Mississippi
Five Critical Moments: Tennessee Knocks Off Mississippi State | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee football concluded its month long home stand by knocking off Mississippi State 33-14 on Saturday night, improving to 8-1 (5-1 SEC) ahead of next week’s matchup at Georgia.
Here’s five critical moments from Tennessee’s fourth consecutive win.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football Ranked Ahead of Georgia Before Critical SEC Matchup on Saturday
Opening Drive Touchdown
After four games straight of first half offensive struggles, Tennessee badly needed to capitalize on a bad Mississippi State defense and put together a complete offensive performance.
Things started out well when the Vols went 55 yards on seven plays for their first opening drive touchdown in SEC play. Tennessee even overcame adversity. After a rare assisting the runner penalty took a fourth down conversion off the board, Nico Iamaleava hit Squirrel White in stride for a 34-yard touchdown.
Tennessee not only scored on its first drive of the game but they did it by hitting a big play. That’s two areas where the Vols’ offense has struggled. It was a great start to the game.
Missed Opportunities
Despite the great start, reoccurring mistakes soon bit Tennessee’s offense. The Vols’ second drive ended with another Dylan Sampson red zone fumble.
It was Sampson’s third fumble in scoring range in the last three weeks after having not fumbled once prior to that in his college career. But the fumble soon seemed like it wouldn’t be a big deal when Boo Carter intercepted Michael Van Buren just two plays later and set Tennessee’s offense up inside the 10-yard line.
But four straight Peyton Lewis runs ended with the ball just inches short of the goal line as Tennessee failed to capitalize on the turnover. That two drive sequence largely ended Tennessee’s hope that they’d blow Mississippi State out in a cathartic offensive explosion
16-Play Touchdown Drive
If not a cathartic offensive explosion, Tennessee’s hopes of a blowout victory were back in play when Iamaleava hit Dont’e Thornton for a 73-yard touchdown to go up 14-0 early in the second quarter. But that’s when Mississippi State had its best drive of the night.
The Bulldogs ran 7:48 off the clock in a 16-play, 75-yard touchdown drive which cut Tennessee’s lead to a touchdown with just a handful of minutes to play in the first half. Michael Van Buren was great on the drive both hitting a couple big throws while also scrambling for big gains.
Mississippi State converted a third-and-eight as well as a third-and-three on top of a pair of fourth down conversion. The second fourth down conversion was a fourth-and-goal touchdown run at the one-yard line.
Double Dipping On The Same Side Of Halftime
Josh Heupel loves a good double dip around halftime. It’s one of the main reasons that Tennessee defers to the second half every time they win the coin toss.
But against Mississippi State, the Vols had a very odd back-to-back quick scores on the same side of halftime that almost served as a double dip. Tennessee first settled for a field goal in the red zone with 46 seconds left in the half after a nice drive stalled out.
Then Mississippi State went three-and-out with a pair of completions and a run out of bounds. A nice Boo Carter punt return gave Tennessee the ball in plus territory with 14 seconds to play. One Cam Seldon run and then a Iamaleava 21-yard completion to White set the Vols up in scoring range.
Max Gilbert then connected on his first field goal of over 50 yards in his career, making a 51-yard try that gave Tennessee a 20-7 lead at halftime. The Vols capitalized on bad Mississippi State clock management to extend their lead heading into the half.
Dylan Sampson Provides Big Answer
The entire complexion of the game changed to start the second half when Gaston Moore came in at quarterback and Iamaleava was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
When Mississippi State scored a touchdown to cut Tennessee’s lead to 23-14 midway through the third quarter, it felt like the Vols may have to hold on for dear life without their starting quarterback.
Moore did some good things but it was once against Dylan Sampson and Tennessee’s rushing game that stepped up. On that ensuing drive, Sampson recorded runs of 10 yards, eight yards, six yards, four yards and finally 33 yards into the checkerboards.
It pushed Tennessee’s lead back to 16 points and gave them enough breathing room the rest of the way.
Mississippi
Along the Mississippi River, an acorn-collecting ‘legend’ works to save struggling forests
Jerry Boardman doesn’t remember exactly when he started collecting acorns in the fall.
