I was proud that both Ole Miss and Mississippi State won their Saturday games, but the State victory was a little bittersweet.

I like Coach Croom, and that win over Alabama may well mean that his Bulldogs are on the road to better things. For the Tide, the loss to the team coached by the man passed-over by Alabama before they hired Mike Shula, the loss may also have been another step into the realm of mediocrity. Only time will tell.

The game&8217;s outcome hinged on the final play of the first half. Alabama was attempting to score and came close.

The play was reviewed, and that apparently showed that Alabama failed to score. I am sure fans from both sides saw the play differently.

While Alabama did not play particularly well, State seemed to play up to the level anticipated when Croom was hired a couple of years ago. For almost 24 hours I have heard little else but &8220;Who Let the Dawgs Out?&8221;

It has been well-known around the country that the Southeastern Conference is the strongest from top to bottom in the nation in football. That cannot be disputed. The SEC eats its own.

Although completely out of the West Division title chase, LSU knocked Tennessee out of any chance they might have had to play in the title game and thereby move into the BCS mix.

I could not understand why Tennessee, in the closing moments of their LSU loss, allowed two LSU receivers to run free in the end zone. It would have been much better to have interfered with them. LSU would have had a first down at the two-yard-line, but that would have been better than allowing the completion.

Friday night&8217;s Trinity-Porter&8217;s Chapel game must have been a real barn burner.

Trinity&8217;s quarterback Parker Brumfield was injured early in the contest and was taken to Jackson Saturday for treatment or diagnosis. I do not have any further information on his condition. The Saints will certainly need him for the playoffs.

From what I understand, Brumfield continued to play but the injury had to hamper his effectiveness. Stevan Ridley apparently took the team on his capable shoulders, but one player can only do so much. I hope Brumfield can come back from the injury, if not for the football playoffs, then at least for basketball and baseball season.

I just caught the start of the New York Marathon on television. I thought at first that it must have been 90,000 Tennessee fans still chasing Coach Fullmer, but it turned out those were the runners competing in the Marathon.

It is a good thing that the organizers of races such as that one start the good runners from a different spot, or many would likely get caught in the crowd.

Back to the strength of the SEC. Only Ole Miss and Mississippi State are completely out of the bowl picture. Without taking into consideration which SEC teams still have to play against each other, up to 10 SEC teams could wind up bowl-eligible.

With only seven or eight bowl tie-ins, a couple of those eligible teams could end up at home. That would be unfortunate, but most bowls have arranged with even lesser conferences to provide teams for those bowls in order not to be left without a participant.

And, that&8217;s official.

Al Graning is a former SEC official and former Natchez resident. He can be reached by e-mail at

alanward39057@aol.com