SEC
TOP 25

Gridiron Gumbo

Author: T-Rohn

  • The 200 Club Meets the Midway: Tennessee’s 31-Game Ground Streak Walks Into a Run Defense Nobody Has Cracked

    The 200 Club Meets the Midway: Tennessee’s 31-Game Ground Streak Walks Into a Run Defense Nobody Has Cracked

    Under Josh Heupel, Tennessee is 37-2 when it runs for 200 yards and has won 31 straight of those games. South Carolina hasn’t let anybody run for even 136 this season. Add a 2-6 Vols record in Columbia since 2008, a point spread that flipped, and the State Fair across the street.

    By T-Rohn, Gridiron Gumbo · Posted Oct. 24, 2026

    CONFIRMED: No. 11 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) at South Carolina (3-3, 1-3), 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday on ESPN; both teams’ rushing and run-defense numbers; Tennessee’s No. 11 ranking and SEC-best scoring defense; the DraftKings spread, total and moneylines in “The Line Flipped,” as of 1:25 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 24, with the spread also matching VegasInsider’s DraftKings column; Tennessee as the opening favorite at -2.5 (DraftKings favorite at open). Official school facts, each credited to the school’s own notes, release or site: Tennessee’s 37-2 record and 31 straight wins when it runs for 200, its Columbia record, series history and 2022 details (Tennessee’s game notes); the Gamecocks’ record under Beamer when they rush for 200 or more yards (13-3), their four rushing touchdowns allowed, the Sellers and Fuller yards per carry, and the 2022 yardage (South Carolina’s release); and the State Fair dates, game-day parking, Elvis listing, Pegasus ride and new food (the fair’s own announcement). Game-by-game rushing totals are Gridiron Gumbo math from ESPN box scores. REPORTED: Sports Illustrated’s Vols site carrying the same 37-2 and 31-straight numbers; the Army, Air Force and Navy comparison (Tennessee’s notes only); Heupel’s quote (Sports Illustrated); and Beamer’s quotes (247Sports, with the Knowles quote also carried by On3), each a media report credited by outlet in the text. Sources are listed at the end.

    TAKE (joke):Down in Cajun country, a man who makes a good roux all his life doesn’t change it for nobody. You stir it till it’s the color of an old penny and you don’t apologize. Josh Heupel’s Tennessee has a roux like that. It’s 200 rushing yards.

    Tennessee has had 39 games of 200 or more rushing yards under Heupel and is 37-2 in them, and the Vols have won the last 31 in a row.1 Sports Illustrated’s Vols site reported the same numbers this week.2 REPORTED (Tennessee’s notes only): Army, Air Force and Navy are the only teams to reach 200 rushing yards in more games since 2021.1

    TAKE (joke):The Vols don’t just run the ball. They run it like a service academy with an SEC recruiting budget.

    Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Central, that recipe goes into a kitchen where nobody has been able to cook so far. No opponent has run for more than 135 yards on South Carolina this season.

    TAKE (joke):Knoxville to Columbia is one mountain range, one road crew and about nine gas stations that each swear they’ve got the best boiled peanuts. The Vols have made the drive plenty of times. The 200-yard streak is the only thing that has ever shown up on schedule.

    The Wall in Columbia

    South Carolina’s run defense allows 103.7 yards a game, third-best in the SEC and 25th in FBS.3, 4 That’s the season average. The game-by-game numbers are wilder.

    Gridiron Gumbo went through ESPN’s box scores for all six Gamecock games.5 Here’s what opponents ran for:

    | Opponent | Rushing yards vs. South Carolina |

    | — | — |

    | Kent State | 100 |

    | Towson | 21 |

    | Mississippi State | 135 |

    | at Alabama | 124 |

    | Kentucky | 122 |

    | at Florida | 120 |

    Nobody has reached 136. The closest was Mississippi State at 135, and in four SEC games South Carolina has allowed 125.3 rushing yards a game. Tennessee’s magic number is 200.

    TAKE (joke):That’s not a run defense. That’s a crawfish trap. Plenty of things swim in. Nothing swims out with 200.

    The Gamecocks have allowed just four rushing touchdowns all season, all in SEC play, tied with Texas for second-fewest in the SEC.4 Heupel noticed. “They’ve done a really good job against the run game this year,” he said on the Mike Keith Show, crediting the Gamecocks’ safeties for playing close to the box and tackling well.2

    TAKE (joke):Mississippi State got to 135 and missed the line by one yard. That’s the football version of pulling into the fais do-do just as the band plays the last song.

    Tennessee’s Roux Has Been Thinner in SEC Play

    Tennessee averages 217.1 rushing yards a game, second in the SEC behind South Carolina’s 232.3.3, 1, 4 The split looks different in league play: Furman, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State account for 896 of Tennessee’s 1,520 rushing yards this season, by Gridiron Gumbo’s count from ESPN box scores.5

    | Tennessee game | Rushing yards |

    | — | — |

    | Furman | 329 |

    | at Georgia Tech | 299 |

    | Kennesaw State | 268 |

    | Texas | 70 |

    | Auburn | 237 |

    | at Arkansas | 167 |

    | Alabama | 150 |

    Source: ESPN box scores (Gridiron Gumbo tally).

    In four SEC games, Tennessee has hit 200 exactly once, against Auburn. The Vols are averaging 156.0 rushing yards a game in league play. They are 3-0 in SEC games when they hit 150 or better and lost the only one when they didn’t, a 20-17 loss to then-No. 1 Texas when they ran for 70.

    TAKE (joke):Furman, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State were the buffet. SEC play is a plate lunch: one scoop, no seconds, and somebody’s already eyeing your roll.

    That lines up with the bigger history. Tennessee’s notes say Heupel’s Vols are 44-7 when they run for 150-plus and 1-7 when they’re held under 100.1 So the streak is about 200, but 150 has been the dividing line in Tennessee’s results.

    TAKE (joke):Mawmaw always said if you can’t find andouille, smoked sausage will do. If Tennessee can’t find 200 in Columbia, 150 and a whole lot of defense is the substitute.

    The Vols’ leading rusher is senior DeSean Bishop. He has 837 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns, and Tennessee’s notes say 517 of those yards came in the second half, the most in the country.1 He ran 32 times for 159 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama last week.1 Bishop is also 23 yards from passing Montario Hardesty (2,391) for 10th on Tennessee’s career rushing list.1 Those yards would come against a defense that has allowed no opponent more than 135 rushing yards this season.

    TAKE (joke):Twenty-three yards is two first downs and one long argument with the fella holding the chains. Somewhere in Knoxville, a man has already done that math on a napkin.

    The Other Half of the Gumbo

    The flip side matters just as much. South Carolina has the SEC’s top rushing offense at 232.3 yards a game.3, 1, 4 LaNorris Sellers leads the SEC at 6.1 yards a carry and Matt Fuller ranks third at 6.0.4 And Tennessee’s run defense allows about 121 yards a game, 42nd in FBS.3, 1 The Vols’ defense also leads FBS with 30 sacks and has allowed the fewest points in the SEC (14.7 a game).6, 1

    TAKE (joke):Two kitchens, one stove. Somebody’s about to get a spoon across the knuckles, and Mawmaw’s not taking sides.

    But South Carolina’s own 200-yard magic has been a little less magic this year. The Gamecocks are 13-3 under Shane Beamer when they run for 200.4 They’ve done it four times this season.4 By Gridiron Gumbo’s count from ESPN box scores, those four were 278 yards against Kent State and more than 400 against Towson, both wins, then 216 in a 49-18 loss at Alabama and 232 in a 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky.5 If that 13-3 includes this season, two of the three losses came on Sept. 26 and Oct. 3.

    TAKE (joke):South Carolina’s ground game is like a great Cajun two-step. Beautiful to watch, and it’ll still get you stepped on if the other fella’s got better shoes.

    Tennessee’s Columbia Problem

    Tennessee has won four of the last five meetings, though the NCAA vacated the 2019 and 2020 wins.1, 7 Columbia is a different story.

    TAKE (joke):Winning four of five meetings and still dreading one address is like winning every card game at the family reunion and still getting the folding chair by the bathroom door.

    Tennessee has gone 2-6 on its last eight visits to Williams-Brice Stadium,1 and South Carolina’s release says the same thing from the other side: the Gamecocks have won six of eight at home in the series, starting with a 27-6 win on Nov. 1, 2008.4 UT’s series list shows three of those six losses came by exactly three points: 38-35 in 2012, 24-21 in 2016 and 27-24 in 2018.1 One of Tennessee’s two wins in that stretch, 31-27 in 2020, is among the wins the NCAA later vacated.1

    TAKE (joke):Three losses by exactly three points. At some point that’s not bad luck, that’s a standing reservation.

    Then there’s the last visit. On Nov. 19, 2022, unranked South Carolina beat No. 5 Tennessee 63-38.1, 4 South Carolina’s release says the Gamecocks piled up 606 yards, and Spencer Rattler went 30-of-37 for 438 yards and six touchdowns.4 Tennessee’s notes call it the highest-scoring game in series history, at 101 points.1

    TAKE (joke):A hundred and one points in one night. Somewhere a scoreboard operator is still asking about overtime pay.

    Beamer said he barely brought it up this week. He told reporters Tuesday that Peyton Williams was the only one he thought was still around from that night, which he called “magical.”8 The more useful lesson, he said, is how well South Carolina played in all three phases, and he stressed that this week’s opponent is a completely different Tennessee team.

    Here’s one more wrinkle from UT’s notes. The last five Tennessee games in Columbia all kicked off at night. Saturday’s game is the first daytime kickoff between these two at Williams-Brice since Oct. 27, 2012. Under Heupel, Tennessee is 6-3 in road games played during the day and 7-8 in road games at night.1

    TAKE (joke):So Tennessee finally gets to see Williams-Brice in daylight. Whether that’s good news depends on whether you think the ghosts only come out after dark.

    The Line Flipped

    ESPN’s odds board flags Tennessee as DraftKings’ favorite at the open, and ESPN’s preview and VegasInsider’s opening-line column both list Tennessee -2.5.3, 9, 10 As of 1:25 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 24, DraftKings listed South Carolina -2.5 (-110) and Tennessee +2.5 (-110) on the spread, a game total of 50.5 (over -110, under -110), and moneylines of South Carolina -135 and Tennessee +114, per ESPN’s odds board.9 VegasInsider’s DraftKings column shows the same spread.10

    Lines can change before kickoff. These figures are a snapshot for context, not advice, and Gridiron Gumbo is not recommending a side or a bet. How Gridiron Gumbo handles betting content: https://gridirongumbo.com/picks-disclaimer/

    21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

    That is a five-point swing from the open, toward a 3-3 team over a ranked 6-1 team. We don’t know what moved the number. South Carolina had an open date after its 38-19 win at Florida on Oct. 10, and Saturday is Tennessee’s eighth straight week with a game.1 The Vols are off on Halloween.

    Beamer was asked about that grind and didn’t oversell it. “Maybe you don’t want to stop,” he said of a team playing well, adding that he thinks the effect of a bye week gets blown out of proportion.8

    TAKE (joke):Rested team versus hot team. In my family, that’s the same fight as the cousin who slept in versus the cousin who’s been up since 4 a.m. stirring the pot. The one who slept in looks better. The one who’s been stirring knows where the spoon is.

    The Coach He Can’t Shake

    Tennessee’s new defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles, has been a recurring problem for Beamer, and Beamer said so himself at his Tuesday press conference. “I can’t get away from him,” he said.8, 11

    As Beamer told it, Knowles was Duke’s defensive coordinator while Beamer was an assistant at Virginia Tech, then Oklahoma State’s while Beamer was at Oklahoma, so they faced each other every year at both stops. He called Knowles “a nightmare” to prepare for. Now Beamer is at South Carolina, Knowles is at Tennessee, and they meet again.

    And Then There’s the Fair

    None of this happens in a quiet parking lot. The South Carolina State Fair runs Oct. 15-25 right across the street from Williams-Brice.12, 13 The fair’s own schedule lists Saturday as game day. It also lists “Matt Stone as Elvis” for Oct. 24 on the new Pepsi Plaza stage.12

    TAKE (joke):Elvis on the fair bill the same day as the game means plenty of folks in Columbia are going to be all shook up, and half of them will be holding something deep-fried.

    Fair parking jumps from $10 to $20 a car on game day only.12 South Carolina’s fan guide says tailgating isn’t allowed in the fair lots, and all of the athletics department’s parking is sold out.13 It’s the 21st straight sellout at Williams-Brice.4

    Beamer told fans to “get here early” because traffic with the fair across the street is going to be a challenge.8

    TAKE (joke):Columbia traffic on a fair-and-football Saturday works like a roux. Nothing moves fast, everybody’s stirring, and one wrong turn makes the whole thing stick.

    One of the fair’s new rides is called Pegasus, and new fair food this year includes a Reese’s Donut Burger.12

    TAKE (joke):Pegasus: spins, flips and no idea where you’ll land. Cher, that’s not a carnival ride. That’s a Tennessee trip to Columbia since 2008.

    TAKE (joke):The Reese’s Donut Burger is the only thing near Williams-Brice with no trouble getting past the line of scrimmage, and neither defense is going to stop it.

    The Bottom Line

    The SEC’s top two rushing offenses meet on a day the fairgrounds next door will be serving a donut burger. One team needs 200 rushing yards to keep a 31-game streak alive, and it plays a defense that hasn’t let anybody get to 136. The other team wants 200 too, and it hasn’t always worked out lately.

    TAKE (joke):Two of the SEC’s best running teams, one fairground and zero patience. Back home in Cajun country we call that a family reunion.

