Ole Miss holds on to win Egg Bowl
Jordan Ta’amu threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns, Jordan Wilkins ran for two scores, and Mississippi upset No. 16 Mississippi State 31-28 on Thursday in Starkville, Miss.
Ole Miss (6- 6, 3- 5 SEC) held off a late Mississippi State rally to win the Egg Bowl for the fourth time in six seasons. The Rebels had a 10- 6 lead at halftime and broke it open in the second half with touchdown passes of 77 yards to A. J. Brown and 63 yards to D.K. Metcalf.
Brown, the SEC’s leader in yards receiving, had six catches for 167 yards. Wilkins had 110 yards rushing.
Mississippi State (8- 4, 4-4) was a two-touchdown favorite, but had to play most of the game without starting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald. He was carted off the field in thefirst quarter with a right leg injury.
Golf
SPIETH STILL FAR BACK » Defending champion Jordan Spieth failed to take advantage of ideal scoring conditions at the Australian Open in Sydney, shooting an even-par 71 to fall further behind the leaders.
After an opening 70, he was at 1-under 141 and eight strokes behind clubhouse leader Lucas Herbert, who shot 66 and was at 9-under 133. Spieth trailed by seven strokes after the opening round.
First-round leader Cameron Davis, who led by two strokes after a 63, had an afternoon start, as did Jason Day, who trailed Davis by three shots.
Spieth, who hasn’t played since the Presidents Cup in late September, has won the Australian Open two out of the last three years and finished second the other time. CHAW R ASIA LEAD SAT HONG KONG » S. S.P. Chawrasia had six birdies and a bogey for a 5-under 65 and a one- stroke lead at the Hong Kong Open, the first event of the 2018 PGA European season.
Justin Rose, who won the title in 2015, shot a 2-under 68 with five birdies and three bogeys.
Skeleton
RUSSIAN RACE RS BANNED» The two Russians who had their skeleton medals from the Sochi Games stripped because of doping have been barred from competing in World Cup races, at least temporarily.
It’s the latest sanction against Aleksandr Tretiakov and Elena Nikitina, who had their medals — gold for Tretiakov and bronze for Nikitina — taken away after it was determined they were part of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program at the 2014 Olympics. They have already been banned from future Olympics, and now may have no place to slide.
Soccer
TOP TEAMS OUT OF DRAW » Ten of the top 32 teams in the latest FIFA rankings will not be in the World Cup draw next week.
No. 10 Chile, No. 14 Italy and No. 24 the United States are among those who will be missing on Dec. 1 at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
All five of the Asian Football Confederation’s World Cup entries are outside the top 32.
Defending champion Germany leads an unchanged top five ahead of Brazil, Portugal, Argentina and Belgium. Spain is up two places to No. 6.
Tennis
FRANCE PICKS GASQUET » France captain Yannick Noah surprisingly cut Nicolas Mahut from his squad to face Belgium in the Davis Cup final this weekend.
Noah, who has captained France to victory twice, instead included Richard Gasquet in his four-man team. Mahut was expected to play in doubles after training the whole week with Julien Benneteau, who was not selected either.
Belgium No. 1 David Goffin will open play against Lucas Pouille today, and France No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will follow against Steve Darcis.