| Tuesday, November 12, 2024 |
| Agtech Seedlings: Deere partners with Mississippi State on farm automation | |
 | John Deere is partnering with Mississippi State University on a master research agreement to help develop automation technology for cotton and other crops. Farmers have been turning to automation as a solution to bridge the labor gap, better manage costs and protect workers from extreme heat. Automation technology could also improve yields and farm management in a warming climate. "Operating agricultural equipment in certain applications requires intense focus and attention to detail," Hussein Gharakhani, the project's principal investigator and assistant professor at MSU, said in a statement. "Imagine operating in such a situation all day, and you'll understand how easy it would be to lose concentration and start making costly mistakes." Mississippi State has a mission to attract agriculture companies and create opportunities for research, startups and workforce development, according to a release. The project underscores a need for more research to be conducted in the South. "Our cropping systems and methods are unique to our crops, soils, terrain and climate, so there are opportunities for manufacturers to work with researchers here in the specific conditions where their equipment will be used," said Alex Thomasson, director of the university's Agricultural Autonomy Institute. |
| Mississippi State, Hylio Collaborate on Drone Innovation | |
| Mississippi State University is pioneering a partnership with a leading U.S.-based drone manufacturer to innovate groundbreaking UAS technology. MSU's Agricultural Autonomy Institute, or AAI, and Hylio, a Texas-based drone manufacturer, are leading the way in researching the emerging technology of agricultural spray drones. These advanced systems are poised to revolutionize how farmers manage agricultural product applications, providing a new autonomous tool to complement traditional application methods by tractors and crop-dusting planes. "In June of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration streamlined regulations for agricultural product applications by drone," said Madison Dixon, AAI's associate director. "MSU is a longstanding leader in both agriculture and aerospace research, but strict regulations made agricultural product applications by drone very challenging for both research and commercial operations alike. The new regulations have completely changed that." Following these regulatory advancements, the state of Mississippi adapted its own regulations in December 2023. By February of this year, Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station had secured a special permit, allowing MSU -- the FAA's UAS Center of Excellence and UAS Safety Research Facility -- to commence spray drone research. As interest grew, AAI seized the opportunity to form research partnerships with U.S.-based drone manufacturers. |
| Community Profile: Signing off: Aundrea Self to depart anchor role at WCBI | |
 | Aundrea Self doesn't go many places without being immediately recognized. For the longtime anchor for WCBI news, the messages from her fans recently have struck a different tone. "We'll miss you," someone shouted to Self from across Fifth Street South on Sunday, while she was standing outside the WCBI building. "Being in a small news market in a public position, people see you as part of their family," she said. "You're coming into their homes every night and giving them the news of the day. ... I've gotten hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of comments from people saying they grew up watching me, I was in their living room every night, I came to speak at their school, I came to speak at their daughter's school. That people see me as someone not just on their TV every night but as somebody that's a part of their family. That's so very special for me." Self, a fixture on the Columbus-based television news station for 26 years, is signing off for the last time at the end of December to become the director of outreach and engagement for Mississippi State University's College of Business. |
| Decades later, memorial will rise for the dozens who integrated Coast beaches in Biloxi | |
 | Clemon Perry Jimerson Sr. knows all of their names. Day after day, he called and researched until the list held dozens who Jimerson refuses to leave forgotten. From his diligent act of memory will come a striking public monument. The names of more than 182 men, women and children who walked onto Mississippi's segregated shores six decades ago and peacefully demanded civil rights will soon be etched in stone. The plan is still in its early stages. But those behind it hope in several years a permanent memorial to the Biloxi wade-ins will stand just past the city's famous lighthouse, forever a reminder of the sacrifice Black residents made to transform this region. Signs have marked the spot before, and a stretch of Highway 90 is named after Dr. Gilbert R. Mason Sr., a local physician who led the movement. But Jimerson wants everyone else remembered, too. So their names will be carved on the memorial's inside curve, shielded from the highway noise. "To clearly remind them it has history behind it," said David Perkes, an architect at Mississippi State University and founding director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, which is helping plan the memorial. "A lot of people don't even know this story," he said. |
| Why beef prices have been rising this fall | |
