Jackson Free Press

R&B Fest Day 2!

This week could end up being extremely fruitful for the New Orleans Saints. If there was ever a week to catch up in the NFC South and the playoff race, it is this week.

At 5-6, New Orleans sits two wins behind the 7-4 Atlanta Falcons, who lead the NFC South, and a game behind the 6-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Atlanta hosts the 8-3 Kansas Chiefs out of the AFC West, and Tampa Bay travels to face the San Diego Chargers, also out of the AFC West.

The Chiefs are solidly in the playoff picture and battling with the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos for the division title. San Diego is still alive in the AFC playoff picture but can’t afford to lose many more games.

If both the Falcons and the Buccaneers lose this weekend, New Orleans would move into a tie with Tampa Bay and end up just a game behind Atlanta. The Saints need to beat the Detroit Lions at home this Sunday, Dec. 4.

New Orleans must gain ground this week on Atlanta. The Falcons, after playing the Chiefs, face the 4-7 Los Angeles Rams, the 1-10 San Francisco 49ers, the 4-7 Carolina Panthers and the Saints to end the season.

Atlanta has a chance to win every game and the division, but if New Orleans can win out and get a little help from another team, the Saints could win the division. There is little room for error, but the Saints could be peaking right now.

New Orleans has played vastly better on defense over the past two months and is getting healthier by the day. The Saints’ offense has been its normal explosive self but needs to cut down on turnovers.

Catching Tampa Bay will be easier for New Orleans. The Buccaneers, after playing the Chargers, face the Saints, the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys, Saints (again) and Carolina.

If New Orleans can sweep the Buccaneers and get some help from, say, the Cowboys, then the Saints would easily pass Tampa Bay. The Saints would need help to get in the wildcard picture, with the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins, the Buccaneers and the Minnesota Vikings ahead of the team.

Dallas could really help New Orleans out with games against the Vikings, Giants, Redskins and Buccaneers, but New Orleans needs to keep winning, as well.

New Orleans just has to win its remaining six games, and the playoffs should be in reach. One loss might not hurt but more than one could end any postseason hopes.

The Saints will have something else to play for this weekend, too. Head coach Sean Payton is tied with Jim Mora for most wins in franchise history. Both coaches have 93 wins, and a victory over the Lions will mean that Payton has the most wins of any head coach in Saints history.

It would seem fitting to reach the …

New releases and Pat Metheny...

During the last couple weeks of talking about the Confederacy (and the state flag that celebrates it), we've encountered any number of historic inaccuracies in the arguments of those who don't want to change our state flag.

One of them is that (a) not many white Mississippians even owned slaves and (b) that only 6 to 10 percent of Confederate soldiers owned slaves.

Here are the problems with that argument as the chart and link before bring into full relief. As you can see in this excellent MPB documentary, many Confederates soldiers were just 17 or 18 years old. But many of the soldiers' families owned at least one or two slaves.

Based on 1860 Census results, 49 percent of Mississippi households owned slaves at the start of the Civil War, and more than half the population of our state—55 percent—were slaves. Slavery was massive here and directed affected nearly half the white families in Mississippi, including some who weren't as wealthy as the planters who owned many slaves (and who were at first exempt from fighting in the Civil War when the Confederacy instituted a draft, but that's another subject).

The chart below shows the number of slaves in all of the states that existed at the start of the Civil War.

Also, read my column this week, "Driving Old Dixie Down," for many links to historic sources about Mississippi and other Confederate states at the start of the war, including extensive evidence of why the Confederacy formed: in order to have a strong central federal government to force slaves on any new states, and to ensure that it got its runaway slaves back.

http://www.civil-war.net/pages/1860_census.html

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/jul/02/21958/

RePublic Schools Inc., the charter management organization that opened one of two charter schools in Mississippi, received a $9.6 million U.S. Department of Education grant. RePublic Schools was one of twelve organizations selected for a Charter School Program Grant this year.

The grant will be issued over a five-year period, and RePublic Schools Inc. was allotted $1.76 million in Year One. The Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board approved two more RePublic Schools, Smilow Prep and Smilow Collegiate, earlier this month. The schools will open in Jackson in August 2016.

In a press release, CEO Ravi Gupta said, "We are grateful to Secretary Duncan (the U.S. Secretary of Education) and his team for recognizing RePublic's efforts to expand high quality, 21st Century educational opportunities for children in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana."