But the thousands upon thousands of them he gathers to share with people working to improve habitat along the Mississippi River makes the 81-year-old resident of De Soto, a village of about 300 between La Crosse and Prairie du Chien, a pretty big deal.
“It’s like a myth or a legend,” Andy Meier, a forester for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who receives a portion of Boardman’s bounty, said of the integral role it plays in his work. “It just has always been that way.”
In reality, Boardman began collecting around the time that the need for acorns — a nut that contains the seed that grows oak trees — was becoming critical. For the past few decades, the trees that grow in the Mississippi River floodplain, known as floodplain forests, have been struggling. Although they’re named for their ability to withstand the river’s seasonal flooding, they’ve recently been overwhelmed by higher water and longer-lasting floods.
Overall, forest cover along the stretch of the river from Minnesota down to Clinton, Iowa, decreased by roughly 6% between 1989 and 2010, according to a 2022 report on ecological trends on the upper Mississippi. In the years since, losses in some places have neared 20% — and were particularly acute following a massive flood event in 2019.
What exactly is driving the excess water isn’t fully fleshed out, but climate change and changes in land use that cause water to run off the landscape faster are likely factors.
The result is mass stretches of dead trees that can no longer perform their functions of providing wildlife habitat, sucking up pollutants that would otherwise run downriver, and slowing water during floods. Reno Bottoms, a sprawling wetland habitat on the river near Boardman’s hometown of De Soto, is one such example of the dispiriting phenomenon.
Boardman, who has been a commercial fisherman, hunter and trapper on the river for most of his life, called the change in forest cover in recent years “shocking.” To combat it, he puts in about 100 hours a year between August and October gathering acorns from the floodplain in De Soto, Prairie du Chien and La Crosse. The idea is that if the trees that produced the acorns were successful enough at warding off flood damage to drop seeds, those seeds might be similarly resilient if replanted.
He looks for acorns from the bur oak, pin oak and swamp white oak, the latter of which is particularly well-suited to the floodplain forest. And the numbers he puts up are impressive — last year, he collected about 130,000; this year, 65,000.
He splits up the total to give to the Army Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, both of which have foresters planting trees to restore floodplain habitat.
“Pretty much everything that Jerry collects, in one way or another, will return to the river,” said Meier, with the Corps.
Last fall, for example, they scattered between 20,000 and 30,000 of Boardman’s swamp white oak acorns near McGregor Lake, a river backwater near Prairie du Chien where the Corps is piloting an effort to protect trees from flood inundation by raising the forest floor a few inches.
This spring, Meier said, he was “blown away” by the approximately 1,000 seedlings that had taken root there and begun to sprout.
Having access to Boardman’s acorns is important because it gives foresters the chance to experiment with direct seeding, instead of buying young trees and planting them. Direct seeding is both cheaper and more likely to result in a viable tree, because the seed is local.
“When we have an opportunity to get something we know came from the river, we know that it’s adapted to growing there,” Meier said.
To maximize his time, Boardman uses a contraption not unlike ones used to pick up tennis balls to scoop up the acorns. One small variety, though, requires collectors to “get down on your hiney or your knees” to pick them up, he said. For those, he relies on a little grunt work.
Ev Wick, a fifth grade teacher at De Soto’s Prairie View Elementary, has taken his students out for an acorn-gathering day with Boardman for the past several years. Boardman scouts the best trees ahead of time, Wick said, then the kids get to work. They can pick up between 5,000 and 6,000 in a day, propelled by friendly competitions to see who can collect the most or fill their bucket quickest.
They’re interested when Boardman tells them all the acorns they collect will eventually be planted on the islands they see in the river, Wick said. But most of all, they do it to thank Boardman for taking them out fishing and ice fishing in the winter and spring.
Acorn-gathering is just one of Boardman’s talents. Along with other members of Friends of Pool 9, a group of area residents who work to protect natural resources, he hosts fishing days, runs river cleanups and counts bald eagle nests to report to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Whether it’s acorn-related or otherwise, Meier said it’s amazing to see the commitment Boardman has to ensuring the river continues to thrive.