| Whatever we learn about inflation this week, one thing we do know is that beef prices have been going up. Cattle futures rose almost 10% between the end of August and the end of October. We can thank the usual suspects: supply and demand. Over the last few months, it's been particularly dry in cattle country. "The western Dakotas, a large portion of Kansas and Nebraska, and most of Oklahoma," said Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor at Total Farm Marketing. She said drought conditions affect cattle production because cows like to spend their waking hours grazing. And droughts mean less hay. "So when you are in a situation like that, as a rancher, you're going to limit the number of herd that you have, because there's only so much feed available," Blohm said. Smaller herd sizes aren't the only factor pushing up beef prices. Glynn Tonsor, a professor at Kansas State University, said production costs have been rising, too. "Whether it is feed costs, labor costs, land, rent. Almost all of those entries are going to be higher than they were, certainly before the pandemic," he said. And while beef supplies have been dwindling, demand has stayed strong. |
| Scott County business celebrating 100 years | |
| Tadlock Stockyard celebrated a big birthday Friday, ringing in 100 years of business in central Mississippi. Mississippi's Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gibson made an appearance, as well as the mayor of Forest. All of this is to celebrate the Tadlock family's stand in central Mississippi. However, this stockyard is more than just a business; it's a family. The owner of Tadlock Stockyard, David Tadlock, said, "Well, this is our third location here in Forest. We started out where the Ott and Lee Funeral Home is now. Then we built another location out on 80 highways, and my daddy became involved in that one with his daddy. Then I took the stockyard over in the early 70s, and I've been here ever since." Greggina Tadlock, David Tadlock's daughter, runs the office at the stockyard. "Last year, when there was a drought, we had a lot of people come from other states, [such as] Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, [and] all Florida. I mean, just everywhere, coming in to kind of do their part. Instead of letting most of these cows go to slaughter, they came back in and bought these stock cows because no one here was able, you know, to take anything back home because it was so dry." Tadlock said, "We're working for our customers. The more money the customer gets, the more commission we get. We want to sell your cattle high." |
| Fertile Ground and Northshore Specialty Coffee tag team for new space in Belhaven | |
 | When Emily Pote decided to move her popular retail shop Beans and Bananas to Banner Hall in Jackson, it left a significant hole in Belhaven Town Center. What many people saw as a challenge to the Belhaven area, Conner Reeves and Trey Malone saw as an opportunity. Reeves, the co-founder of Fertile Ground Beer Company, and Malone, who owns and operates multiple businesses including a coffee roasting company called Northshore Specialty Coffee, decided to tag team and take over the empty space in the same building as Fertile Ground. The collaboration is called Cultivate Coffee Project. Beginning in just a few weeks, Malone will begin serving coffee out of the space from 7 a.m. until late afternoon while Reeves will share the space to use for special events. The confluence of circumstances worked perfectly for the two. Fertile Ground has been been in growth mode for some time now and had even begun the process of breaking into what it was already using for event space to make room for more tanks to make more beer. So, when Pote moved Beans and Bananas from just across the hall to across town, the decision to take over the space and create Cultivate Coffee Project was an easy one. |
| Top Senate GOP defense hawk has Pentagon budget boost plan -- with sunnier post-Trump-win prospects | |
 | Sen. Roger Wicker, one of Capitol Hill's most vocal defense hawks, will soon get the chance to pursue a larger Pentagon budget -- and it stands a much better chance with Donald Trump headed back to the White House. The Mississippi Republican is poised to chair the Armed Services Committee after the GOP romped in Tuesday's Senate elections. And he brings to the role a plan for tens of billions of dollars in new military spending to expand the Navy and Air Force, modernize the nuclear arsenal and ramp up defense manufacturing. Though Wicker, who has been the top Armed Services Republican since 2023, might have the inside track with a Trump administration on spending, he'll also be one of the most prominent GOP advocates of continuing to arm Ukraine. As chair, he'd likely need to navigate differences between defense hawks and Trump on whether to continue aid. Wicker laid out his preferred roadmap for defense in the spring, urging the U.S. to make "a short-term generational investment" to deter an increasingly cooperative Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which he has termed an "Axis of Aggressors." Perhaps just as importantly, some experts argue Wicker's detailed budget blueprint could provide the GOP administration with fodder for at least their initial defense budget request. While the full extent of Trump's Pentagon plans isn't yet clear, confirming top officials and other issues could constrain his first-year spending blueprint. |
| Congress set to extend government shutdown deadline into Trump's term | |
