2,563 total yards is exactly how many combined total yards that the five Division I teams from our state gave up on Saturday, Sept. 30. In case you don’t know, all five teams lost by a combined score of 254 to 57. One Division I team, Alcorn State University, played on Friday, Sept. 29.
There wasn’t much defense played by five of the six Division I schools in our state.
The University of Mississippi surrendered 613 total yards against the University of Alabama in a 3-66 loss. The Crimson Tide ended up with 365 yards rushing on 51 carries in their blowout win. Students can vote to be the Landsharks, but getting dump-trucked by Alabama isn’t going to make anyone care what the team is called or who is the mascot.
Things weren’t much better for the University of Southern Mississippi, which gave up 540 total yards and was outscored 26-7 in the second half to the University of North Texas. USM calls their defense the “Nasty Bunch,” but the only nasty was the final score when the Mean Green won 43-28.
Mississippi State University followed its 3-31 blowout loss to the University of Georgia with a 10-49 blowout loss to Auburn University. Against the Bulldogs, MSU gave up 404 total yards but were even worse against the Tigers, giving up 511 total yards.
Mississippi Valley State University dropped to 0-4 on the season after giving up 460 total yards to Charleston Southern University in a 7-58 loss. The Delta Devils’ defense has been torched for 683 totals yards against North Dakota State University, 521 total yards to Southern Illinois University and just 303 total yards to Grambling State University. Even though MVSU didn’t give up a ton of yards, the team committed six turnovers against GSU.
Another team looking for its first win is Jackson State University, but the Tigers gave up 439 total yards to Prairie View A&M University in a 9-38 loss. They are now 0-5 on the season and have lost nine straight games since last season.
The only bright spot this weekend happened on Friday, Sept. 29, when Alcorn State University’s defense held Texas Southern University for 295 total yards. The Braves notched a 24-17 win as they rolled up 485 total yards.
Alcorn State tweeted that that it was the only Division I program to win this week. The school dropped that tweet in the first half of the Rebels against the Crimson Tide, but to be fair Alabama had already built a big lead by the time the tweet posted.
Mississippi State and Alcorn State are the only Division I teams with a winning record at 3-2 after the first month of the season. The Braves are perfect in conference play with a 2-0 record, and the Bulldogs are 1-2.
Southern Miss and Mississippi are barely keeping their heads above water at .500 with a 2-2 record. The Golden Eagles are 0-1 in conference play, and so are the Rebels or the Black Bears or the Landsharks or whatever they’re calling themselves now.
As stated before, both Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State are still trying to find that first win of 2017. JSU is 0-3 in conference play and the Delta Devils are 0-1.
But it is a new month, and every team that didn’t have a defense on Saturday has a chance to find one.
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