RePublic Schools has opened schools in Tennessee and Mississippi thus far, but the press release mentions Louisiana as well.

Normally at 1-3 heading into their bye week, you would think the New Orleans Saints’ season would be over. Since the playoff format changed in 1990, only 14 percent of 1-3 teams have made the playoffs. That number works out to 183 teams. Last season, the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs made the playoffs after a 1-3 start.

Remember, I said normally. This season, 13 teams in the league currently have a 1-3 record. That is nearly half the league, and if you add teams that are 2-2, that number balloons to 18 teams.

Currently only 14 have a winning record, and only three are still undefeated. Except for the 3-1 Atlanta Falcons, every team in the NFC South has a 1-3 record like the Saints.

New Orleans still has seven 1-3 teams left on the schedule, including the both, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice. The Saints also play the .500 Kansas City Chiefs for eight games against teams .500 or under at this point in the season.

That leaves four teams with a winning record on the schedule. Those teams are the undefeated Denver Broncos and three teams at 3-1 in the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons.

If the Saints beat all the teams at .500 or below left on their schedule, they would finish 9-7 on the season. Right now in the NFC, nine teams that have a .500 record are worse.

Unless the 3-1 Falcons run away with the NFC South, chances are, the Saints are still alive in their division. The Carolina Panthers, last year’s Super Bowl loser who are also at 1-3, could come back, as well, to take the NFC South.

I know what you're thinking: How can the Saints still have any playoff chance with their defense? It’s true that New Orleans has the 32nd ranked defense with 32.5 points per game.

But the rest of the NFC South isn’t much better. Tampa Bay is 31st with 32 points per game, Atlanta is 29th with 31 points per game, and Carolina is 28th with 29.5 points per game.

The Saints have the fourth-ranked offense with 28.5 points per game. Atlanta has the best offense in the league at 38 points per game, Carolina is sixth with 27.3 points per game, and Tampa Bay is 25th with 19.3 points per game.

Let’s look at this as a glass-half-full situation. New Orleans has been this bad on defense with an extreme number of injuries. The Saints, in theory, should get better on defense as the season goes along, and they begin to see defensive player return.

There is hope for the defense if it can get players back and play like it did in the second half against the Chargers. New Orleans outscored San Diego 21-10 in the second half and forced timely turnovers.

Right now, New Orleans …

Sunday Night Football should see an increase in ratings this week when the Dallas Cowboys host the Philadelphia Eagles. The rating should be helped with the Cowboys alone, who produce a strong reaction in nearly every NFL fan.

The game should also get a boost from two rookie quarterbacks: Dak Prescott, who is still at the helm for the Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles feature quarterback Carson Wentz.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo didn’t return to practice today, but he was on the field throwing the ball to teammates. Romo won’t be back this week, but Dallas is going to have to answer the question sooner or later about the team’s quarterback situation.

Head coach Jason Garrett knows which way the locker room is leaning, and that should help guide him to his decision. There is no reason to announce to the rest of the league what will happen when Romo is fully healthy, but he needs to have a plan in place to avoid a quarterback controversy.

But the Romo-Prescott problem is for another week. This week, it’s the quarterback drafted second overall against a fourth-round quarterback.

Before the preseason, it seemed highly unlikely that Wentz and Prescott would be starting for their respective teams. Even more unlikely is that both quarterbacks have a combined 9-3 record.

Rookie quarterbacks aren’t supposed to be this successful this fast. Instead, Prescott has the 5-1 Cowboys on a five-game winning streak coming off their bye week. Wentz has the Eagles at 4-2, and the team beating the Vikings last week ended a two game losing streak.

Both quarterbacks have very similar numbers, but Prescott has been better. He has thrown for 1,486 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception. Wentz has thrown for 1,324 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.

Prescott is completing 68.7 percent of his passes with a 103.9 passer rating, and Wentz is competing 63.8 percent of his passes with a 92.7 passer rating. Prescott is averaging 8.2 yards per pass, and Wentz is averaging 7.2 yards per pass.

Even when needing to use their legs, Prescott has been better. The Cowboys rookie has 20 rushes for 67 yards and three touchdowns, but Wentz has 43 yards on 18 carries and zero touchdowns rushing.

Both quarterbacks must work on protecting the ball in the pocket and rushing. Prescott has four fumbles, and Wentz has six this season. Wentz has been sacked 12 times for a loss of 60 yards, and Prescott has been sacked nine times for a loss of 44 yards.

