Mississippi
Mississippi State Ranked No. 4 In Committee Rankings: Morning Bell, October 22
If the season ended today, Mississippi State’s soccer team would be a national No. 1 seed based on the NCAA Div. I Women’s Soccer Committee Top 16 rankings.
The Bulldogs (13-1, 7-0 SEC) were ranked No. 4 in the committee’s initial rankings that were released four weeks before the final NCAA tournament selections are made.
“The committee is very excited to provide this in-season top 16 ranking,” said Keri Mendoza, Senior Associate AD at Cal Poly and this year’s committee chair. “There have been a lot of great games the past few weeks, including some upsets, which makes for an exciting season and leads to shake-ups in the rankings.”
A tradition unlike any other. #HailState🐶 pic.twitter.com/aslnndU2T5
— Mississippi State Soccer (@HailStateSOC) October 20, 2024
Mississippi State trails three ACC teams, including the only team register a win against the Bulldogs this season. Duke (11-1) is ranked No. 1 followed by North Carolina (13-2) and Wake Forest (9-2-2), who defeated the Bulldogs earlier this season 2-1.
The 2024 championship field will consist of 30 automatic qualifiers and 34 at-large selections, which will be revealed on Monday, November 11 at 4:00 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
Mississippi State still has work to do if it hopes to keep its rankings. The Bulldogs will wrap up the regular season Thursday at home against Kentucky before finishing the season on the road at Texas A&M.
The Bulldogs will then head to Pensacola, Fla. for the SEC Tournament that starts November 4 and ends November 10.
Women’s Power 5 Rankings for Week 10 ⤵️@AMcDevittTV gives us his Power 5 Rankings for the week. Who you got? 🤔#NCAASoccer pic.twitter.com/qq4RNMen6w
— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) October 21, 2024
Men’s Tennis: ITA Southern Regionals at LSU Tennis Complex (Baton Rouge, La.)
SINGLES
Main Draw Third Place Match
No. 60 Mario Martinez Serrano (MSU) def. Billy Blaydes (Auburn): 7-6(4), 6-3
DOUBLES
Main Draw Finals
Billy Blaydes/William Nolan (Auburn) def. No. 1 Petar Jovanovic/Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSU): 7-6(1), 4-6, 1-0[9]
Men’s Golf: Fall Oak Collegiate Invitational (Sixth place, 5-under par)
Women’s Golf: The Ally, Round 1
Team Score
1. Mississippi State, -9
Individual Score
Men’s Tennis: ITF Norman 25K
Women’s Tennis: ITF W100 Tyler; ITF W35 Hilton Head
Women’s Golf: The Ally (West Point, Miss.)
This Week in StarkVegas ⬇️
⛳️ @hailstatewg The Ally 🆓
🏐 @hailstatevb vs. Ole Miss & Arkansas 🆓
⚽️ @hailstatesoc vs. Kentucky 🆓
🏈 @hailstatefb vs. Arkansas 🎟️🎟 » https://t.co/orNzrS2v1p
» https://t.co/i4s5CN1pLe#HailState🐶— Mississippi State Athletics (@HailState) October 21, 2024
Passing TDs in October by SEC QBs:
6 – Michael Van Buren, @HailStateFB
5 – Carson Beck, Georgia
5 – Diego Pavia, Vandy
3 – Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
3 – Jalen Milroe, Alabama
3 – Quinn Ewers, Texas
3 – Brady Cook, Mizzou
3 – LaNorris Sellers, S Carolina
2 – 2 others
1 – 7 others pic.twitter.com/MpxWaJLINC— Brandon Langlois (@LangloisMSU) October 20, 2024
“Tracked a raccoon one time in the snow. I was in the neighborhood and I was just curious where this raccoon lived. There’s some fresh raccoon tracks. He’d been digging at somebody’s garbage.”
It’s time for US to celebrate the fans! You had Davis Wade rocking on Saturday; let’s keep it going this weekend! #HailState | @budlight pic.twitter.com/qXrWSc01hc
— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) October 21, 2024
It will be a beautiful start to the weekend with sunny skies and highs in the 80s. Here’s your statewide forecast from the National Weather Service.
Northern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy and warmer with lows in the mid to upper 60s.
Central Mississippi
Friday will be sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-60s.
Southern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be partly cloudy with lows in the lower 60s.
Mississippi
Golden Spikes watchlist features players from Mississippi State, Ole Miss – SuperTalk Mississippi
Two pitchers representing Mississippi universities are up for the 2026 Golden Spikes Award.
