Jackson Free Press

The six state championships in Mississippi high-school football will be decided this Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3. This year, teams will play on the campus of Mississippi State University at Davis Wade Stadium.

One of the biggest matchups will be for the 6A championship, with Clinton High School facing Pearl High School on Friday at 7 p.m. This is the second championship game for both schools.

Pearl is making its first appearance in the championship game since 1985 when the team fell to Louisville High School. Clinton returns to the title game for the first time since 2000, which ended in a loss to Moss Point High School.

Starting off the title games Friday will be the 1A championship, which will begin at 11 a.m. and features Lumberton High School against Simmons High School from Hollandale.

Lumberton is making its fifth appearance in the title game and is a perfect four for four in championships. Simmons is the defending champion at the 1A level and is making its third run for the title.

After the 1A game is the 2A game at 3 p.m. featuring Bay Springs High School facing off against Calhoun City High School. Bay Springs is making its third appearance but looking for its first win. Calhoun City is in its 11th title game, the most appearances for any school playing this year, but only has one win to show for all the trips.

Saturday’s games begin at 11 a.m. with the 3A championship between Charleston High School and Kemper County High School out of De Kalb. Kemper County is playing its first title game, and Charleston is making its sixth appearance but has won just one title.

The action continues on Saturday with the 4A title game at 3 p.m. as Poplarville High School faces Lafayette High School from Oxford. This is the first championship-game appearance for Poplarville, but Lafayette is making its fifth title run and has two championships.

Saturday night features the final title game between Laurel High School and West Point High School, kicking off at 7 p.m. Laurel is playing its sixth title game and has three titles, and West Point is playing for its 10th title with seven titles under its belt, the most out of any school making an appearance this year.

The northern teams will be the home squads during these championship games and will be on the sideline with the press box. Attendees can purchase tickets at the gate for $15 and are good for all three games on either Friday or Saturday. Tickets are also available for $14 at any school playing in a championship game.

If you can’t make it to the games, you can still catch them on TV in the Jackson area on MeTV WAPT or channel 16.2 on the digital dial. The games will also be aired in Hattiesburg on WDAM Bounce (7.3); Meridian on WMDN Bounce (24.2); Tupelo …

Last week was a tough week for the college football teams in Mississippi. Nearly every team lost but Ole Miss and Belhaven. It was the type of week you just want to forget about but if you missed any of last week's action you can pick up the current issue of the JFP and read the round up or [follow this link][1]. Things don't get any easier this week for college football teams in Mississippi. Southern Miss is still searching for win one, Mississippi State faces a tough test in Texas A&M and Ole Miss will look to avoid a blowout against Georgia.

You know it’s spring when college basketball comes to an end and the long NHL and NBA season moves into the playoffs.

Of course, baseball means springtime, as “The Boys of Summer” officially get their start. But the season is important for another insanely popular sport: football.

Every high school and college team will spend some time out on the practice field to prepare for next season.

Most college football teams will end spring practice with a football game. While being just a glorified scrimmage, spring games have become big at the FBS level, with the major conferences getting theirs on television.

Some colleges will fill up their stadiums for a game like they were playing a regular opponent on a fall Saturday. Stadiums will be filled with 50,000 to 100,000 folks just getting a sense of what next year’s team might be like on the field.

Colleges have also figured out how to maximize this event. Several schools will host other sports at home on the weekend of the spring game to get fans who are there to check out sports that they might otherwise have attended during the season such as baseball or softball.

The idea is win-win for everyone. Fans get a football fix. Football gets fans excited to buy season tickets. Other sports get exposure that they might not have otherwise gotten.

Jackson State University has a full Saturday planned when the school puts on its annual Blue and White game. The Blue and White Tigerfest 2016 is this Saturday, April 16, at Walter Payton Drive on the university’s main campus.

The Tigers will host a spring game at 12:30 p.m. at the JSU practice field behind the Walter Payton Center, but more events will happen before the game. Tigerfest officially starts with the arrival of the Mass Marching Band at 10 a.m. and a meet-and-greet with the Tigers coaches and players starts at the same time.

In addition to the game, Tigerfest will also have area high-school bands performing, and JSU cheerleaders, Prancing J-Settes and a kids zone (which costs $5). Entertainment includes Karma and the Love Notez Concert, a Greek Step Show, Ole School JD and Dance, and Thee I Love Student Live Concert and DJ. Most of the entertainment will be on stages in front of the tennis courts.

