Thursday, January 3, 2019   
 
Miss. State CAVS: Calibration key after changes to autonomous off-road SUV
The extrinsic calibration needed to marry feeds from three lidar sensors or a stereo camera system on Mississippi State University's experimental autonomous Subaru Forester can be affected by vehicle disassembly or alterations, according to one of its engineers. Will Meadows, an MSU electrical engineering masters student and the electrical lead for the vehicle, discussed the calibration process for the electric, self-driving off-road vehicle in an exclusive interview with Repairer Driven News on Oct. 29, the day before MSU unveiled the SUV in SCRS' SEMA booth. Highlights from the conversation spanning this and numerous other interesting elements of the MSU Center for Advanced Vehicular Studies vehicle are now available in a Society of Collision Repair Specialists video posted Wednesday. Meadows said MSU's modified 2014 Forester also uses two lidar sensors angled toward the ground and combining their output with a third above the car for a single, wider sensory view. The lidar sees the world by reflecting lasers off of objects, which Meadows said provided CAVS with a convenient way to classify various potential obstacles based upon the intensity of their reflectivity.
 
'Nanoscavengers' could protect people from sarin gas, other nerve agents
In the 1980s, thousands of Iranians were killed from exposure to the nerve agents sarin and tobin unleased by Iraqi forces. Similar chemicals have been used against soldiers and civilians in recent wars and terrorist attacks. Now, researchers are reporting a new therapy that may be able to provide long-acting protection against these agents. Though the treatment has only been tested in rodents, some scientists say it could one day prevent lasting brain damage or death in people exposed to these deadly chemical weapons. In the current study, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle tried a new tack. They wrapped an organophosphate-targeting enzyme called OPH in a flexible polymer gel coating. Nerve agent nanoscavengers would be most practical for people who are at high risk of exposure to the chemical weapons, such as soldiers or first responders going into a contaminated area, says Janice Chambers, a toxicologist at Mississippi State University in Starkville who wasn't involved in the work. But she says the therapy probably wouldn't be useful for short-notice assaults such as terrorist attacks. "By the time you would be exposed and showing the signs of tremors or convulsions, it would be too late" to give the treatment.
 
A vaccine to stop lung cancer? Here's what it's made of, Mississippi researcher says
The Sun Herald republishes Mississippi State researcher Robert McMillen from The Conversation: Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the country, and almost 90 percent of deaths from this disease are directly attributable to cigarette smoking. Many cancers, such as breast cancer, that were once a death sentence are now treatable, yet lung cancer survival rates remain below 20 percent. A cure may be elusive, but the medical community can stop this disease and eliminate most future lung cancer deaths. Most lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking, and smoking is a socially influenced behavior. People tend to catch it from tobacco marketing and by modeling smokers. Tobacco companies spend more than a million dollars an hour to market their products in order to recruit new smokers. I am a tobacco control researcher who has studied ways to stop the disease. There is a vaccine to smoking, and you don't even have to get a shot. Scientists have more than 60 years of research on how to get people to quit smoking and prevent teens from starting to smoke.
 
Gov. Phil Bryant Appoints Mark Henry to Workers' Compensation Commission
Gov. Phil Bryant has appointed Mark Henry to a six-year term on the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission. He will replace Thomas A. Webb on the Commission, whose term expires Dec. 31, 2018. Currently, Henry serves as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES). The Commission reviews decisions made by administrative law judges, decides certain medical fee disputes, and regulates individual and group self-insurers. Henry was appointed as Executive Director of MDES in 2012 by Gov. Bryant. He is also presently the Chairman of the State Workforce Investment Board and the Chairman of the State Longitudinal Data System. Henry holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Mississippi State University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
 
Mississippi receives $10M grant for early education
Mississippi has been awarded a $10.62-million grant to improve the state's early childhood education, Gov. Phil Bryant announced Wednesday. "MS has been awarded $10.62 million for the Preschool Development Grant – from birth to 5," Bryant tweeted. "My State Early Childhood Advisory Council, in partnership with (Mississippi Department of Human Services), has developed a system that focuses on achieving and maintaining high quality childcare services." The grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is estimated to reach 60,000 Mississippi families with children from ages birth to five. Mississippi currently does not offer universal pre-kindergarten through its public schools. As a result, thousands of students each year arrive at kindergarten without any classroom experience, and start school behind their peers. The main goal is to ensure children have a smooth transition from child care centers and Head Start and into the public school system.
 
