Kentucky 10, Tennessee 7
Southern Miss 44, Memphis 7
Stanford 28, Notre Dame 14
Delta State 42, North Alabama 14
Mississippi State 31, Ole Miss 3
Baylor 66, Texas Tech 42
South Carolina 34, Clemson 13
Florida State 21, Florida 7
Virginia Tech 38, Virginia 0
Air Force 45, Colorado State 21
Alabama 42, Auburn 14
Michigan State 31, Northwestern 17
Missouri 24, Kansas 10
college SCOREBOARD
THE VICKSBURG POST
SPORTS SUNDAY, NO VEMBER 27, 2011 • SE C TI O N B PUZZLES B8
Steve Wilson, sports editor | E-mail: sports@vicksburgpost.com | Tel: 601.636.4545 ext 142
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Dogs are still golden Game on! NBA players, owners reach agreement to end long lockout/B6
Schedule PREP SOCCER
WC hosts Ridgeland Tueday, 5:30 p.m. Vicksburg at Florence Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.
PREP BASKETBALL VHS at Forest Hill Tuesday, 6 p.m.
St. Aloysius vs. University Christian Tuesday, 4 p.m. at Hillcrest Academy
On TV Noon Fox - The oncepromising seasons of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills have gone up in smoke in recent weeks. They’ll each try to snap a three-game losing streak when they meet this afternoon. Preview/B4.
Who’s hot DERRICK STEELE
Central Arkansas receiver and former Hinds AHS star caught six passes for 94 yards in a 34-14 win over Tennessee Tech in the first round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Saturday.
Sidelines RB Peterson out for Minnesota
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been ruled out of today’s game against the Atlanta Falcons because of a sprained left ankle. The Vikings announced Saturday that Peterson had been downgraded on the injury report from doubtful to out and would not travel with the team to Atlanta. This will be only the fourth game in Peterson’s five-year career that he will miss.
LOTTERY La. Pick 3: 9-8-2 La. Pick 4: 1-5-8-9 Easy 5: 1-12-13-14-25 La. Lotto: 1-9-14-19-21-39 Powerball: 20-37-39-45-55 Powerball: 28; Power play: 2
Weekly results: B2
MSU romps past listless Rebels to win the Egg Bowl
From staff reports
By Jeff Byrd jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com STARKVILLE — The steady, pouring rain that fell on Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday night provided an apt metaphor for Ole Miss’ season. Mississippi State was happy to dump more rain on its arch-rival. Vick Ballard rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown, and caught a touchdown pass from Chris Relf as Mississippi State laid a 31-3 beatdown on Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. The Bulldogs (6-6, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) finished with 247 yards rushing to become bowl eligible for the second straight year. This was also their third straight Egg Bowl victory under coach Dan Mullen. MSU will find out its bowl destination after next Saturday’s SEC championship game, but the Music City or Liberty Bowls are the most likely landing places. “This is where you need to come if you want to win championships,” an elated Mullen said in his post-game press conference. “For the next year, we get to keep the big ole smile on our face when we go out through the state of Mississippi. We’ve made this a priority to win this game. We want to win this game every year.” Relf, who threw two touchdown passes and led three first-half scoring drives, said he was told midweek by Mullen that he would start. Mullen had told the media that all three Bulldog quarterbacks — Relf, Tyler Russell and Dylan Favre — would play. Relf, however, played all but the final series.
Bruce Newman•The associated press
Mississippi State players hoist the Egg Bowl trophy as they celebrate a 31-3 win over Ole Miss on Saturday night. At left, Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt walks off the field for the final time as the Rebels’ coach. Nutt was fired earlier this month.
See Egg Bowl, Page B3.
Bruce Newman•The associated press
USM clinches division with rout of Memphis By The Associated Press HATTIESBURG — Austin Davis passed for 277 yards and two scores, and ran for another touchdown as Southern Miss breezed past Memphis 44-7 on Saturday afternoon. Davis completed 14 of 26 passes to give the Golden Eagles (10-2) their first Conference USA Eastern Division title since 2006 and their first 10-win season since 1988. Southern Miss will play at No. 8-ranked Houston in the conference championship game next Saturday. A week after falling from all three major polls with a 34-31 loss to UAB, Southern Miss came out firing, outgaining Memphis 540 yards
DSU rolls to victory in playoffs
Up next Conference USA Championship Game Southern Miss at Houston Saturday, 11 a.m. TV: ABC Radio: 105.1 FM
Inside • Bama slams Auburn/B3 • Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, win division titles/B4 to 181 and racking up 25 first downs. “It’s a completely different feeling (from last week),” Davis said. “We went from as See USM, Page B3.
Ryan Moore•The associated press
Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis prepares to throw a pass Saturday against Memphis. USM won, 44-7, to clinch the Conference USA East Division championship.
Delta State’s first encounter with North Alabama was an overtime classic. The rematch was a rout. Micah Davis threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score, and Delta State scored 35 unanswered points after falling behind early to crush North Alabama 42-14 in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland. Delta State (10-2), which lost in last year’s national championship game, advanced to the quarterfinals. It will host North Greenville (11-2) next Saturday at 1 p.m. North Greenville beat Mars Hill 58-32 in another second-round game on Saturday. In the first Micah meeting Davis this season between Delta State and North Alabama (9-3), on Oct. 13, DSU scored 10 points in the last five minutes of regulation before winning 30-24 in overtime. This time, it didn’t need any last-minute heroics. The Statesmen amassed 466 yards of total offense and rallied after North Alabama took a 14-7 lead on an 84-yard touchdown pass from Lee Chapple to Jason Smith with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. Davis capped an 11-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to tie it up with just over six minutes left in the second quarter, then put Delta State ahead for good with a 3-yard TD pass to Jacob Sesma with 21⁄2 minutes to go. Davis struck again midway through the third quarter, tossing a 20-yard TD pass to Avery Horn for a 28-14 lead. A 4-yard TD run by Richard Freelon and a 19-yard run by Brant Botill in the fourth quarter sealed the win. Davis completed 17 of 24 passes for 214 yards, and ran for 47 yards on eight carries. No one cracked the 100yard rushing mark for Delta State, but four players carried the ball at least eight times apiece. As a team, the Statesmen rushed for 252 yards. Delta State’s last drive of the game was a 16-play march that only covered 49 yards and didn’t result in any points but did bleed 91⁄2 minutes off the clock. Chapple was 20-of-38 passing for 238 yards and a touchdown for North Alabama, but was sacked three times and lost a fumble. North Alabama scored on two of its first three possessions, then didn’t get inside the DSU 20-yard line again until the fourth quarter. That last trip into the red zone ended when Chapple was sacked twice and threw an incompletion on fourthand-21 from the DSU 30.