JSU baseball will also take on main rival Alcorn State University in a double-header that begins at 1 p.m. at Braddy Field.

General admission is free for children 10-years-old and under and JSU students with a university ID. General admission is $10 dollars for everyone else. Blankets and lawn chairs are allowed.

Tailgating is allowed for $25 and $50 for RVs and vendors. Gates open at 8 a.m. For more information, call 601-362-0866.

JSU Tiger Fund and the JSU Division of Athletics will present Tigerfest.

It could be a NFL Draft red herring but the Dallas Cowboys have shown an incredible amount of interest in Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott. According to the Dallas-Morning News, Cowboys Quarterback Coach Wade Wilson is in Starkville, Miss today to workout the former Bulldogs single caller.

This will mark the third time that Wilson has meet with before this April's draft. Wilson, along with Dallas Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan, spent time with Prescott at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala and then met with him again at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in late February.

Multiple reports (here and here) have the Cowboys linked to Prescott in this year's NFL Draft. And why not, Dallas has to start thinking about like after Tony Romo at some point.

Last season, Romo spent more time injured than on the field and he has had back issues the last few seasons. The Cowboys have to figure that time is running out on Romo and taking a quarterback in the draft to develop for future is the smart idea.

Prescott has been projected to be drafted as high as the second round but most projections have him being selected in the third to fourth round of this year's draft. Most draft scouts see Prescott as a bit of a work in progress but could turn into a solid starter with time to develop into a NFL starter.

The Dallas Cowboys have nine picks in the draft. Dallas has the 34th pick in the 2nd round, 67th pick in the third round, 101st pick in the fourth round and 135th pick (a compensatory pick) in the fourth round. Other picks include the 189th, 212th, 216th, and 217th pick in the sixth round.

Every pick in the sixth round but the 189th is a compensatory pick. One thing to remember about the draft is that compensatory picks can not be traded and must be used by the team that was awarded the pick. That means the Cowboys don't have a lot of picks to trade if they must move around to get Prescott.

While Prescott has mainly stayed in the news for his on the field work or for being a good guy off the field, he has been in the news for the wrong thing. Last year, Prescott was seen on video being jumped in Panama City, Florida, but the quarterback handled that situation nearly perfectly.

Last week, Prescott was in the news for the wrong reason, when he was arrested for driving under the influence. While his draft stock will take a bit of a hit, because he was arrested so close to the draft, it is not the enough to send up red flags to teams who want to draft the quarterback.

Dallas currently hasn't signed a quarterback in free agency and have Kellen Moore as the only other quarterback on the roster besides Romo. The …

The old cliché that records are made to be broken just seems just perfect for sports. Nothing gets the fans attention more than when a seemingly untouchable record gets threatened or out and out broken.

Everyone pays more attention when an NFL team is undefeated near the end of the season to see if that squad can match the 1972 Miami Dolphins, when a hitter in Major League Baseball gets near Joe Dimaggio's 56-game hit streak, or when a horse wins the first two legs of the Triple Crown, like American Pharoah did last year.

Now that the NBA season is coming to a close, it is time for us sports fans to cast our attention to a potential record that could fall this season. The Golden State Warriors are now officially knocking down the door of matching or surpassing the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Those Bulls did what seemed impossible, as they became the first team to win 70 games in a season. In fact, they won 72 games and lost just 10 games. That team is the standard to which every great team since in the NBA is judged.

The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls featured Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the enigma Dennis Rodman, who all went on to enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. But the Bulls also had great role players in Toni Kukoc, Luc Longley, Ron Harper and Steve Kerr that season.

Interestingly enough, Kerr is the head coach for Golden State in its march toward the Bulls’ record. It seems fitting that a link to that great Chicago team would have ties to the Warriors squad that could steal the Bulls’ crown.

The Warriors have played 74 games this season and have eight games to go before they finish the full 82-game season. Golden State is one game ahead of where Chicago at this same point.

Through 74 games, the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls had a sensational 66-8 overall record. Golden State currently owns a 67-7 overall record as they enter play against the Utah Jazz tonight, March 30.

Chicago fell to the Charlotte Hornets by just a single point in game 75, making it the ninth loss of that fantastic season. If Golden State wins tonight, it would put the team two wins ahead of the Bulls’ pace.

