Mississippi
As saltwater creeps up a shriveled Mississippi River, could Corps open Old River’s floodgates?
As a wedge of saltwater creeps up the Mississippi River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering an unusual tactic: Using the massive Old River Control Structure to reduce the amount of water flowing from the Mississippi into the Red River and the Atchafalaya Basin.
Due to a drought-starved, low-flow river, salt water from the Gulf of Mexico is moving up the Mississippi and now threatens drinking water for more than 1 million people in the New Orleans area. The saltwater wedge is expected to overwhelm Belle Chasse’s, New Orleans’, Gretna’s and Jefferson Parish’s drinking water intakes and have its deepwater leading edge reach the Luling area by the end of October, according to current Corps’ estimates.
Reducing the amount of diversion at Old River would mean more water in the Mississippi, which could help flush the salt back downriver — or so the argument goes.
When the threat first arose weeks ago, Corps officials said they found the shift would have created a whole new set of salt intrusion problems for other drinking water systems in southwestern Louisiana that depend on the Atchafalaya. And they said it could set in motion problems for wildlife and navigation along the Atchafalaya River.
And, they argued, the change would produce little benefit for the Mississippi’s saltwater problem.
But now, water flows in the Red River are rising, an impending rain front in the could dump even more water into the Red River Valley. So the Corps of Engineers is taking a second look at the idea, agency officials said on Monday.
“As we see the contributions of the Red River increase, we will keep evaluating the opportunities to identify benefits, if any, Old River may have on the saltwater intrusion,” Ricky Boyett, a spokesman for the Corps in New Orleans.
The reevaluation will look again at negative impacts in the Atchafalaya Basin and whether the change in water distribution would have an appreciable benefit on the Mississippi.
Boyett cautioned that any proposal to pursue the idea would need review from regional Corps officials beyond the New Orleans district.
“Any insight we gain shall be shared with the Mississippi Valley Division to identify the best path forward that yields the least damaging approach that yields the greatest benefits,” he said.
How it would work
The Old River Control Structure keeps the Mississippi from following Mother Nature’s pent-up desires and changing its course to head down the Atchafalaya River, away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The nearly 60-year-old series of locks, dams, channels and guide levees is located at a key inflection point among the Red, Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers near the notch in Louisiana’s boot north of Morganza.
The Red empties entirely into and becomes the Atchafalaya just west of the Old River Control Structure. The structure ensures the combined flow of the Mississippi and Red upriver of the structure remains at a 70/30 split in the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya below the control structure.
The structure does this only by diverting water from the normally much bigger Mississippi into the Red and Atchafalaya and does not operate in reverse, Corps officials said.
Faced with temporary pipelines and freshwater barges to keep drinking water available, several readers of The Advocate|The Times-Picayune have been asking why the Corps of Engineers can’t temporarily alter the Old River split and keep more water for the Mississippi to push back the salt wedge.
“Could the flow be temporarily increased during the Intrusion?” one Metairie reader asked Sunday. “We need to think outside the box.”
Boyett said the Corps has faced similar questions in recent weeks as the salt wedge was moving north. He said the potential negative impacts were significant, officials found, when the Red and Atchafalaya were so low a few weeks back.
The Corps’ analysis had found a salt wedge in the Atchafalaya would have affected drinking water for Morgan City, Berwick and Patterson.
The reduced flow in the Atchafalaya would also have created ecological impacts, such as changes in temperature, oxygen and salinity. They would affect protected areas like Henderson Swamp and the Atchafalaya and Sherburne wildlife management areas.
In addition, navigation limits on the Atchafalaya would have been affected. Bayou Teche and the Vermilion River could face problems as well, because they rely on water pumped from the Atchafalaya.
When the Corps produced this earlier analysis, flow in the Red was so low that diversion from the Mississippi was contributing almost 94% of the flow in the Atchafalaya below Old River.
“This wasn’t an option a few weeks ago because the Red River was so low (changing diversion) would have basically dried up the Atchafalaya,” Boyett said.
But the Red’s flow has increased by more than four times since then, rising from 3,000 cubic feet per second to 17,000 cfs.
Under the normal operations of Old River, increased flow from the Red naturally means less diversion from the Mississippi to maintain the 70/30 split between the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya, Boyett said.
That means more water is already being held in the Mississippi than had been occurring a few weeks ago. The Corps’ current task, Boyett said, will be to evaluate what kind of benefit holding additional water in the Mississippi would provide.
Mississippi
Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo ‘disrespected’ by Mississippi State football’s defensive game plan
Cam Skattebo slammed Mississippi State on the football field on Saturday night and also took another jab afterward in his postgame press conference.
The Arizona State running back, following a 30-23 Sun Devils win at Mountain America Stadium, took exception to MSU only utilizing three defenders on the line of scrimmage. The results were damning.
Arizona State (2-0) rushed for 346 yards. It was the most allowed by Mississippi State (1-1) in a game since Arkansas in 2016. Skattebo’s 262 rushing yards on 33 carries were the second-most in ASU history.
“They couldn’t stop us in that three-down front,” Skattebo said when asked what made ASU’s run game successful. “Honestly, we all felt disrespected with them in a three-down front. You can’t come in here and put five guys in the box and expect to stop six. I don’t know. We took that a little disrespectful, and we rushed for what over 300 yards? Something around there. It is what it is.”
