The Ole Miss Rebels have back-to-back football victories over Alabama for the first time in their history.
Their opportunity to make it three in a row will be the biggest Southeastern Conference telecast of the early-season CBS schedule. On Wednesday, the network announced its first three broadcasts of the 2016 season, with the third Alabama's trip to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Sept. 17.
Alabama and Ole Miss have met 60 times since 1894, with the Tide holding a 47-11-2 advantage. The Rebels recorded 23-17 and 43-37 upset wins in the past two meetings.
CBS will open its SEC schedule Sept. 3, when UCLA visits Texas A&M, and its second telecast will be Florida hosting Kentucky on Sept. 10.
The "SEC on CBS" has been college football's highest-rated package since Tim Tebow guided Florida to the 2008 national championship. It will again include Georgia-Florida on Oct. 29, as well as the Arkansas-Missouri game on Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving.
CBS games will kick off each week at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with doubleheaders on Nov. 5 (3:30 and 8) and Nov. 12 (noon and 3:30). The network has not announced its one prime-time telecast for the upcoming season, but it has shown Alabama-LSU at night the past five seasons. This year's Alabama-LSU game is Nov. 5 in Baton Rouge, La.
CBS announced earlier this week that Verne Lundquist would serve as the network's play-by-play announcer for a 17th and final season. Brad Nessler will assume that role in 2017.
Not much traction
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari has never been fond of conference tournaments, and this past March didn't change his opinion. Despite defeating Texas A&M in the SEC title game, which ended three hours before the NCAA tournament's selection show, the Aggies received a No. 3 seed and the Wildcats a No. 4.
So Calipari came to the SEC meetings this week in Destin, Fla., with a new concept - hold a league event at the start of the season that would allow every team to play three games. Calipari suggested Atlanta as a possible site, and he added that the league champion would be determined by the regular season.
How was his idea received by his coaching counterparts?
"You know, my stuff is so ridiculous that you say, 'What?'" he said.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told reporters Wednesday night that the SEC tournament championship game will continue to be played on a Sunday due to contractual obligations.
Alabama case unresolved
Alabama continues to wait for the NCAA to report on its findings about former Tide defensive line coach Bo Davis, who resigned in late April for alleged recruiting violations.
"I know that Bo spoke to the NCAA after we did and he resigned," Alabama athletic director Bill Battle told reporters Wednesday in Destin. "We had determined that there were violations and felt like it was in our best interest to separate. I know that Bo spoke to the NCAA in hopes he could reduce any penalty that might come to him.
"We haven't heard what might come to us."
Landers commits to UGA
Georgia picked up the 10th football commitment for its 2017 signing class Wednesday and the first from out of state when Matt Landers, a 6-foot-5, 182-pound receiver from St. Petersburg, Fla., made a nonbinding pledge.
Landers, rated the No. 109 receiver nationally by 247Sports.com, had early scholarship offers from Auburn, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame and Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs have the No. 8 class of commitments, according to 247Sports.com, with Ohio State, Oklahoma, Miami, LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State and Michigan comprising the top seven.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.