 | With Republicans on the cusp of unified control of Washington, Congress appears primed to extend the deadline for a government shutdown well past President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. Lawmakers are discussing a temporary measure that would fund the government into March, according to two people briefed on the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. That would give the Senate plenty of time to begin confirming Trump's Cabinet nominees, and the House time to plot out maneuvers on tax legislation, without the threat of an imminent government shutdown. Without new legislation, financing for federal agencies will expire Dec. 20. The proposed timeline also jibes with the timing of a plan originally put forward by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) in September. Democrats, who loathe government shutdowns, are expected to largely accept the proposal, though leaders say they hope to fast-track annual appropriations bills rather than another short-term one. Even if Republicans control both houses of Congress, Democrats could still play a large role in funding legislation at the start of Trump's presidency. |
| The big takeaway from Trump's whirlwind round of personnel announcements | |
| Donald Trump is sending a message to anyone hoping to work with his second White House: Dissenters need not apply. In a rapid-fire series of edicts and late-night social media posts over the last 72 hours, Trump made clear to Washington he plans to stack his second administration with loyalists and expects Republicans on Capitol Hill and elsewhere to fall in line. The incoming president on Monday tapped three of his staunchest current and former congressional allies for key roles, naming Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as his next U.N. ambassador, former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to be his national security adviser, with a fourth, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), expected to be nominated as secretary of State. He's also bringing immigration hard-liners Stephen Miller and Thomas Homan back to the White House in key policy roles. Those announcements come after Trump over the weekend publicly banished two pillars of his first administration -- former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley -- hawkish Republicans who had previously criticized Trump but ultimately embraced his candidacy. And the president-elect is attempting to exert influence over the contest for Republicans' next Senate leader by demanding that Sen. Mitch McConnell's successor support so-called recess appointments -- a call quickly backed by the person his allies are pushing for the job, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). Taken together, the moves signal the extent to which the incoming president will both prioritize loyalty in his second administration and seek to leverage it across all branches of government to carry out his most ambitious and controversial plans. |
| Trump energy allies anticipate boom times for oil, gas, mining | |
 | Former President Trump's election victory has sent a jolt of enthusiasm through the fossil fuel and mining industries as they anticipate a favorable regulatory environment under his incoming administration. The president-elect's Republican allies, meanwhile, see a fresh opportunity for policies like long-stalled energy permitting reforms. Trump, who withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and rolled back numerous energy and environmental regulations in his first term, vowed to take a similar approach in a second term on the campaign trail. The president-elect has also pledged to boost domestic oil and gas production, including by opening new lands for drilling, and disparaged forms of renewable energy such as wind and solar, calling for an end to "insane wind subsidies" on his campaign website. The oil and gas industry threw its support behind his 2024 campaign, donating more than $14 million toward his reelection. In the wake of his victory, the industry is hopeful he'll deliver on his promises and roll back regulations put in place by the Biden administration. The National Mining Association, the main lobbying group for the mining industry, is also sanguine about the likelihood of industry-friendly policies from the incoming administration. |
| MUW hosts a day of recognition in honor of Veterans Day | |
 | Young people are learning what it means to serve and say thank you. Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science and Mississippi University for Women students team up to honor our country's veterans. The schools hosted a ceremony this morning, November 11, on the Columbus campus. Student ensembles from both schools sang. Each branch of military service was recognized. The event was open to the public. |
| Vanderbilt University Tops $3.2 Billion Campaign Goal 20 Months Early | |
| Vanderbilt University announced Monday that it had surpassed its $3.2 billion capital campaign goal 20 months ahead of its original June 30, 2026 target date. The Dare to Grow fundraising campaign, named after Vanderbilt's motto, Crescere aude, had focused on three principal areas: Destination Vanderbilt (support for faculty and students), Discovery Vanderbilt (funding for research and creative activity) and One Vanderbilt (support for strengthening the integration of several university activities, including intercollegiate athletics). "This is a milestone we can all be proud of," said Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, in a university release. "Thanks to every one of our donors and the team behind the campaign, Dare to Grow is fueling our ambition to become the Great University of the 21st Century." The university's release emphasized the "profound impact" the campaign, its largest in history, has already had, including the launch of the Roberts Academy and Dyslexia Center, Dialogue Vanderbilt, and the Berg Global Artist-in-Residence program, as well as hundreds of new undergraduate, graduate and professional student scholarships. In addition, the campaign has raised about $453 million for Vanderbilt's athletics programs through Vandy United. |