In fact, the Cowboys’ fourth-round draft pick has out-played most of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

Prescott is second in the NFL in completion percentage at 68.7 percent and trails only Tom Brady. He is fifth in yards per pass attempt at 8.7 yards, with Brady, Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton and Philip Rivers ahead of him.

Among quarterbacks …

Only a few weeks after Big Freedia resolved her battle with Hattiesburg over a wrongly cancelled performance, which is now back on, the New Orleans hip-hop artist has become embroiled in a battle of a different kind.

On Wednesday, March 16, Freedia pleaded guilty to the theft of about $35,000 in Section 8 low-income housing vouchers from 2010 to 2014, New Orleans TV station WWL reports. Officials released her on a $25,000 bond, with her sentencing scheduled for Thursday, June 16. Freedia now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine in addition to the value of the vouchers.

According to WWL reporter David Hammer, federal prosecutors repeatedly referred to Freedia, a prominent member of the LGBTQ community who identifies as a woman, in masculine terms, as her legal name is Freddie Ross Jr.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk, on the other hand, first asked Freedia how the court should address her and chose to refer to her as "Ms. Ross" despite her statement that she had no preference.

Freedia admitted to the court that from February 2011 to December 2014, she received $695 per month in federal housing vouchers by claiming only $12,000 to $14,400 in assets annually, well below the $21,700 to receive Section 8 assistance.

When Africk asked if Freedia understood that her crime went far beyond financial oversight, she said that she did and accepted full responsibility.

As of press time, Big Freedia hasn't made any statement to suggest that her legal situation will affect her performances at Martin's Restaurant & Bar in Jackson on Thursday, March 24, and at the Dollar Box Showroom in Hattiesburg on Friday, March 25.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/mar/17/25005/

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 …

Mississippi State traveled to Gainesville, Fla. to square off against one of the top teams in the SEC. In a series between two highly ranked teams, the Bulldogs seemed to face an uphill climb, as the University of Florida hadn’t lost at home this season and were on a 28-home game winning streak.

Florida struck down MSU in the first game 8-2 on Friday night, April 8, pushing the team's winning streak to 29 straight home wins. The Bulldogs bounced back Saturday for a 10-4 win, breaking that streak.

That left a rubber game to win the series on Sunday and the first time all season the Bulldogs needed to win the final game so they could win an SEC series this season. MSU battled its way to a 2-1 win to take the series from the Gators, who in some polls were ranked No. 1 in the country.

The series win for the Diamond Dogs was the first at Florida since 2007. MSU improved to 23-9-1 on overall and 8-4 in SEC play.

By defeating Florida, the Bulldogs have now won four straight SEC series at the beginning of conference play. MSU started the week with a 14-0 win over the University of Tennessee at Martin.

In conference play, MSU leads Texas A&M University (7-5) by a game in the SEC West standings as the Aggies come to Starkville for Super Bulldog Weekend. MSU leads Louisiana State University (6-6), the University of Alabama (6-6) and the University of Mississippi (6-6) by two games.

Overall in the SEC, MSU is tied with Florida and the University of Kentucky at 8-4 in conference play. The University of South Carolina has the best record in the conference at 10-2 and doesn’t play the Bulldogs this season.

The national polls noticed the Bulldogs' series win over the weekend.

Mississippi State moved up two spots from No. 10 to No. 8 in the USA Today Baseball Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Perfectgame.org moved them up from No. 8 to No. 3 in its poll.

Baseball America and D1Baseball.com pushed MSU from No. 5 all the way to No. 2 in their new polls.

While the new rankings are great for the Bulldogs, players, coaches and fans need to remember that baseball is a marathon and not a sprint. MSU still has some big games and series left this season.

For starters, the Bulldogs play Texas A&M this weekend and then go to LSU the next weekend. MSU meets UM at Trustmark Park for the Governor's Cup on April 26.

The Bulldogs hit the road to battle Alabama after meeting the Rebels in the middle of the week. MSU finishes the SEC part of the schedule with a home series against the University of Missouri, a road series against Auburn University and at home against the University of Arkansas.

While it is tempting to look …

If something seems familiar about this year’s NFL Playoffs, you would be right. Rematches seem to be a theme in the first two rounds.

There were three rematches on Wild Card weekend, and the only game that wasn’t a rematch was the Seattle Seahawks’ 26-6 win over the Detroit Lions.

