We are eight days away from normalcy for the East Mississippi Community College football program.
EMCC opens another highly-anticipated football season with a road trip to Jones Junior College. The Lions have waited a long time to return to the field after being banned from last season’s Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges playoffs.
The game will be unique in that Buddy Stephens will begin his ninth season at the helm with a roster of about 30 players, thanks to the final of two-game suspensions for dozens of players for a brawl in last season’s final game.
The game will not be unique in that EMCC will still be favored and will still come to Ellisville with the nation’s No. 1 ranking.
While EMCC will be short-handed, the Lions will still have their starting quarterback and his two reserves, as well as four talented receivers and a bulk of the offensive line.
A year ago, EMCC was injury-riddled at the time but had no problems posting a 49-7 win on the Jones campus. The short-handed Lions may have to coach it differently and play it differently but should have no problems starting 1-0.
From there, the season could go a number of different directions.
In years past, the EMCC schedule had a couple of games you could circle. The team has been clearly heads and shoulders above the rest of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges for each of the past five seasons. The Lions have difficulty about as often as the solar system has an eclipse.
However, this season will be different. There is the usually litany of games against teams ranked in the preseason – Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (fourth), Northwest Mississippi Community College (10th) and Hinds Community College (19th).
Still, the Lions will be under the microscope for nine games. The brawl broke out during the 48-0 rout of Mississippi Delta Community College. Proving, even an outmanned opponent can derail a season.
The MACJC will be watching EMCC carefully this season. Thanks to camera crews documenting the program for a Netflix documentary for a second straight year, the nation will be watching.
Quite simply, the Lions better behave. After all, benefit of the doubt is gone. We learned a year ago even a miserable opponent on a horrible field in front of a sparse crowd can ruin a season.
EMCC has incredible talent. On the hoof, this team is loaded. Once the suspended players return, it will be the most talented roster in the state and arguably the nation. Copiah-Lincoln has similar talent on the offensive and defensive lines. However, EMCC wins and wins big because it can send wave after wave of Division I players at the opposition.
The Lions have won seven straight MACJC North Division titles. The eighth one should come in late October. Outside of Northwest, the division will be a cakewalk.
Stephens said he will continue to play the offensive brand of football that has pushed the team to the National Junior College Athletic Association national championship in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Roughly translated that means EMCC will still be accelerating when up 63-0. Personally, I don’t think you will see last-second timeouts when leading by 48 in the first half. However, you will see a team that goes for the jugular and does not let up for 60 minutes. The statistics will be insane and again no one will fully understand the MACJC mercy rule, enacted several seasons ago because of EMCC.
It is bravado that has pushed the team to the forefront of the junior college football. It is style and substance. If you watched the Netflix series you learned little unless you were not aware of the program in the first place.
At the end of the day, Stephens has been hired to win games. He will continue to do that. Most likely, he, his staff and his players will win 12 of them. They are picked to win a fourth national title in six seasons. That would be an unprecedented run.
If EMCC shows up and does its job correctly, there will be no detour this year. Players and coaches have vowed they have learned their lessons from a year ago. Stephens even went as far as to say they have staged fights during preseason workouts this year, so that players would know how to handle themselves on the sidelines.
It’s a big year. And it’s setting up nicely for EMCC.
They just have to behave.
Scott Walters is a sports writer for The Dispatch. He may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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