Mississippi receives $10.6 million preschool grant
A new grant could help Mississippi provide preschool to children who didn't have access to high-quality early education before. Gov. Phil Bryant announced Wednesday on Twitter that Mississippi has received $10.6 million to provide child care services from infancy to age 5. "This $10.62 million grant is estimated to reach 60,000 Mississippi families with children from ages birth to five, whereas the Early Learning Collaboratives (Pre-K) serve 1,700 four-year-olds. Both are important elements to the greater early learning system in Mississippi," said Bryant spokesperson Knox Graham. The federal funding will go toward a system developed by the State Early Childhood Advisory Council and the Mississippi Department of Human Services. It provides child care vouchers for low-income families.
 
Legislative session 2019: Will a teacher pay raise really happen this year?
With state elections looming, Mississippi's top political leaders are avoiding controversial education policy battles and backing a more palatable proposal -- a teacher pay raise. Republicans Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn have signaled their support for increasing teacher pay. Both have also held off on unveiling specifics. Still at play, Gunn cautioned, is how much revenue the state will collect before budget work begins in March. "Three years ago, the House led on a teacher pay raise. So, we clearly support our teachers," he said, speaking to a group of reporters in December. "Anything we do in that arena is going to be a function of dollars and whether or not revenues exist." Back in 2014, lawmakers pushed through a $2,500 pay raise for teachers that was phased in over two years. The average Mississippi teacher now makes $44,659, according to the state Department of Education. Gov. Phil Bryant wants to see lawmakers dedicate an additional $50 million to salary increases over the next two years.
 
Candidates start qualifying for 2019 Mississippi elections
Candidates are starting to file for statewide and regional offices and legislative seats in Mississippi. Wednesday was the first day to submit qualifying papers. The deadline to enter races is March 1. Party primaries are in August and the general election is in November. Five of the eight statewide offices will not have incumbents running.
 
Rep. Hughes wastes no time qualifying for lieutenant guv; Hosemann still mum on plans
State Rep. Jay Hughes -- on the first business day of the new year -- became one of the first to officially qualify to run for statewide office. This past May, Hughes, a freshman Democrat from Oxford, announced his intention to run for what is likely to be an open lieutenant governor's seat. On Wednesday, the Oxford attorney officially qualified with the state Democratic Party. Another candidate officially qualifying for a statewide office was Andy Gipson, a Republican, to run for commissioner of agriculture and commerce. Gipson was appointed to the post last year to replace Cindy Hyde-Smith after she was appointed to the U.S. Senate. Hughes has essentially been campaigning for the post since he announced in May.
 
Mississippi business survey reveals workforce needs
More than 5,600 businesses filled out surveys for the Secretary of State's office, and some of the information bucks the trends of what you may have heard in the past. "75 percent of what people look at when they're deciding whether they're going to hire you or not is not whether you took a skill/trade certificate," explained Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. "That's helpful. That puts you more over here. But look, it's whether you show up on time, talk to your fellow employee, and you're timely." Items like GPA and ACT scores were low on the totem pole. But there was a disconnect discovered between businesses and the career and technical programs in K-12 and community colleges. "All of a sudden they're realizing that we don't have the employees," noted Hosemann. "We don't have a big growth in Mississippi. I don't know what the census will be. We're working on that for the Governor. They're realizing in that working pool, they're going to have to compete and the way to compete is to go into these schools and get the best ones out for us."
 