The Warriors have yet to lose back-to-back games all season long, and the Bulls lost back-to-back games just once during their record setting season. Golden State jumped off to a 24-0 start to begin the season, which was better than Chicago’s 22-2 start in 1995.

If Golden State is going to get the record, the team will have earned it. In the Warriors’ final eight games, they will face just one team that is currently not in the playoffs and has a under .500 record —the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Warriors get the 37-37 Jazz on the road before returning home for five games. In that five …

Anyone who keeps close tabs on the NFL knows that on Friday afternoons it's worth paying attention to press releases. The league has become masterful at dropping news late on Friday afternoons when most people have turned their attention to the weekend.

The University of Mississippi used a similar approach last Friday. Before the holiday weekend, UM released its response to a NCAA notice of allegations, using Memorial Day weekend and the dumpster fire that is Baylor University football as cover to quietly put out its report. In that 154-page response, the university self-imposed 11 total scholarships in football over the next four years.

The school also asked for a delay on a scheduled hearing with the Committee on Infractions until it could fully investigate the Laremy Tunsil draft-night fallout. UM is scheduled to meet with the COI this summer.

Of the 13 allegations the NCAA has leveled against the school, nine came under the watch of current head coach Hugh Freeze. Four of those allegations are Level I violations (the most severe), two are Level II violations and three are Level III violations.

On Monday, Freeze began damage control as he defended his program. Freeze said he takes full responsibility for the violations and then said the violations were more about mistakes made than an effort to cheat.

The head coach zealously denied that he or anyone on his staff had knowingly violated rules. In an ESPN story, Freeze said, “There’s a big difference between making mistakes in recruiting and going out there with the intent to cheat."

Freeze knows, like any coach, that it is important to win the court of public opinion. He is also trying to repair his reputation. Freeze was quick to point out that several of the violations linked back to former coach Houston Nutt.

UM is hoping that suspending a couple of assistant coaches from recruiting for a month, the loss on scholarships and disassociation with boosters will keep the NCAA at bay. The organization could take all of the Rebels self-imposed punishments and call it a day.

It is highly unlikely that the NCAA won't add to the Rebels punishment. Also, it seems like Freeze and the university aren’t “owning” their violations by trying to point out Nutt's complicity at every chance.

Freeze and the Rebels still have to deal with the Tunsil draft-night fiasco, and the NCAA could reopen its investigation. This is not a simple as Freeze is trying to pin the worst parts on past coaching staff.

There have been rumblings about how Freeze and his coaches recruited since his highly regarded draft class of 2013. Freeze tried then to play off those rumblings as ranting from haters.

Now, it seems the haters were right, and Freeze is trying to hand at deflection. If even more comes out after the Tunsil draft night, it might be time for a coaching change in Oxford.

The NCAA would be wise to listen …

Four year schools had a great week with everybody getting a win but Southern Miss and Mississippi College. To read a full recap pick up a copy of this week's Jackson Free Press or [follow this link][1].

Something so rare happened today that ESPN reporter Adam Schefter couldn’t remember how long it had been since it last happened. For the first time in a long time, none of the players invited to the NFL Combine failed the drug test.

This was good news for the players who teams considered to have “red flags,” but this was also good news for teams who liked players who made questionable decisions in their past.

Players can have a red flag for something as simple as not being voted as team captain, such as Michigan State University quarterback Connor Cook, or as serious as sexual assault charges, such as Bowling Green University Roger Lewis.

A player can also get a red flag for falling out a hotel window, as former University of Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche did. After this incident, Nkemdiche went from top 10 pick to questions of, “How far will he fall in this week’s draft?”

Each NFL team will decide if a red flag matters before drafting a player. The talent of said player will also have an impact on whether a team will draft him.

That is to say, in most cases, the more talent a player has, the more room he has to mess up.

So, why is it important that no players failed the drug test at the NFL Combine? That’s because it is more than just a drug test.

The test gives teams a chance to look at the decision-making of future draft picks. When a player goes to the combine, he knows that he is going to be tested for drug usage, so failing that drug test means more than failing a random drug test in college.

Teams want to know why a player would fail a test that he knew he would have to take when he showed up. When you are talking about giving certain players millions of dollars, this becomes an important factor for teams.

No players failing the drug test is good for the athletes, as well. According to ESPN, no player with a failed drug test has been selected in the first round since 2010.