To Boardman, the chance to donate acorns or otherwise help out is a no brainer.
“That river has given me so much,” he said. “I’ve just got to give back all I can give.”
Madeline Heim is a Report for America corps reporter who writes about environmental issues in the Mississippi River watershed and across Wisconsin. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@gannett.com.
Mississippi
Women’s Basketball: Mississippi State shows no mercy on Mercer in blowout win
STARKVILLE — Former Mississippi State assistant coach Michelle Clark-Heard returned to Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday night as the head coach at Mercer, and her ex-boss, Sam Purcell, made sure it was a rude welcome home.
The Bulldogs limited their fourth straight opponent to under 50 points and have held all five teams they’ve played to under 30 percent shooting, defeating the Bears 81-44.
“We’re watching film, we’re trying to find every advantage we can,” Purcell said. “That stuff matters to us. That’s culture, that’s DNA. We train hard, we work hard, and we’re a multiple defensive team. I always say there’s bad coaches out there if you only play one style, and that’s not who we’re going to be. We can press, we can trap, so it makes it a nightmare for our opponents.”
Mercer did not make a 3-pointer until there were less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, finishing 1-for-17 from behind the arc. MSU (5-0) made more than half of its field goals and was 10-for-22 from deep, outscoring the Bears 44-14 in the paint.
Fifth-year senior guard Jerkaila Jordan entered the game having made just one 3-pointer on 15 attempts so far this season, but she made her first shot of the night from distance behind a screen in the final minute of the opening quarter. Jordan then blocked Hanna Knoll’s 3-point attempt on the other end, and Eniya Russell connected from long range to beat the buzzer and put the Bulldogs ahead by double digits.
Jordan recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and she was 3-for-4 from 3-point range, nailing a triple from each corner 33 seconds apart in the third quarter.
“She just needs to relax. That’s it,” Purcell said. “The kid’s a pro. She trains hard, she’s in the gym every single day. She knows what’s up. I haven’t said one thing to her. I knew it was going to finally end, I’m just glad it happened before we head on the road.”
Madina Okot had another big night in the post, tallying 15 points, eight boards, two blocks and two steals. The Kenyan is shooting 65 percent through five games in the maroon and white and is pulling down nearly 10 boards per contest.
“This has been my dream, and I just feel happy,” Okot said. “I’m just grateful for the team and for this coaching staff. They’re really doing great, I’m putting in work and they’re ready to support me to get everything I desire to get here.”
MSU already led by 20 at the half before winning the third quarter 32-7, finishing the period on an 18-2 run. The Bulldogs’ last four opponents have scored a total of 24 points in the third quarter.
Junior sharpshooter Debreasha Powe was also in double figures with 13 points, going 5-for-7 from the floor and 3-for-5 from behind the 3-point line. Destiny McPhaul had an efficient night as well, and Quanirah Montague had eight points in just 13 minutes of action. MSU shared the ball extremely well, with 26 assists on 33 made field goals.
“I was just locked in,” Montague said. “I was ready to get in the game, ready to have energy and bring energy to my team.”
The Bulldogs will not play in Starkville again until Dec. 29, following eight straight games away from The Hump. They are back in action Sunday against Jacksonville in Orlando, Florida, a neutral-site game that is part of the inaugural WBCA Showcase.
Wednesday’s win was No. 50 for Purcell in 73 games at MSU, making him the fastest coach in program history to reach that milestone.
“It’s all about the young women who step on the floor and sacrifice night in and night out,” Purcell said. “I’ve never scored a point here at Mississippi State. I’m fortunate to have a university that gave a first-time head coach an opportunity. You need one school to believe in you, so it means the world that Mississippi State believed in me.”
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Mississippi
Court says it's ending dispute over control of airport in Mississippi's capital city
FILE – Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, right, reacts as Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, left, purposes amendments that would affect Harkins’ proposed legislation that would shift control of the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport to state officials and surrounding counties, March 3, 2016, in Senate chambers at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
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