| Texas A&M Cuts Programs Amid Political Pressure | |
 | The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents last week directed the president of its flagship to end 52 low-enrollment programs, including a nascent LGBTQ studies minor that conservative state legislators have cast as "liberal indoctrination." Speculation around the dissolution of the LGBTQ studies minor has been swirling for months; in September, a conservative website reported that the university would end the program. Faculty have staunchly opposed the move, voting earlier this month to reject the program cuts as proposed. University president Mark Welsh has registered his objections as well, asking that the "review process be halted and restarted to obtain input from the Faculty Senate," according to board documents. But facing sustained pressure from state lawmakers, the LGBTQ studies minor and other programs are now destined for abrupt elimination. After Texas A&M University launched the LGBTQ studies minor in fall 2022, the university issued a press release the following June -- Pride Month -- which called the new program a "major victory for LGBTQ+ scholars." But the minor quickly came under scrutiny from GOP lawmakers. “Texas A&M is offering a MINOR in this?? What. The. Hell. I will be demanding answers from @tamu on why they think my constituents should be forced to subsidize this,” State Representative Brian Harrison, a Republican, wrote on social media in January, including a screenshot of the LGBTQ studies minor listing from the course catalog. |
| Texas Republicans look to expand DEI ban into college curricula | |
| At the start of the year, Texas' sweeping ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education took effect, prompting a polarized response from university affiliates. Now, Texas Republicans are looking to go even further. In a Texas Senate hearing, the Higher Education Subcommittee began evaluating higher education curricula and whether or not certain initiatives needed to be eliminated, largely under the guise of workforce development. "While DEI-related curriculum and course content does not explicitly violate the letter of the law, it indeed contradicts its spirit," Senator Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who chairs the committee, said. "The curriculum does not reflect the expectations of Texas taxpayers and students who fund our public universities. It also falls short of equipping graduates with practical knowledge and skills that employers seek, along with high-value degrees." That comes just days after the Texas A&M Board of Regents directed the University to eliminate 52 different minors and certificates, citing low enrollments. Among those programs was an LGBTQ studies minor, prompting backlash. |
| CNN producer Natalie Gallon talks to A&M students about Darien Gap migration | |
 | CNN Mexico City field producer Natalie Gallon provided Texas A&M University students Monday with a firsthand account about what it's like to cross one of the most inhospitable, yet one of the most traversed, areas of the globe in recent years: the Darien Gap in Panama. That's the jungle region between Panama and Colombia where hundreds of thousands of South Americans have passed through in recent years en route to migrating to the United States. As for walking the Darien Gap, Gallon described it as gritty. The Atlanta native said there were just 520 people who migrated north through the Darien Gap in 2010, but that figure ballooned to over 500,000 in 2023. Those numbers have made it a big business for the Colombian cartels who run the route and have it organized down to when and where people camp each night. That organization was evident when Gallon and her team had to plan out their five-day trek across the gap. "This is a multibillion-dollar business for (the cartel)," Gallon said. "The cartel is very organized. They asked what are [we] going to report on, who's on the team, we need their passports." Hearing the stories of Gallon's experience in walking the Darien Gap with migrants left A&M students with a new appreciation of the dedication it takes to be in the field. "It definitely opened my eyes to how dedicated some field reporters are," said Ana Renfroe, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists chapter vice president. |
| Is It Time to Regulate AI Use on Campus? | |