    Both teams know the number they want. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

    Sources

    1. Tennessee Athletics, Game 8 notes at South Carolina (39 200-yard games, 37-2, 31 straight; service-academy note; 150+/under-100 splits; day/night road splits; eighth straight week; series list and Columbia record; 2022 game and 101 points; 2019 and 2020 wins vacated by the NCAA (the 2020 win at Columbia is one of them); first day kickoff since Oct. 27, 2012; Bishop second-half yards and career list; 30 sacks; MacIntyre starts): https://utsports.com/documents/download/2026/10/19/G8_UT_Notes_SC.pdf ↩ Back to story
    2. Charles Mays, Sports Illustrated (Vols), “Josh Heupel previews No. 11 Tennessee at South Carolina on the Mike Keith Show,” Oct. 2026 (Heupel quote; 37-2 and 31 straight; 30 sacks): https://www.si.com/college/tennessee/football/josh-heupel-previews-no-11-tennessee-at-south-carolina-on-the-mike-keith-show-01m5k86sry3t ↩ Back to story
    3. ESPN (Data Skrive), “No. 11 Tennessee squares off against South Carolina in SEC play,” game preview (records, kickoff, ESPN, opening line Tennessee by 2.5, team rushing/defense stats and FBS ranks): https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856731/tennessee-south-carolina and https://www.espn.com/college-football/preview//gameId/401856731 ↩ Back to story
    4. South Carolina Athletics, “South Carolina Welcomes No. 11/11 Tennessee Saturday Afternoon,” Oct. 23, 2026 (6-of-8 at home since 2008; 2022 63-38 details; 21st straight sellout; State Fair across the street; SEC-leading 232.3 rush offense; No. 3 SEC rush defense; four rushing TDs allowed; Sellers and Fuller yards per carry; 13-3 under Beamer with 200+; four 200-yard games this season; Kent State/Towson/Alabama/Kentucky rushing totals): https://gamecocksonline.com/news/2026/10/23/south-carolina-welcomes-no-11-11-tennessee-saturday-afternoon/ ↩ Back to story
    5. ESPN box scores used for the Gridiron Gumbo rushing tally — South Carolina: Kent State https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856665 ; Towson https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856680 ; Mississippi State https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856691 ; at Alabama https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856696 ; Kentucky https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856709 ; at Florida https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856714 . Tennessee: Furman https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856666 ; at Georgia Tech https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856681 ; Kennesaw State https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856692 ; Texas https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856704 ; Auburn https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856710 ; at Arkansas https://www.espn.com/college-football/game//gameId/401856713 ; Alabama https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856723 ↩ Back to story
    6. Maura Carey, Associated Press (via Yahoo Sports), “SEC Week 8: No. 7 Ole Miss heads to No. 19 Texas…,” Oct. 23, 2026 (No. 11 Tennessee; Tennessee fewest points allowed, 14.7): https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sec-week-8-no-7-003338959.html ↩ Back to story
    7. Tennessee Athletics, “FB PREVIEW: Streaking #11/11 Vols Visit South Carolina…,” Oct. 23, 2026 (2-6 in last eight trips to Williams-Brice; four of last five meetings; Bishop vs. Alabama; 23 yards from top 10): https://utsports.com/news/2026/10/23/football-fb-preview-streaking-11-11-vols-visit-south-carolina-for-challenging-road-tilt-against-gamecocks ↩ Back to story
    8. Patrick Brown, 247Sports, “What South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer said about playing Tennessee,” Oct. 2026 (Beamer comments on 2022, the bye week, Knowles and the fair): https://247sports.com/college/tennessee/longformarticle/shane-beamer-south-carolina-gamecocks-head-coach-tennessee-vols-game-preview-josh-heupel-jim-knowles-291578542/ ↩ Back to story
    9. ESPN odds board (DraftKings), Tennessee at South Carolina, checked about 1:05 p.m. CT and rechecked 1:25 p.m. CT Oct. 24, 2026 (SC -2.5 (-110), total 50.5 (-110/-110), SC -135 / TENN +114; Tennessee flagged as DraftKings favorite at open): https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856731/tennessee-south-carolina ↩ Back to story
    10. VegasInsider, college football odds, DraftKings column (Tennessee +2.5 -110 / South Carolina -2.5 -110) and opening-line column (Tennessee -2.5), DraftKings column rechecked about 1:26 p.m. CT Oct. 24, 2026 (spread unchanged), opening-line column fetched about 1:15 p.m. CT: https://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/odds/las-vegas/ ↩ Back to story
    11. On3, “Shane Beamer says he can’t escape ‘nightmare’ in Jim Knowles,” Oct. 2026 (Knowles comments, second source): https://www.on3.com/teams/tennessee-volunteers/news/shane-beamer-jim-knowles-nightmare-cant-escape-tennessee-defense-south-carolina/ ↩ Back to story
    12. South Carolina State Fair, “South Carolina State Fair Announces 2026 Lineup, New Foods, Rides and More,” Oct. 7, 2026 (Oct. 15-25 dates; Oct. 24 game day; Matt Stone as Elvis Oct. 24; $20 game-day parking; Pegasus ride; new foods): https://www.scstatefair.org/media/south-carolina-state-fair-announces-2026-lineup-new-foods-rides-and-more/ and https://www.scstatefair.org/ ↩ Back to story
    13. South Carolina Athletics, “Know Before You Go: Tennessee 2026,” Oct. 19, 2026 (fair lots, no tailgating in fair lots, athletics lots sold out): https://gamecocksonline.com/news/2026/10/19/know-before-you-go-tennessee-2026/ ↩ Back to story
    14. Gridiron Gumbo, picks and betting disclaimer: https://gridirongumbo.com/picks-disclaimer/
  • Sooner or Later: Oklahoma Meets Its Last SEC Stranger

    Sooner or Later: Oklahoma Meets Its Last SEC Stranger

    Oklahoma has met 14 of the SEC’s other 15 teams. Mississippi State is the last, and Saturday’s first-ever meeting comes with a Bulldogs head coach, athletic director, three assistants, an analyst and three players who all have Oklahoma ties.

    By T-Rohn, Gridiron Gumbo · Posted Oct. 24, 2026

    CONFIRMED: Oklahoma (3-3, 1-2 SEC) at Mississippi State (4-2, 2-2), 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday on SEC Network; this being the first-ever meeting and Mississippi State being the only SEC program OU has never played; the availability statuses below, including Kamario Taylor, Fluff Bothwell and Zakari Tillman not appearing on the list, per the SEC’s official game-day availability report (posted 1:00 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 24; read on the SEC’s site at 1:05 p.m. CT); Mississippi State dropping out of the AP Top 25 after its 31-0 loss at LSU; the Texas series results and Texas’s Oct. 31 game against Mississippi State; the Oklahoma ties of the coaches, athletic director and players; the DraftKings numbers in the odds snapshot. REPORTED: that quarterback Kamario Taylor and running back Fluff Bothwell will be available (unnamed sources, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel, in a story last updated 10:48 a.m. CT Saturday); On3’s report from Chris Low and Pete Nakos on Friday that Taylor was expected to play; Taylor missing the LSU game and Lebby’s “day-to-day” comment (Field Level Media, via CBS Sports); Lebby’s quotes (On3 and The Commercial Dispatch); Stoops’s quotes (Clarion Ledger, via USA TODAY Network); Bates’s quote and the tempo numbers (247Sports, citing TruMedia); and Tanner Schafer’s walk-on background (USA TODAY Network), each a single-outlet item. Sources are listed at the end.

    Midway through its third SEC season, Oklahoma has one blank page left in the passport.

    TAKE (joke):Getting from Norman to Starkville is easy. Head east until the wheat turns into pine trees, keep going until your phone stops pretending it knows where you are, then ask the first man at a gas station. He’ll say it’s “just up the road,” which in Mississippi is a unit of measurement.

    “Mississippi State is the lone SEC program Oklahoma has never played in football,” OU’s official game notes say.1 Mississippi State’s notes put it the same way: Saturday’s meeting “will be the first on a football field between Mississippi State and Oklahoma.”2 Field Level Media, in a preview carried by CBS Sports, calls it the “first-ever meeting.”3

    Fourteen of 15 checked off. One left.

    TAKE (joke):OU joined the league in 2024 and is just now meeting Mississippi State. That’s like marrying into a Cajun family and not meeting Nonc Boo until the third Thanksgiving. He’s been out back frying turkeys the whole time, cher. You just never walked that far.

    Here’s the kicker. Texas, which joined the SEC the same day as OU (July 1, 2024),1 has already played Mississippi State twice: a 35-13 Longhorns win in Austin on Sept. 28, 2024, and a 45-38 overtime win in Starkville on Oct. 25, 2025.4 The Bulldogs visit Austin again next Saturday, Oct. 31, at 6:30 p.m. CT.5, 6 Next weekend, then, Texas will have faced State three seasons in a row. Oklahoma will have faced them once.

    TAKE (joke):Texas and Mississippi State are practically cousins at this point. OU and Mississippi State are two folks at the same crawfish boil who keep nodding at each other across the table but never actually got introduced.

    The Strangers Aren’t Really Strangers

    The two programs have never shared a field. But walk the Mississippi State sideline Saturday and an OU fan might feel right at home.

    TAKE (joke):Starkville on game day has exactly one traffic plan: everybody goes to the same place, slowly, and nobody gets mad until somebody takes the shortcut everybody else already took.

    The head coach. Jeff Lebby signed with Oklahoma as an offensive lineman in the 2002 class.1, 7 An injury ended his playing career, and he stayed on for four years as a student assistant.1, 2 He is a 2007 OU graduate.2 He returned in 2022 and 2023 as offensive coordinator under Brent Venables, and OU’s notes credit his 2023 offense with the No. 3 spot nationally in total offense (507.0 yards a game) and No. 4 in scoring (41.7 points a game); USA TODAY Network lists the same two ranks.1, 8 Mississippi State named him head coach on Nov. 26, 2023.2

    Lebby said Monday that Stoops “was kind enough” to keep him on scholarship as a student assistant after the injury, and that’s “what got me into (coaching).”9 Asked whether Saturday carries extra personal weight, Lebby said no. He told reporters the game “means a ton” because it’s another chance at an SEC win and a 5-2 record, The Commercial Dispatch of Columbus, Miss., reported.7

    Stoops, the coach who signed him, told the Clarion Ledger he “loved watching him here at OU” and that Lebby’s success is “not surprising to me,” as quoted by USA TODAY Network.8, 10

    The athletic director. Zac Selmon, Mississippi State’s AD, is a Norman native who worked in OU’s athletic department as senior associate AD and later deputy AD.1, 7 His family name has deep roots in Norman: his father is Dewey Selmon, a College Football Hall of Famer, and his uncles are Lucious Selmon, a unanimous All-American in 1973, and Lee Roy Selmon, who is enshrined in both the college and pro halls.1

    TAKE (joke):Hiring a Selmon to run your athletic department, then having the SEC send Oklahoma to your stadium, is like moving to Breaux Bridge, getting a Boudreaux to run your kitchen, then watching the whole Boudreaux family show up for supper. Somebody’s gonna get emotional and somebody’s gonna check the roux.

    The offensive line coach. Phil Loadholt played tackle at OU in 2007 and 2008, when the Sooners went 23-5 and took the Big 12 title both years.1 He earned first-team all-league honors as a senior and came back to Norman as an offensive analyst in 2022 and 2023.

    The tight ends coach. Jon Cooper, Mississippi State’s tight ends coach and run game coordinator, played center for OU from 2005 to 2008.1 He made second-team All-Big 12 in 2008, was part of three league title teams under Stoops and served as an OU offensive analyst in 2022.

    The quarterbacks coach. Kevin Johns arrived at OU in 2024 as an offensive analyst and was elevated to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in October 2024, per OU’s announcement on Oct. 20, 2024.11 He coached quarterbacks at Oklahoma State in 2025, and Mississippi State announced his hire on Dec. 28, 2025.12 MSU’s notes list him as the Bulldogs’ quarterbacks coach.2

    The analyst. Tanner Schafer is a quarterback analyst on Mississippi State’s staff.2 USA TODAY Network describes him as a former walk-on quarterback for the Sooners.8

    The players. OU’s notes count three former Sooners on Mississippi State’s roster, and Mississippi State’s notes mark Dolby and Ragins as Oklahoma transfers.1, 2 Wide receiver Zion Ragins, a redshirt sophomore from Macon, Ga., has started all six games and has 12 catches for 188 yards and four touchdowns.2 Safety Kendel Dolby, a sixth-year player from Springfield, Ohio, has 27 tackles and made his first start of the season at LSU.2 Offensive lineman Isaiah Dent, a redshirt sophomore from Fulton, Miss., was at OU in 2024 and 2025,1 and has appeared in five games with no starts.2

    Count them up: a head coach, an AD, three assistant coaches, an analyst and three players. That’s at least nine people with documented OU ties on one side of a game between two schools that have never met, by our count of the schools’ notes, releases and news reports.

    TAKE (joke):Nine people with Oklahoma roots on one sideline means the pregame hugs need a seating chart, a sign-up sheet and somebody’s aunt to explain how everybody is related.

    TAKE (joke):Somebody check the visitors’ locker room. If Mississippi State’s equipment staff left a “Welcome Home” sign up by accident, that’s not a mind game. That’s just Southern manners.

    Familiarity Cuts Both Ways

    Lebby sees the connection running in both directions. “There’s a ton of familiarity both ways,” he said of facing Venables.9 He also ranked Venables among the best defensive play-callers in college football over the past 12 to 15 years.

    Oklahoma associate head coach Todd Bates saw Lebby’s offense up close for two seasons. He described it Tuesday as “almost warp speed at times.”13, 14 Bates stood in for Venables at the weekly press conference.13

    The tempo numbers fit that description. Citing TruMedia, 247Sports reports that Mississippi State snaps the ball every 23.5 seconds, seventh-fastest in FBS and trailing only Auburn and Ole Miss in the SEC. Oklahoma sits at 28.7 seconds, 102nd nationally.13

    TAKE (joke):Lebby’s offense snaps the ball faster than my Mawmaw snaps a green bean. OU’s offense prefers a more relaxed schedule, like a Sunday drive down Highway 90 behind a cane truck.

    Mississippi State’s notes describe the matchup as the SEC’s fourth-best total offense against the league’s second-best total defense.2 OU’s notes show the Sooners allowing 260.7 yards a game (fifth in FBS) and holding opponents to a 25.6 percent third-down conversion rate (second in FBS).1 Mississippi State averages 454.3 yards a game (22nd in FBS).2

    The Availability Report and the Quarterback Question

    The SEC’s official game-day availability report for this game was posted at 1:00 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 24, and we read it on the SEC’s site at 1:05 p.m. CT.15 The game-day report replaces Friday’s list (posted 7:10 p.m. CT Oct. 23) and can list only Available, Game Time Decision or Out. The SEC’s policy says Out can cover reasons other than injury.

