatedly swig 190-proof liquor at an initiation event whenever he slipped up answering questions about his fraternity's history. The hazing at the Phi Delta Theta house led to 10 arrests -- including one student booked on a count of negligent homicide -- and the swift shuttering of the fraternity. Pi Kappa Phi got off easier, in large part because no one died or was reported injured that night years ago. |
| Survey: College freshmen getting more liberal | |
 | College freshmen have become more liberal than at any time since the Vietnam era, particularly women, according to an annual survey by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, or HERI. The survey also found unprecedented political polarization, and the greatest gender gap in the survey's 51-year history. The survey included responses from 137,456 full-time first year students in 2016, according to the institute. Most of the students, about 42 percent, said they were middle-of-the-road politically. But 35.5 percent said they were liberal or far left, and 22 percent said conservative or far right. The report showed striking differences between men and women freshmen. Just over 41 percent of women said they were liberal or far left vs. just under 29 percent of male first-year students. |
| Texas A&M Agrilife: Agriculture losses totaled $200M after Hurricane Harvey | |
 | Local farmer Jay Wilder said while the floods brought by Hurricane Harvey may be gone, its effects are continuing to be felt in the agricultural community. Economists with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service said losses caused by the hurricane totaled upward of an estimated $200 million between livestock, hay and feed, cotton, rice, soybeans and more. Wilder said he say the greatest impact from the storm through his cotton crop -- 60-65 percent of which he said was lost along with the 28 inches of rain Harvey brought. John Robinson, an AgriLife Extension cotton marketing economist, said although this loss is certainly a "kick in the gut" for many Texas farmers, it is not expected to have the same wide-reaching effect as the 2011 droughts. |
| Report: 'Syllabus Week' myth enabled party culture at U. of Missouri | |
 | During what is informally called "Syllabus Week" on the University of Missouri campus this year, freshman Jordyn Moaton attended a fraternity party that wasn't a lot of fun. Moaton, interviewed Friday at the MU Student Center, said she didn't recall the fraternity but that it was dirty, with bad music and drunken young men. "Mostly it is just guys too inebriated to know they are in your personal space," she said. When she and her friends saw the Donald Trump posters and a "weird sign" promoting white supremacist Richard Spencer, they had enough, she said. "It was just, like, weird and we left after that," Moaton said. "Syllabus Week" is one of dozens of issues discussed in a blistering report on the Office of Greek Life and conduct at fraternities and sororities delivered last week by consulting firm Dyad Strategies. The report recommends eliminating the practice. |
| University officials discuss free speech conflicts at First Amendment Symposium | |
 | Protests on the University of Missouri's campus in fall 2015 inspired Auburn University administrators to change their approach to free expression on their own campus, Julie Huff said. Huff, the director of strategic initiatives and communications for Auburn's provost's office, spoke at a panel Friday as part of the MU School of Law's First Amendment Symposium. Faculty and administrators from Auburn, Middlebury College and MU spoke about how they've handled free expression from students on their campuses. "Inclusion and diversity issues were brought to the forefront because of the protests of fall 2015," Huff said. "It gave us a chance of inquiry and growth, and we were able to do our first campus climate survey." The symposium brought faculty and administrators from various universities together to discuss managing disputes on college campuses. The symposium explored methods of preparing for and mediating conflicts arising from fostering free expression on college campuses. |
| Black Clemson student government vice president alleges racism is behind impeachment trial | |
 | In September, the vice president of the student government at Clemson University, Jaren Stewart, refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during a meeting of the Student Senate. It was a show of support for the National Football League players who have knelt during the National Anthem at games for the past year, a protest against racial injustice in the country. Now a month later, Stewart, who is black, faces an impeachment trial, which he told The Anderson Independent Mail was a "social lynching" -- he believes it's motivated by bigotry at Clemson, an institution in the Deep South previously under fire for perceived inaction on racial issues. In particular, the Board of Trustees there has refused demands to change the name of a campus building -- Tillman Hall -- named after a white supremacist politician, Benjamin Tillman, who was present for the murder of a black state senator back in the 1800s -- an attempt to intimidate black voters in the post-Civil War South. |
