Begining of a New Season--2007

Millsaps and Mississippi College collide in the Backyard Brawl, while Mississippi State hosts LSU in a marvelous start of the 2007 college football season before Sept. l when Ole Miss invades Memphis and Southern Miss hosts University of Tennessee-Martin in Hattiesburg.
The Majors and the Choctaws rivalry goes back many years nd then was halted, but it back in full swing now and that is good. LSU invades Starkville, ranked as one of the best teams in the country, a potential national champion, and could be vastly over-confident, offering Sylvester Croom's warriors to spring an upset which would go down as one of the best victories ever for the underdog Maroons.
Ole Miss faces an old rival in the Memphis Tigers and must beware of losing the inaugural battle before Southeastern Conference warfare begins. Before the SEC competition starts, how-ever the Rebels engage the University of Missouri, which is regarded by Lou Holtz as a possible national contender.
Southern Miss has a golden opportunity in Knoxville the following week in its game with the University of Tennessee which will be returning from the long trip to California to play the Golden Bears, also a potential national contender. Southern, ranked as the best in Conference USA in pre-season polls, over the years, has chalked up major upsets.
Ed Orgeron named Seth Adams as his starting quarterback and this offers Seth the chance to become the next Farley Salmon, the battling little field general who led the 1948 Rebels to a 8-1 season after Charlie Conerly gradated. Salmon, Buddy Bowen, and Bobby Jabour battled all spring and the starting QB job was not decided until fall practice.
Johnny Vaught switched formations after Conerly left,the single wing to the split-T because of the personnel on hand. Salmon had played wingback. Bowen was the best blocking back in the South with a Jacobs Trophy to prove it. Salmon could run, fake, improvise. Adams in the spring game, threw short passes and this blended with a running game featuring Ben Jarvis Green Ellis, who joined Kayo Dottley as a 1-000 yard producer. Kayo did it twice. So can Ben Jarvis if he stays healthy.
Ole Miss' offensive and defensive play seems vastly improved. The Rebels also play LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, and Florida at Vaught Hemingway Stadium this fall.

There is nothing like the start of a new season. Several weeks earlier I again attended the Big Ten's Media Luncheon with a packed ball room in Chicago to hear the ll head coaches outline their hopes and dreams of 2007. The best of the Big Ten will likely play the best of the SEC in several of the Bowl games once again. Michigan is the pre-season choice to prevail with Chad Henne, the quarterback, a likely Heisman Trophy candidate.

I have attended this luncheon since it started, dating back to the College All-Star week in the Windy City. The Big Ten has the best Luncheon every year. Joe Paterno and Lloyd Carr of Penn State and Michigan stole the show with Lloyd introducing his wife who, he said, came to the Luncheon because Paterno was her favorite speaker. Joe added later that he did not blame her for liking the way he talked since she had to listen to Lloyd at home.
Joe has recovered from his broken leg injury suffered on the sidelines during a game. He will not think of retiring as long as Bobby Bowden is coaching at Florida State. Both want to go down as the 1-A's coach with the most victories. Bowden was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame last year with the new 75-year old rule in place. So was Paterno, but he could not attend the Induction Dinner in New York, so he will be honored at the Foundation's Golden Anniversary Banquet at the Waldorf Astoria this December.
Paterno is a member of what I call the Boys of 1926 which also includes Tony Bennett, Hugh Hefner, and Mississippi Red and others. Marilyn Monroe was also born in 1926 and we would have waived the rule if she was still with us. She died at 36.
While in Chicago I dined at Gene and Gorgetti's one of the best restaurants in the country.I make it a point to dine there each summer while attending the Big Ten Media Day gathering.
Let the new season begin.
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