    • Oklahoma: Out are linebacker Taylor Heim, wide receivers Trell Harris and Elijah Thomas, running back Xavier Robinson, tight end Trynae Washington, defensive backs Eli Bowen and Jacobe Johnson, and offensive linemen Eddy Pierre-Louis and Ryan Fodje. Thomas was doubtful and Bowen was questionable on Friday’s report. Offensive linemen Michael Fasusi and Heath Ozaeta, both questionable on Friday, are not on the game-day list.
    • Mississippi State: Out are safety Isaac Smith, linebacker Jalen Smith, wide receiver Ayden Williams and defensive linemen Trevion Williams and Diesel Moye. No Bulldog is listed as a game-time decision.
    • Not listed: Quarterback Kamario Taylor, who was questionable on Friday’s report, does not appear on the game-day report. Neither do running back Fluff Bothwell (questionable earlier in the week)16 or linebacker Zakari Tillman. Under the SEC’s availability policy, as published by Sports Illustrated, a player who isn’t on the report is regarded as available.17

    Taylor’s status matters because of what he has done when on the field. Mississippi State’s notes say the sophomore from Macon, Miss., leads all SEC quarterbacks at 290.0 passing yards a game and leads the league with 17 touchdown passes, in five games played.2 ESPN says he also leads the SEC in total offense at 321.8 yards a game.18 Field Level Media reported that he missed last week’s 31-0 loss at LSU, and Lebby called his status “day-to-day” on Monday.3

    REPORTED: Sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that Taylor and Bothwell will both be available Saturday, in a story ESPN last updated at 10:48 a.m. CT.18 ESPN says Taylor took significantly more practice snaps this week. It lists Bothwell, who has 403 rushing yards, as the team’s leading rusher. On3’s Chris Low and Pete Nakos reported Friday that Taylor was expected to play.16 The SEC’s game-day report, posted at 1:00 p.m. CT, now matches those reports: neither player is on it, which under SEC policy means available.

    (Gridiron Gumbo note: no jokes here. We wish both teams a healthy afternoon.)

    The Cowbells and the Blackout

    Mississippi State’s game notes trace the cowbell’s rocky legal history. In 1974 the SEC banned artificial noisemakers, which put a cowbell out of bounds at games. The conference reached a compromise in spring 2010, and cowbells returned to Davis Wade Stadium that fall on a one-year trial with restrictions, the first time in 36 years. The notes say they have been allowed at home games since, with similar restrictions.2 Saturday is also a blackout, with the Bulldogs in black helmets, jerseys and pants.19

    TAKE (joke):The SEC spent 36 years deciding a cowbell was too loud, and then one compromise and a list of restrictions made it legal again. That’s the most Southern part of this story: nobody won the argument, they just got tired and wrote a rule.

    This is only Oklahoma’s second football trip to Mississippi; the first was a loss at Ole Miss in 2024.1 The Sooners have been solid on the road for years, though: OU’s notes say they’ve won 38 of their last 52 true road games going back to 2014.1

    TAKE (joke):Welcome to Starkville, Sooners. Bring earplugs and an open mind. The cowbell has a 36-year grudge and a lot of free time.

    TAKE (joke):Helmets, jerseys and pants all in one color, with cowbells in the stands. That’s not a uniform. That’s a weather advisory.

    The Odds Snapshot

    As of 1:06 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 24, DraftKings listed Oklahoma -1.5 (-112) and Mississippi State +1.5 (-108) on the spread, a game total of 49.5 (over -105, under -115), and moneylines of Oklahoma -122 and Mississippi State +102, per ESPN’s odds feed, matching VegasInsider’s DraftKings column.20 Lines can change before kickoff, and these figures are a snapshot for context, not advice. How Gridiron Gumbo handles betting content: https://gridirongumbo.com/picks-disclaimer/

    21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

    The Bottom Line

    One game doesn’t make a rivalry, and we won’t call this one that. It does start a series, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, with a head coach who learned the business in Norman, an athletic director from a family with deep Sooner roots, and three former Sooners on the Bulldogs’ roster.

    TAKE (joke):Most rivalries start with a grudge. This one starts with a family reunion, which in the South is where most grudges come from.

    The return trip is already booked. Mississippi State’s notes say the Bulldogs’ first trip to Norman is set for 2028.2

    Oklahoma finally meets the last relative at the table, and both sides already know plenty about each other.

    TAKE (joke):Last stamp in the passport, last cousin at the table and last plate of gumbo in the pot. In Louisiana we call that a good Saturday. In Oklahoma they call it “finally.”

    Sources

    1. Oklahoma Athletics, Game 7 notes, OU at Mississippi State (records, first meeting, “lone SEC program,” Lebby, Selmon, Loadholt, Cooper bios, former OU players on MSU’s roster, second trip to Mississippi, road record, July 1, 2024 SEC entry, defensive rankings): https://soonersports.com/documents/download/2026/10/21/07_OUatMississippi_State.pdf ↩ Back to story
    2. Mississippi State Athletics, game notes vs. Oklahoma (first meeting, 2028 return game, blackout, Lebby bio, staff list incl. Johns and Schafer, roster, Ragins, Dolby and Dent, Taylor stats, offensive rankings, cowbell history): https://static.hailstate.com/custompages/pdf/fb/2026/26FB_1024_OU_Notes.pdf ↩ Back to story
    3. Field Level Media (via CBS Sports), “Oklahoma, Mississippi State face QB questions in first-ever meeting,” Oct. 21, 2026 (Lebby “day-to-day” quote; Taylor missed LSU; first-ever meeting): https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/oklahoma-mississippi-state-face-qb-questions-in-first-ever-meeting/ ↩ Back to story
    4. Mississippi State Athletics, football history vs. Texas (Sept. 28, 2024, and Oct. 25, 2025, meetings): https://hailstate.com/sports/football/opponent-history/texas/145 ↩ Back to story
    5. Texas Athletics, 2026 football schedule (Mississippi State at Texas, Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m. CT): https://texaslonghorns.com/sports/football/schedule/2026 ↩ Back to story
    6. Mississippi State Athletics, 2026 football schedule (at Texas, Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m.): https://hailstate.com/sports/football/schedule/2026 ↩ Back to story
    7. Jake McMahon, The Commercial Dispatch (Columbus, Miss.), “‘A ton of familiarity’: Lebby, MSU football have strong ties to Oklahoma,” Oct. 21, 2026: https://cdispatch.com/sports/a-ton-of-familiarity-lebby-msu-football-have-strong-ties-to-oklahoma/ ↩ Back to story
    8. Austin Curtright, USA TODAY Network, “Oklahoma hasn’t figured out offense since Jeff Lebby left. Now, they face off,” Oct. 24, 2026 (Stoops quotes via the Clarion Ledger; Schafer walk-on detail; OU’s 2023 offensive ranks; readable syndicated copy at Yahoo Sports): https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/oklahoma-hasnt-figured-offense-since-100200727.html (original: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2026/10/24/oklahoma-mississippi-state-jeff-lebby-offensive-coordinator/92363696007/) ↩ Back to story
    9. Colin Damms, On3 / Maroon and White Football, “Points of Focus: Mississippi State HC Jeff Lebby speaks on Oklahoma matchup,” Oct. 19, 2026 (Lebby quotes): https://www.on3.com/teams/mississippi-state-bulldogs/news/points-of-focus-mississippi-state-hc-jeff-lebby/ ↩ Back to story
    10. Clarion Ledger (USA TODAY Network), “How Bob Stoops knew Jeff Lebby could coach, even as an Oklahoma freshman,” Oct. 21, 2026 (Stoops quotes; carried by the Hattiesburg American): https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/sports/college/mississippi-state/2026/10/21/jeff-lebby-mississippi-state-oklahoma-bob-stoops/92281866007/ ↩ Back to story
    11. Oklahoma Athletics, “Venables Announces Offensive Coordinator Change,” Oct. 20, 2024 (Johns elevation): https://soonersports.com/news/2024/10/20/football-venables-announces-offensive-coordinator-change ↩ Back to story
    12. Mississippi State Athletics, “Mississippi State Strengthens Offensive Staff With Addition Of Kevin Johns,” Dec. 28, 2025: https://hailstate.com/news/2025/12/28/football-mississippi-state-strengthens-offensive-staff-with-addition-of-kevin-johns ↩ Back to story
    13. Tom Green, 247Sports, “What Oklahoma expects from Jeff Lebby’s Mississippi State offense…,” Oct. 2026 (Bates quote; TruMedia tempo figures): https://247sports.com/college/mississippi-state/article/what-oklahoma-expects-from-jeff-lebby-miss-state-offense-291567601/ ↩ Back to story
    14. Ryan Chapman, Sports Illustrated (OU), “Oklahoma ‘Ready’ for Showdown With Former Offensive Coordinator Jeff Lebby,” Oct. 2026 (Bates quote): https://www.si.com/college/oklahoma/football/oklahoma-ready-for-showdown-with-former-offensive-coordinator-jeff-lebby-01m5gspktgfq ↩ Back to story
    15. SEC Student-Athlete Availability Report, football, “Game Day Report” posted 1:00 p.m. CT Oct. 24, 2026, read 1:05 p.m. CT Oct. 24, 2026 (Friday report posted 7:10 p.m. CT Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.secsports.com/fbreports ↩ Back to story
    16. On3 (Chris Low and Pete Nakos), “Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor expected to play against Oklahoma,” Oct. 23, 2026 (REPORTED): https://www.on3.com/news/mississippi-state-qb-kamario-taylor-expected-to-play-against-oklahoma/ ↩ Back to story
    17. Sports Illustrated, “SEC Announces Policies and Procedures for New Availability Report” (SEC policy text: players not on a report are regarded as available): https://www.si.com/college/oklahoma/football/sec-announces-policies-and-procedures-for-new-availability-report-01j6ytq381jt ↩ Back to story
    18. ESPN (Pete Thamel; Max Olson contributed), “Sources: Mississippi State eyes return for QB Taylor, RB Bothwell,” first posted 8:25 a.m. ET (7:25 a.m. CT) Oct. 24, 2026, last updated 11:48 a.m. ET (10:48 a.m. CT) (Taylor and Bothwell, REPORTED; Taylor’s 321.8 total-offense figure; Bothwell’s 403 rushing yards): https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50265129/sources-mississippi-state-eyes-return-taylor-bothwell ↩ Back to story
    19. Mississippi State Athletics, “State Hosts Sooners On Saturday At Davis Wade Stadium,” Oct. 23, 2026 (kickoff, SEC Network, blackout, first meeting): https://hailstate.com/news/2026/10/23/football-state-hosts-sooners-on-saturday-at-davis-wade-stadium ↩ Back to story
    20. ESPN odds feed (DraftKings), Oklahoma at Mississippi State, checked 1:06 p.m. CT Oct. 24, 2026 (cross-checked against VegasInsider’s DraftKings column): https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856730 ↩ Back to story
    21. Gridiron Gumbo, picks and betting disclaimer: https://gridirongumbo.com/picks-disclaimer/
    22. Maura Carey, Associated Press (via Yahoo Sports), “SEC Week 8: No. 7 Ole Miss heads to No. 19 Texas…,” Oct. 23, 2026 (Mississippi State dropped out of the rankings after its loss to LSU): https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sec-week-8-no-7-003338959.html
  • Louisiana
    The Bubble Bowl: DeRidder and St. Louis Catholic Are Both Living Near the Playoff Cutoff, and They Play Each Other Thursday, Oct. 29

    The Bubble Bowl: DeRidder and St. Louis Catholic Are Both Living Near the Playoff Cutoff, and They Play Each Other Thursday, Oct. 29

    Subhead: With two regular-season weeks left, the LHSAA’s own power-rating sheet puts a crowd of Southwest Louisiana teams within a few tenths of a point of the cut. Here’s who’s sweating, who isn’t, and why a loss to an unbeaten team can actually move a number up.

    By T-Rohn | Gridiron Gumbo | Oct. 24, 2026

    REPORTED: facts per the LHSAA’s official power-rating reports and 2026 football bulletin and other published sources (see Sources at the end)

    The scoreboard tells you who won Friday. The LHSAA’s power-rating sheet tells you whether it’s going to matter in November. For DeRidder and St. Louis Catholic, that question gets its first real test Thursday, Oct. 29, when the two meet at St. Louis Catholic (7 p.m. kickoff).1

    That sheet got its newest update at 12:02 p.m. Saturday, with Friday’s results added, and it says something the standings don’t. Southwest Louisiana has a whole row of teams sitting right near the playoff cutoff, and two of them, DeRidder and St. Louis Catholic, go into that game with both of their numbers on the table.

    TAKE (joke): Southwest Louisiana will argue about a hundredth of a point the way it argues about roux, boudin and who has the best cracklins: loudly, with total confidence and without a calculator.

    One more thing makes Thursday matter: it’s a District 3-3A game. DeRidder is 3-1 in district and St. Louis Catholic is 2-2.1 Jennings, at 5-0, has already clinched at least a share of the title (our standings box, Gridiron Gumbo math) and holds a 36-31 win over DeRidder. TAKE: that makes second place and the power rating the realistic road for both teams.

    One catch: they’re in different brackets. DeRidder is in Non-Select Division II. St. Louis Catholic is in Select Division III. So Thursday isn’t a straight swap where one team’s gain is the other’s loss. Both teams can stay in the field. Both can also slide toward the cutoff. It’s one game with two separate bubbles riding on it.

    Think of it as a crawfish boil with two pots on one burner.

    First, how this works (the short version)

    Every Louisiana bracket is filled the same way. Each certified district champion is in automatically. Every other spot goes to the highest power ratings, and the power rating seeds everybody, champions included, according to PrepRank’s explainer of the LHSAA handbook.2 The four Non-Select divisions take 28 teams each. The four Select divisions take 24.

    TAKE (joke): Twenty-eight spots, twenty-four spots, a decimal point and a handbook section number. It’s the only gumbo recipe that comes with footnotes.

    The formula itself is printed in the LHSAA’s 2026 football bulletin (handbook Section 14.12). Each game is worth:

    • 10 points for a win, 5 for a tie, 0 for a loss. The score itself never enters the formula, so a squeaker and a rout earn the same 10.
    • Plus the opponent’s winning percentage times 10. Beat (or lose to) an 8-0 team and that game adds 10.
    • Plus 2 points per division “up” when the opponent is bigger. PrepRank reads LHSAA’s sheets as giving those only when the opponent is higher in both class and division.

    Add up the games, divide by games played, and round to two decimals. That’s the number.

    Two things follow from that. First, a team’s number can change on a weekend it doesn’t play, because every opponent’s record is baked in and those records change every Friday. Second, a loss to an unbeaten team can be worth more than your current average. Hold that thought; it matters for Kinder.

    One more date worth circling: Saturday, Oct. 24, is the LHSAA’s deadline to add games to the schedule for power-rating purposes.3 The menu is set. Nobody’s ordering off it now.

    The Bubble Bowl: DeRidder at St. Louis Catholic, Thursday, Oct. 29

    DeRidder (5-3, 3-1 in District 3-3A) sits 24th of 44 in Non-Select Division II at 10.52.4, 1 That’s four spots inside the 28-team cutoff, but the gap is thin. Wossman holds the 28th spot at 9.97. Iota is 29th at 9.89.

    The Dragons got there mostly by winning. Their strength factor, the LHSAA’s measure of schedule difficulty (Section 14.13; PrepRank says it also breaks certain ties), is 6.00, which ranks 43rd of the 44 teams in the division. Their five wins, the latest a 24-20 win at Kinder on Friday (our recap), are doing the heavy lifting.

