There are some interesting storylines in play this college-football season for teams in our state. Can Alcorn State University win four straight SWAC East titles? Is Mississippi State University about to take a leap forward in the SEC? What will happen with the University of Mississippi and the NCAA’s investigation?
MC, MVSU and JSU are still looking for their first win of 2017.
As the season moves forward, we will learn the answers to those questions. We will also find out how long Delta State University can remain the only undefeated school in our state.
Then, there is one unfortunate lingering question: How long will it take Mississippi College, Mississippi Valley State University and Jackson State University to get one win this season?
JSU and MC currently sit at 0-4, and MVSU is 0-3. The first month of the season has been hard to swallow for fans of the Choctaws, Delta Devils and Tigers.
Mississippi College opened the season with three straight road games. The closest defeat of those games was a three-point loss to Clark Atlanta University. MC lost the other two road contests by a combined score of 22-54.
The Choctaws played their first home game last Saturday, Sept. 23, and the Florida Institute of Technology shut them out 0-35. Mississippi College will try to earn its first win against Delta State this Saturday, Sept. 30, in just the second home game of the season.
There hasn’t been a close loss all season for Mississippi Valley State. The Delta Devils’ opponents have outscored them by a total of 165-14 in three games. In fact, MVSU still hasn’t broken double-digits scoring in a game this season.
Mississippi Valley State is in the middle of playing one of the most challenging schedules of any school in our state. The Delta Devils traveled to North Dakota State and Southern Illinois University, and hosted Grambling State University to start the season.
This Saturday, MVSU travels to Charleston Southern University in search of a win. As a kind of “six degrees of separation” fact, Charleston Southern is the team that Mississippi State beat 49-0 in the season opener.
While there have been few instances of Mississippi College and Mississippi Valley State playing close games, that has not been the case with Jackson State. Throwing out the Tigers’ 0-63 loss to Texas Christian University to start the season, JSU only lost by a combined 24 points in its other three games.
The Tigers lost by two points to Tennessee State University and by 15 points to Grambling State University, and last week, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff needed overtime to beat JSU by one touchdown. This is the third year in a row that JSU has lost three or more games to begin the season.
Head coach Tony Hughes is now 3-12 as head coach of the Tigers. To put that in perspective, JSU fired former head coach Harold Jackson for a 6-11 record just five games into his second season. Hughes will lead the team in the fifth game of his second season on the road against Prairie View A&M University this Saturday.
Maybe JSU, MVSU and MC will all come out out winners this weekend, or maybe October will be a better month for these struggling schools.
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