Mid-South teams on an historic hot streak
At about 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, it looked like this for Mid-South college football fans:
At famous Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, national media surrounded Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott as he explained that despite the Bulldogs losing first place to Alabama in the SEC West, he fully expected to get another shot at the Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff;
At Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee was finishing off its fifth win of the season, an impressive 50-16 trouncing of five-win Kentucky, and star sophomore quarterback Joshua Dobbs was getting ready to lead the band;
At new Yulman Stadium in New Orleans, University of Memphis players were getting ready to head to the airport for a triumphant flight home, their 38-7 victory over Tulane pushing the Tigers to 7-3 and all alone atop the American Athletic Conference standings at 5-1;
In Fayetteville, Arkansas, in wintry conditions at Reynolds Stadium, the Razorbacks were jumping to a 10- 0 lead over 17th-ranked LSU en route to their fifth win and first in the SEC, ending a 17-game conference losing streak;
Down in Oxford, Mississippi, the 10th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels were enjoying a much-deserved night off, resting up for a two-game stretch — at Arkansas and then home for the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State — that could get the program to 10 regular-season wins for the first time in the modern era (post-segregation).
Add up all the wins from the football teams representing those five Mid-South public universities, and you get to 34.
If the final two weeks of the season go as expected — as linesmakers predict, anyway — those five teams should have combined for at least 41 regular-season victories. And if Arkansas can go to Missouri in the season finale and prove the SEC West’s might with a victory, it would be 42 wins and (drum roll) all five teams in bowls.
The last time that happened was, well — never.
I looked at the records for all five teams, going back to 1968, and the most combined wins in any year was 40 — in 1999 and in 2003. And even in those two high-water seasons for Mid-South college football, someone had a losing season — Memphis had five wins in 1999 and Mississippi State had just two in 2003.
The only two seasons in which all five of those teams won at least six games came in 1975 and 1970, but with only 11 bowl games then, just one
of them made a bowl in 1975 (Arkansas won the Cotton Bowl) and just two in 1970 (Ole Miss lost in the Gator Bowl and Tennessee won the Sugar Bowl).
POSTSEASON PROJECTIONS
With 39 bowls, including the College Football Playoff championship game, it’s no stretch to see all five teams in bowl games.
In terms of final destination, there remain too many variables. The new postseason structure does add more intrigue — at various times Saturday, fans of the various programs had reason to take strong interest in an assortment of games.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State on Saturday had compelling games in the afternoon (Wisconsin-Nebraska and Kansas-TCU), in the evening (Miami-Florida State) and late at night (Arizona State-Oregon State).
Memphis fans daring to dream of the Tigers becoming the non-Power Five conference champion to make a major bowl game could get excited to see Mountain West Conference leader Boise State falling behind 20-0 to San Diego State (but Boise won, 38-29).
In terms of projections, most are putting Mississippi State or Ole Miss out of the playoff, and placing one in a major bowl (the Peach or Fiesta) and the other in the Citrus (though some put both Mississippi teams in major bowls).
Tennessee gets placed all over — the Belk Bowl (Charlotte), the Music City, even Birmingham. I’ll be very surprised if the Vols are not in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl — the Vols haven’t played there since 1986 and in the last 14 years have played just twice in the city.
Assuming Memphis misses the majorbowl sweepstakes, the best bet is the Jan. 3 Birmingham Bowl — where at least one credible website predicts Arkansas will be the SEC representative.
LYNX FINISH STRONG
Speaking of resurgent local football programs, Midtown’s Rhodes College didn’t repeat as champion of Division 3’s Southern Athletic Association, but Saturday’s 19-14 win in Jackson (Mississippi) over Millsaps College pushed coach Dan Gritti’s squad to a final 8-2 record overall and 5-1 in the league. The season did not lack for excitement. In the finale, Rhodes led 19- 0 midway through the fourth quarter before Millsaps got a kickoff return for a touchdown and blocked-punt return for a touchdown before Rhodes recovered an onside kick to clinch it.
The previous week, Rhodes ran its home winning streak to 10 games by returning two blocked punts for touchdowns against Hendrix, one of them earning the D3Football.com “Play of the Week.”
In Rhodes’ only league loss, at Southern champion Centre, the Lynx led at halftime and going into the fourth quarter before losing, 47-35.
The good news for Rhodes — junior quarterback Blake Box returns after finishing with 20 touchdown passes and nine interceptions.