With Ole Miss, State, and Southern failing to get shown on television Saturday, I watched a big part of the Georgia win over LSU and the Alabama defeat of Tennessee on the tube. Georgia’s win was not surprising, but the ease of that win really caught me by surprise.

It goes to show how very important a good quarterback is to a major college team. When the LSU Tigers lost Perrilloux during the summer, it left Coach Les Miles shorthanded. There was no question that Perrileaux deserved to be dismissed from the team, and the long-range benefit to the LSU program will be helped by that dismissal.

I understand that Perrilloux has fit right in at Jacksonville State and is putting up some very good numbers. If he has learned how to control his off field behavior, he has unlimited professional football possibilities. His Jacksonville State team defeated San Diego State Saturday night, but I don’t know how Perrilloux contributed to that win.

I stopped watching the Alabama vs. Tennessee game with the Tide holding a clear 29-3 lead with about six minutes remaining in the game. I see that Alabama allowed Tennessee a touchdown late to make the final score 29-9.

The only notable thing about that game was that, at the time I stopped watching the game, Tennessee had been penalized about 11 times while Alabama had not drawn a single flag. Either Coach Nick Saban has the most disciplined Alabama team ever, or Coach Phillip Fulmer’s Vols are the least disciplined Tennessee team ever.

I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle. As readers know, I grew up in Knoxville, knew the Neyland family well, so it is hard to let go of those Orange roots.

I am proud of the Southeastern Conference and glad to see Alabama holding on to the number two national ranking. I would love to see the Crimson Tide play for the third straight national championship for the SEC.

Natchezians can be proud that Natchez High, Trinity, Cathedral, and Huntington all posted Friday victories. ACCS ran into a strong Brookhaven Academy squad, and were unable to build on their win from last week. Natchez High has only to defeat Wingfield Friday to advance to the play offs for the first time in many years.

Trinity has to be considered one of the favorites to win the MPSA Class AA title in their only second season after moving up from Class A. Huntington stands at 7 – 1 in their district and will move on to the playoffs.

Coach Craig Beesley’s Cathedral Green Wave, coming off a solid win over Pisgah, will nonetheless stay home because they play in the strongest Class 1A region in Mississippi.

I noticed a strange fact while looking at the standings at the PGA Frys.com tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. Robert Gamez, who stands at 45th through Saturday play, has played all three rounds in the 60s.

He is, though, only nine shots off the lead score. As the ads say, “These guys can play.” In looking at the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) the report shows the top 62 players through Saturday at the Grand China Air Tournament. Naturally, most of the golfers shown are Asians. There were only a handful of American players listed.

For those of you keeping up with the MPSA’s Eight-Man football teams, Friday’s games saw Tensas defeating Christain Collegiate 72-27; Kemper winning over Calhoun Academy 16-6; Rebul Academy handling Mt. Salus 38-6, while Macon Central beat Russell Christian 52-30.

And, that’s official.

Al Graning writes a weekly column for The Democrat.