Phil Steele Breaks Down Jax State Versus Ole Miss

If you are a serious college football fan, your next bookmark after gamecockillustrated.com should be philsteele.com. Here is Phil's take on the Jacksonville State versus Ole Miss game (we think in haste he may have juxtaposed the final score):

From Philsteele.com:

"This game features two former Arkansas HC’s as Jacksonville St HC Jack Crowe coached the Razorbacks from 1990-91 (1 game in 92) and Mississippi HC Houston Nutt from 1998-2007. Jacksonville St is one of our favorites in the Ohio Valley Conference as they return 13 starters from last year’s 8-3 squad that lost two games to FBS schools in Georgia Tech (37-17) and Florida St (19-9) a game in which Jacksonville St actually led late until FSU scored 2 TD’s in the final :35. This year they do lose OVC OPOY QB Ryan Perriloux (LSU Transfer) who threw for 2,350 yds (58.5%, 23-2!) and two other all-OVC players but do return their top two rushers and a couple of All-Conf OL. Defensively, they allowed just 17.1 ppg LY but do lose their top two tacklers. Ole Miss returns just 10 starters from LY’s 9-4 team but do bring in former Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli. On defense, the Rebels return just 4 starters but 2 of their top 3 tacklers are back and NT Jerrell Powe is one of the top DT’s in the country. Ole Miss is 12-3 in home openers and 6-0 vs FCS schools the L/5 yrs. Excluding LY’s 52-6 win over SE Louisiana, the Rebels have not been dominant in the other games vs FCS tms winning by an avg of 33-14. On the other side Jacksonville St has been competitive vs the FBS losing by an avg of 33-16. With new starters at several key positions look for the Rebels to struggle early before pulling away late."

PHIL’S FORECAST : MISSISSIPPI 34 JACKSONVILLE ST 9