State Rep. Robert Foster seek health care and education changes
Mississippi is hurting itself in how it addresses health care and education, said state Rep. Robert Foster (R-Hernando), and changes in those areas are critical in the campaign platform he has announced as part of his run for governor. Foster declared in December his plans to run for the state's top office, a seat now held by term-limited Gov. Phil Bryant. Foster believes Mississippi is ready for change in the status quo and his platform will point to revisions in particular to health care and education. As far as education is concerned, Foster said too many students are graduating high school without trade skills and find themselves ready for a college degree that they end up not using. Foster wants to start focusing on giving students more post-graduate options. He would like to see more emphasis on career tech education.
 
District 1 Supervisor Kevin Frye to run for Mississippi State Senate
The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors will need to fill another seat, as District 1 Supervisor Kevin Frye will be campaigning for a state-level seat in 2019. Frye announced his bid to run for the Mississippi State Senate District 9 seat on Thursday, which is currently held by Oxford resident Senator Grey Tollison. In an email to the EAGLE, Tollison said he would announce his intentions for the 2019 election year at the Eggs & Issues Legislative Breakfast January 7th. Frye was elected to the Board of Supervisors on November 5, 2015, and is also one of the founding partners of Frye Reeves, PLLC, a full-service law firm in Oxford. In the release, Frye says he will bring the same work ethic and problem-solving skills he has obtained in his years as a supervisor, the Lafayette County Bar Association's president and his decade of experience as an attorney.
 
Sam C. Mims V, R-McComb, announces re-election bid
Sam C. Mims V, R-McComb, has announced his bid for re-election to the Mississippi House of Representatives for District 97, a district made up of portions of Adams, Amite, Franklin and Pike counties. Mims is a graduate of McComb High School and received a bachelor's degree from Delta State University in 1994. He returned to McComb in 1999 and held various positions in the field of health care. He is presently Vice President of Business and Community Development for Merit Health, a division of Community Health Systems. A longtime advocate of rural hospitals and their importance to providing access to affordable healthcare for Mississippi residents, Mims is committed to the adoption of both policies and legislation to enhance the operation of rural medical facilities. Mims is a member of the McComb Rotary Club, the National Rifle Association and is a former chairman of the City of McComb Republican Executive Committee.
 
States prepare ambitious agendas for 2019
Democrats and Republicans in state legislatures across the country are preparing ambitious new agendas for the year ahead, buoyed by election results that cemented single-party control of all but a small handful of states. Once new governors and legislators are sworn in in the coming weeks, more than three-quarters of Americans will live in states in which one party controls all levers of state government. Democrats will hold all the power in 14 states, where about a third of all Americans live. Those states are mostly on the West Coast and in the Northeast, along with Colorado and New Mexico in the Mountain West, and Illinois. Republicans will run 22 states across the Mountain West, the South and the Rust Belt, accounting for about 42 percent of the population and including mega-states like Florida, Texas and Ohio. States are taking new steps to close the gap between rising expenses and lagging revenues. And states are increasingly exploring legalized sports betting, after another Supreme Court ruling in favor of a New Jersey law to open bookmaking.
 
Sports Betting Will Be No Home Run for State Budgets
The race to legalize sports betting is on now that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed it in all 50 states, but will it provide enough extra tax revenue to make much of a difference for schools, roads or pension debt? Don't bet on it. Just look to the states that capitalized immediately after the court's ruling last spring and to Nevada, which previously had an effective monopoly on sports gambling. Even though the market is still developing, the returns to date have been modest. The expected stampede of states seeking to legalize it has parallels to the growing trend toward legalizing recreational marijuana, which 10 states have done and others are considering. As with marijuana, lawmakers say they are motivated in large part because sports betting has been a black market activity outside Nevada. Legalizing it would allow states to impose regulations and take in at least some money.
 