| Big contributors aggressively pursuing -- buying? -- tax cuts | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: "...are these and many other billionaires spending big because tax cuts will be good for America, or because tax cuts will be especially good for them? Buying influence is common to American politics. Buying direct government benefits is something most conservatives have strenuously opposed. The biggest benefit in the pending Republican tax plan, $1.5 trillion, comes from the proposed corporate tax rate reduction from 35% to 20%. (Trump wants 15%.) There is near universal agreement that the current corporate tax rate is too high, anti-competitive, and should be reduced. However, the rate at which U.S. taxes become internationally competitive is different from the rate at which major corporations receive an excessive windfall. ...So, pushing for 20% or lower rates does open the door to arguments the big contributors are trying to buy a huge benefit." |
| Conservative governor, radical mayor work together on Jackson Public Schools | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Geoff Pender writes: "Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and Democratic Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba are trying a novel approach to fix Jackson's ailing public schools: They're working together, communicating, trying to think outside the box. And -- gasp --- they're not gearing up for a court battle. That's rare in Mississippi educational policy and funding debate. Usually step one is for somebody to lawyer up and sue. Bryant announced he's holding off on signing a Mississippi Department of Education takeover of JPS. On Thursday, he and Lumumba announced the formation of a state-city 'Better Together' initiative. It includes the formation of a commission to come up with a plan, and it would bring in the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Education Commission of the States (which Bryant chairs), the Mississippi Economic Council and any other group interested in helping or funding the initiative. The thought here is to bring national expertise and philanthropy to bear on the problem. ...Will it work?" |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs, Rebels trending in different directions | |
| Mississippi State and Ole Miss enter the final month of the regular season on a collision course yet headed in very different directions. The Bulldogs (6-2) are bowl eligible for the eighth consecutive year, are riding a three-game win streak and have three favorable games remaining on the schedule. That includes their annual battle with Ole Miss, Thanksgiving night in Starkville. MSU also reentered the top 25 polls on Sunday – No. 21 in the AP media poll and No. 22 in the coaches poll. "We've got six wins and there's a lot of football left to be played," said MSU coach Dan Mullen. "The great thing is we've got three out of four at home down the stretch." Ole Miss (3-5, 1-4 SEC) has dropped five of its last six games under interim coach Matt Luke, lost quarterback Shea Patterson for the year and has pending NCAA punishment awaiting at the end of the season. |
| Mississippi State back in poll after beating Texas A&M | |
| Mississippi State is back in the coaches poll after defeating then-No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday night in College Station, 35-14. The Bulldogs were ranked No. 22 in the coaches' poll and No. 21 by the AP. For Mississippi State (6-2, 3-2 SEC), this is good timing to reenter the rankings with the first College Football Playoff top 25 of the season set to be announced on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs became bowl-eligible Saturday night and are in line for nine wins with games against UMass, Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss remaining. If MSU stays on schedule, it should remain in the top 25 rankings. |
| Mississippi State continues resurgence with rout of Texas A&M | |
| The Mississippi State football team hasn't played a close game this season. That trend continued Saturday night, as MSU whipped Texas A&M 35-14 at Kyle Field to win its third-straight game. "Six wins means our guys are rewarded with one more game," MSU coach Dan Mullen said of the Bulldogs becoming bowl eligible with four regular-season games remaining. "Hopefully we'll get some more." No one is doubting that at this point. MSU (6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) hadn't won or lost a game by less than 25 points entering the game. Texas A&M (5-3, 3-2) was coming off its bye week, but it looked like the frazzled team between the lines. |
| Mississippi State finds the road more friendly in Texas | |
| Mississippi State had been outscored 80-13 in its previous two SEC road outings prior to Saturday night. But the Bulldogs were able to move past their previous road woes with a 35-14 win over Texas A&M at Kyle Field. "We came out and executed a little bit better," said MSU coach Dan Mullen. "We'd made some mistakes in those earlier games and all of a sudden we were fighting from behind. Today, we executed cleaner early in the game despite throwing an interception on a tipped ball." MSU (6-2, 3-2 SEC) rolled up 369 yards on offense, 228 on the ground. Nick Fitzgerald had his third straight 100-yard rushing game and fourth of the season. |
| Mississippi State becomes bowl-eligible after beating No. 24 Texas A&M | |
