For openers: Southern Miss, BB (Before Brett)

Counting down to Southern Mississippi at South Carolina, Thursday at 7:30 Eastern, check your local listings ...

Well of course there was life in Hattiesburg (OK, maybe not nightlife so much) before the Kiln Cannon brought his act to town. (And let's clear up one thing while we're at it: those 2 and a half feet of intestines Favre had pulled out before the 1990 'Bama-beatin' season? They're long gone. They're part of the lore now, NOT part of the reasonably priced medical-waste collection you're seeing on eBay. Accept no substitutes.)

So let's go back let's go back let's go way on to way back when. The year was 1953. Mississippi Southern College, as it was called then, opens the season against fifth-ranked Alabama (led by some guy named Bart Starr) in Montgomery. We'll let "The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia" take it from here:

Mississippi Southern 25, Alabama 19: Strong-armed Mississippi Southern (1-0) HB Hugh Pepper did more running (115y, including dazzling 66y TD) and catching (45y TD) than he did pitching in huge upset of No. 5 Crimson Tide (0-1). Pepper would go on to hurl one National League win in summer of 1954, but would finish with a 2-8 career pitching mark. Alabama was able to to build 19-12 lead by H on TDs by FB Tommy Lewis, HB Bill Oliver and E Curtis Lynch. Bama regulars wilted in 4th Q, necessitating reserves taking over. Eagles proceeded to score 2 TDs against Alabama subs. Mississippi Southern, it was learned the next day, had made membership application to new ACC, but never accomplished that goal.

Alabama would go on to win the SEC title with a 4-0-3 conference record. Mississippi Southern? Their season would include wins over Georgia (with Zeke Bratkowski), Florida State and the Parris Island Marines.

Why all the fuss over a game almost a half-century ago? Consider:

* The Dixie Darlings were first formed at Mississippi Southern the next year (debuting in yet another win over Alabama) setting hearts a-flutter for years to come.

* Hugh Pepper was my high school football coach.

* And if the name Tommy Lewis vaguely rang a bell in the game summary, maybe you better remember him for this Cotton Bowl moment that year:

Let the games begin.

-- R. Trentham Roberts

Now quarterbacking at Ole Miss ...

Before we get all high and mighty about Ole Miss bringing former Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli -- and his attendant baggage -- into the fold, a couple of things:

* SI.com has already staked out its place in the far corner of the Grove set aside for outrage, injustice and extra ice. "Masoli move latest proof Houston Nutt is a certifably dirty coach" reads the headline over Stewart Mandel's column. (Read it here.) As it happens, sharing space on the SI site is a long piece that paints a more complete picture of Masoli. (Read it here.)

* Have you any idea what it takes to get a master's in park and recreation management? Go here and here for the lowdown on "Leisure Programming for Senior Adults," opportunities with the Army Corps of Engineers and other academic adventures.

* Ole Miss fans have bigger fish to fight. There's still the pressing matter of settling on a new mascot. I personally am on board with the Hotty and Toddy muppets, but only if they sound like the Swedish Chef: "Flim flam bork bork, Ole Miss bork bork!" (Go here for the official mascot site.)

-- R. Trentham Roberts

Enough with the academic superiority crap

In an effort to legitimize its money-grab that almost broke apart the Big 12, Texas supporters continue to say the school would never consider joining the SEC because the league is not strong enough academically.

Once again, the Horns' point of view again reminds us that just because you're rich doesn't make you smart.

UT is an excellent public university, particularly since it floats on a nonstop gusher of oil money that gives it one of the largest endowments in the country, billions of dollars to support research and attract the best in students and faculty.

So, of course, UT's motives in its manipulation of at least three conferences was all about protecting academics. Really?

UT has already shown itself quite willing to compromise its academic standards when it pushed through a rule to allow partial academic qualifiers to play in the Big 12. The renegade SEC doesn't grant academic eligibility to partial qualifiers.

Had Texas jumped to the Pac-12, I'm sure its sports teams would have been cramming away for that next exam during the puddle-jumps to Pullman and Eugene. Not that the academic performance of UT athletes is all that scintillating.

In fact, check out this recent column by Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News. It shows that at on at least one NCAA academic gauge, the SEC kicks Big 12 -- and Bevo -- butt, just as it did in the last two BCS championship games. Read here.

UT is an excellent university, but school is out. Its recent machinations were all about money and power. The rest of the college footbal world, not nearly as dumb as Texas likes to think, can see that.

mg

Expansion winners and losers and the SEC in between

Jess Nicholas of Tidefans.com assesses what the heck just happened with the Big 12, Big 10 and the other conference land grabs.

His take: Texas somehow got stronger. Texas A&M and Oklahoma will rue the day. And the SEC lost ground to a couple of its rivals.

Read more here.

MG

You know your alma mater isn't a marquee program when ...

... it doesn't rate its own line of Mr. Potato Heads.

Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky (basketball only), LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee made the cut.

Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt did not.

Order yours here.

-- R. Trentham Roberts

The main event: A loser-leaves-school match

The scene: Aberdeen High School, in the heart of Monroe County, Mississippi. That's Mississippi State signee Jamerson Love entering the squared circle to take on algebra teacher Mr. Johnson. Let's go straight to the ring for the action:

Impressive debut for the youngster, though it seems to confirm this scouting report: "When forced to make a play in run support, he sometimes needs help and resorts to slinging a player down rather than form tackling."

Mr. Johnson, meanwhile, was reportedly fired for his part in the match.

We're thinking this up-and-comer needs a name for that finishing move -- the Tough Love, maybe, or the Love Knot. But right now the smart money's on ...

π r squash

or ...

the nth degree

Dem's fightin' words

Sometimes I don't miss my home state at all. And yeah, this is one of those times.

Predictably, the great cornerstone of Alabama psychic energy -- all things Alabama vs. Auburn -- has collided head-on with the state's gubernatorial election.

It seems that there's a rumor that Republican Tim James has promised to either cut Alabama coach Nick Saban's salary or run him off.

James is an Auburn man. His daddy, Fob, was an All-American back for the Tigers who served as governor first as a Democrat than as a Republican.

During his first campaign, back in 1978, the elder James had to deal with a purported letter written by Bear Bryant that an Auburn man in the statehouse couldn't be very good for Alabama football. Turns out it was just terrible. James was elected, and in his first three years in office Alabama won two national titles and got robbed of a third.

Thirty years later, a James' campaign is back on the defensive. Up to now, Tim James is best known for telling illegal immigrants that they'd better bone up on their English if he's elected. (Given the quality of the public schools in his state, maybe he should cut a second commercial aimed at the teachers.)

But I digress. Suffice to say, this Auburn-Alabama stuff is a lot more entertaining when watched from a couple of states over. To live through it, moment after moment after moment, is like a yearlong bad ozone day for the brain.

Read more here.

mg