Failing out of the first round is a loss of money for each spot a player drops. That still doesn’t mean a player won’t fall out of the first round of this year’s draft because of a red flag, but it does mean that he won’t fall because of this particularly avoidable trap.

Last year, University of Nebraska defensive end Randy Gregory failed a drug test at the NFL Combine and went from a first-round pick to a second-round pick. Failing a drug test could even force a player to drop out of the draft and become an undrafted rookie free agent.

While not failing a drug test won’t be the reason Nkemdiche falls in the draft, his statements in a pre-draft interview, in which he said …

While you wait for the Denver Broncos to face the Carolina Panthers, here is a little history of the NFL’s Thursday night kickoff game

It wasn’t until 2002 that the NFL started its new season with the kickoff game on Thursday night. The first two years didn’t feature the past year’s Super Bowl winner.

New York and San Francisco kicked off the season in 2002, a year after 9/11. In that game, the 49ers beat the Giants 16-13 in a rare road win.

In 2003, Washington hosted the New York Jets, and the Big Apple went 0-2 in the first two games with the Redskins 16-13 win. Overall, the two teams from New York are 1-3 in kickoff games.

The defending Super Bowl champions began kicking off the season in 2004. New England made the first of three kickoff games and won 27-24 over the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots repeated as kickoff game participants in 2005 and are 3-0 in the games.

Things changed a bit in 2006 when the kickoff game moved to NBC, and Monday Night Football began to broadcast a double-header. In 2005, there was an unscheduled Monday Night Football double-header, but that was because of Hurricane Katrina.

The 2008 kickoff game was the first NFL game to be streamed over the Internet, and all of the Sunday Night Football games were also carried online. The Giants got the only win for the city of New York at the start of the 2008 season.

New Orleans and Minnesota met in the 2010 kickoff game, which was a rematch of the previous year’s NFC Championship Game. The Saints won 14-9 over the Vikings in what would be Brett Favre’s final season.

New Orleans took part in the kickoff game the following year against Green Bay. The game was a matchup of the past two Super Bowl champions, and the first time that has occurred. The Packers won the game 42-34 over the Saints.

New Orleans is the only team to play in back-to-back kickoff games without winning the Super Bowl in both of those seasons. New England is the first team to play in back-to-back kickoff games. The Saints are 1-2 in kickoff games, with a 2007 loss to Colts, and are one of four teams to have played the kickoff game three times, joining the Steelers, Patriots and Giants.

Due to the Democratic National Convention in 2012, the Thursday kickoff game was moved to Wednesday. In that game, the Giants hosted the Dallas Cowboys, and it was the first time the defending Super Bowl champion lost the kickoff game.

The Cowboys won 24-17 in the kickoff game in Dallas’ only appearance. The team is one of four teams with a perfect record in the kickoff game, joining New England, San Francisco and Denver.

In 2013, a scheduling conflict between the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens forced the Super Bowl champion Ravens to go on the …

College football hasn't been bad to Mississippi for the most part this season. There is hope everywhere, unless you're a USM fan, and you can check out last week's games in the JFP print edition or [follow this link][1]. The big winner last week was Mississippi State. The Bulldogs took care of everything in front of them to setup a showdown this week against Alabama.

The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum has announced the finalists for this year’s Howell and Gillom Trophies. Seven players received votes for the Gillom Trophy, which is awarded to the best women’s college-basketball player in Mississippi, and nine players received votes for the Howell Trophy, given to the state’s best men’s college-basketball player. The vote recipients were then narrowed to three finalists for each award.

Brittany Dinkins of the University of Southern Mississippi, Victoria Vivians of Mississippi State University and Morgan William of Mississippi State University are the finalists for the Gillom Trophy. Sebastian Saiz of the University of Mississippi, Devin Schmidt of Delta State University and Quinndary Weatherspoon of Mississippi State University are the three finalists for the Howell Trophy.

Vivians is trying to become the first player to win the Gillom Trophy three straight times. She passed 1,600 points for her career this season and is averaging 17.2 points per game with 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

Williams will try to dethrone her all-star teammate for the Gillom, as she is enjoying her best season at MSU. She is averaging 10.1 points, 5.4 assists, two rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, and has one of the best assists-to-turnover ratios in the SEC.

No one in the history of USM women’s basketball has played more games than Dinkins, who has appeared on the court 128 times. She is averaging 18.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 3.8 assists per game. She is fifth in the nation in steals and tops in Conference USA in that category.