 | Last fall, instructors at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst suddenly started receiving scores for every student's writing assignment, estimating how likely it was that they had been completed using generative artificial intelligence. The percentile scores were generated by an AI tool built into the institution's learning-management system. The scenario, administrators say, caused "massive confusion." Faculty members might see a high percentile score for an assignment, but how high did a score have to be to justify some kind of action? What if the software's analysis gave an assignment a 51 percent likelihood of AI use? How does a professor interpret that? And the leapfrogging rate of innovation in AI technology made the university's own computer scientists skeptical that AI-detection tools were reliable predictors of anything at all. The tool fueled a discussion already underway at UMass Amherst and many other institutions: the need to create a universitywide generative AI policy. As the technology spreads throughout all aspects of academe -- and evolves at a pace measured in months, not years -- experts and a burgeoning number of administrators believe that colleges need to establish guidelines about its use or face potential disaster. |
| The Bosses Who Don't Care About Your Ivy League Degree | |
 | It's hard to get a job at Charlie Gipple's financial advisory firm if you went to the wrong college -- like Harvard, Yale or Princeton. The chief executive of CG Financial Group in Johnston, Iowa, says academic credentials don't impress him like they used to. He worked with many graduates of top-tier colleges in previous jobs at MetLife and ING Groep, where he was a vice president, and says they too often approach clients' challenges like textbook case studies, rather than real-world problems. "If I were hiring somebody to be my right-hand person today, there's not a chance in hell it would be an Ivy League person," says Gipple, who graduated from the University of Northern Iowa and manages a network of about 500 advisers. Traditionally a springboard to the top of the résumé pile, a degree from a prestigious university can now prompt questions about its value or even work against job seekers. More often, people who studied at Ivies and similarly elite schools such as Stanford, Duke and the University of Chicago say they're used to snide remarks about their alma maters being woke or elitist. That skepticism has intensified in the last year after a landmark Supreme Court case exposed inner workings of elite-college admissions and upended affirmative action. Evidence presented in the case revealed, among other things, that 43% of accepted white applicants at Harvard were recruited athletes or children of alumni, donors, faculty or staff. |
| Trump Gears Up for Assault on Wokeness With Education Overhaul | |
| President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to remake education in the U.S., pledging to exert more control over funding and classroom lessons, to curb what he views as left-leaning tendencies at universities and even to dismantle the Department of Education. If his White House delivers on those promises, more families could get money to send kids to private school. Schools would face pressure to limit accommodations for transgender students and to end some initiatives aimed at addressing racial disparities. The goals are at once ambitious and controversial. "There are a lot of very smart people who are very excited to get into positions where we can actually start making change happen," said Tiffany Justice, a Trump ally and the co-founder of the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty. Trump has said he would use the power of the purse to limit left-wing ideology in schools and universities. Although a president can't immediately cut off money to any school, he could use various laws to pressure schools to address antisemitism on campus, disband programs that focus on nonwhite student groups or reduce accommodations for transgender students. Trump has said that he believes that Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in education, should prevent transgender girls from playing on female sports teams. This would be a stark reversal from the Biden administration, which has interpreted Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. |
| How the 'diploma divide' helped steer Trump back to the White House | |
 | Among voters without college degrees, Kamala Harris fared worse than Joe Biden four years ago. That's a big problem for Democrats. And it has become more of a liability for the party as it struggles to grasp the working class appeal it once enjoyed. The GOP won big last week thanks in part to white women unswayed by Donald Trump's link to the end of Roe v. Wade, a realignment of Latino voters and some Black men in swing states. But the wins also resulted from the expanding political differences between voters with college degrees and those without them. That chasm, nicknamed the "diploma divide," has long been an issue for Democrats. It appears to have worsened last week: CNN exit polls (which are only a snapshot of the electorate and aren't always accurate) showed Harris outperformed Biden's 2020 numbers among white voters with college degrees. Meanwhile, exit polling from NBC News gave Republicans a 9-point gain with voters who never attended college. Exit polling from The Associated Press and The Washington Post provided similar evidence. "The diploma divide continued and extended a bit from previous elections," said Matt Grossmann, a political scientist at Michigan State University who has studied the trend. Going to college is a privilege. Not everyone can go, and perhaps more importantly, not everyone wants to go. Yet, in recent decades, a degree has arguably become more of an economic necessity than ever. |
SPORTS
| State Soccer Earns Historic No. 1 Seed In NCAA Tournament | |