USA Baseball announced Thursday the 25 semifinalists for the award, which is presented annually to the most prolific college player in the nation. Both Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius and Ole Miss’ Cade Townsend cracked the list. It’s the latest award each was announced to be up for after Valincius and Townsend became Ferris Trophy finalists earlier this week.
Valincius, a left-hander who followed first-year Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor to Starkville from Virginia has been a star for Mississippi State this season. In 13 starts, the sophomore is 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA and 105 strikeouts, along with just 16 walks across 75 innings of work.
He has effectively limited opposing hitters to a .209 batting average on the year and ranks second in the SEC in strikeouts and wins, and is third in innings pitched and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.56) and WHIP (0.99).
Valincius is the 10th Bulldog to earn a semifinalist distinction from the Golden Spikes Award and the first since Dakota Jordan in 2024. Will Clark is the program’s only Golden Spikes Award winner in 1985 while Rafael Palmeiro and Brent Rooker finished as finalists for the honor in 1984 and 2017, respectively.
For Ole Miss, Townsend is the first Rebel since Doug Nikhazy in 2021 and just the seventh ever to be named a semifinalist for the award. He is the first Ole Miss sophomore to ever be named a semifinalist as all six before him were juniors.
The right-hander boasts a 3.25 ERA and has struck out 77 batters while only allowing 20 earned runs in 55.1 innings. Townsend ranks fifth in the SEC in WHIP (1.01), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.50), and strikeouts per nine innings (12.52). He leads the Rebels in all three categories as well as batters struck out looking (24) and wins and is second in opponent batting average (.202) and total strikeouts (77).
If Townsend is announced as a finalist, he will join Stephen Head and Drew Pomeranz in earning the honor. No Ole Miss player has ever won the Golden Spikes Award.
The full list of semifinalists can be found here. Finalists will be named on June 10, and this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced on the MLB Network on June 29. Fans can weigh in on which player is their favorite by clicking here.
One series remains in the regular season and Ole Miss and Mississippi State baseball are in similar situations.
Both are locks for the NCAA Tournament but are on the bubble for hosting a regional.
The Tennessean’s latest bracket projections have both the Rebels and Bulldogs as two of the 16 national seeds, but that is not solidified yet.
Finding wins in the final series, and possibly the SEC Tournament too, are necessary. Both teams close the regular season on the road against ranked teams that are also projected to host regionals.
The No. 12 Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) play at No. 10 Texas A&M (37-12, 16-10). The No. 19 Rebels (35-18, 14-13) play at No. 16 Alabama (35-17, 16-11). Both series begin May 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+).
Here’s a look at the different scenarios for Ole Miss and Mississippi State to host NCAA Tournament regionals.
Mississippi State, Ole Miss hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament
Ole Miss and Mississippi State getting swept could knock them completely out of the hosting conversation, barring a deep run in the SEC Tournament. However, SEC Tournament wins are not always viewed the same as SEC regular-season wins by the selection committee.
Mississippi State is in a slightly better spot than Ole Miss. The Bulldogs’ RPI is at No. 12, one spot ahead of Ole Miss. They are tied for sixth in the SEC standings, while Ole Miss is ninth.
The Bulldogs also went 4-0 against Ole Miss, which could give them the edge if the final hosting seed came down to those two teams.
The Tennessean projects MSU as the No. 12 national seed and the Rebels as the No. 13 seed. D1Baseball and Baseball America also project MSU to host, however they both have Ole Miss as a No. 2 seed.
That could mean Ole Miss needs two wins against Alabama, while MSU may be fine with just one win at Texas A&M. If Ole Miss wins one game at Alabama, it probably would need multiple wins in the SEC Tournament.
Mississippi State winning two games at Texas A&M could keep it in contention for a top eight seed. Ole Miss and Mississippi State sweeping their series obviously would, too.
Getting a top eight seed is advantageous because that means you are guaranteed to host a super regional.
Who Ole Miss, Mississippi State fans should root against
It will help Ole Miss and Mississippi State if teams near them in the projections lose, too. That would be teams like Oregon, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Oregon State and Kansas.
Oregon hosts Southern Cal, Nebraska plays at Minnesota, Kansas plays at BYU, Wake Forest plays at Duke, Oregon State hosts Air Force and West Virgina hosts TCU.
How NCAA Tournament history could be made in Mississippi
If everything falls the right way, there’s a chance Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss all host NCAA Tournament regionals. That’s never happened.
The No. 9 Golden Eagles (37-14, 19-8 Sun Belt) are projected by The Tennessean as the No. 10 national seed, just ahead of MSU and Ole Miss.
Southern Miss plays a home series against Georgia Southern (15-37, 7-20) at Pete Taylor Park beginning May 14 (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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