Skattebo, a 5-foot-11, 215-pound junior, also led Arizona State with 35 receiving yards on three catches.
“I knew these dudes were big and heavy,” he said. “We knew going into the game they weren’t as physical as most other teams but they’re heavy. So when they hit you, it hurts, no matter how hard they’re coming — 300 pounds at 10 miles per hour or 16 miles per hour hurts the same. I just kept my feet moving.”
Mississippi State trailed 30-3 in the third quarter but scored 20 unanswered points to cut the score to 30-23 with 5:27 to play. The Bulldogs never touched the ball again, with the Sun Devils running out the clock on 12 plays.
Skattebo had a game-sealing 39-yard rush that allowed ASU to kneel down.
“Until the end, we had our ups and downs there, but that was fun,” he said. “You can ask these guys up front, bullying dudes, grown men that are 300 pounds, that’s fun to us. That’s fun to the front-five, the front-seven and the running back. The quarterback probably hates it. He probably likes watching, but he didn’t complain one time the whole game.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
Why Mississippi State football loss to Arizona State revealed a strong Jeff Lebby culture
It was 11:10 p.m. Saturday in Starkville when Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt barreled into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game.
At that point, it would’ve been fair for Mississippi State football fans to call it a night. The Bulldogs (1-1) trailed 27-3 at ASU in the final minute of the second quarter. They were dominated in just about every statistical category. New coach Jeff Lebby looked like he was headed toward his first loss, and an embarrassing one.
And even if you gave the second half a chance, eyes just a crack open, that wasn’t encouraging either. Arizona State (2-0) took the opening drive of the third quarter for a field goal while eating 8 minutes, 27 seconds of game time. That just about decided the game before Mississippi State touched the ball in the second half.
Wrong.
Instead, MSU scored touchdowns on three of its next four drives and cut the score to 30-23 with 5:27 to play. The defense, which was torched for 346 rushing yards, needed one more stop to let the offense try to tie it. It would’ve been the largest comeback in program history.
Mississippi State’s path to a bowl game seems murkier than it was a week ago. But in the long-term, there’s still encouragement after the 30-23 loss.
“Our guys battled in an incredible way in the second half, and we’re going to hold on to that,” Lebby said in his postgame radio interview. “We’re going to find ways to get back in the building, get back to work and be able to walk into Davis Wade (Stadium) with a ton of confidence and ready to go win a football game.”
The encouragement from Mississippi State’s comeback effort
Lebby said after beating Eastern Kentucky 56-7 in Week 1 that there is an abundance of teachable moments in wins, just like losses.
There is plenty to point to after losing to Arizona State.
Mississippi State came out incredibly flat. The Sun Devils scored on their first five possessions. The MSU offense had one field goal, two punts, a fumble returned for a touchdown and a turnover-on-downs in the first half. MSU had -13 rushing yards in the first half.
There were concerns entering the game about the travel distance, late kickoff and high temperature. But let’s be real, Mississippi State was playing so poorly at the start that it was hard to judge if those were factors.
“I got to do a better job getting these guys ready to go play out of the gate,” Lebby said. “I thought our energy, our effort and our emotion was really good, but then we did not play clean there in the first quarter, so that part was frustrating.”
The Bulldogs outscored the Sun Devils 20-0 in the final quarter and a half. It was a surprise. Arizona State was rolling. Mississippi State was not.
MORE: Introducing Sam Sklar, the Clarion Ledger’s new Mississippi State beat reporter
For Lebby, a first-time head coach at any level, let it be a learning moment for him. It was his first time getting pinned in a corner. The Bulldogs adjusted correctly in the second half like good coaches do.
The rushing offense and defense both need to improve. Badly. Quarterback Blake Shapen has been impressive in his first two Mississippi State games and the wide receiver room is deep and talented as ever, but they can’t be the only answer.
That’s just for this season.
Mississippi State has its first tally in the loss column. But it isn’t a strike against Lebby leading the future of the program.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Sam Leavitt leads ASU to convincing victory in 1st career start
Leavitt and the Sun Devils cruised past visiting Wyoming 48-7 on Saturday night at Mountain America Stadium.
The Arizona State football team elevated its play on the field in its 48-7 win over Wyoming in Week 1.
It is elevating its uniform game for Week 2 against Mississippi State.
ASU football is wearing a gold alternate jersey against the Bulldogs at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on Saturday night.
The jersey includes maroon “Arizona State” lettering and maroon numbering, along with a noticeable Big 12 logo.
The Sun Devil football team unveiled the uniform last month, with Athletic Director Graham Rossini posting that “you’ll see this on the field early this season.”
On Thursday, ASU football announced that it would be wearing the uniform against Mississippi State with a video that said “Modern shine, with a classic design.”
On Friday, it posted another look at the uniform.
More: Arizona State vs Mississippi State live score updates, analysis for college football game
ASU vs Mississippi State schedule, TV: How to watch college football game
Promising look: Arizona State football’s 2024 win prediction doubles after Week 1 victory over Wyoming
Social media reacted favorably overall to ASU football’s uniform vs Mississippi State:
Do you like the look for ASU football?
ASU vs. Mississippi State picks: Who wins Week 2 college football game?
Looking promising: Arizona State football makes huge leap in college football ranking, Big 12 power rankings
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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