New farm bill provides funds
While living in a rural area is a dream come true for many, it also offers a unique set of challenges to farmers and other in agricultural based communities. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which was recently signed into law, seeks to address the needs of regions, such as the Delta. The AIA will also benefit non-farming members of in rural areas, such as Bolivar County. Members of the local agricultural community were also excited about the AIA and what will mean for the region. "As a whole the agricultural industry was pleased with the passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 and that includes us here in the delta," said Kirk Satterfield, who is president of the Bolivar County Farm Bureau and a local rice and soybean producer. "Agriculture is the foundation of Mississippi's economy, so getting these policies right for our producers is critical," said Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, in a recent press release.
 
Analysis: Defense spending is a Mississippi tradition
As the current Congress sputters to an end, there's one accomplishment that Mississippi's Republican members are looking back on with pride --- higher defense spending. It was a theme in the re-election campaigns of several members, and resurfaced with December's announcement of two more Coast Guard cutters to built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula at an eventual cost of $1.7 billion. Military support is a tradition for Mississippi's delegation. The late John C. Stennis is the only U.S. senator with an aircraft carrier named for him, in recognition of his long advocacy for military funding during his 41-year career, including his desire for "a navy second to none." The late Sonny Montgomery spent much of his 30 years in the U.S. House looking after the needs of veterans, reserve forces and National Guard members, as well as advocating for military bases.
 
CIA Chief Pushes For More Spies Abroad; Surveillance Makes That Harder
CIA Director Gina Haspel spent much of her career overseas and undercover --- and she wants more CIA officers doing the same. In her one public speech since becoming head of the spy agency, Haspel said her goal is to "steadily increase the number of officers stationed overseas. That's where our mission as a foreign intelligence agency lies, and having a larger foreign footprint allows for a more robust posture." But doing this isn't easy. It's always been a challenge to protect the identity of American spies and the foreign sources they work with, said Jonna Mendez, who used to be the chief of disguise at the CIA. "We would de-Americanize you," said Mendez, author of the forthcoming book The Moscow Rules, about the work she and her husband, fellow CIA officer Tony Mendez, did during the Soviet era.
 
Rural internet town hall at UM-Tupelo tonight
A town hall will be held tonight at 6 p.m. to discuss legislation to allow rural electric cooperatives to bring internet service to their service areas. Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley will host the meeting on broadband internet expansion at the University of Mississippi Tupelo Campus Auditorium on Briar Ridge Road. Steve Foshee, the CEO of Tombigbee Electric Cooperative in Hamilton, Alabama, will be a guest of Commissioner Presley at the event. Foshee is the architect of one of the nationally recognized models for expanding internet service by electric cooperatives and will be sharing of how he and his cooperative accomplished it. Presley has called on the Mississippi Legislature to change the law in the upcoming legislative session to allow rural electric cooperatives to provide high-speed internet service. Current Mississippi law prohibits rural electric cooperatives from providing internet service.
 
Alcorn State's Natchez campus to open late due to power outage
A power outage has forced a delayed opening Thursday at Alcorn State University's Natchez campus. The late opening will affect spring registration, university officials said. Power is expected to be restored by noon, but the exact start time has not been determined. Alcorn State officials will provide an update later Thursday.
 
From 'poverty to prosperity': Women lead initiatives to expand the minds, opportunities in the Delta
On a cold and rainy Saturday morning in early December, twenty-six black middle school-aged students -- energized to learn -- gathered at the center for We2gether Creating Change, a local nonprofit geared towards moving youth and adults from poverty to prosperity. Each Saturday, these middle schoolers participate in Dollars ($$$) For Your Thoughts, an umbrella program of We2gether Creating Change -- formed in 2011 -- that inspires youth to "use their talents, skills, and passions to create a healthy and whole life." In turn, students receive money for speaking up and sharing their thoughts. Every class session features a different topic: being confident and building self-esteem, cultivating healthy relationships and graduating high school and entering college, to name a few. We2gether was started in 2009 by Gloria Dickerson, a Drew, Miss. native and civil rights activist, who returned to help improve education in her hometown decades after integrating the former all-white Drew High School in 1965.
 