    Coach Brad Parmley put it in plain terms before the season. The goal, he said in August, is “to be at our best when it matters the most.” He also described “a tough schedule, a tough district.”5

    St. Louis Catholic (3-5, 2-2 in District 3-3A) is 22nd of 37 in Select Division III at 9.46, with the 24-team cutoff at Fisher, 8.80.6, 1 That’s a 3-5 team two spots inside the field, and there’s a reason.

    The Saints opened with Sulphur and Barbe, both Division I schools. Under PrepRank’s reading of the formula, a Division III team playing a Division I team picks up 4 play-up points, win or lose. Coach Chris Truax told KPLC on Oct. 7 that he likes to “play up in levels” so the Saints are “prepared” when district play arrives.7 KPLC’s story doesn’t quote him on the rating formula. The extra points are a side effect of the schedule, not a goal he described.

    TAKE (our math): the sheet’s number checks out. Sulphur and Barbe are worth 4 play-up points each, and LaGrange (4A, Division II, one division up from the Saints) adds 2 more. Add those to the eight games on the sheet and you get exactly 9.46. Without the LaGrange bonus, the rating would be closer to 9.21. Two Division I schools and a Division II school on the front end of the schedule are the reason a 3-5 team is sitting inside the field.

    The Saints are coming off a 42-35 win at Washington-Marion (our recap).

    What Thursday could do (TAKE: Gridiron Gumbo math, holding every other result on today’s sheet constant):

    If it wins ThursdayIf it loses Thursday
    DeRidder (24th, 10.52)about 10.83, which would rank 23rd on today’s sheetabout 9.84, which would rank 29th, outside the 28-team cutoff
    St. Louis Catholic (22nd, 9.46)about 10.14, which would rank 19thabout 9.15, still 22nd and still inside

    How the what-if math works (TAKE): each estimate uses (current rating × 8 + the new game’s points) ÷ 9, because each of these teams has eight games entered on the LHSAA sheet. A team with fewer games entered would work out differently, since both the divisor and the weight on its current rating would change.

    Here’s why the table isn’t symmetrical. DeRidder’s average is high enough that a loss to a 3-5 team pulls it down hard. St. Louis Catholic’s average is low enough that even a loss to a 6-3 team barely dents it, because DeRidder’s record still props up that game.

    TAKE (joke): It’s the only table in Southwest Louisiana that gets read more carefully than a menu on the first cool night of fall: for the prices, for the fine print and for what the other table ordered.

    Neither season ends Thursday. DeRidder closes against Iowa on Nov. 5. St. Louis Catholic finishes at Jennings on Nov. 6.1 Those games move numbers too. The district race is its own story, and we keep that one in our standings box.

    The rest of the bubble

    Sam Houston (3-5), Non-Select Division I: 25th of 36, 10.16. The cutoff (28th) is Central Lafourche at 9.76. The Broncos have played the toughest schedule in the division by the LHSAA’s strength factor (10.00, highest among the 36 teams), and two of their five losses came by a combined four points: 34-31 to East Ascension and 55-54 at Sulphur.1 Sam Houston plays St. Thomas More (6-2, 7th in Select Division I) Oct. 30 and New Iberia Nov. 6. TAKE (our math): a win over St. Thomas More would push the Broncos to about 10.88, roughly 18th on today’s sheet. A loss would drop them to about 9.90, about fourteen-hundredths above where the cutoff sits today.

    Kinder (1-7), Non-Select Division III: 27th of 42, 9.13. Yes, 1-7 and inside the cutoff. The Yellowjackets’ strength factor (8.38) ranks third in the division. Their schedule has included Eunice (8-0), Lake Charles College Prep (7-1 on the LHSAA sheet), Welsh and Lake Arthur.1 Next up is Notre Dame (8-0, No. 1 in Select Division III) at Kinder on Oct. 30,8 then Basile on Nov. 6. TAKE (our math): because Notre Dame is unbeaten, even a loss to the Pioneers would add a 10-point game, nudging Kinder up to about 9.23 (26th today). A win would mean about 10.21. That’s the formula, not a pep talk.

    TAKE (joke): In this formula, an unbeaten opponent is the cousin who shows up unannounced with a casserole: alarming at the door, useful by the time the math is done.

    Oakdale (2-6), Non-Select Division III: 25th, 9.38. The Warriors lost 42-40 to Avoyelles on Friday (our recap) and still sit three spots inside. They host Holy Savior Menard on Oct. 30 and play at Port Barre on Nov. 5.1 Keep an eye on that district race, too. If a team from outside the top 28 wins its district, it’s in automatically, and each of those bumps the lowest at-large team. TAKE: in Non-Select Division III right now, the teams that would feel that first are at 27th and 28th: Kinder and Many (9.09), with Oakdale two spots above.

    DeQuincy (2-6), Non-Select Division IV: 29th of 40, 9.00. The Tigers are three-hundredths of a point behind East Iberville (9.03) for the 28th spot after a 41-0 win over Pickering (our recap). They play at Sacred Heart (8-0, 3rd in Select Division IV) on Oct. 30 and host Rosepine (7-1) on Nov. 6.1, 9 TAKE (our math): if Sacred Heart is still unbeaten after that game, even a loss there would lift DeQuincy to about 9.11, which would edge past today’s 28th-place number by eight-hundredths. A win would mean about 10.10.

    That’s not a typo. In this formula, the toughest game left on your schedule can be your best rating game.

    Iota (4-4), Non-Select Division II: 29th, 9.89, 0.08 behind Wossman for the last spot. The Bulldogs have won three straight, and their defense has been a different unit lately. We dug into that in today’s other story.

    Washington-Marion (1-7), Select Division II: 29th of 34, 7.50. The 24th spot is The Willow School at 8.51. Washington-Marion plays at Iowa on Oct. 29 and hosts Westlake on Nov. 6.9

    Comfortable, for now

    Not everybody needs a calculator. On the LHSAA sheet as of its 12:02 p.m. Saturday update, these Southwest Louisiana teams sit well inside their cutoffs:

    • Non-Select Division I: Barbe (2nd, 14.46). Sulphur (18th, 10.78) is inside but has more work to do than Barbe.
    • Non-Select Division II: Leesville (6th, 13.15), Iowa (12th, 12.10).
    • Non-Select Division III: Jennings (3rd, 13.17), Rosepine (6th, 12.66), Church Point (14th, 11.50), South Beauregard (19th, 10.70).
    • Non-Select Division IV: Vinton (3rd, 14.59), Grand Lake (8th, 12.71), Lake Arthur (9th, 12.69), Welsh (11th, 12.41), Elton (16th, 11.59), East Beauregard (19th, 10.73), Merryville (21st, 10.06).
    • Select: Lake Charles College Prep (3rd in Division II, 13.83) and Notre Dame (1st in Division III, 15.86).

    Merryville’s spot is the shakiest of that group. It’s 1.03 above today’s 28th place.

    TAKE (joke): Being the shakiest of the comfortable is like being the coldest person in Louisiana in January: technically a complaint, practically a light jacket.

    The fine print

    This sheet is a snapshot, and it still has gaps. Schools enter their own scores into the LHSAA system. The 12:02 p.m. update picked up most of Friday’s results (Leesville now shows 7-1 after beating LaGrange), but not every one: Church Point, for example, still shows 5-2 on the sheet, while PrepRank lists the Friday win over Crowley that would make it 6-2. A few teams still show only seven games, which matters for the what-if math above. Every number in this story will move as those scores post and as opponents keep playing.

    Our “what if” math also holds everybody else still, which nobody in Louisiana has ever done on a Friday night. Treat it as a direction, not a seeding forecast. PrepRank, an independent site that recomputes the formula as scores post, had DeRidder at 10.00 on Saturday, about half a point below the LHSAA sheet’s 10.52, and slotted the Dragons 27th by rating instead of 24th. TAKE: the gap appears to trace to DeRidder’s Sept. 18 game against Newton, Texas, an out-of-state team whose record the two sites seem to carry differently (Newton is 5-2 on MaxPreps). We can’t see how either one treats it. If the LHSAA sheet were updated to Newton’s MaxPreps record, DeRidder’s number would move to about 10.58. The LHSAA’s own sheet is the one that counts, and that’s what we used.

    District first-place teams have to be certified by Friday, Nov. 6, and the regular season ends Saturday, Nov. 7. Bi-district games are Nov. 12-14.3

    Until then, every decimal is worth arguing about at the gas station. Bring a pencil.

    TAKE (joke): Bring two pencils. The second one is for the guy at the gas station who has a different decimal and will not be moved.

    Spot a score the LHSAA sheet is missing? Send it to Gridiron Gumbo. T-Rohn is keeping score.

    Sources

    1. MaxPreps schedules: DeRidder https://www.maxpreps.com/la/deridder/deridder-dragons/football/schedule/ ; St. Louis Catholic https://www.maxpreps.com/la/lake-charles/st-louis-catholic-saints/football/schedule/ ; Sam Houston https://www.maxpreps.com/la/lake-charles/sam-houston-broncos/football/schedule/ ; Kinder https://www.maxpreps.com/la/kinder/kinder-yellowjackets/football/schedule/ ; Oakdale https://www.maxpreps.com/la/oakdale/oakdale-warriors/football/schedule/ ; DeQuincy https://www.maxpreps.com/la/dequincy/dequincy-tigers/football/schedule/ (records, district records, scores, remaining games; DeRidder at St. Louis Catholic listed Thu., Oct. 29, 7 p.m. on both the DeRidder and St. Louis Catholic schedules) ↩ Back to story
    2. PrepRank, “How LHSAA Football Power Ratings Are Calculated”: https://prep-rank.com/explainers/lhsaa-football-power-ratings (28/24 bracket sizes, Section 14.9; district champions automatic, Section 14.10; seeding, Section 14.11.1; play-up reading: 2 points per division, only when higher in both class and division) ↩ Back to story
    3. LHSAA, 2026 Football General Information Bulletin: https://www.lhsaa.org/siteuploads/lhsaa/1433_pdf_2026-football-general-info-bulletin.pdf (Section 14.12 formula, Section 14.13 strength factor; Oct. 24 deadline to add games for power-rating purposes; regular season ends Nov. 7; district certification due Nov. 6; playoff dates) ↩ Back to story
    4. LHSAA, Non-Select Football Power Ratings by Division, “As of Date: 10/24/2026 12:02:42 PM”: https://www.lhsaaonline.org/rpt/FBNonSelectbyDivisionPR.html (all Non-Select ranks, ratings, strength factors and W-L used above; Leesville shown 7-1) ↩ Back to story
    5. KPLC, Ryan Blakely and Ben Rickevicius, “2026 Two-A-Days: DeRidder Dragons,” Aug. 18, 2026: https://www.kplctv.com/2026/08/18/2026-two-a-days-deridder-dragons/ (Parmley quotes) ↩ Back to story
    6. LHSAA, Select Football Power Ratings by Division, same timestamp: https://www.lhsaaonline.org/rpt/FBSelectbyDivisionPR.html (SLC 22nd, 9.46; Fisher 24th, 8.80; Notre Dame 1st, 15.86; LCCP 3rd Div. II; W-M 29th, 7.50; The Willow School 24th, 8.51; Sacred Heart 3rd Div. IV, 8-0; St. Thomas More 7th Div. I, 6-2) ↩ Back to story
    7. KPLC, Ben Rickevicius, “TDL Week 6 Game of the Week Preview: St. Louis Catholic Saints,” published Oct. 7, 2026 at 8:03 p.m. CDT (the URL carries 2026/10/08): https://www.kplctv.com/2026/10/08/tdl-week-6-game-week-preview-st-louis-catholic-saints/ (Truax “play up in levels” and “prepared” fragments) ↩ Back to story
    8. The Advocate, Week 8 Acadiana-area scores and schedules, Oct. 23, 2026: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/sports/high_schools/week-8-high-school-football-scores-reported-stats-schedules-for-acadiana-area/article_0de41fd1-c13c-4c11-b5a1-46151d9493fc.html (“Notre Dame at Kinder on Friday” Oct. 30) ↩ Back to story
    9. PrepRank team pages (unofficial; DeRidder rating field updated 9:18 a.m. CDT Oct. 24, page checked about 12:15 p.m. CDT): DeRidder https://www.prep-rank.com/schools/deridder/football (10.00; 27th by rating; next game Thu., Oct. 29 vs. St. Louis Catholic) ; St. Louis Catholic https://www.prep-rank.com/schools/st-louis-catholic/football ; Sam Houston https://www.prep-rank.com/schools/sam-houston/football ; DeQuincy https://www.prep-rank.com/schools/dequincy/football ; Washington-Marion https://www.prep-rank.com/schools/washington-marion/football (remaining schedules) ↩ Back to story
    10. KPLC, TDL Week 8 scores: https://www.kplctv.com/2026/10/22/tdl-week-8-scores-highlights/ (Friday finals)
    11. LouisianaGridiron Gumbo internal links: DeRidder 24, Kinder 20 (post 2092); St. Louis Catholic 42, W-M 35 (2088); Avoyelles 42, Oakdale 40 (2096); DeQuincy 41, Pickering 0 (2090); standings box (1937)
  • Louisiana
    Iota Asked Its Defense a Question in August. After Three Straight Weeks of Answers, a Playoff Spot Is Within Reach

    Iota Asked Its Defense a Question in August. After Three Straight Weeks of Answers, a Playoff Spot Is Within Reach

    Subhead: The Bulldogs gave up at least 21 points in each of their first five games. In the last three, they’ve allowed 14 total, with back-to-back shutouts. Now 4-4, Iota sits 0.08 of a power-rating point outside the Division II Non-Select field with Mamou and unbeaten Eunice left.

    By T-Rohn | Gridiron Gumbo | Oct. 24, 2026

    REPORTED: facts per the LHSAA’s official power-rating report and other published sources (see Sources at the end)

    Back in August, Iota coach Ray Aucoin liked a lot of what he saw. He told The Advocate the offensive line had “improved a lot” and the roster was experienced. The paper’s preview listed a returning starter at quarterback.1

    What he didn’t know was what his defense would be.

    TAKE (joke): Down here, a question asked in August normally goes unanswered until somebody brings it up over the Thanksgiving gumbo. Football moves faster.

    Aucoin said in the Aug. 20 preseason preview that the team didn’t yet know “if we are an attacking defense or not,” or whether it would be a defense that “bends but doesn’t break.”1

    Eight games in, the Bulldogs have an answer, at least lately: the kind of defense that doesn’t let you score at all.