| In a thrilling announcement, Mississippi State soccer has secured its first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament, a landmark achievement for a team that has continuously rewritten the record books this season. As the path to the College Cup now runs through Starkville, the Bulldogs (17-2-0) will open tournament play against Southern (9-9-2) on Saturday at the MSU Soccer Field, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. CT. For the Bulldogs, hearing their name called as a top seed brought a mix of anticipation and excitement. Mississippi State's dominant regular season -- highlighted by their first-ever SEC Regular Season Championship -- firmly cemented their spot among the tournament's top teams. Mississippi State was the fourth No. 1 seed announced, with Duke taking the overall top spot. "We're incredibly honored to receive the No. 1 seed," said head coach James Armstrong, now the winningest coach in program history. "This group has worked tirelessly to get here, and it's such a special moment to know that we'll be hosting in Starkville with our amazing fans behind us. We're focused and ready to put all our energy into Saturday's game." Tickets for Saturday's match are on sale now, with general admission seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. |
| State soccer earns No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament | |
| Following a perfect SEC regular-season record and SEC regular-season championship, Mississippi State's soccer team was rewarded with a No. 1 seed on Monday when the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced. The Bulldogs finished 17-2 in the regular season and also advanced to the SEC Tournament semifinals last week before being upset by South Carolina. Mississippi State will host Southern U. (8-9-3) on Saturday with a 5 p.m. start. If the Bulldogs win their NCAA Tournament opener, they will face the winner of No. 8 seed Utah State (18-1-4) and Washington (10-6-3). Other first-round matchups in State's side of the bracket include No. 4 seed Notre Dame (11-3-4) vs. Milwaukee (12-6-2) and No. 5 seed Kentucky (11-4-4) vs. West Virginia (12-5-2). Led by head coach James Armstrong, the Bulldogs will be making their third-ever NCAA Tournament appearance on Saturday. Mississippi State's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2018 when the Bulldogs dropped a double-overtime 1-0 decision to Lipscomb. Last season saw the Bulldogs win their first NCAA Tournament game with a 2-1 decision over New Mexico State before falling to Memphis 4-0 in the second round. |
| Southern, LSU soccer teams learn opponents, where they are going for NCAA Tournament | |
 | LSU soccer players were on the edge of their seats not knowing whether they would make the NCAA Division I soccer tournament, but they didn't have to wait long during Monday's selection show. Southern players knew they were in but had to let the whole show play out to learn their opponent. Southern will play at No. 1 seed Mississippi State at 5 p.m. Saturday, and No. 9 seed LSU will play at No. 8 seed Texas Tech. That match will take place at 7 p.m. Friday. Southern is making its first appearance in the 21-year history of the program. The Jaguars claimed one of the 31 automatic berths by winning the SWAC Tournament in an upset over regular-season champion Texas Southern on Sunday. Despite the wait, Southern's appearance on the TV screen created excitement at the watch party at a local Baton Rouge restaurant. "It was a rush of excitement and like, 'Wow, all that hard work and training in the past years of my life is paying off on this moment,' " said Sydney Bellamy, the SWAC Goalkeeper of the Year. Southern coach Jeremy Fontenot said making the tournament was a long time coming and a dream of his as a student at Southern when the program was established. The team was spurred by Grambling transfer and SWAC Tournament MVP Alyssa Romero, who assisted on the game-winning goal by Taylor Henry in Sunday's final. The Jaguars played a strong defensive tournament, allowing only one goal in three games. Bellamy had 12 saves in the tournament and four in the title game. |
| Men's Basketball: Five Things To Know: State-Southeastern Louisiana | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball finishes up its season's opening three-game homestand versus Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday evening at Humphrey Coliseum. State has posted 95-60 and 101-66 victories over West Georgia and Georgia State, respectively, to start the season. The Bulldogs have begun the season with consecutive 95-plus point efforts for the first time in program history and dialed up at least 95 points in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2004-05 season against Florida A&M and Jacksonville State. The Bulldogs have racked up an 18-1 mark against Southeastern Louisiana, most recently a 68-62 victory over the Lions in Tupelo during the 2013-14 season. State has combined for a 54-5 mark against Houston Christian, Lamar, McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi who also are members of the Southland Conference. After selling out seven contests and boasting the program's fifth highest attendance average for season in 2023-24, Humphrey Coliseum has averaged 8,926 fans which is the program's highest mark through two games going back to the 2007-08 season. Fans can purchase single game tickets through Mississippi State's Athletic Ticket Office at www.HailState.com/tickets or by calling (662) 325-2600 / (888) 463-2947 (GO DAWGS). |
| Mississippi State and Missouri game time set for November 23 | |