Mayor urges Tuscaloosa leaders to hold off on student housing projects
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is urging city leaders to shelve votes on any upcoming apartment project of 200 bedrooms or more. In his latest "Mayor's Minute," released Wednesday, Maddox said he believes it's time to re-examine the effects of student-based housing on the city's infrastructure and housing landscape. To do so properly, he is urging both the City Council and the city's Planning and Zoning Commission to table any vote that would grant approval for the construction of what he describes as "mega" developments. This stands to affect two projects that currently are pending before the City Council. Both are along Frank Thomas Avenue near the University of Alabama campus. One, with 490 bedrooms, is at the Sixth Street intersection. The other, with 293 bedrooms, is at the intersection with Eighth Street.
 
No winter break for campus construction at Auburn University
School is out until the spring semester at Auburn University, but work on the various construction projects around campus is not stopping. "Each of our projects will continue during the holiday break," Facilities Management spokeswoman Martha Gentry told the Opelika-Auburn News earlier this month. Several of the projects underway at the university have target completion dates in the spring and summer of 2019, and project managers say they are all on schedule, according to Gentry. The Leach Science Center addition will consolidate and move the Physics Department and faculty from Parker Hall and Allison Laboratory. It will consist of instructional and research laboratories, study spaces, departmental offices and support facilities for the College of Sciences and Mathematics. "Contractors are hanging drywall in the interior of the building," Gentry said. "Exterior brick and glass installation continues on the east and north elevations."
 
U. of Tennessee's new Student Union opens with Steak 'n Shake, recreation area and more
The second phase of UT's Student Union at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, including new restaurants, offices and a recreation area, opened on Wednesday. The Student Union, which is nearly 400,000 square feet, is the largest construction project in the university's history, according to a news release from UT. The Student Union replaces the University Center, which was built in 1952. Phase one of the building opened in June 2015. "With the Student Union opening and the progress we're making on other projects, it's an exciting time to be at UT," Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor for facilities services, said in the release. Phase two includes new office space for the Division of Student Life, including the Center for Leadership and Service, the Student Government Association, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life. The Student Union also includes new dining locations, including a Steak 'n Shake and Rising Roll. There is also a new student recreation area, which includes space for video gaming, billiards and table tennis, according to the release.
 
Former faculty member sues U. of Florida
A former University of Florida faculty member found by the administration to have had a sexual relationship with a female graduate student is suing the school, claiming UF is trying to sabotage his career. In the lawsuit, Kelly A. Jordan, 38, of Washington, D.C., alleges UF officials breached a confidentiality agreement. In exchange for agreeing to resign as associate chair and program director of UF's Nuclear Engineering Reactor on May 15, 2017, Jordan said he was assured that UF would drop its Title IX investigation against him and offer him letters of recommendation for other jobs. Instead, UF completed the Title IX investigation on the day of his resignation. In addition to ensuring equity in athletics, Title IX legislation requires all schools that receive federal money to respond appropriately to reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence against students. The 96-page report concluded that Jordan had an ongoing sexual relationship with a graduate assistant in his department from the fall of 2015 through the summer of 2016, before breaking up with her due to concerns that school administrators would find out.
 
Student activists' biggest obstacle often is the rhythms of college activism itself
Student activists' biggest opponent often is the rhythm of college itself. The traditional academic calendar, with built-in holiday breaks, busy finals schedule and months-long summer leaves little uninterrupted time for organizing. And students' temporary stay on campus all but guarantees setbacks when student leaders graduate. The calendar dictates a rise and fall of momentum behind student movements. Chris Gannon, vice president for the United States Student Association, a national student organizing group, calls it the "student energy cycle." "When you get students coming in the fall, they have more time, they haven't started their exams and they get really fired up in September and October," Gannon said. "In November and December, students might not be doing as well in their classes and have to focus on that. They start to lose interest." "I'm sure there are some places that use the calendar to that effect," said Kevin Kruger, president of NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, a national organization for student affairs administrators. "How Machiavellian colleges are about it, I don't know."
 
