Jackson Free Press

Most college football teams don’t want to feel like week two of the season is a must-win situation. That is exactly what it seemed like for Mississippi State University after a season-opening loss to South Alabama.

If the team was to have any hope of keeping its bowl streak alive, MSU badly needed a victory against the University of South Carolina in week two. With the Bulldogs’ six SEC West foes remaining, a loss and a 0-2 start may seem nearly impossible to overcome.

Bulldogs head coach Dan Mullen turned to quarterback Nick Fitzgerald against the Gamecocks. Fitzgerald started against South Alabama but was pulled after a 0-3 start passing with two rushes for 11 yards and playing just seven snaps. MSU went with Damian Williams the rest of the way against the Jaguars.

Against the Gamecocks, Fitzgerald put together a breakout performance. He was 19 for 29, passing for 178 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. On the ground, Fitzgerald ripped the Gamecocks for 195 yards, rushing on 17 carries.

Fitzgerald’s 195 rushing yards broke the school record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game. Former Bulldog great John Bond set the old mark of 163 yards in the 1980 Egg Bowl against the University of Mississippi. And it’s one of the records at quarterback that former MSU star Dak Prescott does not own.

MSU jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead before a 32-minute lightning delay sucked most of the momentum from the Bulldogs. South Carolina scored two second-half touchdowns but couldn’t overcome its first-half deficit in the Bulldogs’ 27-14 win.

Fitzgerald stared at Richmond Hill High School, where he ended up a four-year letter winner. He led his team to a 10-2 record overall as a senior and to the second round of the Georgia High School Association Class 5A State Championship.

In high school, Fitzgerald was named Region 3-5A Player of the Year, honorable mention Georgia Sports Writers Association and Atlanta Journal Constitution 5A All-State selection. Fitzgerald rushed for 1,429 yards on 182 carries with 25 touchdowns as a senior.

He passed for 778 yards on 33 of 76 passing with 12 touchdowns in the triple-option offense he ran in high school. The quarterback was also on the basketball team for three years, where he scored 7.9 points and 5.8 rebounds as a junior.

Fitzgerald earned scholarship offers from MSU and Middle Tennessee State University. The Bulldogs redshirted him as a freshman in 2014.

Last season, Fitzgerald served as Prescott’s primary backup. He saw action in eight games and went 11 of 14, passing for 235 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. The quarterback rushed 23 times for 127 yards and three touchdowns.

Fitzgerald entered this season as the speculated favorite to be the starter for the Bulldogs but couldn’t completely pull away from his competition. His performance against South Carolina might have finally won …

Doom and gloom surrounded the SEC in week one of the college football season. With high-profile losses and losses to lesser conferences, it wasn’t its normal self

But is the SEC really in danger of becoming the weakest of the new Power Five conferences? Now that two weeks have been played, there is a larger sample size to judge the SEC to the other four.

The SEC has five wins over other Power Five conferences: the University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, Texas Christian University, Virginia Tech University and the University of North Carolina. But the SEC suffered four losses to Power Five conferences: Auburn University, Louisiana State University, University of Mississippi and University of Missouri.

Mississippi State University and the University of Kentucky both lost to non-Power Five conference schools. The SEC is the only Power Five conference not to have lost, yet, to a FCS school.

Here is how the other Power Five conferences have fared two weeks into the season.

The ACC has four wins over other Power Five conferences, with wins over Auburn, Mississippi, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Illinois. It also has three losses to Power Five schools: Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia and North Carolina.

North Carolina State lost to non-Power Five school East Carolina University, which was a bad loss for the ACC. Virginia also lost to a FCS school: the University of Richmond.

So the ACC has a 4-3 record against other Power Five conferences and two losses to either a non-Power Five or FCS team. Not bad, and the conference has several high-profile wins over the SEC, although Virginia did suffer a 17-point loss to a FCS school.

The Big 12 has just two wins over Power Five schools, with victories over Missouri and the University of Notre Dame. Of all the Power Five conferences, the Big 12 is the only one with a losing record, with four losses to other Power Five schools: TCU, Kansas State University, Iowa State University and Texas Tech University.

No Power Five conference has more losses to non-Power Five and FCS schools. Oklahoma State University, University of Oklahoma and the University of Kansas all lost to non-Power Five schools, and Iowa State lost to an FCS school.

Two weeks into the season, it is reasonable to believe that the weakest Power Five conference is the Big 12. Iowa State and Kansas might be the weakest Power Five schools after two weeks.

The Big Ten has the fewest wins over other Power Five schools, with just three over Oregon State University, LSU and Iowa State. The conference just has three losses to Power Five schools: Rutgers University, Penn State and Illinois.

In keeping with its theme, the Big Ten has three losses to non-Power Five or FCS schools. Northwestern University has lost to a non-Power Five school and a FCS school, and Purdue University has a loss to …

University of Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn’t lose a lot of games. Since finishing with a perfect season in 2009, Saban has lost just 10 games.

He has lost just three games over the past two seasons, and two of those have come against the University of Mississippi. With the Rebels’ recent wins, they have been a thorn in the side of arguably the best coach in college football.

In 2014, UM won a dramatic affair when the team scored the game-winning touchdown with under three minutes to go and a late interception, sealing the victory. Last season, the Crimson Tide committed five turnovers and couldn’t overcome a 30-10 Rebels lead as the Alabama rally ran out of time.

Plenty of eyes will be on the Rebels and Tide this weekend. The game could have a major say in the postseason hopes for both teams.

This game means more to the Rebels than the Tide. In the past two years, UM has beaten Alabama, but the Tide righted the ship, making the College Football Playoff at the end of the seasons.

Last season, Alabama lost to the Rebels and still ended up winning the championship. The Crimson Tide has shown they can overcome a loss, but UM hasn’t been able to turn either win over Alabama into a SEC West title or a spot in the four-team playoff.

For the past two years, both teams entered this game undefeated. That is not the case this year, after the Rebels blew a 28-13 lead to Florida State University in their season opener.

Alabama will want to beat the team that has provided its only blemish in the regular season the last two years, but theTide could still make the playoffs even with a loss. For the Rebels, this is a must-win game in the middle of September.

UM quarterback Chad Kelly could see his Heisman Trophy hopes end and the Rebels’ playoff aspirations dashed before the first month of the season ends. If the Rebels lose the game, there is no tomorrow for them.

Kelly put up solid numbers against the Seminoles, going 21 for 39 passing with four touchdowns, but three interceptions and a fumble lost were really ugly for a Heisman hopeful. In fact, Kelly’s poor play late in the second quarter through the second half is part of the reason the Rebels lost.

A second loss in another marquee game would pretty much spell doom. No one really cares what numbers Kelly put up against Wofford College last week when it comes to winning the Heisman. He was supposed to put up big numbers, and did as he went 20 for 27 with three touchdowns.

If the team loses to the Tide, he would need to be out of this world the rest of the season to have any hopes to make a trip to New York. It wouldn’t be impossible for …