| With the season winding down, Mississippi State is in the middle of its last bye week before two ranked ball games. When the bye week concludes, the Bulldogs will be preparing to take on the No. 23 Missouri Tigers. That game time was released by the SEC on Monday afternoon with the Bulldogs and Tigers set to compete at 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network. It is the fifth time in 11 games that the Bulldogs have earned that time slot. Missouri (7-2, 3-2 SEC) is having another solid season under head coach Eli Drinkwitz and survived a scare from the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night with a wild finish. A late touchdown pass followed by a turnover returned for a touchdown flipped what was headed to be a rough loss for the Tigers. Starting quarterback Brady Cook has been dealing with injuries in recent weeks and his status for the ball game next week is undetermined. Former Arizona State and Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne has filled in with Cook out and has thrown for 391 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions this season. State has had a brutal conference slate that has included three top 10 ball games on the road and a fourth possible with the Black Friday Egg Bowl matchup against Ole Miss in three weeks. |
| Southern Miss football fires offensive coordinator Chip Long | |
 | Southern Miss football offensive coordinator Chip Long has been fired, interim coach Reed Stringer announced on Monday. Long was in his first season with the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss is 1-8 and has lost seven games in a row. Long is the first assistant to be dismissed since head coach Will Hall was fired on Oct. 20. Stringer did not say who will become interim offensive coordinator or who will call plays moving forward. Southern Miss plays at Texas State (5-4, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference) on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN+). Long signed a one-year contract with Southern Miss in January worth $250,000 annually. He was the second-highest paid assistant on staff behind offensive line coach Sam Gregg. Stringer said the players were notified on Monday morning. "I just thought it was the best interest of our football team to move in a different direction, and that's what we did, Stringer said. "We had a conversation yesterday, and we started the process of what that's going to look like this morning, and we'll continue to work on that today." Long was hired by Hall after the 2023 season and brought a lot of experience from the Power Conferences, including an offensive coordinator stint at Notre Dame from 2017-19. He was teammates with Hall at North Alabama, but the Golden Eagles offense has struggled under his watch. |
| SEC fines Ole Miss $350K and LSU $250K for fan incidents | |
| The SEC has fined Ole Miss $350,000 and LSU $250,000 for incidents involving fans during Saturday's home games against Georgia and Alabama. Ole Miss incurred a $250,000 fine for a second offense of the league's policy prohibiting fans from entering the field. The school received an additional $100,000 fine because Rebels fans entered the field with 16 seconds left in Saturday's win against Georgia. The field was eventually cleared before another storming, which resulted in fans carrying one of the goalposts out of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Ole Miss' first violation of the SEC's policy against field storming occurred following last year's win against LSU. The $350,000 fine will go to Georgia, in accordance with SEC policy for violations in conference games. If Ole Miss incurs a third offense for field or court rushing, it would be subject to a $500,000 fine. LSU's fine stems from fans throwing bottles and other debris on the field during Saturday night's game against Alabama. The fine for LSU, which falls under the SEC's spectator sportsmanship policy, will go toward the league's postgraduate scholarship program. |
| Purdue is having a banner year for bad football. But fans can't stay away | |
 | Clad in black T-shirts with a few striped overalls mixed in, the Ross-Ade Brigade filled the southeast side of Purdue's football stadium on a cloudless Friday evening in October. More than an hour before kickoff, Purdue's vocal student section first booed top-ranked Oregon as the Ducks took the field, then lobbed mostly PG-rated taunts. An energetic crowd is nothing new to Purdue athletics, especially at Mackey Arena. The Ross-Ade Brigade becomes the "Paint Crew" student section in the winter and provides one of basketball's most intimidating environments. On that Friday, Oct. 18, with more than 57,000 seats sold and most of them filled, Purdue's fans brought the same energy that fueled the men's basketball program to the NCAA men's basketball title game in April. But unlike in the winter, when the results matched the passion, the football support belies the product. Only two seasons into head coach Ryan Walters' tenure, Purdue has fallen from Big Ten West Division champion to the worst program in power-conference football. The Boilermakers are on pace for only their third winless Big Ten campaign since 1946. In nearly every defensive category Purdue sits last among the league's 18 schools by a significant margin. It's not much better on offense, either. Still, the Boilermakers sold out their game with Notre Dame in one day. Purdue added more than 5,000 new season-ticket holders, and the total number exceeded 42,000. Students sold out their allotment in five hours, shattering all department records. That passion won't evaporate overnight. |
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