Well, I don't supposed we'll have High School Football Scores From the Future this week, as there seems to be a problem with the USA Today high school site.

Every game is listed as "Too close to call." I'm skeptical.

We'll try again next week, maybe.

For the second time in three weeks, Ole Miss will tackle an 8:15 p.m. game when the Rebels visit No.1 Alabama on Sept. 29.

Maybe this one will actually kick off at 8:15.

The SEC announced its TV plans for that weekend on Monday.

Mississippi State is off on Sept. 29, but Ole Miss will catch a primetime slot against the Crimson Tide. It will be determined later whether that’s on ESPN or ESPN2.

The Rebels entertained Texas last weekend in a game that didn’t kick off in Oxford until close to 8:30 p.m.

The 11:21 a.m. SEC Network game on Sept. 29 will be Arkansas at Texas A&M. Missouri at Central Florida kicks off earlier, at 11 a.m. on Fox Sports Net.

The CBS 2:30 p.m. game will be Tennessee at Georgia.

There are two 6 p.m. games: South Carolina at Kentucky on either ESPN or ESPN2 and Towson at LSU on ESPNU.

Next Monday, we should get the kickoff info for the Oct. 6 games, including Ole Miss at Texas A&M and Mississippi State at Kentucky.

Updated:

The Massey formula went 19-3 (.864) this weekend, a sparkling result and the best performance this year.

Original post:

Week 5 already? Wow. Each week in this space, we use the Massey Rankings at the USA Today website (visit here) to project scores the Friday's games. This method is about 70% accurate, which is way better than flipping a coin:

West Bolivar 14, Aberdeen 7 (Aberdeen won 45-28)

Bruce 20, Ackerman 14 (Bruce 26-13)

Alcorn Central 28, Hatley 26 (Alcorn Central 6-0)

Booneville 28, Tishomingo County 23 (Booneville 28-7)

Eupora 28, Calhoun City 14 (Calhoun City won 27-6)

New Albany 21, Corinth 14 (Corinth won 21-19)

Ripley 50, East Union 14 (Ripley 49-6)

H.W. Byers 36, Houlka 14 (Byers 44-12)

Houston 48, Hamilton 14 (Houston 37-0)

Itawamba AHS 23, Senatobia 22 (IAHS 33-0)

Belmont 35, Mooreville 20 (Belmont 26-20)

Baldwyn 35, Nettleton 24 (Baldwyn 21-14)

Noxubee County 34, West Point 28 (Noxubee 6-0)

Amory 42, Okolona 13 (Amory 23-14)

Pontotoc 35, North Pontotoc 26 (Pontotoc 37-12)

Potts Camp 12, Mantachie 6 (Potts Camp 46-14)

Lafayette 35, Shannon 7 (Lafayette 44-25)

Vardaman 21, Smithville 14 (Vardaman 13-7)

North Panola 28, South Pontotoc 21 (North Panola 6-3)

Coldwater 21, Thrasher 17 (Coldwater 34-7)

Biggersville 38, TCPS 34 (Biggersvlle 32-21)

East Webster 33, Walnut 0 (East Webster 35-0 ... close!)

Notes: The rankings have Noxubee County No. 1 this week, Jackson Prep No. 2 and Meridian No. 3. Anybody really think Prep is the state's second-best team? … The top-ranked school in the Journal's circulation area is West Point at No. 10. Oxford is No. 12.

The SEC rolled out its TV plans for Sept. 22, confirming that the Ole Miss visit to Tulane will be an 11 a.m. start for Fox Sports Net.

Mississippi State's home game against South Alabama remains a 6 p.m. kickoff, but it will only be seen on pay per view TV.

The CBS 2:30 p.m. slot will be occupied by Missouri at South Carolina, while ESPN's 6 p.m. game will be LSU at Auburn. The ESPN2 6:45 p.m. slot will take Vanderbilt at Georgia.

The 11:21 a.m. SEC Network game will be Kentucky at Florida.

Top-ranked Alabama is slotted into another PPV game, 4 p.m. at home against Florida Atlantic.

Other games: Rutgers at Arkansas, 6 p.m. on ESPNU; S.C. State at Texas A&M, 6 p.m. on FSN; Akron at Tennessee, 6:30 p.m. on CSS.

Updated:

The Massey Ratings went 22-6 (78.5%) for the games in Week 4, the best performance so far this season. That said, it thoroughly missed on a couple of games.