The Houston Texans avenged a 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders with a 27-14 win. The Pittsburgh Steelers made up for a 30-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins, turning the tables for a 30-6 victory. Green Bay beat the New York Giants in the regular season 23-16 and bounced New York from the playoffs with a 38-13 win.

All four games this weekend, which is the Divisional Round, are rematches of regular-season matchups. That means seven of the eight playoff games so far will be rematches of teams that meet during the regular season.

In week three, New England destroyed the Houston Texans 27-0 in a game that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady didn’t even play in, as he was suspended. Week four saw the Steelers blow out the Kansas City Chiefs 43-14. The playoffs have two rematches from week six: the Dallas Cowboys against the Packers (The Cowboys beat them 30-16) and Seattle and Atlanta (the Seahawks beat the Falcons 26-24).

The regular season scores matter little since all the games took place in the first half of the season. All these teams have changed over the course as players have returned from injuries or suspensions or teams have lost players to injury or suspension. Each team has seen improvements in play since these teams first met early in the season.

Teams that lost in the regular season meeting went 2-1 in the Wild Card round. The only team to repeat its regular season performance was Green Bay, and if that holds for the Packers, it is good news for the Cowboys.

Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott threw his first career interception against the Packers, but the Cowboys forced four turnovers. Prescott had a fumble in the game as well. Dallas took control of the game with its 191 rushing yards.

Pittsburgh and Houston flipped the script on their regular-season foes, but both teams faced backup quarterbacks in the rematch. Houston couldn’t defeat New England without Brady, and Brady is back and on fire.

The Steelers did beat Chiefs starting quarterback Alex Smith, but Kansas City has speedy return man Tyreek Hill and is better in pass coverage. The most important part of this rematch is that it is at home for the Chiefs.

Seattle and Atlanta’s first meeting ended in controversy. The final play that mattered in the game looked like Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman interfered with Falcon wide receiver Julio Jones.

It will be interesting to see if Sherman is on Jones and how closely the officials call that matchup. These two superstar players could decide this game.

Another interesting tidbit is that …

Mayor Tony Yarber continues the fight to obtain a Costco in Jackson, even after encountering setbacks in last month's zoning meeting, and now says that the location on Lakeland Drive is not the only location Costco will consider, WAPT reported.

"Whether it's there or other flourishing areas on (interstates) 55, 20 or 220, it remains to be seen," Yarber said. "Costco has made clear to us over the last couple of weeks that their commitment is to be in this market."

Since initial concerns from the community regarding the rezoning of green space north of Lakeland Drive near the I-55 intersection, the City's position was that if Costco were to come to Jackson, it would only be interested in that area. Costco has also expressed interest in two other locations along Lakeland Drive in Rankin County, but stringent liquor laws in that area makes them less desirable for the retailer.

The Jackson City Council is scheduled to discuss Lakeland Drive rezoning further on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m.

Here's an interesting factoid for those of you discussing the Civil War and slavery about Hinds County, which contains Jackson, the capital, of course. It's from this link, where you can also link to a number of other Mississippi counties and see the numbers of slaves that some of the larger slave holders of the time owned. This was the scenario when "firewater" Gov. John Pettus led the secession of Mississippi from here in Jackson over slavery:

According to U.S. Census data, the 1860 Hinds County population included 8,940 whites, 36 "free colored" and 22,363 slaves. By the 1870 census, the white population had increased 10% to 9,829, and the "colored" population had dropped about 8% to 20,659. (As a side note, by 1960, 100 years later, the County was listed as having 112,205 whites, more than a twelve fold increase, but the 1960 total of 94,750 "Negroes"was only about four times what the colored population had been 100 years before.)

It's tough history, but important.

Here's a list of resources to help research who owned slaves, how many, etc.

Former University of Mississippi Damore’ea Stringfellow is one of 95 underclassmen to declare for the 2017 NFL Draft. Monday, Jan. 16, was the deadline for players who are three years out of high school to announce their intentions.

Some players who decided to forgo their college eligibility received information from the NFL’s College Advisory Committee, which graded them as a first- or second-round pick. An interesting article on ESPN.com from Kevin Seifret took a closer look at the process.

Those who received a favorable free evaluation from the CAC are graded just on their football potential. The CAC doesn’t look at their off-the-field issues, or academic or medical problems.

