Millsaps College -- The continued renewal of the Mid-South's most heated Division III gridiron rivalry enters its third year on Saturday as the Millsaps College and Mississippi College football teams stroll into Mississippi's most venerable sports venue for the annual Salvation Army College Football Classic. September 7, 2002, marks the 42nd meeting between the cross-town rivals. Appropriately termed the Mississippi Backyard Brawl, the yearly contest is firmly rooted in tradition and offers an atmosphere of electric excitement.
Until 1960, the Majors and Choctaws played in what was considered the most intense college football series in the Deep South. Rival games such as Alabama vs. Auburn and Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State were of no comparison to the often bitter and always entertaining battles between Millsaps and Mississippi College. Though many of the early contests often ended with lopsided results, the spirit of Major and Choctaw fans always kept the games interesting.
Brutal fights breaking out on school grounds were common place, and pre-game practical jokes played by students from both colleges were inevitable. Moreover, written taunts exchanged by the schools' newspapers during game week offered significant locker room material for players and coaches to use for motivational speeches.
However, college administrators banned the contest during the Eisenhower years because fans were exhibiting "un-Christian" behavior. A royal rumble broke out at a basketball game between Millsaps and Mississippi College in February of 1960 when a mob of angry Millsaps faithful rushed the MC contingent to reclaim a stolen piece of Millsaps property. Numerous fans were injured in the melee, two students were rushed to the hospital, and a famed rivalry was dead.
Today, the fighting amongst fans has come to a standstill, but the hard hits on the field have everyone talking. After a forty-year hiatus, the Salvation Army and the Mississippi Sports Council joined to forces to revive the old rivalry in September of 2000. In what was perhaps the best game of the longstanding feud, the Majors eked out a 20-19 victory in front of the largest crowd to ever witness a Division III football game. Over 12,000 fans held their collective breath as the Majors' Derrick McNeal launched a 37-yard field goal in the waning seconds of the game to give Millsaps the momentous win.
Last season, a torrential downpour produced soggy field conditions for what turned out to be a sloppy contest. Neither team looked crisp in the 2001 season opener as players slipped across the wet playing surface, but the Choctaws prevailed 15-3 and reclaimed bragging rights for the year.
Pep rallies, parades, and tailgate parties will be the orders of the day this Saturday. Parents, students, and alumni will gather under tents outside Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium to speculate about the evening's game, reminisce about previous contests, and enjoy their fill of food and drink.
But the story of the day will be found in the stadium. Forty-two years of rivalry will hinge on every play as flashes of purple, white, blue, and gold will be on display for sixty minutes. At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, two teams who play for the love of the game will compete for the coveted Backyard Brawl trophy and vie for area supremacy.
While Mississippi College leads the all time series by a whopping margin of 26-9-6, this year's game is being coined the "rubber match" after the Majors and Choctaws split the previous two match-ups. Prognosticators beware. The Majors and Choctaws will field exciting teams two days from now. Anything can happen in the 2002 edition of the Mississippi Backyard Brawl. History says so.