    The split

    Here’s Iota’s season by the scores on MaxPreps:

    DateOpponentResultPoints allowed
    Sept. 4at J.S. ClarkW 73-2828
    Sept. 10SulphurL 38-1438
    Sept. 18at Lake ArthurL 21-1921
    Sept. 25Church PointL 32-1332
    Oct. 2at NorthwestL 23-1423
    Oct. 9CrowleyW 37-1414
    Oct. 16at Port BarreW 42-00
    Oct. 23at Ville PlatteW 55-00

    KPLC’s Week 8 scoreboard also lists the 55-0 Iota win at Ville Platte. PrepRank lists two earlier scores differently (J.S. Clark and Church Point); we used MaxPreps.2, 3

    That’s at least 21 points allowed in each of the first five games. Then 14 points total over the last three, all wins.

    CONFIRMED (MaxPreps and KPLC agree): Friday’s 55-0 win at Ville Platte was the Bulldogs’ second straight shutout.

    TAKE (joke): Two shutouts in a row is the scoreboard version of a clean plate at a boudin stand: nothing left on it, nothing to explain, and everybody already looking for more.

    The offense showed up for the streak, too. Iota scored 134 points in those three wins, an average of 44.7 a game (Gridiron Gumbo’s math from the MaxPreps scores).

    TAKE (joke): At 44.7 a game, the scoreboard is the only thing in Iota working harder than the concession-stand fryer.

    Now, the honest part, because we promised you honest. The schedule eased up. The first five weeks included Sulphur, a Division I school, plus Lake Arthur (7-1) and Church Point (5-2 on the LHSAA sheet). None of the last three opponents has a winning record. TAKE: you can only shut out the team in front of you, and holding two straight opponents to zero is hard on anybody’s schedule. The real test of how far this defense has come is Nov. 6, and we’ll get to that.

    Also worth noting: Iota’s four losses came against teams with a combined record of 22-9 on the LHSAA sheet (23-9 if PrepRank’s 6-2 for Church Point is right; the LHSAA sheet shows 5-2 and appears to be missing a result), and the 21-19 loss at Lake Arthur was a two-point game against a team that’s 7-1.

    TAKE (joke): A schedule full of teams with a combined 22-9 (or 23-9) record is the football version of sitting down to dominoes with the cousins who’ve been playing since noon: nobody’s cheating, but nobody’s waiting for you either.

    The youth movement, paid off

    Iota’s 2025 season was a detour the coaches saw coming. The Bulldogs finished 4-6 in the regular season, their first losing regular season since 2016, according to The Advocate (Gridiron Gumbo’s count from the paper’s 2025 results list).1 They still made the Division II Non-Select playoffs, where a 49-7 first-round loss to Lutcher made it 4-7 overall, and the staff had chosen the hard road on purpose.

    Aucoin said the staff decided to “just play the freshmen and start over,” figuring that was the best way for young players to gain experience and catch up to game speed faster. It “really helped us to build confidence,” he said.1

    This year’s version of that plan: Aucoin said seven juniors have three years of starting experience or significant playing time, and he called experience “top to bottom” the team’s strength.

    On defense, the Bulldogs also had to replace a two-time all-state linebacker from last year’s senior class. Aucoin called losing him “a big loss for us.” He said the staff is “counting on” a senior linebacker “a lot this year,” saying that player “has really stepped up” and that the younger linebackers follow his lead.1

    The Advocate also wrote that Aucoin expected the defense to get better week after week.1 Weeks 6 through 8 back him up.

    In Acadia Parish, that’s what you call letting the roux go low and slow. It takes a while. Then it’s dark, rich and done.

    The streak at stake

    Iota has a habit of being in the bracket. KPLC reported in August 2025 that the Bulldogs had made playoff appearances in each of the previous four seasons.4 The Advocate reported they qualified again in 2025, and MaxPreps lists the Nov. 14, 2025 first-round playoff loss to Lutcher.5 TAKE (combining those reports): that adds up to five straight postseason trips through 2025. No single source states the full run, so treat the count as our math, not a reported streak. For context, The Advocate lists Iota’s overall records, playoff games included, as 9-3 (2022), 8-4 (2023), 9-3 (2024) and 4-7 (2025).

    Aucoin, now in his fifth season as head coach (REPORTED),6 entered 2026 with a 30-17 record.1 He laid out his annual goals in 2025: a winning season, a playoff berth (ideally “a home playoff berth”) and, by the end of the year, “playing for a district title.”4

    At 4-4, goals one and two are both still on the board. A winning season would take both of the last two games.

    Here’s where the Bulldogs stand on the LHSAA’s official sheet as of its 12:02 p.m. Saturday update:

    • Iota: 29th of 44 in Non-Select Division II, 9.89
    • 28th, the last spot in a 28-team bracket: Wossman, 9.97
    • 27th: South Terrebonne, 10.09

    Iota is also fourth in District 4-3A at 2-2.7

    The finish: Mamou (2-6) at Iota on Oct. 30, then Iota at Eunice (8-0, 3rd in Division II on the LHSAA sheet) on Nov. 6.8, 2 (Eunice plays at Crowley on Oct. 30,2 so the Eunice math below assumes Eunice is still unbeaten when Iota arrives.)

    TAKE (joke): Mamou first, then unbeaten Eunice. It’s the schedule’s way of serving a small bowl of gumbo and then asking you to finish the pot.

    What the math says (TAKE: Gridiron Gumbo math, holding every other result on today’s sheet constant; the first step is (rating × 8 + new game) ÷ 9, since Iota has eight games entered):

    • Beat Mamou: about 10.15. That would slot 27th on today’s sheet, ahead of both South Terrebonne and Wossman.
    • Beat Mamou, then lose to an unbeaten Eunice: about 10.13. A loss to a perfect team adds a full 10 points of opponent strength, so the number barely moves.
    • Win both: about 11.03, comfortably inside today’s cutoff and a 6-4 winning season to go with it.
    • Lose to Mamou: about 9.16.

    The Mamou game is the one that matters most to the rating. The Eunice game is the one that would get people talking at the Iota post office for a month.

    Of course, nobody else is standing still. Wossman, South Terrebonne and everyone in that 23rd-through-30th pack play two more games too. That pack includes DeRidder, which plays at St. Louis Catholic on Thursday. We broke down that crowd in today’s power-rating story. District champions from outside the top 28 also get automatic berths, which can raise the cutoff.

    TAKE (joke): Everybody from 23rd through 30th is stuck in the same crowd, which is the only traffic jam in Southwest Louisiana where nobody can blame I-10.

    So nothing’s settled. But a team that didn’t know what its defense was in August has given up 14 points in three weeks. TAKE: that keeps a playoff berth within reach, and with it a chance to extend a postseason run that, by our count, goes back five straight years.

    TAKE (joke): Nothing’s settled, which in Southwest Louisiana is also what we say about the correct amount of cayenne.

    “How good can we be?” Aucoin asked in August. “Well, that’s up to them.”1

    Lately, “them” has had a pretty good answer.

    Got an Iota stat or a Mamou score? Send it to Gridiron Gumbo. T-Rohn is keeping score.

    Sources

    1. The Advocate, Eric Narcisse, “Iota ready to reap benefits of playing so many young players last season,” Aug. 20, 2026: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/sports/high_schools/iota-ready-to-reap-benefits-of-playing-so-many-young-players-last-season/article_fb22a130-6d97-4472-a940-21d6461da719.html (all Aucoin 2026 quotes; 2025 4-7 overall, first losing regular season since 2016, qualified for Div. II NS playoffs, lost 49-7 to Lutcher; 2025 results list used for the 4-6 regular-season count; two-time all-state linebacker (unnamed here) and senior linebacker (unnamed here); Aucoin 30-17; overall records 2022-2025; 2026 schedule with Mamou at home and Eunice away; “get better week after week”) ↩ Back to story
    2. MaxPreps, Iota football schedule: https://www.maxpreps.com/la/iota/iota-bulldogs/football/schedule/ (all 2026 scores; 4-4; three-game win streak) ↩ Back to story
    3. KPLC, TDL Week 8 scores and highlights: https://www.kplctv.com/2026/10/22/tdl-week-8-scores-highlights/ (lists the 4-3A Iota-Ville Platte final as 55-0) ↩ Back to story
    4. KPLC, Kaitlyn Wadulack, “Two-A-Days: Iota Bulldogs,” published Aug. 19, 2025 at 9:06 p.m. CDT (the URL carries 2025/08/20): https://www.kplctv.com/2025/08/20/two-a-days-iota-bulldogs/ (playoff appearances in each of the last four seasons; Aucoin goals fragments) ↩ Back to story
    5. MaxPreps, Iota football team page and 2024-25 schedule: https://www.maxpreps.com/la/iota/iota-bulldogs/football/ ; https://www.maxpreps.com/la/iota/iota-bulldogs/football/24-25/schedule/ (Nov. 14, 2025 Division II Non-Select playoff loss to Lutcher, 7-49; 2024 playoff games) ↩ Back to story
    6. Louisiana Football Magazine, “2026 Preview: Class 3A District 4,” July 16, 2026: https://www.lafootballmagazine.com/news/2026-preview-class-3a-district-4 (Aucoin’s fifth season) ↩ Back to story
    7. MaxPreps, Iota standings: https://www.maxpreps.com/la/iota/iota-bulldogs/football/standings/ (2-2, 4th in District 4-3A) ↩ Back to story
    8. The Advocate, Week 8 Acadiana-area scores and schedules, Oct. 23, 2026: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/sports/high_schools/week-8-high-school-football-scores-reported-stats-schedules-for-acadiana-area/article_0de41fd1-c13c-4c11-b5a1-46151d9493fc.html (“Mamou at Iota on Friday”; Mamou 2-6; Eunice 8-0) ↩ Back to story
    9. KPLC, Matthew Travis, “Two-A-Days: Iota Bulldogs,” Aug. 20, 2024, 10:45 p.m. CDT: https://www.kplctv.com/2024/08/21/two-a-days-iota-bulldogs/ (playoff wins in 2022 and 2023)
    10. LHSAA, Non-Select Football Power Ratings by Division, “As of Date: 10/24/2026 12:02:42 PM”: https://www.lhsaaonline.org/rpt/FBNonSelectbyDivisionPR.html (Iota 29th, 9.89; Wossman 28th, 9.97; South Terrebonne 27th, 10.09; Eunice 3rd, 8-0; Lake Arthur 7-1; Church Point 5-2)
    11. LHSAA, 2026 Football General Information Bulletin: https://www.lhsaa.org/siteuploads/lhsaa/1433_pdf_2026-football-general-info-bulletin.pdf (power-rating formula)
    12. PrepRank, “How LHSAA Football Power Ratings Are Calculated”: https://prep-rank.com/explainers/lhsaa-football-power-ratings (28-team Non-Select brackets; district champions automatic)
  • Texas (UIL)
    Best Margin, Tied for Fourth: Hamshire-Fannett’s Whole Season Comes Down to Oct. 30

    Best Margin, Tied for Fourth: Hamshire-Fannett’s Whole Season Comes Down to Oct. 30

    By T-Rohn
    Gridiron Gumbo | Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 | UIL Week 10 preview · District 10-4A-DII

    Hamshire-Fannett has outscored opponents by 165 points this season, the best margin of any 4A team we cover, yet it sits tied for fourth in its district with one game that decides a lot.

    Rank every 4A team in SETXsports’ coverage area by scoring margin and Hamshire-Fannett comes out on top. The Longhorns have outscored opponents 310-145 this season, which works out to more than 20 points a game. That’s the third-best margin among SETXsports’ core schools, trailing only Newton and West Sabine. HF has also allowed fewer total points than anyone else in District 10-4A-DII.

    Now check the district standings. HF is 1-2, tied for fourth with Hardin-Jefferson, which is also 1-2. SETXsports and MaxPreps both list the Longhorns fourth. HF’s lone district win was 49-21 over Hardin-Jefferson on Oct. 16.

    TAKE: Best margin in the district and a tie for fourth place in the standings. That’s the best barbecue in town with no parking: everybody agrees it’s great, and nobody can get a seat.

    In Southeast Texas, point differential is lagniappe. The wins are what go on the plate. For HF, the whole plate now comes down to one Friday night.

    Two losses, 15 points, one pattern

    HF’s non-district résumé would make anyone sit up. The Longhorns beat La Marque 35-27, won 52-10 at Vidor, shut out Little Cypress-Mauriceville 25-0, won 42-14 at Stafford and blanked Hitchcock 49-0. Vidor and LC-M are tied for first in 9-4A-DI at 3-1. HF beat them by a combined 77-10.

    District play opened differently. HF lost two of its three district games, by a combined 15 points, and both losses followed the same script:

    Oct. 9, West Orange-Stark 42, HF 28 (in Hamshire). KOGT’s Tom Halliburton reported that HF jumped out 21-0. MaxPreps’ line score shows WO-S outscored the Longhorns 42-7 the rest of the way. According to KOGT, HF piled up 28 points and 183 yards in the first half, then gained 80 yards and no points after halftime. Junior quarterback Blake Broussard completed all seven of his first-half passes, threw two touchdown passes and caught a third, per KOGT. Junior receiver Dwayne Long finished with eight catches for 153 yards and a touchdown, per MaxPreps. WO-S coach Hiawatha Hickman told KOGT his defense switched at halftime to bringing pressure.

    Oct. 23, Silsbee 31, HF 30 (in Silsbee). MaxPreps’ line score shows Silsbee led 17-0 after one quarter. HF scored 24 in the second quarter to tie it 24-24 at halftime and took a 30-24 lead into the fourth quarter. SETXsports’ live game thread shows that same 30-24 score heading into the fourth. Silsbee scored the only points of the final period. KFDM’s Michael Friedman wrote that the Tigers “held on” and took over second place in the district. That is KFDM’s wording; SETXsports’ standings list Shepherd second and Silsbee third, both at 2-1.

    Add them up:

    HF’s two district lossesHFOpponents
    First halves5238
    Second halves635
    Fourth quarters021

    That isn’t a talent problem. HF has beaten everyone else it has played, mostly by a lot. It’s a 24-minute problem, and in both games it showed up against teams sitting near the top of the district.

    TAKE: Twenty-four minutes is a strange unit of measure. In Southeast Texas it’s also about how long the drive-thru takes after a game, and nobody has a plan for that either.

    Coach Mark Waggoner gave credit where it was due after the WO-S game. “Khelvy is an incredible player and the most prolific back in our area,” he told KOGT, speaking of WO-S running back Khelvy Jefferson.

    Built for this, on paper

    None of this is new territory for the program. MaxPreps’ history page lists HF at 10-2 in both 2023 and 2024, including a 5-0 district run in 2024, and at 7-4 last season. Those seasons came in a different district, 4A-DII Region III District 9. MaxPreps’ history page lists Waggoner as HF’s head coach for the 2018 through 2022 seasons, and KOGT identified him as the coach this year.

    TAKE: On paper is a wonderful place to be. On paper, the standings make sense, the schedule is fair and the construction on I-10 ends by spring.