Economics and its main association face criticism
As thousands of economists gather this week for the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, the field and the association are facing criticism on a number of fronts. One scholar's posts on Twitter -- receiving praise from others on social media -- note that the association's leaders, its top journals and a key prize increasingly appear tied to a very small number of departments at elite universities, in his view potentially excluding good people and good ideas from the attention they deserve. While many disciplines have particularly influential departments, this critique suggests that economics may be in a class by itself. The criticism also comes as hundreds of graduate students have issued a public call for the field, its departments and the association to adopt codes of conduct to prevent abusive treatment of graduate students and young scholars.
 
Post-millennial entrepreneurs view higher education as vital to their startups
Eric J. Barron, president of Penn State, writes for The Conversation: Today's college students -- dubbed Generation Z -- are beginning to make their mark on the workplace with a distinctly unconventional and often irreverent approach to problem-solving. In my day-to-day interactions with our students, I find that this group doesn't only ask "Why?" they ask "How can I fix that?" And their curiosity, independence, energy and assertiveness are transforming the entrepreneurial space. These post-millennials are less like the bumbling geeks from the cast of the HBO comedy "Silicon Valley" and more in the spirit of a focused problem-solver like a young MacGyver, who would rather invent and innovate as a means to learning and discovery. What's energizing to a university president like me is watching this transformation take place as more and more undergraduates are partnering with public institutions and fueling the next wave of ingenuity.


SPORTS
 
No. 7 Mississippi State takes on Arkansas in SEC opener
Vic Schaefer and Mike Neighbors think they know a lot about their teams midway through the 2018-19 campaign. The second phase of the marathon, which is otherwise known as the Southeastern Conference regular season, will affirm or shatter some of the notions Schaefer and Neighbors developed in non-conference play. That marathon will kick off at 6 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network) when the No. 7 Mississippi State women's basketball team takes on Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. All 14 league teams will open SEC play Thursday. MSU is coming off a 104-36 victory against Louisiana on Sunday at Humphrey Coliseum. There likely won't be many breathers like that one the rest of the way for the Bulldogs, the SEC's reigning regular-season champion. That's why Schaefer said Tuesday he is "curious" to see how good his team can become and what it will be able to do. "I just think we're a work in progress," Schaefer said. "We have a lot of room to grow."
 
Bulldogs' title defense begins tonight
Mississippi State's defense of last year's Southeastern Conference championship begins tonight. The seventh-ranked Bulldogs went 16-0 in the SEC last season and begin conference play on the road at Arkansas at 6 on SEC Network. MSU (12-1) has won seven straight games against the Razorbacks, including an 111-69 victory in Starkville last season. The Bulldogs hold a slight 19-18 edge in the overall series. Senior center Teaira McCowan continues to pace State averaging 16.7 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. McCowan scored 18 points against Arkansas last year. The Hogs (11-3) are riding a six-game winning streak into tonight's contest and defeated Jackson State 76-57 on Sunday.
 
SEC title defense begins for Mississippi State women
One part of the schedule is down for No. 7 Mississippi State and the Bulldogs are off to a successful 12-1 start as Southeastern Conference games begin Thursday night. MSU is set for the beginning of SEC play and the defense of its first ever conference title from last season. The Bulldogs start things off with a road trip to Arkansas Thursday night at 6 p.m. for a game that is set to be broadcasted by SEC Network. It's a game against a team, and coach, that Vic Schaefer is as familiar with as any nationally. The seventh-year Bulldog head man was an assistant at Arkansas over 20 years ago and sat on the same bench as the Razorbacks head coach Mike Neighbors. Neighbors is an Arkansas alum, who led Washington to a Final Four and two years ago lost to the Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 in Oklahoma City. After taking over a struggling Razorback team last season and winning just 13 games, he's already off to an 11-3 record this year.
 