A great example used in the story is University of Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon. There is no doubt that Mixon has first- or second-round talent on the field, but it will be interesting to see how teams view his year-long suspension for assault in 2014.

A video of Mixon punching a woman in the face and breaking her jaw, cheekbone and eye socket came out in December 2016. Recently the NFL has mishandled some very public cases of domestic assault .

Mixon entering the draft is another case where the league could be scrutinized depending on where he is drafted. If the talented running back is taken in the first round, it proves that winning in football matters more than off-the-field issues.

Just looking at football talent, it makes sense for players such as former Louisiana State University running back Leonard Fournette and Texas A&M University defensive end Myles Garrett to leave school early. That is not the case with every player who does, though.

Some get bad advice from friends and family or look to improve their life and their families’ lives by becoming a professional player. During the NFL Combine, it is good to hear NFL Network’s Mike Mayock’s evaluation of players.

Mayock is quick to point out that he doesn’t know a player’s personal situation, but he can tell if the player should have stayed in school and might be hurt by coming out early. That doesn’t mean Mayock is correct on every case.

In the 2015-2016 season, 322 players were evaluated, and 73 were told to return to school but declared for the draft anyway. Of those 73, 11 went in the first or second round, but 20 went undrafted.

That is the tricky part of the draft. It only takes one team to fall in love with a player and have need at that position.

Sometimes draft order hurts a player. One prime example is current Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The draft order of the 2005 NFL Draft meant that Rodgers could, and eventually did, slide after the San Francisco 49ers made their pick at No. 1.

That meant Rodgers fell all the way to the 24th pick, mainly because teams after the 49ers felt …

It is easy to say that Baylor University is a prime example of what is bad about college sports. The university is a textbook example of how the win-at-all-cost approach can lead an institution of higher learning into selling its morals for wins.

A major sexual-assault scandal broke out at Baylor with police arresting defensive end Tevin Elliott for rape charges in 2012 and his conviction in 2014. New information shows that then-head coach Art Briles helped Elliott stay on campus.

Elliott was accused of a second count of plagiarism that would have him suspended from the university and ineligible for the 2011 season. He missed an April 2011 deadline to appeal, but Briles personally got involved to help Elliott get an appeal.

Briles sent an email to then-university President Ken Starr about overturning the suspension, which Starr did, allowing Elliott to stay in school and on the team.

Briles, Starr and assistant coaches continued to hide or fix problems that Elliott had in missing classes, meaning those in charge at Baylor helped Elliott stay on campus, where he ended up raping a woman.

Elliott isn’t the only case at Baylor. Repeatedly, the coaches and even the Waco Police Department buried reports of players’ misbehavior. Recent reports show that the coaches tried to get people who Baylor football players had victimized not to press charges or report incidents.

A Title IX lawsuit from one woman alleges that from 2011 to 2014, at least 31 players committed 52 sexual assaults. Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton revealed in a report that 17 women reported sexual assault or domestic violence from 19 players, including four gang rapes.

The scandal eventually took down Starr, Briles, assistant coaches and others in positions of leadership. Those in power did nearly everything possible to keep players from being arrested or charged with crimes, and tried to hinder the work of Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford.

Baylor isn’t a program that traditionally won a ton of games, and the last bowl game before the university hired Briles in 2008 was in 1994. The school’s last winning record before Briles was in 1995.

Under Briles, Baylor won 10 games in a season four times, and before him, it had won 10 games just once in program history. There is no question of whether Briles could recruit and coach, but when it came down to integrity and morality, he failed as a leader.

Winning mattered more at Baylor than players committing physical and sexual assault. Another recent lawsuit alleges that regents in a meeting with Baylor alumni and donors on why they couldn’t keep Briles and other involved in the scandals because they “didn’t uphold with the mission of the university.”

One donor is quoted as saying in the same meeting: “If you mention Baylor’s mission one more time, I’m (going to) throw up. … I was promised a national championship.”

The NCAA is …

As April comes to an end, there are three Division I baseball teams in our state that are chasing division or conference titles: Mississippi State University in the SEC, the University of Southern Mississippi in Conference USA and Jackson State University in the SWAC.

JSU and USM are leading their respective conferences, and MSU is a game behind its division and conference leader, the University of Arkansas. Both the Bulldogs and the Golden Eagles are ranked in multiple baseball top-25 polls.