Saiz will try to make it five Howell Trophy wins in a row for the Rebels. The native of Madrid, Spain, is the first player in school history to achieve 1,000 points, 900 rebounds and 100 blocks during a career. He is averaging 15.1 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, and has upped his free-throw shooting from 65 percent as a junior to 75 percent as a senior.

Schmidt is one of the best players in the history of Delta State and is 65 points away from becoming the all-time leading scoring in the Gulf South Conference. He is averaging 22.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Despite only being a sophomore, Weatherspoon is a finalist for a second consecutive year following his explosive freshman season in 2016. He was named SEC Player of the Week back in January as he is averaging 16.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Fans can vote for their choice for best men’s and women’s player in our state by visiting csopavoting.com and can place votes until 5 p.m., Saturday, March 4. The fan vote will make up 10 percent of the final count, with the media making up the other 90-percent. All the finalists will attend a banquet on Monday, March 6, at 11:30 a.m. at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum (1152 …

The nation is rejoicing the return of the regular officials after the NFL and the NFLRA came to agreement on a new labor deal last night. NFL fans no longer have to see the replacement officials on the field or their TV screen this week. Thank goodness, the regular officials have returned. Now, NO team in the NFL will receive a terrible call, or a bad penalty, or an atrocious ball spot for the rest of the season.

Time for my weekly thoughts on the previous NFL week. My thoughts on the New Orleans Saints game against the Kansas City Chiefs will be posted tomorrow.

It wasn’t pretty at times, and it seemed insanely long, but the University of Southern Mississippi has back-to-back winning football seasons. The Golden Eagles went winless in 2012, hitting rock bottom after winning 12 games the year before.

USM lost 23 consecutive games before finally getting a 62-27 win over the University of Alabama at Birmingham to end the 2013 season. There was more progress in the 2014 season with three wins.

Finally, a breakthrough happened for USM in the 2015 season. The Golden Eagles had nine wins and went to a bowl game, but lost the final two games of the season.

In the offseason, Southern Miss lost head coach Todd Monken to the NFL. Monken left Hattiesburg to become the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. USM hired former assistant coach and then-head coach of Alcorn State University Jay Hopson.

There were high hopes entering this season, even with a new head coach, because of all the talent returning from the previous season.

Early on, it looked like USM would live up to those expectations with a 4-1 start to the season, including a win over the University of Kentucky out of the SEC. The University of Troy was the lone loss for the Golden Eagles in the first five games.

Southern Miss lost five of the next six games, suffering shocking defeats to the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of North Texas. All three of those teams finished with losing records after UTSA lost the New Mexico Bowl to the University of New Mexico.

The Golden Eagles needed to defeat Louisiana Tech University just to reach a bowl game, scoring a 39-24 win over the Bulldogs to play in the New Orleans Bowl.

In the bowl game, Southern Miss wide receiver Allenzae Staggers put on a show, making 11 catches for 230 yards and a touchdown to set a New Mexico Bowl record and school record for most receiving yards in a bowl game. USM quarterback Nick Mullens went 25 for 40 in passing, with 346 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and one lost fumble. Running back Ito Smith rushed for 138 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns and one catch for six yards and a touchdown.

The trio of stars helped the Golden Eagles to a 28-21 win over the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, but USM’s defense did its part with six sacks, three quarterback hurries, nine tackles for a loss and one interception. However, ULL scored two touchdowns off of Mullens’ turnovers as a result of short fields.

Most of the night, Ragin’ Cajuns quarterback Anthony Jennings was under siege from the Golden Eagle defense. USM found ways to bottle up ULL’s star running back, Elijah McGuire, for parts of the game, even as he rushed for 99 yards on just 17 carries.

The New …

Football recruiting is as competitive as the game played on the field. Recruiting has become bigger and bigger in the digital age with sports sites building pages to follow top prospects.

Nearly everyone this preseason has gone gaga over Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s performance this NFL preseason by. Well, unless you’re Fox Sports radio personality Colin Cowherd.

Unless you’re Cowherd or thinks like he does, it is hard not to be impressed with the way Prescott has played in two games. It is the preseason, after all, but with each throw and each play, the budding legend of Dak grows.