Mississippi State vs. Arkansas: Chelsea Dungee enjoys role as go-to scorer for Razorbacks
Two years ago, Chelsea Dungee's freshman season at Oklahoma ended with a second-round NCAA tournament loss to Washington. She didn't know then-Huskies coach Mike Neighbors, but she was extremely familiar with star guard Kelsey Plum, the all-time leading scorer in women's college basketball history. Fast-forward to 2019, and not only does Dungee know Neighbors, she now plays for him as Neighbors is the Razorbacks' second-year coach, and Dungee is a transfer sophomore. Dungee is now Arkansas' version of Plum in Neighbors' offense, and a strong performance today against No. 7 Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference opener at home would verify the sophomore's standing as one of the top players in the SEC. Dungee breezed through the Razorbacks' (11-3) nonconference schedule like a seasoned veteran, averaging 17 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. Still, none of these tests was close to what she'll go up against in SEC play starting tonight. Mississippi State returns many of the players from last year's team that made it all the way to the national championship game and lost on a last-second shot to Notre Dame.
 
Alabama-Clemson ticket prices still plummeting, far below face value
It continues to be a buyer's market for seats to Alabama's national title game showdown with Clemson. Despite face value prices starting at $475, tickets are listed for as little as $132 on resale websites ahead of Monday's game in Santa Clara, California. As of Wednesday evening, the lowest price of $132.05 was found on StubHub.com. TicketIQ had seats starting at $175 while Ticketmaster's resale site had them for as little as $200. Face value for upper-level seats is $475 and $575 for lower bowl. The previous low get-in price for a college football national title game in the last decade was $202 for Alabama-Clemson Part I played in Arizona in 2016, according to TicketIQ. TicketIQ founder Jesse Lawrence previously told AL.com the distance between the two schools and California's Bay Area is likely the biggest factor in the cheap tickets.
 
A bigger college football playoff faces series of obstacles
When talking about the possibility of expanding the College Football Playoff, the word momentum gets tossed around a lot. Expansion seems inevitable. Why? Because playoffs always expand. But when? Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who sits on the CFP management committee along with the 10 FBS conference commissioners, said now is the perfect time to talk about changes to the four-team playoff. "The CFP is doing great in terms of fan interest. In terms television ratings. In terms of every measure it has exceeded our expectations," Swarbrick said. "So being open to talking about the model, this is the perfect time to do it. Do it from a position of strength." But, he added, "Doesn't mean there's any momentum for change." The CFP management committee meets the morning of the Alabama-Clemson game in San Jose, California. "There's widespread satisfaction with the four-team college football playoff," CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. "But clearly there are some individuals who are thinking about whether or not it's necessary to even begin any kind of discussion about the future. There may be some who want to talk now. There may be others who are not ready. We may ponder when to ponder."
 
For Clemson University, football team creates a 'front door' for education
It may be Clemson's football team that will face off with Alabama for the national title, but in many ways, the whole university stands to gain from the appearance. The Tigers' success over the last few years has helped fuel enrollment growth at the university and new construction. When the team won the 2017 game against Alabama, it helped increase the university's national presence. After winning the game in January 2017, searches for "Clemson University" reached a five-year peak, according to Google Trends data. "To be at the pinnacle of the sport for a protracted period of time really just raises the profile of the entire institution," Mark Land, Clemson's vice president for university relations, said. Land said the sports success also gives the university opportunities for free advertising. Applications to Clemson have also increased along with the Tigers' winning.
 
PETA calls for universities to drop use of live animal mascots after Bevo-Uga incident
A video went viral Tuesday after Texas mascot Bevo broke through a metal enclosure into an area where Georgia mascot Uga was being photographed before the Sugar Bowl. The situation got quickly under control as the steer's handlers prevented him from harming the bulldog or other people in the area. Wednesday, however, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals used the incident to renew its call for universities to drop their use of live animal mascots. PETA said it sent a letter to both universities decrying the practice, called on Texas and Georgia to "learn from this dangerous incident" and retire their live animal mascots.



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