This may not seem like a lot of money for the Southeastern Conference. Ole Miss has an annual athletic budget of $120 million. This money is a blessing for the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. This is a significant chunk of an athletic budget that totals around $14 million. Football teams can receive 63 scholarships at the NCAA’s Division I FCS Level. This 450 grand will pay tuition for almost all 63 students this school year. Jay Artigues (SLU athletic director), a native of Bay St. Louis and a Belhaven graduate, said, “Obviously, that’s a huge payday for us.” We try to play only one FBS team per year, and I try to make it an event we can travel by bus rather than flying. The $450,000 covers our travel expenses. Chartering a plane would cost $75,000 if we flew. The total cost of our expenses, including meals, buses, and motel stays, is approximately $33,000. So Southeastern will be able to pay $417,000. This will be the second largest payday in SLU history. To make the shorter trip to LSU, the Hammond-based Lions were awarded $500,000 Southeastern was beaten 31-0 by LSU. LSU dubbed Southeastern 31-0 But it doesn’t always work this way. Two FBS teams have already been defeated by FCS teams this season. Central Arkansas defeated Western Kentucky 35-28 in August 29. Southern Illinois defeated UMass 45-20 in September 7. You might say that these aren’t SEC-level programs. Ole Miss could not have it happen, could it? It has already happened. In 2010, Jacksonville State defeated Houston Nutt’s Ole Miss Rebels 49-48 in double overtime. Kansas was the victim of the same fate last year, when Nicholls State (which plays in the Southland Conference with SLU) beat the Jayhawks 26 to 23 in overtime. In 2016, 13th-ranked Iowa was defeated by North Dakota State. In 2015, South Carolina was knocked out by The Citadel. Georgia Southern shocked Florida in 2013. Remember Maine? Mississippi State does. Maine defeated State 9-7 in 2004. It happens. Although it doesn’t happen very often, it does occur. In 2018, there were 111 FBS-FCS matchups. Only seven of these FBS-FCS matchups were won by FCS teams. FBS teams were defeated nine times by FCS teams in 2017, and ten times in 2016. Few Ole Miss fans will ever forget that horrible feeling they felt on Sept. 4, 1991, when Jack Crowe’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks beat FBS teams nine times in 2017, and 10 times in 2016. Nutt stated that it was the “worst loss” of his career. Crowe, Arkansas’ head coach, said, “If I stay in this match long enough, it will go both ways.” Two weeks ago, Southeastern beat Jacksonville State 35-14 in its first (and only) game. Here’s the kicker: Cole Kelley (the quarterback who threw two touchdowns in the game for SLU) has already quarterbacked Ole Miss to victory. He threw three touchdowns in 2017 to help Arkansas overcome a 24 point deficit and beat the Rebels, 38-37. This off-season, he transferred to SLU. Kelley isn’t even starting for the Lions. Chason Virgil (a Fresno State transfer) starts at quarterback for the Lions. FBS transfers are also present in the SLU roster. Running back Devonte Wilkins played two years at Indiana. He was a member of the Big Ten Conference’s all-freshman team for 2016. Anthony Spurlock, a former prospect from New Orleans who was a three-star wide receiver, has transferred to SLU, Western Kentucky. Frank Scelfo is the Southeastern head coach. He has previously been an offensive assistant at Tulane and Arizona, as well as in the NFL with The Jacksonville Jaguars. Micheal Spurlock is his assistant coach. He was a former star at Ole Miss and one of the most important Mississippi high school players of all time at Indianola. Spurlock, who was a Jacksonville Scelfo player, is the Lions’ wide receiver coach and coordinates special teams. Scelfo had used Micheal Tottenhamlock earlier in the week to show how the Lions approach Saturday’s game. Scelfo stated that Michael is excited. He’s proud to be on the field with this football team, and he has many friends and fans. As a head coach, that makes me feel good. He doesn’t want to be a big-paying coach. No, no. We’re there to play and win and to learn.