In his first start in his first game, Prescott went 10 of 12 passing for 139 yards with two touchdown passes. The two incompletions were drops from a backup tight end against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Internet went wild, and rightly so. Prescott’s performance was great for a guy who was picked in the fourth round and expected to sit behind Kellen Moore as the third-string guy. Instead, Moore broke his leg, and Prescott was thrust into the backup spot.

It seemed right to slow down the hype train with just one game under his belt. But Prescott went on to put on a show in his second preseason game.

When Dallas played the Miami Dolphins this past weekend, Prescott got to work with both the starters and No. 2 players on the depth chart. It might have been a new week, but it was the same performance, if not better, than week one.

Prescott went 12 for 15 passing for 199 yards and two touchdown passes and ran two more in for touchdowns. In his second game, Prescott had a four-touchdown game, has yet to throw an interception and has taken just one sack.

Cowherd wasn’t impressed, but the rest of the Internet was going bonkers for Prescott. In the preseason, Prescott has gone 22 of 27 passing for 338 yards with four touchdowns passing and two touchdowns rushing.

He has an 81.5 completion percentage and a 158.3 passer rating. The former Mississippi State University star leads all rookie quarterbacks in nearly every passing stat.

Cowherd might not be impressed yet, but maybe he can be convinced if he sees the stats.

So far in the preseason, 22 quarterbacks, including Prescott, have seen some sort of playing time. Those 22 quarterbacks include the 15 that were drafted and the rest who were signed as undrafted free agents.

During the draft, seven quarterbacks were drafted ahead of Prescott, and one was drafted just four spots behind him. One of the quarterbacks, Christian Hackenberg, who the New York Jets drafted out of Pennsylvania State University, has yet to even take one snap in the preseason.

For our purposes, only quarterbacks who have attempted 20 or more attempted passes will get a full rundown. That means Cleveland Browns quarterback Cody Kessler, drafted out of the University of Southern California in the third round, doesn’t make the list with his five pass attempts.

The first overall pick …

There has been plenty of talk this week about the state of TV ratings for NFL games. Currently, the league is experiencing a dip of 10 to 11 percent in the ratings from the previous season.

Everyone is speculating what is causing the ratings to drop, but there is no magical answer to the decline in viewership.

But here are my reasons, from smallest to biggest.

6. Scandals

It seems like the scandals never end in the NFL—Bountygate, Conclusions, Deflategate, domestic violence by players, and so on and so forth.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see fans stop tuning in because they are tired of hearing about a different scandal each week. After a while, everyone gets fed up with the constant, never-ending negative news coming out of the league.

These fans will probably return around the playoffs as long as another giant scandal doesn’t grip the league for the rest of the season. If the scandals keep up, these fans could find something else to watch.

5. Anthem Protest

Just look on Facebook or other social media sites, and you will see articles on folks protesting the protesters in the NFL.

Since players started kneeling during the national anthem, fans have supported and criticized the players involved. Those who dislike the protest have decided not to watch.

Casual fans and those who don’t follow a team regularly are probably the ones more likely to not watch because of the anthem protests. Hardcore Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers and other national-team fans are going to tune in each week.

These fans will come back at some point, but they will probably not watch while they are mad at the players. Few people are that upset over the players to not watch at all, so in reality, this could make up a small number of viewer loss.

4. MLB Playoffs

The ratings for the MLB playoffs are up this year. Why? Because fans have strong interest in the teams still alive this postseason.

They want to see if the Chicago Cubs can break their curse and win their first World Series since 1908. They want to see if the Cleveland Indians can win their first World Series since 1948.

With the playoff games on TBS, MLB Network and FS1, fans are finding channels they don’t normally tune into and watching this postseason.

MLB’s postseason is going to steal more casual fans from NFL games. Everyone wants to see something they have never seen before, and a ton of people have never seen a Cubs or Indians team win the World Series.

These fans will return to football once the World Series is over in late October or early November, depending how long the series lasts. This is one of the few times in recent years that the MLB playoffs have been more compelling than the NFL regular season.

3. Too Much NFL

There has been plenty of news before the NFL Draft’s kickoff tomorrow night, Thursday, April 27, that could send players down the draft board. Some is understandable, and some could be considered ridiculous.

Let’s start with the ridiculous and work our way to more serious elements. One thing to remember: the run-up to the draft is one long job interview.

Last week in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, writer Bob McGinn reported the scores of several players who took the Wonderlic intelligence test at the NFL Combine. ESPN’s Darren Rovell pointed out two players who scored an 11 out of 50 on the test and Rovell was roasted on social media. Since then, Rovell took the official test and wrote about taking it and how it changed him.