| Nick Fitzgerald stayed on the ground for a couple of seconds while in the end zone. He had dragged two defenders with him to get there and absorbed hits from two more upon his arrival. Eventually, he popped up, as he often does. That was basically all he did in those immediate seconds after the play. Fitzgerald had just scored the first touchdown of Saturday's game, but you wouldn't have known that from the Mississippi State quarterback's reaction. He didn't celebrate and instead just trotted back to the sideline. Fittingly, Fitzgerald also showed no emotion after an inauspicious first drive of the game that resulted in one of his passes getting tipped for an interception. Dan Mullen said he was encouraged that he was able to have a "grown-up conversation" with Fitzgerald afterward about reads. The home crowd -- 96,128 was the announced attendance -- at that point was as loud as the Bulldogs anticipated it would be. The Bulldogs were prepared for that, judging from Fitzgerald's demeanor. Perhaps such poise propelled Mississippi State to a 35-14 win over No. 24 Texas A&M. |
| Fitzgerald, Mississippi State roll by Texas A&M, 35-14 | |
| Texas A&M still hasn't figured out how to contain Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald had 246 total yards and accounted for three touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 35-14 Southeastern Conference victory over the Aggies on Saturday night at Kyle Field. Mississippi State (6-2, 3-2) set the tone the second time it touched the ball, grinding out a 16-play, 86-yard drive for a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs held the ball for 8 minutes, 13 seconds as they had 12 carries for 51 yards. Fitzgerald had 18 yards on five carries, including a 2-yard touchdown run. A&M (5-3, 3-2) was never able to challenge the Bulldogs because of a sputtering offense that could muster only 33 yards in the first half on 22 plays. |
| Bulldogs pick up first SEC road win | |
| The eyes of Texas, and the nation, watched Mississippi State earn its first SEC road win of the season on Saturday night. The Bulldogs put their road problems in the rearview mirror in a 35-14 victory over Texas A&M in front of a crowd of 96,128 at Kyle Field. MSU (6-2, 3-2 SEC) rolled up 369 yards of offense including 228 on the ground. Nick Fitzgerald ran for 105 yards and one touchdown while throwing two more. The Bulldogs' defense held Texas A&M (5-3, 3-2 SEC) to its lowest output of the year, only allowing 285 yards. State had three sacks and also picked off three passes including a 90-yard pick-6 by Jamal Peters to seal things in the fourth quarter. |
| Mississippi State dominates again defensively in win over Texas A&M | |
| Mark McLaurin was so excited he didn't want to relinquish the football. So the Mississippi State safety held onto it as long as he could in his right hand. "I wasn't giving it up," McLaurin said. "I was pretty happy." With his right arm outstretched toward the home crowd in the back of the end zone, he kept the ball for more than a few seconds after making an interception in the second quarter. Johnathan Abram embraced him near the 50 as the rest of Mississippi State's defense retreated to the sideline. Finally, an official got the ball from McLaurin. But Mississippi State's defense wasn't finished playing with high energy, making big plays and showing a swagger Dan Mullen credits defensive coordinator Todd Grantham for reestablishing. The Bulldogs dominated defensively on Saturday night like they have in every game besides MSU's two losses this season, in a 35-14 win over No. 24 Texas A&M. |
| Mississippi State Notebook: Bulldogs overcome key injuries | |
| Mississippi State got two of its injured players back and another dressed on Saturday night but also added a few others to the list as well. Wide receiver Keith Mixon and defensive tackle Cory Thomas returned to the field while offensive tackle Martinas Rankin dressed but did not play. During the game, linebacker Dez Harris went down with a stinger and did not return in the second half. Wide receiver Donald Gray also sustained a groin injury on the first play of the third quarter and never returned. "Three out of your four team captains are injured and we only have 12 seniors," said MSU coach Dan Mullen. "But it's next guy up though and we've been able to move guys around." |
| Maroon wins Sunday scrimmage in Jackson | |
| In Mississippi State baseball's final scrimmage of the weekend at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, Maroon pulled out a comeback win to beat Black 3-2. Maroon's three-run third was enough to overcome an early 2-0 Black lead in a game that went final after five innings. Maroon's win concluded the weekend for State's three-scrimmage series in the state capital, as Maroon won the series two games to one. MSU baseball will be back at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson for the three-game Maroon-and-White World Series on November 17-19. |
| Timetables for an AD search 'not one size fits all' proposition | |
| Parker Executive Search markets itself as an organization that can get you an athletic director in less than two months. The search firm out of Atlanta run by Dan Parker, which has been considered a premier source by universities to help conduct searches for head coaches and athletic executives, has become a popular company in sports by finding 27 universities a new head football coach and 80 different universities a new athletic director according to its website. Of those 80 schools that the Parker firm has helped conduct candidate searches from start to finish, 20 are from Power 5 Conference institutions. Before the Christmas holiday, Auburn could possibly be in the market for arguably the two highest ranking athletics department jobs in both an AD and head football coach. Following a 247Sports.com report published Wednesday that cited multiple unnamed sources suggesting Jacobs would no longer serve as Auburn's athletic director. The Montgomery Advertiser gave school officials the opportunity to deny all or any portion of the piece and declined that chance except to issue a standard statement. |