Original Post:

Here are projected scores for this week's high school football games, using the USA Today Massey Ratings projections. The projections have been running at about a 70% accuracy rate this season - much better than a coin flip.

Thursday

Biggersville 28, Houlka 21 (Biggersville, 52-50)

Falkner 26, Vardaman 20 (Vardaman won, 34-26)

Friday

Houston 27, Ackerman 14  (Houston, 17-13)

Mooreville 42, Alcorn Central 14 (Mooreville, 47-6)

Baldwyn 20, Belmont 14 (Belmont won, 39-20)

Benton County 13, Thrasher 12 (Thrasher won, 35-6) 

Corinth 41, Bolivar (Tenn.) Central 14 (Corinth, 43-12) 

Byhalia 32, Holly Springs 7 (Byhalia, 38-6)

Caledonia 28, East Webster 8 (Caledonia, 27-10)

Calhoun City 41, Velma Jackson 20 (Calhoun City, 26-21) 

Coldwater 42, Tupelo Christian 20 (Coldwater, 46-14)

Lafayette 42, Duval Charter (Fla.) 0 (Lafayette, 69-0)

Mantachie 36, East Union 28 (Mantachie, 41-6)

Hamilton 42, Hatley 14 (Hamilton, 52-8)

Amory 35, New Albany 28 (Amory, 30-21)

Immanuel Christian 42, New Site 18 (Immanuel 82-80 ... seriously, 82-80)

North Pontotoc 41, South Pontotoc 20 (North Pontotoc, 47-31)

Noxubee County 34, Aberdeen 6 (Noxubee, 45-0) 

Nettleton 21, Okolona 0 (Okolona won, 61-14)

Oxford 34, Senatobia 8 (Oxford, 34-14)

Pontotoc 20, Ripley 16 (Pontotoc, 34-27)

Potts Camp 14, Strayhorn 10 (Potts Camp, 18-7)

Saltillo 28, Booneville 14 (Saltillo, 34-33) 

Tupelo 35, Shannon 14 (Tupelo, 24-16)

Kossuth 28, Tishomingo County 22 (Tish County won, 15-12) 

Walnut 27, Middleton (Tenn.) 14 (Middleton won, 38-28)

Water Valley 27, Bruce 24 (Water Valley 17-16)

West Point 21, Starkville 14 (West Point, 47-22)

Notes: The rankings have Jackson Prep No. 1 and Meridian No. 2 in the state, which does give us pause. First time I can remember seeing a state academy school at No. 1. … The top-ranked school in the Journal's circulation area is Oxford at No. 8.

Update:

The Massey formula went 19-6 (.760) in Week 3, a bit better than the first two weeks. I have the impression that the formula gets better as the season goes along. We'll see.

Original post:

Each week, we take a look at the score projections by the Massey Ratings contained at the USA Today high school football site (link here). Over the first two weeks of the season, the projected scores have picked the winner in 37 of 52 games (.712).

There are a couple Thursday games this week, so we posted those first.

Thursday

Lafayette 28, Oxford 14 (Oxford won 19-0)

Saltillo 28, Baldwyn 13 (Saltillo 40-7)

Friday

Walnut 42, Alcorn Central 20 (Walnut, 21-14)

Amory 26, Aberdeen 20 (Aberdeen won 27-22)

Belmont 28, Tishomingo County 16 (Tish County won 23-21)

Falkner 14, Benton County 0 (Falkner, 50-0)

Bruce 48, Coffeeville 7 (Bruce, 49-12)

Corinth 20, Booneville 14 (Corinth, 22-16 ... correct margin)

North Pontotoc 42, East Oktibbeha 10 (North Pontotoc, 52-13)

East Union 41, Biggersville 14 (East Union, 52-50)

Mooreville 42, Hatley 14 (Mooreville, 40-20)

West Tallahatchie 22, Holly Springs 20 (game postponed)

Houston 36, Okolona 6 (Houston, 45-8)

Smithville 30, H.W. Byers 7 (Smithville 21-10)

Marshall Academy 42, Immanuel 7 (Marshall Academy 48-0)

Indianola Academy 24, Oak Hill 14 (Indianola, 36-20)

Hamilton 24, Kossuth 23 (Kossuth, 35-27)

Itawamba AHS 42, Nettleton 14 (Itawamba 35-9)

New Albany 24, Pontotoc 20 (New Albany 21-14)

Ripley 41, South Pontotoc 19 (Ripley, 36-7)

Tupelo 19, Starkville 14 (Starkville won, 28-0)

Starkville Academy 21, Magnolia Heights 13 (Magnolia Heights won, 25-14)

Calhoun City 22, Water Valley 20 (Water Valley won, 38-21)

East Webster 34, Weir 7 (East Webster, 41-0)

West Point 26, Columbus 21 (West Point, 26-19 ... very close)

Shannon 42, West Lowndes 14 (Shannon, 55-0)

New Site (0-1) at Mantachie (0-2), no prediction (Mantachie, 47-26)

Marvell Academy (2-0) at Calhoun Academy (2-0), no prediction (Calhoun, 48-6)

Update: The Massey formula went 17-7 (.708) on the Week 2 games.