The leaking of Wonderlic scores has gone on since the NFL began using the test in the 1970s. If you don’t know, the test is 50 questions taken in 12 minutes with just a pencil and scrap paper. The employers use the test to assess the intelligence of prospective employees.

If you follow the NFL Combine, everyone does the same testing. All the players bench-press 225 pounds, run the 40-yard dash, and so forth. Not all the tests really apply to every position, but to get an apples-to-apples comparison, every player does the same tests.

The Wonderlic doesn’t mean a ton for most positions. If any position makes sense, it is the quarterback position, where you have to process a good deal of information and do it quickly.

What other players score on the test really isn’t entirely game-changing but is important. Players have known for years that the NFL gives the test at the combine. Agents have been preparing players for the test for years, as well.

If everything is a test at the combine, the way a player approaches the Wonderlic is a test. Remember, this is a giant job interview. If a player scores low on the test, teams might do more research on the player to find out why.

NFL teams will want to know why a player bombed a test that he knew he had to take. Did the player care enough to even prepare for the test? Is the player bad at taking tests? If the player didn’t care to prepare for the test, teams will wonder if that player will prepare for a NFL career. The test is part of an evolution process and not really about how smart the players are.

No one should be made fun for what he scored on the test. It is simply a way for teams to see whether players are going to put in the work that is needed to be in the NFL.

It also never fails that a player or two will fail the drug test at the NFL Combine. This year, it was University of Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster and University …

This is the final guide to the bowl games that aren’t in the College Football Playoff or New Year’s Six games. These bowl games will mainly feature teams from Power Five conferences, but a few Group of Five teams are sprinkled in the mix.

This guide will take you from Thursday, Dec. 29, to Monday, Jan. 2. You can plan your New Year’s celebrations around the games you most want to see.

The Birmingham Bowl kicks off the games on Dec. 29 with the University of South Florida against the University of South Carolina. This game is a matchup between a Group of Five team and a Power Five team at 1 p.m. on ESPN.

South Carolina is rebuilding under first-year coach Will Muschamp, but the team still managed to reach a bowl game. South Florida won a school-record 10 games, but head coach Willie Taggart jumped ship to take over at the University of Oregon.

Both schools could be even better next season, and this game could set the tone for 2017. It would be a slight upset for a 6-6 SEC team to win against a 10-2 team from the AAC.

If you’re out getting after-Christmas sales and miss the Birmingham Bowl, make sure to be home in time to catch the Belk Bowl at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 on ESPN. This game will feature the University of Arkansas from the SEC against Virginia Tech out of the ACC.

The Razorbacks started the season 5-2 before stumbling to a 7-5 finish. Virginia Tech comes in this game at 9-4 after the Hokies gave Clemson University a scare in the ACC title game. Arkansas features the most sacked quarterback in the SEC, Austin Allen, who was put down 28 times. The Hokies hired Justin Fuente away from the University of Memphis, and he has done a fine job replacing coaching legend Frank Beamer.

The Dec. 29 games end with an 8 p.m. kickoff on ESPN for the Alamo Bowl in a top-15 matchup between No. 12 Oklahoma State University and No. 10 University of Colorado.

Colorado should be motivated coming into this game. The Buffaloes haven’t been to a bowl game since 2007, and the team hasn’t won a bowl game since 2004.

Oklahoma State enters this game with a chance to get to 10 wins. Colorado already has 10 on the season and played in the Pac-12 championship game.

This game will probably have a ton of points. Defense will be optional, and both teams have solid quarterbacks. Plan to stay up late, as with all the potential scoring, the game could run long.

If you are going to watch all the Dec. 30 college football games, be sure to have plenty of snacks and drinks on hand. The day starts with an 11 a.m. kickoff of the Liberty Bowl between the University of Georgia and Texas Christian University on ESPN.

In the preseason this game would …

The quest for six wins for 70 teams continues this week. Currently there are 42 teams that are bowl eligible and five of those teams are undefeated and still in play for the national championship. Ohio State is also undefeated but unable to play for the title due to NCAA sanctions. Speaking of teams not able to play in a bowl game, there are 25 teams unable to play in a bowl game currently due to seven losses, NCAA sanctions or moving from FCS to FBS transition.