    The Beaumont Enterprise’s preseason preview picked HF to finish second in the district behind WO-S. Through Week 8, MaxPreps credited Broussard with 15 touchdown passes on a 75.7% completion rate, and Long with seven receiving touchdowns. Those MaxPreps season stats were last updated Oct. 17, so they don’t include the Silsbee game.

    Oct. 30: Shepherd at Hamshire-Fannett, 7:30 p.m.

    Gridiron Gumbo ran all 64 possible win-loss outcomes for the district’s final six games. The top four teams make the playoffs. Tiebreakers aren’t modeled.

    TAKE: Tiebreakers aren’t modeled, which is how a computer says it isn’t going to be the one to explain this to a folding table full of adults.

    If HF beats Shepherd:

    • HF cannot be eliminated on wins and losses. It’s in the top four outright in 18 of the 32 outcomes that follow, and in the rest it’s in a tie at the cutoff.
    • If HF then wins at Jasper on Nov. 6, it clinches a playoff spot. No tiebreaker is needed.

    TAKE: “No tiebreaker needed.” In this district, that sentence is rarer than leftover boudin.

    If Shepherd wins:

    • Shepherd clinches a playoff spot.
    • HF is in on wins alone in only 4 of 32 outcomes, eliminated outright in 16, and left to tiebreakers in the other 12.

    The title long shot: HF can still get a share of the district crown, but it needs a lot of help. That happens in only three of the 64 outcomes. HF would have to win out, WO-S would have to lose both of its last two games (to Jasper and Hardin-Jefferson), and Silsbee would have to lose at least once. Every one of those three outcomes ends in a four-way tie for first.

    TAKE: Three outcomes, every one a four-way tie for first. That’s less a championship than a family reunion photo where nobody agrees who gets the front row.

    Around the district: WO-S (3-0) has already clinched a playoff spot. A WO-S win over Jasper on Oct. 30 guarantees the Mustangs at least a share of the title. Silsbee is at home against Hardin-Jefferson the same night.

    For long stretches of both district losses, Hamshire-Fannett looked like the team the Enterprise picked it to be. Now the Longhorns need one full four-quarter game, and they get to play it at home.

    TAKE: Four quarters, at home, with no highway to blame. The only thing anyone should be stuck in is the concession-stand queue.

    Records are as of Saturday morning, Oct. 24, after Week 9. Season scoring totals and district standings come from SETXsports, checked against MaxPreps. The Oct. 16 final (HF 49, Hardin-Jefferson 21) was confirmed by the SETXsports scoreboard and MaxPreps. The Week 9 final (Silsbee 31, HF 30) was confirmed by SETXsports, MaxPreps and KFDM. The Week 7 final (WO-S 42, HF 28) was confirmed by MaxPreps, KOGT and KFDM. Texashsfootball.com/scores was checked Saturday morning, but its widget listed only Saturday games, so it did not confirm the Friday finals. Playoff scenarios are Gridiron Gumbo calculations and ignore tiebreakers.

    Sources

  • Texas (UIL)
    Woodville Holds the Pen: Why a 3-5 Team Gets to Write the Ending in 12-3A-DII

    Woodville Holds the Pen: Why a 3-5 Team Gets to Write the Ending in 12-3A-DII

    By T-Rohn
    Gridiron Gumbo | Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026 | UIL Week 10 preview · District 12-3A-DII

    Four teams are tied at 2-1, their head-to-head results run in a circle, and the one with the worst overall record plays two of the other three.

    Pull up the District 12-3A-DII standings this morning and you’ll find four teams at 2-1: New Waverly, Newton, Hardin and Woodville. That’s four spoons in one gumbo pot, and none of them is letting go.

    Look a little closer and only one of them is holding the spoon that matters. It belongs to the team with the worst overall record of the bunch, the 3-5 Woodville Eagles.

    Here’s why. Woodville’s last two games are against two of the other three co-leaders. The Eagles host Hardin on Friday, Oct. 30, and then travel to Newton on Nov. 6. None of the other contenders gets two shots at the teams it’s tied with. New Waverly finishes against Warren and Kountze. Hardin finishes against Woodville and Warren. Newton finishes against Kountze and Woodville.

    So Woodville doesn’t just control its own fate. It gets a vote on everybody else’s.

    TAKE: Handing one team a vote on everybody else’s season is how every family reunion in Texas ends up with five green bean casseroles, no forks and one very powerful woman holding the sign-up sheet.

    Mais, cher, that’s not a ladder. That’s a merry-go-round.

    Usually head-to-head results sort out a crowded district. This one went in a circle:

    • Oct. 9: Hardin beat Newton, 25-24.
    • Oct. 16: Newton beat New Waverly, 46-7.
    • Oct. 23: New Waverly beat Hardin, 31-14.

    Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock, and somewhere a crawfish is laughing. If those three end up tied, head-to-head can’t settle it among them. New Waverly also edged Woodville 23-22 on Oct. 9, which is the only reason the Eagles aren’t sitting alone at 3-0.

    TAKE: A district that goes in a complete circle may be a first for Southeast Texas. Nothing else around here has ever made a full lap without getting stopped by a train.

    Gridiron Gumbo hasn’t seen 12-3A-DII’s published tiebreaker procedure, so the math below counts only wins and losses. It does not try to break ties. As of Saturday morning, Oct. 24, MaxPreps’ team pages list New Waverly first, Newton second, Hardin third and Woodville fourth, without saying how they were ordered. SETXsports lists the same order, but its table breaks ties by overall record and notes that official tiebreak procedures may use other criteria.

    TAKE: An unpublished tiebreaker is the district version of a recipe that lives in Maw Maw’s head. Everybody swears it exists. Nobody has seen it written down. Nobody is brave enough to ask her to.

    The scoreboard does show who has been winning big in district play:

    TeamDistrictOverallDistrict points for-against
    Newton2-15-2140-40
    Woodville2-13-5120-36
    Hardin2-15-3108-66
    New Waverly2-17-161-82
    Kountze1-23-5—
    Warren0-33-5*—

    *Warren’s 3-5 counts a non-district forfeit win from Hull-Daisetta (MaxPreps counts it; SETXsports doesn’t and lists 2-5). The forfeit doesn’t change Warren’s district record.

    New Waverly’s story runs the other way. The Bulldogs are 7-1 and have won three games by two points or fewer: 30-28 at Crockett, 36-35 over Trinity and 23-22 over Woodville. Winning the close ones is a skill too, and those three games are part of how New Waverly got to 7-1.

    Why “3-5” is lying to you

    Woodville’s overall record is the cheapest Mardi Gras bead on the float. Don’t judge it by the shine.

    The Eagles lost their four non-district games to Little Cypress-Mauriceville (21-6), Buna (29-20), Orangefield (20-6) and Hardin-Jefferson (41-28). Those four opponents are a combined 23-10 this morning, and two of them sit at the top of their own districts: Orangefield alone at 4-0 in 10-3A-DI, and LC-M tied with Vidor at 3-1 in 9-4A-DI. Woodville’s one non-district win was 18-10 over Jasper.

    In district play the Eagles have one loss, by one point, on the road. Since then they’ve won 42-13 at Warren and 56-0 over Kountze. That is plus-84 over three district games, second only to Newton.

    Junior running back Austin Land has carried a lot of the load. The Tyler County Booster reported that he ran 15 times for 223 yards and three touchdowns at Warren, his fourth straight game with at least two rushing scores. MaxPreps credited him with 15 rushing touchdowns through that game. The same Booster story credited junior lineman Nasir Harris with 13 tackles, 10 of them solo.

    Both of the last two 3A-DII state runners-up live here

    This district carries a lot of December mileage.

    In 2024, Woodville reached the first state championship game in school history and lost 28-0 to Gunter at AT&T Stadium to finish 13-3, according to KJAS. KJAS noted that no earlier Woodville team had made it past the second round. Coach Heath Clawson, now in his second year, led the Eagles to a 9-3 record and 5-1 in district in his first season last year, and they reached the area round. KJAS reported that their only district loss came against Newton.

    Newton played for the 3A Division II title last December and lost 25-24 to Wall. 12NewsNow reported that the Eagles had trailed 25-8 at halftime before rallying. KJAS reported that Dave Campbell’s Texas Football picked coach Drew Johnston’s team as the preseason No. 1 to win it all this year. Senior running back Kendray Porter Jr. ran for more than 2,500 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2025, per KJAS, and MaxPreps credits him with 16 rushing touchdowns through Week 8 this season.

    One number keeps showing up. Newton’s lone district loss this fall, at Hardin on Oct. 9, was also 25-24. Football has a strange sense of humor. We’ll leave it at that.

    TAKE: Same score, twice. In most districts that’s a coincidence. In this one it’s a clerical error with a scoreboard.

    And yes: Woodville and Newton are both the Eagles. On Nov. 6 in Newton, one Eagles team will beat the other. Last year that meeting produced Woodville’s only district loss.

    The Week 10 menu

    Gridiron Gumbo ran all 64 possible win-loss outcomes of the district’s last six games. The top four teams make the playoffs. “Clinch” below means a team is in on wins and losses alone, with no tiebreaker needed.

    • Hardin at Woodville (Oct. 30, 7 p.m.): A Hardin win clinches a playoff spot for Hardin. A Woodville win puts Woodville in the top four outright in 31 of the 32 outcomes that follow, and the other one leaves it in a tie for fourth.
    • Newton at Kountze (Oct. 30, 7 p.m.): A Newton win clinches a playoff spot for Newton.
    • New Waverly at Warren (Oct. 30, 7 p.m.): A New Waverly win puts the Bulldogs in outright in 31 of 32 outcomes. A Warren loss ends Warren’s playoff hopes.
    • Win out and you get a seat at the head of the table: Any of the four 2-1 teams that wins its last two is guaranteed at least a share of the district title. The paths differ, though. Woodville wins it outright in 12 of 16 win-out outcomes, because it beats two co-leaders itself on the way. Hardin and Newton each win it outright in 9 of 16, and New Waverly in 5 of 16.
    • Lose both and it gets dicey for the kingmaker: If Woodville drops both games, it’s in on wins alone in only 3 of 16 outcomes.
    • Kountze (1-2) isn’t dead: The Lions can still get a share of the title, but only by beating both Newton and New Waverly.
    • Pick a tie, any tie: Of the 64 outcomes, 35 produce a single champion. Thirteen produce a two-way tie for first, eight a three-way tie, seven a four-way tie, and one produces a five-way tie at 3-2. In that one, Woodville beats Hardin, Hardin beats Warren, New Waverly beats Warren, Newton beats Woodville, and Kountze beats both Newton and New Waverly. If that happens, somebody in Tyler County is going to need a bigger pot.

    TAKE: Kountze’s path to a share of the title is a two-lane road in East Texas: narrow, no passing, and a log truck in front of you the whole way.

    Hardin’s next game happens to be in Woodville. Newton’s last game happens to be against Woodville. A 3-5 team is holding the pen, and the ink hasn’t dried yet.

    TAKE: Four towns are about to get very, very polite on the subject of the pen. In East Texas that means a ten-pound bag of boudin, a pecan pie and a Sunday dinner invitation that comes with a ride.

    Records are as of Saturday morning, Oct. 24, after Week 9. District records and points come from the SETXsports standings, checked against MaxPreps. Week 9 finals (New Waverly 31, Hardin 14; Woodville 56, Kountze 0; Newton 70, Warren 8) were confirmed by SETXsports and MaxPreps. The Huntsville Item also reported New Waverly’s win over Hardin. Texashsfootball.com/scores was checked Saturday morning, but its widget listed only Saturday games, so it did not confirm these Friday finals. Playoff scenarios are Gridiron Gumbo calculations and ignore tiebreakers.

    Sources

  • Texas (UIL)
    Eight Spots Taken, 20 Still Open: The SETX Playoff Picture After Week 9

    Eight Spots Taken, 20 Still Open: The SETX Playoff Picture After Week 9

    By T-Rohn
    Gridiron Gumbo | Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026

    Four teams clinched Friday and three were eliminated, but the number worth chewing on is how little September told us about who’s in.

    Seven Southeast Texas districts are now in the home stretch, and there are 28 playoff spots to hand out, four per district. As of this morning, eight are taken and 20 are open (Gridiron Gumbo’s count of every remaining win-loss outcome, with tiebreakers not modeled). Friday clinched La Porte, Port Arthur Memorial, West Orange-Stark and Port Neches-Groves. It eliminated Galena Park, Santa Fe and Sabine Pass.

    Now the part that might surprise you. District play is its own season, and this year the September scoreboard was a poor guide to it.

    The September reset (our math)

    Six of the eight clinchers are in 3A through 5A: La Porte, Memorial, WO-S, PN-G, Orangefield and Anahuac. Together they are 26-2 in district play and 10-11 against everybody else (the records are CONFIRMED from SETXsports and MaxPreps; the subtraction is ours). PN-G, for one, lost three of its four non-district games and is 4-0 in 10-5A-DII.

    Now flip it around. Five teams in a top-four slot (or tied for first) have losing overall records: Dayton (3-6), Bridge City (4-5), Huffman (4-5), Kirbyville (2-6) and Woodville (3-5). Together those five are 3-18 outside district and 13-9 inside it (same method). Meanwhile Buna is 6-3 overall after going 4-0 outside district, yet sits fifth in 10-3A-DI at 2-3.

    TAKE: None of this is a knock on anybody, and 11 teams is a small sample. It just says that the September schedule is history, and the district record is the only one the playoff bracket reads. Every team in these seven districts gets a fresh start in October.

    District by district

    9-5A-DI. La Porte (6-0, 6-2 overall) and Port Arthur Memorial (5-1, 7-1) are in. La Porte beat Beaumont United 56-27 and holds the head-to-head over Memorial, 51-27. SETXsports lists Memorial’s 13.3 points allowed per game as the best average in its coverage area. Look closer and you’ll find the real story: in its five district games other than the La Porte one, Memorial gave up 21 points total, with two shutouts, including Friday’s 16-0 win at home over Baytown Sterling (CONFIRMED: MaxPreps schedule and SETXsports).

    The other two spots are a scramble. United, West Brook and Lufkin are all 3-3. West Brook started 0-3 in district, with losses by seven, three and 14 points, and has since won three straight by a combined 138-44, including 55-7 over New Caney Friday (CONFIRMED, MaxPreps and SETXsports).

    Counting all 256 ways the district’s last eight games can finish (a count of outcomes, not a forecast), United is in on wins alone in 76, West Brook in 73 and Lufkin in 73. Sterling is in on wins alone in 12.