Original post:

You probably know the drill by now. We take a look at the score projections by the Massey Ratings contained at the USA Today high school football site (link here). Last week, the projections were about 70% accurate (20-8) on winners, with a few picks that were freakishly close and some that completely missed the boat.

It's likely that these will get more accurate as more games are played. As we say sometimes, this seems better than picking at random.

There are Thursday games this week, so we'll post these first. The Friday games will be added a little later tonight.

Thursday

Baldwyn 20, Booneville 16 (Booneville won 28-27)

Walnut 28, Falkner 21 (Falkner won 40-7)

Hamilton 35, Houlka 0 (Hamilton, 54-14)

Friday

Aberdeen 28, Shannon 20 (Aberdeen, 26-13)

Amory 44, Nettleton 14 (Amory, 56-20)

Belmont 28, Mantachie 20 (Belmont, 24-7)

Calhoun City 24, Houston 21 (Houston won 37-14)

Macon Central Academy at Calhoun Academy, too close to call (Calhoun won 46-6)

Tupelo 23, Center Hill 12 (Tupelo, 20-17)

Charleston 30, Oxford 21 (Oxford won 21-18)

Okolona 21, East Webster 17 (East Webster won, 14-6)

South Pontotoc 42, Ethel 27 (South Pontotoc 34-20)

Lafayette 35, Greenwood 7 (Lafayette, 41-0)

Hernando 26, Pontotoc 21 (Hernando, 30-21 ... close)

New Albany 20, Itawamba AHS 17 (Itawamba won 44-43, OT)

Corinth 20, Kossuth 14 (Corinth, 34-7)

Saltillo 28, Mooreville 21 (Saltillo, 35-0)

Mound Bayou JFK 31, Holly Springs 7 (Holly Springs won 20-7)

North Pontotoc 35, Ripley 28 (Ripley won 42-28)

Smithville 28, Hatley 20 (Smithville 44-6)

Madison Central 34, Starkville 21 (Madiscon Central, 24-8)

Strayhorn 26, H. W. Byers 24 (Strayhorn, 20-14)

Thrasher at New Site, ppd.

Tishomingo County 34, Alcorn Central 14 (Tish County 72-6)

Middleton (Tenn.) 22, Tupelo Christian 20 (Middleton, 37-9)

Bruce 41, Vardaman 7 (Bruce, 47-0)

Update: The  Houston Astros named their Triple-A manager, Tony DeFrancesco, as interim manager. It appears that Shannon's Dave Clark may remain as third-base coach.

Original post:

The last time the Houston Astros fired their manager, at the end of the 2009 season, former Shannon standout Dave Clark was named the team's interim manager.

Late Saturday, the struggling Astros pulled the in-season trigger again, firing Brad Mills along with the team's hitting coach (Mike Barnett) and first-base coach (Bobby Meacham). Notably, though, the purge did not include the 49-year-old Clark, who was Mills' third-base coach.

The Astros plan to announce an interim manager and other new coaches today (Sunday, Aug. 19) at a 10 a.m. news conference. There was some speculation in the Houston media that Clark would again be tabbed as the interim manager.

There are 41 games remaining in the regular season - Houston is a dreadful 39-82, the worst record in the major leagues - so it would be a more substantial period of time than Clark had as an interim manager last time, after Cecil Cooper was fired.

Clark went 4-9 at the tail end of the 2009 season and was interviewed for the "permanent" manager's job before Mills - Boston's bench coach - was hired. The Journal caught up with Clark in 2009 and talked about his stint as interim skipper.

Clark was a first-round draft pick by Cleveland in 1986 and went on to a 12-year big league career. He'll turn 50 on Sept. 3.

Updated with actual scores

The Massey Ratings formula went 20-8 (.714) in Week 1 games.

