Sideline View with Dale McKee

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -

The National Football League Playoffs are set as Denver will host New England in the AFC Championship game while Los Angeles will travel to Seattle in the NFC Championship contest. This Sunday’s winner will meet in Super Bowl LX on February 8^th in Levi Stadium at the home of the San Francisco 49ers.

There was ongoing discussion this past week about expanding the College Football Playoffs (CFP) to either 16 or 24 teams. The Big10 wants a 24-team playoff format, but the SEC wants a 16-team playoff format.

Ole Miss basketball player Patton Pinkins had a good week in helping the Rebels defeat Georgia and Mississippi State. Pinkins tipped in the winning shot as the Rebels gained a 97-95 road win over Georgia. Then this past Saturday night, he hit a floater with 19 seconds to play as the Rebels secured a 68-67 road win over MSU. The Rebels and Bulldogs were tied seven times in the second half and had 13 lead changes in that final 20 minutes. It was Ole Miss’ third straight SEC win while Mississippi State suffered their third consecutive loss in conference play. Ole Miss (11-7, 3-2) will host Auburn and travel to Kentucky this week. State (10-8, 2-3) will travel to Texas A&M and host Vanderbilt this week.

The Ole Miss Lady Rebels’ (16-4, 3-2) lone game was a loss at Georgia on Sunday. They will play at Missouri on Thursday and host Tennessee next Monday. The Lady Bulldogs upset No. 7 Kentucky on Sunday after dropping a heartbreaker against No. 5 Vanderbilt last week. The Lady Bulldogs sole game this week will be at Alabama Sunday.

Southern Mississippi fell twice on the road last week to Troy and Texas State. The Golden Eagles (11-9, 5-3) will continue on the road this week as they visit Georgia State and Coastal Carolina.

The Southern Miss ladies defeated Texas State but fell to Arkansas State this past week. The Lady Eagles (11-7, 4-3) will entertain both Marshall and Coastal Carolina this week.

The William Carey Lady Crusaders (16-0, 7-0) are still perfect on the season. The Lady Crusaders have now won 55 straight regular season games and 37 consecutive conference games.

The Crusaders (16-1, 6-1) have now won ten games in a row. Both Carey teams will be at home on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon this week.

Baseball News

The Southeastern Conference has 11 teams in the D1 Baseball Preseason Top 25. UCLA was ranked first while LSU was the highest ranked SEC team at No. 2. Texas is No. 3, Mississippi State is No. 4, Arkansas is No. 7 and Auburn is No. 9. Other SEC teams listed are Florida (13), Tennessee (14), Georgia (15), Kentucky (18), Vandy (23) and Texas A&M (25). The Sun Belt Conference had two teams in Coastal Carolina at No. 6 and Southern Miss at No. 20.

Following the 11 SEC teams, the ACC has eight teams in the Top 25 while the Big 12 and Sun Belt each have two teams. The Big Ten has one and Oregon State is the lone independent.

Baseball season is only a week off as next Friday, January 29, William Carey will travel to Shreveport to take part in a three-day round robin tournament. The next day, Delta State and Mississippi College will open their home schedule along with Blue Mountain Christian. Rust College will travel to Lawrenceville, Georgia, for a three-team round robin.

Tougaloo opens on the road at Tuskegee on February 3 while on February 6 Millsaps visits Texas to play LeTourneau College in the Majors opener. Southeastern College of Laurel will travel to Georgia to play Truett McConnell February 6.

Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss will open their seasons at home on Friday, February 13. Jackson State and Alcorn will play in Pearl at the HBCU Civil Rights Classic beginning on February 13. Other teams entered are Alabama A&M, Grambling, Prairie View and Texas Southern. Mississippi Valley will travel to Stephen F. Austin for a four-game series that weekend.

Belhaven will open play by hosting Mississippi University for Women on February 17 at Trustmark Park.

Perfect Game preseason college baseball rankings are out with LSU leading the pack. The SEC has six teams in the top ten with Tennessee (3), Arkansas (4), Mississippi State (6), Texas (8) and Auburn (10). The second ten has Florida (12), Georgia (15) and Vandy (19). Southern Miss was ranked 23 while Coastal Carolina of the Sun Belt came in at 17.

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