    10-4A-DII. WO-S is alone at 3-0 and in after a 48-14 win at Shepherd. Silsbee’s 31-30 win dropped Hamshire-Fannett to 1-2, tied with Hardin-Jefferson for fourth, and Silsbee and Shepherd are both 2-1. A Silsbee win over Hardin-Jefferson clinches Silsbee, and a Shepherd win at Hamshire-Fannett clinches Shepherd. Hamshire-Fannett can’t be eliminated with a win. Our companion story on Hamshire-Fannett’s margin has the details.

    10-5A-DII. PN-G is in at 4-0 after beating Nederland 27-24 in overtime (KFDM; 12NewsNow reported the same score). Texas City (3-1) and Nederland (3-1) meet Oct. 30, and the winner clinches. Dayton (3-2) and Baytown Lee (2-2) are still alive. Galena Park and Santa Fe are out.

    9-4A-DI. Little Cypress-Mauriceville (3-1) and Vidor (3-1) lead after Vidor’s 70-42 win over Huffman. A Vidor win at Livingston clinches Vidor, and the Bridge City-LC-M winner clinches too. The Lumberton-Liberty loser is eliminated. KOGT reported that Bridge City’s defense scored twice in the first half against Liberty, with Joel Williams returning a blocked punt (Bryce Breeden’s block) and a fumble for touchdowns in a 55-28 win (REPORTED: KOGT only; KFDM confirmed the score).

    10-3A-DI. Orangefield (4-0) and Anahuac (4-1) are in. East Chambers (2-2) and Kirbyville (2-2) are best placed for the last two spots: each is in on wins alone in 32 of 64 outcomes, Buna in 16 and Tarkington in four. East Chambers beat Coldspring-Oakhurst 59-0, and its two district losses were by seven points each, to the two teams that clinched. Buna beat Tarkington 46-0, according to MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated (SETXsports, KJAS and the Odessa American had listed 43-0).

    12-3A-DII. Four teams are tied at 2-1, and head-to-head runs in a circle. Woodville gets to play two of the co-leaders. Our companion Woodville story has the full tangle.

    12-2A-DII. Colmesneil and West Sabine are in, and it doesn’t depend on Hull-Daisetta’s forfeits. Both are 3-0 on the field with two games left, and 4-0 once the forfeits count. Hull-Daisetta canceled the rest of its varsity season Sept. 11 for lack of players (KFDM), and ABC13 reported that each missed game is recorded as a forfeit that gives the opponent a win. MaxPreps lists Colmesneil’s Oct. 9 forfeit as a 1-0 win, while SETXsports’ table leaves forfeits out. We didn’t find a UIL rule on how district standings treat them, so we ran it both ways, and the answer is the same. West Hardin (3-1) beat Deweyville 44-12 and Evadale beat Sabine Pass 21-0. Sabine Pass is eliminated. Colmesneil and West Sabine meet Nov. 5 or 6: MaxPreps lists Thursday, Nov. 5, and SETXsports lists Friday, Nov. 6.

    What’s still to be decided

    • Oct. 30 matters most: La Porte at New Caney; Port Arthur Memorial at United; West Brook at Lufkin; Texas City at Nederland; Vidor at Livingston; Bridge City at LC-M; Buna at Kirbyville; Hardin at Woodville; Newton at Kountze; West Sabine at West Hardin.
    • Who gets the last 9-5A-DI spots: United, West Brook and Lufkin could end in a three-way tie, and the district’s tiebreaker would decide it. We haven’t found that procedure, so we don’t model ties.
    • Timing: UIL’s tentative 2026 calendar lists district certification Nov. 7 and the first playoff round Nov. 12-14. (UIL’s online manual page still says Nov. 8, which is a Sunday this year, so we’re using the dated 2026 calendar.)
    • Tiebreakers: There’s no statewide rule. Each district sets its own, and 12-3A-DII’s has not been published where we could find it.

    Records and standings are as of Saturday morning, Oct. 24, after Week 9. “Clinched” and “eliminated” are Gridiron Gumbo’s own win-loss math. Friday’s scores were checked against SETXsports (a user-submitted scoreboard) and MaxPreps (user- and coach-reported), plus KFDM and 12NewsNow where noted. Buna-Tarkington is 46-0 per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated and Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision; SETXsports, KJAS and the Odessa American had listed 43-0.

    Sources

  • Louisiana
    Four Touchdowns in a Loss: Brynnum Chaney Left Everything in Vinton

    Four Touchdowns in a Loss: Brynnum Chaney Left Everything in Vinton

    By T-Rohn | Gridiron Gumbo
    Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 · LHSAA Week 8 · District 5-2A · Player feature
    FINAL: Vinton 43, Rosepine 26 · CONFIRMED

    How this story is sourced: Brynnum Chaney’s quotes come from Gridiron Gumbo’s own postgame interview.1 His touchdown count, yardage and season stats are REPORTED by the American Press and are unofficial until the league publishes box scores. Coach quotes, records and the statewide fan-poll honor come from the outlets listed under Sources at the end. Takes are labeled and are Gridiron Gumbo’s own.

    Rosepine senior Brynnum Chaney scored all four Eagles touchdowns in a 43-26 loss at unbeaten Vinton, the American Press reported. Afterward he walked Gridiron Gumbo through the plays, the turnaround and what comes next.

    THE ESSENTIALS

    • Final: Vinton 43, Rosepine 26 (Friday, Oct. 23, at B.S. Walker Stadium, Vinton) · CONFIRMED
    • Chaney’s night (REPORTED): 26 carries, 150 yards, three rushing touchdowns and a 16-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Creek Smith, plus four catches for 39 yards. All four Rosepine touchdowns were his.2
    • Records: Rosepine 7-1, 1-1 District 5-2A · Vinton 8-0, 2-03
    • Next: Rosepine hosts East Beauregard, Friday, Oct. 30 (district), then closes at DeQuincy on Nov. 6.

    Four touchdowns, one loss

    VINTON, La. — Brynnum Chaney scored four touchdowns Friday night, and it still wasn’t enough.

    That’s the kind of night it was at B.S. Walker Stadium: two 7-0 teams, one district race, and a Rosepine senior who wouldn’t let his team go quiet. Vinton won it 43-26 to stay unbeaten, and the American Press said Chaney accounted for every one of the Eagles’ touchdowns. TAKE: Anybody leaving that stadium was talking about No. 9.

    Chaney, a senior who lines up at running back, wide receiver and cornerback for the Eagles (the school’s roster lists him at wide receiver and cornerback; the American Press calls him a running back), found the end zone four times: three runs and a catch.4 TAKE: On a night when Rosepine needed every one of them just to stay in the fight, that’s the number that matters. Gridiron Gumbo’s own play log agrees he scored twice in the third quarter, but the four-touchdown breakdown is the American Press’s count, not an official league stat.

    “It actually wasn’t supposed to go to me”

    Chaney’s first score came in the second quarter, a 16-yard catch from Smith that got Rosepine on the board.4 By his own account, it wasn’t the plan.

    “It actually wasn’t supposed to go to me,” Chaney said. “I just got open and made my play. Me and my quarterback have a good connection — he saw me and he just got it to me.”

    The Eagles knew what they were walking into. Vinton’s defense came in allowing about 143 yards and 6.6 points a game,5 and Chaney didn’t pretend otherwise.

    “We just knew it was a big opponent, a tough matchup,” he said. “We just knew we had to come out and give 100% every play.”

    Brynnum Chaney, wearing white No. 9 for Rosepine, stands at midfield next to an official before the game.
    Brynnum Chaney (#9) at midfield before the Vinton game. Photo: Tori Dixon

    When the game tightened up, the message in the huddle stayed simple: battle. “We just knew it’s a tough defense — one of the best defenses in Southwest Louisiana,” he said. “We just knew we had to battle hard and keep going.” (That “best defenses” line is his opinion. For context, the American Press had Vinton’s first seven wins coming by an average of 42 points.)

    Then came the last play of the first half, which swung things Vinton’s way. It started when Vinton forced a Rosepine fumble on fourth down,2 and with 12 seconds left the Lions took one more shot. Quarterback Michael Lange’s deep ball for Jacob Edison bounced off a Rosepine defender, and Edison scored from 65 yards out for a 22-6 halftime lead, the American Press reported.2

    The halftime adjustment

    Chaney said Rosepine’s coaches changed things at the break. By his account, they adjusted the defensive alignment and told the offense to hold its blocks longer. He described the first play out of the half as a dive up the middle that he bounced outside for about a 50-yard run. That’s his account of the play. It isn’t listed in the American Press scoring summary, and Gridiron Gumbo hasn’t verified the distance.

    What the paper did report is a third-quarter push. Rosepine’s two drives covered 74 and 62 yards, and Chaney finished them with runs of 2 and 4 yards. The Eagles trailed 29-20 with 4:09 to play in the quarter.4

    Vinton’s response was an 11-play, 80-yard drive capped by a Lange keeper, and then Chaney struck again. Late, with Vinton trying to close the door, he said, the offense was running go routes on one drive and he found the open hole and made the play. The American Press lists his fourth-quarter score as a rushing touchdown, and Gridiron Gumbo has not matched his description to a specific snap. It cut the lead to 36-26 before Jaydin Smith’s 46-yard run closed the scoring at 43-26.

    “Grit”

    Asked for his team’s identity in one word, he didn’t hesitate. “Grit,” Chaney said.

    This is the same Rosepine program that went 1-9 a year ago. The American Press said the Eagles had back-to-back 1-9 seasons before this year, and the 7-0 start was their first since 2018. Chaney says the turnaround was built in the summer. “We just worked all summer,” he said. “We knew what we were going to do this year, and we kept on.”

    Rosepine senior #9 smiling after the Vinton game
    Brynnum Chaney (#9) after the game. Photo: Tori Dixon

    Not his first four-touchdown night

    What makes Friday notable is that it wasn’t an outlier. Chaney opened the season with 190 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-20 win over Montgomery.6 The American Press reported he scored four times again against Pickering on Oct. 8, including a 73-yard punt-return touchdown, in a 54-0 win.7 For the Montgomery game, he was a nominee in High School On SI’s Louisiana Athlete of the Week poll, and the site’s next poll named him the winner of that fan vote.8, 9

    The American Press’s Oct. 23 preview credited him with 99 carries for 1,114 yards and 22 rushing touchdowns through Rosepine’s first seven games, plus 12 receptions for 258 yards and three touchdowns.5 Add Friday’s numbers and, by Gridiron Gumbo’s math (unofficial, not a stat the paper printed), he has about 1,264 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns, plus 16 catches for 297 yards and four receiving touchdowns, through eight games.

    The Louisiana Football Coaches Association’s 2025 Class 2A all-district list named him at tight end/wide receiver on offense and as a flex player on defense, and the American Press has him among the area’s small-school rushing leaders.10

    What the coaches say

    Rosepine coach David Weldon said in September that Chaney “ran like a man possessed” in the opener. “If I had 11 Brynnums, I could put him at center and he’d be fine,” Weldon said, adding that “he’s one you could probably put him anywhere and he’s going to succeed for you.”6

    Vinton coach Tyler Lavergne called Rosepine’s running back “extremely talented” before kickoff, then said afterward that the Lions had to play four full quarters for the first time all year. “That was a quality opponent, and a great atmosphere,” Lavergne said.2 Rosepine’s 26 points were the most anyone has scored on Vinton this season, according to the Lions’ MaxPreps schedule.

    Bounce back, then the next level

    How does a team handle its first loss with the playoffs coming? Chaney sounded like a senior who had already turned the page.

    “We’re just gonna bounce back,” he said. “Come back on Monday, prepare, and get ready for the next two weeks — because these two weeks matter for playoffs and rankings.”

    Those two weeks are East Beauregard at home on Oct. 30 and a trip to DeQuincy on Nov. 6.3

    And for the college scouts reading along, he kept his pitch short and physical. “I’m a physical running back, and I’ll do anything to get open and make a play for you,” Chaney said. He sees himself at wide receiver or free safety at the next level, and he doesn’t have one favorite school. He’s open.

    TAKE: Four touchdowns in a loss don’t show up in the standings, and the Eagles will need to share the load as the schedule tightens. But on a Friday night in Vinton, with both teams unbeaten and a district race on the line, Brynnum Chaney made sure people knew his name anyway.

    Rosepine (7-1) hosts East Beauregard next Friday. Vinton (8-0, 2-0) is chasing the District 5-2A title, and our look at that race is in the Vinton recap.

    Related: Two Unbeatens Walked In. Vinton Walked Out 8-0 After a 43-26 Win Over Rosepine · From 0-9 to 7-0: How Rosepine Flipped the Script

    Sources

    1. Gridiron Gumbo postgame interview with Brynnum Chaney and Gridiron Gumbo’s on-site play log (Oct. 23, 2026). Unpublished; the touchdown count above is the American Press’s. ↩ Back to story
    2. American Press game story, “Vinton last undefeated team left in Southwest La.” (Rodrick Anderson, Oct. 24, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/24/vinton-last-undefeated-team-left-in-southwest-la/ ↩ Back to story
    3. MaxPreps, Rosepine schedule and results (final 26-43; records; Oct. 30 vs. East Beauregard): https://www.maxpreps.com/la/rosepine/rosepine-eagles/football/schedule/ ↩ Back to story
    4. American Press scores and stats, scoring summary (Oct. 23, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/23/local-prep-football-scores-and-stats-oct-23-2/ ↩ Back to story
    5. American Press preview, “Battle of unbeatens: Rejuvenated programs clash” (Oct. 23, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/23/battle-of-unbeatens-rejuvenated-programs-clash/ ↩ Back to story
    6. KPLC, “Rosepine running back fuels Week 1 victory with four-touchdown performance” (Ben Rickevicius, Sept. 10, 2026): https://www.kplctv.com/2026/09/10/rosepine-running-back-fuels-week-1-victory-with-four-touchdown-performance/ ↩ Back to story
    7. American Press, Week 7 Thursday games, Rosepine 54, Pickering 0 (Oct. 9, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/09/week-7-thursday-games-ned-helps-rally-jennings-in-win-over-deridder/ ↩ Back to story
    8. High School On SI, Louisiana Athlete of the Week poll, Aug. 31-Sept. 5 (lists the Montgomery-game nomination): https://www.si.com/high-school/louisiana/vote-who-should-be-the-louisiana-high-school-athlete-of-the-week-aug-31-sept-5-01m1vpddzha7 ↩ Back to story
    9. High School On SI, Louisiana Athlete of the Week poll, Sept. 7-12 (names the prior week’s winner): https://www.si.com/high-school/louisiana/vote-who-should-be-the-louisiana-high-school-athlete-of-the-week-sept-7-12-01m2dm2yzmaf ↩ Back to story
    10. Louisiana Football Coaches Association, 2025 Class 2A District 4 all-district list: https://lfcassoc.org/all-district/2025-2a-4/ ↩ Back to story
    11. American Press, SWLA prep football stat leaders through Week 6 (Oct. 13, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/13/swla-prep-football-stat-leaders-through-week-6/
    12. MaxPreps Rosepine roster, 2026-27: https://www.maxpreps.com/la/rosepine/rosepine-eagles/football/roster/
    13. MaxPreps game page, final 43-26: https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/game/rosepine-vs-vinton/10-23-2026/?c=667c2c0b-89ab-41bb-a0c6-e9daf4954ee8

    Photo: Tori Dixon. Written and checked by Gridiron Gumbo; summaries are in our own words, and every outside quote is attributed to the outlet that published it.

