Mississippi
Mississippi State softball to open 2024 season on home turf
![Mississippi State softball to open 2024 season on home turf Mississippi State softball to open 2024 season on home turf](https://cdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MSU-SB-sched.jpg)
Mississippi State softball head coach Samantha Ricketts released the Bulldogs’ 2024 schedule on Tuesday, and MSU will open the season by hosting The Snowman — a tournament that honors former Bulldogs outfielder Alex Wilcox, who died from ovarian cancer in 2018 — from Feb. 9-11 at Nusz Park.
The opponents for The Snowman have not yet been announced, but MSU has hosted the event each year since 2019. For the fourth straight season, all Southeastern Conference teams will wear teal uniforms for a day on Apr. 13 as part of the “All for Alex” campaign. The Bulldogs will host defending SEC regular season and tournament champion Tennessee that day.
Following the opening weekend at home, MSU will travel south of the border to Mexico for the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, where the Bulldogs will take on UC Davis, UC San Diego, Utah and Clemson. Up next is the prestigious Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., which will pit MSU against UCF, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Fresno State and Cal State Fullerton.
Six of the Bulldogs’ nine opponents in those two weekends made the 2023 NCAA Tournament, including the three-time defending national champion Sooners. Utah also advanced to the Women’s College World Series, and Clemson appeared in its second consecutive super regional.
MSU will host another tournament from Feb. 29 to Mar. 3 before the Bulldogs open SEC play at rival Ole Miss from Mar. 8-10. Their conference home opponents will be Texas A&M (Mar. 15-17), Florida (Mar. 28-30), Tennessee (Apr. 12-14) and Georgia (May 3-5). They will also face Arkansas (Mar. 22-24), South Carolina (Apr. 5-7) and Missouri (Apr. 26-28) on the road.
Midweek home opponents include Memphis (doubleheader on Mar. 12), Louisiana-Monroe (Mar. 13) and South Alabama (Apr. 10). MSU will travel to Alabama State (doubleheader on Mar. 20), Alabama-Birmingham (Apr. 3) and Samford (Apr. 23), and will also take on Southern Miss in Jackson on Apr. 17. The SEC Tournament will be hosted by Auburn from May 7-11.
Last year, the Bulldogs finished 28-25 overall but just 7-16 in conference play, and were the only SEC team not to make the NCAA Tournament. That followed a 2022 season in which MSU upset No. 2 national seed Florida State in NCAA Regionals to reach the program’s first-ever super regional, which the Bulldogs lost at home in two games to Arizona.
Ricketts is entering her fifth season as MSU head coach and is 125-80 overall and 25-45 in the SEC. The Bulldogs have five freshmen on the roster this year and added three impact transfers — outfielder Sierra Sacco from Louisiana Tech, catcher Jessie Blaine from Auburn and pitcher Lexi Sosa from UCLA.
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Mississippi
Mississippi woman killed in two-vehicle crash in Grenada County
GRENADA COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – A Mississippi woman was killed during a two-vehicle crash in Grenada County.
Officials with the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) said the crash occurred on Highway 7 just after 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 7.
Mississippi woman killed in head-on crash in Louisiana
According to MHP, a 2002 Toyota Sequoia was traveling north on the highway when the vehicle collided with a Mercedes van that was also traveling north.
The driver of the Mercedes, 53-year-old Loretta Hopkins, of Winona, died at the scene.
This crash remains under investigation by MHP.
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Mississippi
Mississippi State’s Loss Doesn’t Stop SEC from Owning Week Two in AP Top 25
![Mississippi State’s Loss Doesn’t Stop SEC from Owning Week Two in AP Top 25 Mississippi State’s Loss Doesn’t Stop SEC from Owning Week Two in AP Top 25](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_2748,h_1545,x_411,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/cowbell_corner/01j79mrpwsvvqcvrr5dh.jpg)
Outside of Mississippi State, Arkansas and Auburn, the SEC had a very successful Week Two of the college football season. The latest AP Top 25 poll reflects the strength of the SEC with 6 of the top 7 spots belonging to SEC teams.
Here’s a recap of how the ranked SEC teams fared in the second full week of the college football season:
Click here for a recap of the unranked SEC teams.
With the exception of giving up three points, this was probably exactly how Georgia expected this game to go. Carson Beck threw five touchdowns and the defense held Tennessee Tech to less than 150 yards of total offense. Anything less would be a surprise.
More than 100,000 people saw Texas come into Ann Arbor, Mich. and leave with a huge win. The Longhorns looked like the better team from the first drive of the game where they easily marched down the field. That Oct. 19 game in Austin against Georgia is looking better and better.
It was a lot closer than Alabama would’ve liked, but it’s a win that will fend off the “Nick Saban is gone, we’re doomed” crowd. At the same time, though, there were some things that crowd could point to at a later time.
Two games against inferior competition and Ole Miss has outscored its opponents 129-3. They’ll take a slight step up in competition next week against Wake Forest, but the Rebels are still about a month away from playing a team that will truly test them.
Missouri’s schedule just took an unexpected bump in its level of difficulty with No. 24 Boston College joining the top 25. Bill O’Brien is brilliant at game planning and calling plays (not so much with making trades, but that hasn’t reached the college ranks yet). Missouri needs to be on upset alert (and ready to stop the run).
This happens every year. Tennessee looks really good to start the season and by the end Volunteer fans are saying next year is their year. But maybe this year is their year with the way Nico Iamaleava has been playing.
Of the two SEC newcomers, Texas is getting most of the attention which makes sense based on the current teams. But folks, don’t sleep on the Sooners. They ruined many of my own childhood memories growing up in Texas. This week’s way-too close game doesn’t help that argument, but think long term.
LSU was one of three SEC teams to play FCS schools after playing top 25 teams last week. The Tigers and Texas A&M both lost, while Georgia won. So, it’s not surprising to see each of them play FCS teams and neither were any of the results.
SEC Week 2 Power Rankings: Which Teams Are Contenders or Pretenders?
WATCH: Mississippi State’s Bowl Hopes Take a Hit with Arizona State Defeat
Mississippi State Crumbles in the Trenches: What Went Wrong Against Arizona State?
Mississippi
Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo ‘disrespected’ by Mississippi State football’s defensive game plan
![Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo ‘disrespected’ by Mississippi State football’s defensive game plan Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo ‘disrespected’ by Mississippi State football’s defensive game plan](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/09/08/PKNS/75130225007-usatsi-24184754.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4080,2296,x0,y294&format=pjpg&width=1200)
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_.
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