| U. of Florida, McElwain agree to part ways | |
 | What seemed inevitable Saturday night became reality Sunday. Jim McElwain's coaching career is over at Florida. The embattled head football coach and the school agreed to part ways Sunday, UF athletic director Scott Stricklin announced Sunday afternoon. "This morning, I met with Coach McElwain and also began conversations for the first time with his agent, Jimmy Sexton, regarding Coach Mac's future here at Florida," Stricklin said Sunday night. "The end result of those conversations is that Coach Mac and the UAA have mutually agreed to part ways. I appreciate Coach McElwain, the way he has handled this. We had constructive conversations. I like coach Mac. I think he is a good man. I want to thank him for his time and his effort serving as our football coach." Stricklin said UF and McElwain have reached an agreement in principle after negotiating McElwain's $12.76 million buyout Sunday, but that it has not been signed yet. Stricklin would not reveal the terms, but it likely means a reduced settlement. McElwain was making $4.5 million a year and his contract ran through 2022. |
| Arkansas hits Ole Miss with yet another gut punch | |
| Matt Luke was clearly emotional, but there wasn't much he could say. "Another tough loss," he said. "I sound like a broken record." The 63-point loss to Alabama was bad. But Ole Miss didn't really have a chance in that one after the first few possessions. On Saturday, the Rebels built a 24-point lead against Arkansas, which entered the game in last place in the SEC West and was winless in conference play. That lead evaporated little by little over the next two or so quarters before the Razorbacks won the game, 38-37, on a 34-yard field goal from Connor Limpert with four seconds remaining at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. "It's going to be tough. This is definitely a gut punch," Luke said. |
| A future without football? | |
| Picture a massive edifice of cracked and crumbled concrete across from the old cemetery on Bryant Drive. Let your mind's eye wander over the decaying brick facade and see shattered windows in front of what were once luxury boxes, now empty rooms with tattered seats. Visualize moss- and mold-covered aluminum bleachers once held in place by screws that are now rusted away, and video boards that flickered with light long before now darkened. Look down upon a grass field grown wild, tall weeds and bushes hiding snakes and insects, rabbits and rodents. Imagine Bryant-Denny Stadium as a shrine to a sport that once was. Envisage, if you can, a world without football. It could happen. Maybe a few decades from now, maybe in 100 or more years. Maybe sooner. The sport is under scrutiny, with increasing medical evidence linking it with brain trauma. Participation is declining nationally at the high school level. A survey by The Tuscaloosa News found more than 25 percent of respondents would not let their kids play high school football. |
| Arkansas' Jeff Long begins final run on College Football Playoff selection committee | |
| Members of the College Football Playoff selection committee arrived for their first sequestration three years ago this weekend, and began the day at the Gaylord Texan resort with a group breakfast. Along with eggs, bacon and toast, each committee member found on the table a white hat with his or her last name embroidered on it. And before the committee entered the meeting room, each member hung his or her hat on a rack, symbolizing the importance of "checking your hat at the door" while debating and deciding the rankings that determine semifinal participants. The small gesture was the brainchild of Jeff Long, the Arkansas athletic director who was chosen as the first College Football Playoff selection committee chair. He spent two seasons in that role and will roll off the committee completely after this season. The committee will meet for the first time of the 2017 season this Monday and Tuesday and reveal its first top-25 ranking Tuesday night on ESPN. |
| Trial date set in former baseball coach Sunny Golloway's case against Auburn | |
| Sunny Golloway's wrongful termination lawsuit against Auburn will go to trial in June of 2018, according to court documents filed Thursday. Golloway, the university's baseball coach from 2014-15, was fired with cause on Sept. 27, 2015. He filed a lawsuit against Auburn on May 24, 2016, claiming breach of contract, defamation, fraud and tortuous interference. Auburn filed a motion to dismiss on June 17, 2016, and on March 21, 2017, the United States Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody did so with prejudice. Golloway and his attorney, John Saxon, filed an objection and asked for a jury trial. It was granted, but for only one charge: Intentional interference of contractual relations. The defendants in Golloway's case are listed as Auburn's board of trustees, athletics director Jay Jacobs, former CEO David Benedict, senior associate athletic director Rich McGlynn, former director of baseball operations Scott Duval and baseball administrator Jeremy Roberts. |
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