There is an opening.
Tuesday, the latest National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national rankings had EMCC slotted at No. 5 in the nation.
In the final half of the season, the rankings are computer-oriented with the human component being roughly around one-third.
So with eager anticipation, the first computer numbers cranked out a nice number for EMCC at fifth.
In other words, the Lions have a chance.
After winning back-to-back NJCAA national championships in 2013 and 2014, the quest for a third title was cut short by a season-ending ban from the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) playoffs in 2015.
It appeared all was forgiven for the season-ending fight against Mississippi Delta Community College when EMCC was installed as the preseason No. 1 team in the nation.
However, the Lions played the season-opener short-handed and the free fall began. After Jones Junior College knocked off EMCC 27-25 in the season opener, the Lions fell out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2012.
Even after a victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in the week one, the Lions slipped further to No. 14. If you beat Top 20 opponents on the road and still don’t get a bump, you might as well as hang it up for the season.
However, the rankings have flowed back in the positive direction with successive victories over Northeast Mississippi Community College (54-10), Itawamba Community College (44-42) and Mississippi Delta Community College (73-7).
The MACJC is much stronger than it has been in years’ past and that will help EMCC. Of the first five opponents, only Delta has not been ranked at some time.
Heck, Jones has even ridden the EMCC victory to a Top 10 ranking of its own (at eighth). Northeast is ranked for the first time in five seasons.
EMCC still faces No. 16 Holmes Community College and No. 1 Northwest Mississippi Community College. The other final opponents include Coahoma Community College and a Hinds Community College team ranked in the preseason.
It appears that seven of the nine opponents this season will have been ranked at some time. That is much better than a year ago when the number was three.
We wrote in this column space two months ago that the pressure was on EMCC after last season’s missteps. To win people back over, the Lions had to do things the right way.
To the credit of coach Buddy Stephens, his assistants and his players, they have indeed done things the right way.
If Delta tries a fake punt and fumbles the ball on the final play of the half, it really isn’t EMCC’s fault a 73-7 final score takes place.
However, the best thing that happened last Thursday night at Sullivan-Windham Field was the postgame prayer circle.
Both EMCC and Delta players gathered at midfield in one huge circle. They had also gathered at midfield a year earlier for much different reasons.
Stephens said he suggested the group prayer to Delta coach Jeff Tatum in an effort to put last season’s melee in the past for both schools.
EMCC has a tremendous amount of talent. They have a litany of Division I transfers trying to overcome checkered pasts. They have hometown boys still playing each week in front of Mom and Dad.
There will always be detractors but for the most part it appears back in good graces on a national level.
EMCC will look for its 22nd straight MACJC North Division win Thursday at Holmes. The Bulldogs fought hard a year ago, before falling 44-28. A few deficiencies in the EMCC secondary tends to make you believe Thursday will be close as well.
The mammoth showdown with Northwest is next week. It will be good to have that rivalry mean something again. With EMCC absent from the playoffs a year ago, Northwest won its first national championship since 1999.
We will know in the next 10 days what these are Lions are made of.
Five is not one. But it can be.
Scott Walters is a sports writer for The Dispatch. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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