MSU is 25-13 overall and 10-5 in SEC play, but the Bulldogs are tied with the Auburn University and the University of Kentucky for second place in the conference. The Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers are also tied for second place in the SEC West.

MSU still has five three-game conference series left to play. The Bulldogs host the last-place University of Alabama this weekend before hosting Auburn in the next weekend. They end the season on the road against Texas A&M University, on the road at the University of Georgia, and at home against Louisiana State University. Georgia is in last place in the SEC East, and Texas A&M and LSU are within striking distance in the SEC West.

Back in March, Arkansas swept the Bulldogs in a three-game series that could come back to haunt them if they finish in second place. It is within reason to believe that MSU could win two of the three games in every series left.

MSU is still in play to win both the SEC West and the SEC regular-season titles. The Bulldogs will need to keep winning and get some help from others if they are going to take either the division or conference crown.

Southern Miss is currently leading C-USA by a full game over Florida Atlantic University. The Golden Eagles are 28-9 overall and 12-3 in conference play, and they have five more three-game series in conference play.

Southern Miss hosts Old Dominion University this weekend and travels to Middle Tennessee State University in the next weekend. Then, the Golden Eagles host Florida Atlantic, stay at home against the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and finally, hit the road to finish the season at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Old Dominion is third in the C-USA standings, and the Florida Atlantic series could decide the regular-season championship. Middle Tennessee, UAB and UTSA are in the middle to bottom of the conference standings.

Southern Miss is in great shape to take the regular-season title. The Golden Eagles get to host the second- and third-place teams to end the season, and if they can win the series against Old Dominion and Florida Atlantic, they will be in the driver’s seat for their last two series.

Jackson State currently has a two-game lead over Alabama State University in the SWAC East division. The Tigers are five games ahead of Texas Southern University, who leads the SWAC West. …

The Republican nominee for president chose Mississippi's solidly Democratic and majority-black capital city tonight to call the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, a "bigot."

At a rally in the Mississippi Coliseum (with many empty seats) Donald Trump said Clinton is a "bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings. She's going to do nothing for African Americans and Hispanics."

Clinton has strong support among the nation's African American voters and, to date, Trump has very little. Polls routinely show black support for Trump in the single digits. And Trump has long offended many black voters, such as by pushing falsehoods and stereotypes against black Americans.

Trump is also struggling with Latino voters after calling for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and rhetoric about Mexicans being rapists and murderers.

Trump also told the audience—which appeared to be at least 95 percent white— that "the Democratic Party has taken votes of African Americans for granted, and they've done nothing to deserve it."

Pastor Mark Burns, who is African American, spoke early in the rally both pushing the rumor that Clinton is in bad health—which her doctor adamantly denies—and saying that "all lives matter" when it comes to race, as the crowd chanted, "USA! USA!."

At the rally, Trump also continued his fiery rhetoric against undocumented immigrants.

At the end of the rally, Trump walked out with Gov. Phil Bryant to the song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Bryant, who has endorsed Trump, is a staunch supporter of House Bill 1523, which many people consider anti-LGBT.

— Reporting at the Mississippi Coliseum by Arielle Dreher

Gov. Phil Bryant hosted former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (SC) and representatives from the Heritage Foundation at the Governor's Mansion on Tuesday night for a reception in Gov. Bryant's honor for receiving the prestigious Conservative Leadership Award, an honor he received for signing House Bill 1523 into law (even though it didn't actually become law) last month in Washington, DC.

“I am humbled to be recognized as a Conservative Leader by this outstanding organization. It's the greatest professional honor of my career," Bryant said in a press release from the Mississippi GOP. "Standing together, we can right America and make it that shining city on a hill once more. Mississippi has become a beacon to the rest of the nation.”

Demint is the president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, which has managed to influence many of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's policy platforms and U.S. Supreme Court nominee list. Demint left Congress back in 2012 to take his role as president of the foundation.

"I'm leaving the Senate now, but I'm not leaving the fight. I've decided to join The Heritage Foundation at a time when the conservative movement needs strong leadership in the battle of ideas," Demint said in a statement in 2012.

Part of that "fight in the conservative movement" came to Mississippi during the 2016 legislative session when the Mississippi Legislature passed House Bill 1523. Demint wrote an article (posted on the Daily Signal, the media arm of the Heritage Foundation) praising Gov. Bryant's "courage" back in April for signing the bill into law.

The New Orleans Saints ended the preseason doing something they haven’t done since 2006 and achieved something the team had never done in franchise history: It played quarterback Drew Brees in the final preseason game for a series.