    Corrections: Gridiron Gumbo fixes errors promptly and notes changes at the bottom of the story. Spot one? Tell us.

  • Louisiana
    Welsh Shuts Out Basile 44-0 and Sets Up a Nov. 5 Showdown With Unbeaten Notre Dame

    Welsh Shuts Out Basile 44-0 and Sets Up a Nov. 5 Showdown With Unbeaten Notre Dame

    By Remus Dixon | Gridiron Gumbo
    Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 · LHSAA Week 8 · District 7-2A
    FINAL · CONFIRMED

    CONFIRMED: Final score confirmed as 44-0 per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated and Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision (the American Press, KPLC and PrepRank listed 43-0; see Sources); records, schedules and standings per MaxPreps (retrieved Oct. 23–24, 2026); season stats per the American Press (through Oct. 22); coach quotes per KPLC (Sept. 17) and the Jennings Daily News (Oct. 23, preview excerpt). No quarter scores or Friday individual stats were published by any outlet we checked. District math, where shown, is Gridiron Gumbo’s own (sources below)

    Welsh blanked Basile, won its fifth straight and stayed perfect in 7-2A play. Lake Arthur is next, and then comes unbeaten Notre Dame.

    THE ESSENTIALS

    • Final: Welsh 44, Basile 0 (Friday, Oct. 23, at Basile)
    • Records (MaxPreps): Welsh 7-1, 2-0 District 7-2A · Basile 2-6, 0-3
    • Next: Welsh at Lake Arthur, Friday, Oct. 30 (district), then vs. Notre Dame, Thursday, Nov. 5 (district) · Basile vs. Ville Platte, Thursday, Oct. 29

    The recap

    Welsh shut out Basile 44-0 on Friday night at Basile for its fifth straight win, according to MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated.1 The American Press, KPLC and PrepRank listed 43-0, but Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decided the final is 44-0.2

    The Greyhounds (7-1, 2-0) have won every game since a 47-28 loss at Jennings on Sept. 17, according to their MaxPreps schedule. Friday was their second shutout of the season; the first was a 42-0 win over Opelousas Catholic on Sept. 11. Basile fell to 2-6 and 0-3.

    How it unfolded

    MaxPreps’ box score has Welsh scoring 18 points in the first quarter and 26 in the second, for a 44-0 halftime lead, with neither team scoring after that. Neither the American Press nor KPLC published a scoring summary.

    What the season numbers say is that Welsh arrived with the offensive numbers to do this. The American Press reported Thursday that Welsh was among three Southwest Louisiana teams (Barbe and Leesville were the others) to have both a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard passer after seven games. Its running back had 1,157 yards and 18 touchdowns, and quarterback Grant Haydel had 1,180 yards and 13 touchdowns. Those are totals through last week, not Friday’s numbers.

    Greyhounds coach Ronnie Courville told KPLC on Sept. 17 that after Welsh’s first shutout, the 42-0 win over Opelousas Catholic, his players “showed up and executed extremely well.” Previewing the game, the Jennings Daily News noted that Basile has moved up to Class 2A and that Courville was not looking past them.

    The district race

    Welsh (2-0) visits Lake Arthur (2-1) on Oct. 30, then hosts Notre Dame (2-0) on Nov. 5. By Gridiron Gumbo’s math, winning both gives the Greyhounds the 7-2A title outright. (Our count, not an LHSAA announcement.)

    PrepRank, an unofficial site that applies the LHSAA formula, listed Welsh at 12.41 and 11th of 42 Division IV Non-Select teams after Friday’s game. Basile was 28th at 9.09.

    What others missed

    • Welsh has been here before. In 1994, Lake Arthur went unbeaten through eight games and reached No. 6 in the LSWA poll before losing 13-8 to Welsh in Week 9, the American Press reported on Oct. 15. Lake Arthur’s unbeaten run ended Friday against Notre Dame, but it still hosts Welsh on Oct. 30. Welsh also beat Lake Arthur in the first round of last year’s playoffs, per Louisiana Football Magazine.
    • The defense during the streak. Over the five straight wins, Welsh has scored 247 points and allowed 61, and four of the five opponents scored 13 or fewer (our math from the MaxPreps schedule; the 44 uses Friday’s confirmed final).
    • Basile’s whole district schedule so far. Basile’s 0-3 district record is made up of losses to Lake Arthur (62-7), Notre Dame (50-0) and Welsh (44-0 by the confirmed final), per MaxPreps and the American Press. Two of those three, Lake Arthur and Notre Dame, are the teams Welsh’s title math runs through.

    TAKE: Welsh went 5-7 last season, according to Louisiana Football Magazine. Two games, at Lake Arthur and against Notre Dame, now decide whether the Greyhounds finish this one as district champions.

    TAKE (joke): Between 1994, the Oct. 30 trip and the Nov. 5 showdown, a Southwest Louisiana football calendar is basically a family reunion where everybody remembers 1994 and nobody brought dessert.

    Related: 92 Throws, Zero Picks: Welsh’s Grant Haydel Is Pitching a Shutout Every Friday Night

    Sources

    1. MaxPreps game page, final 44-0 and quarter scores (https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/game/basile-vs-welsh/10-23-2026/?c=66cf33a8-e6f3-4437-9936-e896a22576a0), and Sports Illustrated’s High School On SI scoreboard (final 44-0). Final confirmed by Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision on Oct. 24, 2026. ↩ Back to story
    2. American Press, Oct. 23 scores and stats roundup (https://americanpress.com/2026/10/23/local-prep-football-scores-and-stats-oct-23-2/), KPLC’s TDL Week 8 scores (https://www.kplctv.com/2026/10/22/tdl-week-8-scores-highlights/) and PrepRank (https://prep-rank.com/games/533884) listed 43-0. We are treating that total as an error. ↩ Back to story
    3. American Press, “Perfect Pioneers, Tigers dual” (Oct. 22, 2026), for the 1,000-yard passer and rusher note and season stats: https://americanpress.com/2026/10/22/perfect-pioneers-tigers-dual/
    4. American Press, “Rocky road: unbeaten Lake Arthur faces dangerous portion of schedule” (Oct. 15, 2026), for the 1994 history: https://americanpress.com/2026/10/15/rocky-road-unbeaten-lake-arthur-faces-dangerous-portion-of-schedule/
    5. KPLC, TDL Week 3 Game Week Preview: Welsh Greyhounds (Sept. 17, 2026): https://www.kplctv.com/2026/09/17/tdl-week-3-game-week-preview-welsh-greyhounds/
    6. Jennings Daily News, “Greyhounds travel to take on Bearcats” (Oct. 23, 2026; paywalled, preview excerpt only): https://www.jenningsdailynews.net/sports/greyhounds-travel-take-bearcats
    7. Louisiana Football Magazine, 2026 Preview Class 2A District 7: https://www.lafootballmagazine.com/news/2026-preview-class-2a-district-7
    8. MaxPreps schedules: Welsh · Basile · Notre Dame · Lake Arthur
    9. MaxPreps District 7-2A standings (updated Oct. 23, 10:44 p.m. CT): https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/26-27/district/2a-district-7/?leagueid=5f98d655-3173-43c3-a492-41aaf579425b

    Featured image: Gridiron Gumbo illustration. No outside photos.

    Corrections: Gridiron Gumbo fixes errors promptly and notes changes at the bottom of the story. Spot one? Tell us.

    Correction, Oct. 24, 2026: An earlier version of this story gave the final as 43-0, the total listed by the American Press, KPLC and PrepRank. The final is 44-0, per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated. The headline, records line and streak points total were updated to match.

  • Louisiana
    Leesville Shuts Out LaGrange 42-0 for Its Sixth Straight Win

    Leesville Shuts Out LaGrange 42-0 for Its Sixth Straight Win

    By Remus Dixon | Gridiron Gumbo
    Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 · LHSAA Week 8 · District 3-4A
    FINAL · CONFIRMED

    CONFIRMED: Final score confirmed as 42-0 per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated and Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision (the American Press and KPLC listed 62-0; see Sources); records, schedules and standings per MaxPreps and the American Press (retrieved Oct. 23–24, 2026); 2025 playoff result per MaxPreps; season stats per the American Press (through Oct. 20); pregame context per KALB. No quarter scores or Friday individual stats were published by any outlet we checked. District math, where shown, is Gridiron Gumbo’s own (sources below)

    Leesville won its sixth straight and stayed perfect in 3-4A play. Next up: a trip to Jena, then a Nov. 6 visit to Lake Charles College Prep.

    THE ESSENTIALS

    • Final: Leesville 42, LaGrange 0 (Friday, Oct. 23, at Leesville)
    • Records (MaxPreps): Leesville 7-1, 3-0 District 3-4A · LaGrange 0-8, 0-3
    • Next: Leesville at Jena, Friday, Oct. 30 · Leesville at Lake Charles College Prep, Friday, Nov. 6 (non-district per MaxPreps) · LaGrange vs. North Vermilion, Friday, Oct. 30 (district)

    The recap

    Leesville shut out LaGrange 42-0 on Friday night at Leesville, according to MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated.1 The American Press and KPLC listed 62-0, but Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decided the final is 42-0.2

    TAKE (joke): Leesville’s season so far is like a good pot of red beans: started a little slow, and now it’s hard to stop.

    It is the sixth straight win for the Wampus Cats (7-1), whose only loss was 39-28 at Iowa on Sept. 11, according to MaxPreps schedules. They beat North Vermilion 67-22 last week. LaGrange (0-8, 0-3) is still looking for its first win.

    How it unfolded

    MaxPreps’ box score lists all 42 points in the first quarter, with zeros the rest of the way, and no outlet we checked published a scoring summary, so we’re not describing how the scoring unfolded.

    It was homecoming night in Leesville. KALB reported that the school crowned its homecoming queen and inducted several alumni into its athletic Hall of Fame before kickoff, and that quarterback Trel Broom and receiver Julius Brown were each “in position to break records.” KALB did not say which records, and no outlet we checked has reported whether either fell, so we’re not claiming one did.

    TAKE (joke): Homecoming night comes with a strict schedule: the crowning, the Hall of Fame, the kickoff and an hour of hugging somebody’s cousin in the parking lot.

    The season numbers explain why. The American Press’ stat leaders through Oct. 20 have Wampus Cats running back Grant Braxton first among large-school rushers in Southwest Louisiana, with 1,313 yards and 19 touchdowns in seven games, and Broom second in passing at 89-of-153 for 1,623 yards and 15 touchdowns. Brown (34 catches, 600 yards), Jaylen James (21-472) and Dylan Absher (24-439) are all on the receiving list. These are totals through last week, not Friday’s numbers.

    The district race

    Leesville (3-0) leads the MaxPreps 3-4A standings. Its Nov. 6 visit to Lake Charles College Prep is listed as non-district by MaxPreps, so we’re holding off on title math. (MaxPreps’ standings have LCCP at 1-0 in district play; the American Press lists 2-0, counting LCCP’s Oct. 23 game at North Vermilion, which MaxPreps lists as non-district. We’re making no district claim about that game.) LaGrange (0-3) hosts North Vermilion on Oct. 30.

    What others missed

    • A balanced offense. The American Press reported on Oct. 22 that three Southwest Louisiana teams, Leesville among them, had both a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard passer after seven games. Barbe and Welsh were the others.
    • Two shutouts in three games. Leesville blanked Rayne 49-0 on Oct. 8 per MaxPreps, then allowed 22 to North Vermilion, then shut out LaGrange. During the six-game winning streak the Wampus Cats have scored 269 points and allowed 97 (our math, using 42 for Friday).
    • A date with last year’s playoff opponent. Leesville finished 6-6 in 2025 and lost 42-23 to Lake Charles College Prep in the second round of the playoffs on Nov. 21, per MaxPreps’ 2025 schedule. The Wampus Cats visit LCCP on Nov. 6.

    TAKE: After a Sept. 11 loss, Leesville has been a different team for six weeks. The Nov. 6 game at LCCP, the team that ended its 2025 season, is the next test.

    Related: LaGrange at Leesville: LHSAA Week 8 Preview

    Sources

    1. MaxPreps game page, final 42-0 (https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/game/lagrange-lake-charles-vs-leesville/10-23-2026/?c=95c4552c-589d-4f4f-a401-6f45c5394ea2), and Sports Illustrated’s High School On SI scoreboard (final 42-0). Final confirmed by Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision on Oct. 24, 2026. ↩ Back to story
    2. American Press, Oct. 23 scores and stats roundup (https://americanpress.com/2026/10/23/local-prep-football-scores-and-stats-oct-23-2/) and KPLC’s TDL Week 8 scores (https://www.kplctv.com/2026/10/22/tdl-week-8-scores-highlights/) listed 62-0. We are treating that total as an error. ↩ Back to story
    3. KALB, “Leesville High School celebrates homecoming with alumni, Hall of Fame inductions” (Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.kalb.com/2026/10/23/leesville-high-school-celebrates-homecoming-with-alumni-hall-fame-inductions/
    4. American Press, Southwest La. prep football stat leaders (Oct. 20, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/20/southwest-la-prep-football-stat-leaders-oct-20/
    5. American Press, “Perfect Pioneers, Tigers dual” (Oct. 22, 2026): https://americanpress.com/2026/10/22/perfect-pioneers-tigers-dual/
    6. MaxPreps, Leesville 2025-26 schedule (2025 playoff result): https://www.maxpreps.com/la/leesville/leesville-wampus-cats/football/25-26/schedule/
    7. MaxPreps schedules: Leesville · LaGrange · North Vermilion · Lake Charles College Prep
    8. MaxPreps District 3-4A standings (updated Oct. 23, 10:44 p.m. CT): https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/26-27/district/4a-district-3/?leagueid=0775c406-6d67-47fc-95a0-9dcacd039b0f

    Featured image: Gridiron Gumbo illustration. No outside photos.

    Corrections: Gridiron Gumbo fixes errors promptly and notes changes at the bottom of the story. Spot one? Tell us.

    Correction, Oct. 24, 2026: An earlier version of this story gave the final as 62-0, the total listed by the American Press and KPLC. The final is 42-0, per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated. The headline, records line and Friday points total were updated to match.

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