Dr. S will do better this week. So accept no substitutes. But if you pick more games correctly than he does, he will send you a crisp $100 bill allegedly given to him by a Mississippi State football player*. Remember, these picks are for entertainment purposes only.
*Offer not valid in Eastern or Western hemispheres, or polar regions.
Mississippi State at Memphis, Saturday, 7 p.m. … Just when Bulldog fans thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. One of State’s top freshmen running backs, Nick Turner, is involved in a counterfeiting investigation. Folks, stay tuned, spies in StarkVegas tell Dr. S there is much more to come on this story. Is this the tip of the iceberg that sinks SS Jackie? … Here’s a not-so-fun fact: MSU has 22 turnovers this season. Only one Division I-A team has more: Troy State with 24. … Meanwhile, on the football field, Dog quarterback Kevin Fant is listed as “probable” for Saturday’s game. The Jackal is “confident” Fant will play. Uh huh. It probably won’t matter, because Memphis is worse than State. … State 11, Memphis 9.
Ole Miss at Alabama, Saturday, 2:30 p.m.: The Elis are riding high going into Tuscaloosa, but make no mistake, the Cheating Tide isn’t just a 10-point favorite, it’s the better team. The Elis won’t be able to run on UA-Tuscaloosa, which will make life increasingly difficult for their star QB as the game goes along. The Elis won’t be able to stop Bama’s running game, and Tide QB Tyler Watts is expected to return after missing time due to injury. Bama is still ticked about losing to Ole Miss last year. The Crimson Faces are even more ticked about the fact that the NCAA took away their postseason play (when it should have given UAT the death penalty). All of this adds up to an unhappy afternoon for the Confederates. … UAT 27, OM 16.
Cincinnati at Southern Miss, 1 p.m.: Cincinnati has played well in three games this season and only won two of them. The Eagles need some (Dustin) Almond Joy if they are going to challenge TCU and Louisville for the CUSA title. Meanwhile, they should have enough weapons to beat Cincy in Hub City, yawn. … USM 24, Cincy 17
Jackson State is off this weekend, so bad coaching, turnovers and lousy special teams won’t cost them a game for at least another week. Hinds is headed for trouble over at East Central (2:30 p.m.) but Dr. S is still picking the Eagles 24-17. Alcorn State will beat Samford, but Mississippi Valley will still be looking for SWAC win No. 1 after they lose at Alabama A&M at 6:30 p.m. In other games, it’s Millsaps at Rose-Hulman at 1:30 p.m. somewhere in the Midwest, Belhaven at Cumberland (Tenn.) at 1:30 p.m., Mississippi at College at McMurry (Texas?) at 2 p.m., and struggling Delta State at Southern Arkansas at 2:30 p.m.
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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.