Brees hadn’t played in the final preseason game since 2006, which was his first season with the team. That year, he was coming off a shoulder injury and was trying to find his groove again.

As shocking as Brees playing might be, even more shocking might be the fact the Saints would go winless in back-to-back preseasons for the first time in franchise history. Before the 2015 preseason, the last time New Orleans went winless in the preseason was 1971.

When the Saints went winless during the 2015 preseason, they finished the year with a 7-9 record in the regular season. The 1971 team went 0-6 in the preseason and finished the regular season with a 4-8-2 record.

Every preseason you hear, “Don’t put too much stock in preseason games,” but you can glean certain things during these games, such as the fact that most teams that look bad and have issues in the preseason will have issues in the regular season.

When starters are facing starters, it’s another good indication of how well a team could be in the regular season. Plenty of teams win games in the third and fourth quarter of the preseason with players who won’t be on the roster when the regular season starts.

The scores don’t matter. Unless it is first- and second-string players, it is the look of a team that is worth the watch. This season, the Saints have given glimpses to several questions going into the season.

Can the starting and backups on the offensive line protect the quarterback and make holes in the running game?

Can the defense make tackles, stop the run and cover receivers in the passing game?

Can the team force and avoid turnovers?

New Orleans has struggled on the offensive line in pass and run-blocking. Overall, the offense has struggled to keep drives going and score points.

If this team is going to reach the playoffs, the offensive line must play better. Brees needs the running game to help take pressure off him having to make every play.

The New Orleans defense wasn’t terrible in the first two preseason games. Then came the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-string offense, which took the Saints defense behind the woodshed.

Pittsburgh did whatever it wanted, for the most part, against New Orleans. The Steelers’ passing game torched the Saints’ pass defense.

New Orleans has forced three turnovers but has committed 10 turnovers for a minus-seven turnover margin. It is hard to win games in the preseason when you can’t keep the ball.

Still, winning at least one game in the preseason is a good idea.

Since 1990, 49 teams …

Losing stinks, but this weekend in college football ended up giving the whole state of Mississippi a giant punch to the gut. Every four-year college or university ended up losing this week.

If you are keeping score, that means the state went 0 for 10. All three FBS schools lost by a total of 14 points, all three FCS schools lost and two weren’t even close, both Division II schools lost by 10 or more points, and both Division III schools were blown out.

Our state’s bad week started on Thursday night when University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff upset two-time defending SWAC champions Alcorn State University 45-43. The Braves lost in triple overtime as they let the Golden Lions score two late touchdowns and convert two two-point conversions.

ASU had a chance to win the game in regulation but missed a 47-yard field goal. Both teams fumbled away the ball in their first overtime drives.

In the second overtime, both teams scored, and in the third overtime, the Braves found the end zone but missed on their two-point try. UAPB was able to score a touchdown and convert its two-point try to end the game.

The terrible week continued with Millsaps College and Belhaven University kicking off at 1 p.m. with Delta State University's 2 p.m. kickoff after. The Blazers never led in a 65-21 loss to Huntingdon College, and the Majors never led in a 35-16 loss to the University of Chicago.

The Statesmen jumped out to a 12-0 lead on the University of West Georgia but fell behind 13-12 at the half. DSU rallied late, but the Wolves held on for the 34-24 win.

Things kept getting worse in the afternoon. The University of Mississippi jumped out to a 24-3 lead on the University of Alabama.

The top-ranked Tide rallied to cut their deficit to 24-17 at the break. Alabama continued its comeback as it built an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter.

UM rallied to cut the Crimson Tide’s lead down to 48-43, as they scored two quick touchdowns and recovered an onside kick, with plenty of time left on the clock and three timeouts. Instead of going for another onside kick, the Rebels decided to kick the ball deep, and Alabama ran out the clock, winning the game 48-43.

After an 0-4 afternoon, the devastation continued into the night. Five teams kicked off early Saturday evening before the sun set.

Mississippi State University faced Louisiana State University in a game that saw the Tigers in control as they built a 23-3 lead at halftime. The Bulldogs held LSU scoreless in the second half and mounted a furious rally in the fourth quarter.

MSU kicked a field goal in the third quarter and scored two late touchdowns, cutting the LSU lead down to 23-20. The Tigers were able to run out the clock on the Bulldogs, holding on for the win.