Original post:

It's that time again, and thanks to the USA Today High School Sports site - powered, I should note, by info provided by the Clarion Ledger - we can look to the Massey Ratings for projected scores from the first weekend of high school football.

The USAT prep site has been reworked this fall, and it contains some intersting features - even if I did find it a bit hard to navigate at first. As a USAT alumnus and current Gannett stockholder (sigh) I suggest you give it a look.

We started looking at these projected scores a couple of years ago, and the fact is that Massey's formula does a pretty good job of picking winners - often in the 75% range, which is way better than a coin flip. When all else fails, I say you always take the home team and it seems like this formula tends to follow that notion.

As far as accuracy on the projected scores - every week, there will be a couple that are almost scarily spot-on and a couple that are completely wrongheaded. But it is fun to watch.

Friday

Alcorn Central 32, Biggersville 26 (Actual: Alcorn Central 36-22)

Amory 41, Mooreville 20 (Amory 48-14)

Booneville 28, Walnut 10 (Booneville 35-15)

Bruce 29, Mound Bayou JFK 12 (Bruce 40-8)

Byhalia 28, Tishomingo County 20 (Byhalia 26-14)

Calhoun Academy at Sharkey Issaquena, “too close to call” (Calhoun Academy 20-6)

Calhoun City 41, Coffeeville 0 (Calhoun City 47-14)

Columbus 22, Aberdeen 14 (Columbus 21-0)

Falkner 33, Middleton, Tenn. 7 (Falkner 34-13)

Hamilton 35, Smithville 10 (Smithville won, 21-12)

Hatley 42, East Union 24 (East Union won, 45-20)

Holly Springs 24, Coldwater 21 (Coldwater won, 53-20)

Houston 42, South Pontotoc 8 (Houston 47-13)

Itawamba AHS 40, Saltillo 26 (Itawamba 17-7)

Kossuth 29, Baldwyn 14 (Baldwyn won, 22-6)

Lafayette 35, Tupelo 14 (Lafayette 8-3)

Marshall Academy 37, Magnolia Heights 21 (Marshall Academy 28-10)

Nettleton 28, Caledonia 21 (Caledonia won, 50-7)

New Albany 31, Ripley 7 (New Albany 28-21)

North Pontotoc 48, Mantachie 14 (North Pontotoc 19-16)

Okolona 36, Houlka 0 (Okolona 33-0)

Oxford 34, Grenada 26 (Oxford 28-22)

Pontotoc 28, Velma Jackson 21 (Pontotoc 24-6)

Potts Camp 28, H.W. Byers 20 (Potts Camp 32-6)

Shannon 33, Kosciusko 14 (Kosciusko won 41-30)

Starkville 22, Noxubee County 20 (Noxubee County won, 29-8)

Strayhorn 20, TCPS 14 (Strayhorn 45-0)

Vardaman 20, East Webster 13 (East Webster won, 30-14)

Saturday

South Panola 31, West Point 14 (South Panola 12-10)

ESPN.com has one of those way too early Bracketology projections out this week (behind the Insider paywall) and one of the things that caught my eye is that Ole Miss would be, wait for it, among the "Last Four Out" of the 2013 NCAA men's basketball tournament field.

Five SEC teams would make the cut: Kentucky (1 seed), Florida (3 seed), Missouri (6 seed), Tennessee (10 seed) and Alabama (11 seed).

That would be a poor overall effort by a newly expanded SEC, by the way, but it mainly makes me wonder if Andy Kennedy will survive another season at Ole Miss without making the Big Dance. If the Rebels don't make the field next season, that would be seven years in a row under Kennedy - his entire tenure - without an NCAA trip.

A program planning to build a new facility wants to go there on a high note. Coaches whose teams are underachieving when the program is about to move into a new gym sometimes find the team moving in without them.

Kennedy shared a couple of SEC West titles (2007, 2010) before those were done away with, but it's the total losses - double figures in each of his first six seasons - that have weighed again his team getting into the field. In that time, I don't think Ole Miss was done any great injustice in not making the field - nothing on the order of Mississippi State's egregious snub in 2010, at least.

I have said this before on radio appearances but I'm not sure I have written it down - a baskteball program in one of the "Big Six" conferences with any pretense to being competitive should able to make the field at least once every four years. More than that would be great, certainly, but a coach should be able to build and refill his roster to reach that point with some regularity. 

If Kennedy had a 2010 trip to the NCAAs on his resume, say, the conversation heading into next season would be perhaps not as urgent but still essentially the same - largely because of that new gym and the need to generate some sizzle for it.