Slam dunks, hot dogs, tug-of-war and even soccer at Ole Miss spring game – Vicksburg Post

As it does every April, the Ole Miss football program concludes its spring practice period by playing the Grove Bowl on Saturday at Vought-Hemingway Stadium.

At some point during the three-hour scrimmage, the Rebels might even play a game that resembles football.

The spring game will be renamed the “Globe Bowl Game,” and instead of a traditional scrimmage, it will be a playful team Olympics. Players compete in an obstacle course during four quarters of dunk-him contests, hot dog eating contests, tug-of-war, and 7-on-7 soccer.

Head coach Lake Kiffin said the format is modeled after the current NFL Pro Bowl.

“I would describe it as Pro Bowl plus,” Kiffin said. “So 7-on-7 will look similar to the flag football portion of what you saw at the Pro Bowl. The players have drafted teams, coaches, players, everything for that. Fans will be involved in a lot of different things. We're going to have an obstacle course, a dunk competition, a hot dog eating contest, and Joey Chestnut will be there. It's going to be exciting for everyone who comes to watch.”

Chesnutt, one of the world's top eaters, will oversee a hot dog eating contest scheduled for halftime.

The festivities begin with a dunk contest at 3 p.m. The tug of war competition will be held from the first quarter to the second quarter, and the obstacle relay competition will be held from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

Scoring from the Globe Bowl game gives the red and blue teams points for both 7-on-7 action and each non-football event.

The Dunkers will earn seven points for their team for making it to the finals, and the winner will receive an additional seven points. The tug-of-war is divided into five rounds, with the winning team in each round receiving five points.

Individual winners of the hot dog eating contest will add 12 points to the team total, second place will receive seven points and third place will receive three points. Finally, the Globe Bowl Gauntlet is split into three rounds, with the winner of each round earning his five points.

Kiffin said the revamped Spring Game was born out of the idea that the traditional model had outgrown its usefulness as an evaluation tool. He said the idea was to make the spring finale a fun treat for both players and fans, since coaches rarely show new wrinkles heading into next season.

In addition to the laid-back Globe Bowl game, fans will also have the opportunity to get player autographs inside the Manning Center afterward. Admission and parking are free. Students will be allowed to bring coolers to tailgates in the stadium and north end zone when gates open at 2 p.m.

The Globe Bowl is also part of a big sports weekend in Oxford. Ole Miss will host Mississippi State in the SEC Baseball Series. Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

The softball team will also play at home this weekend against Western Kentucky, and the women's tennis team will play SEC foe Missouri State on Friday and Arkansas State on Sunday.

“If you think outside the box and think outside the traditional way, and I think we're well known for doing that, I think as time goes on, the spring game becomes less valuable. “When you look at humans, they rarely carry out more than a few plays or plans,” Kiffin said. “I don't know if a traditional spring game would really bring much from a ratings standpoint. I think it was done that way because it was done that way. The NFL doesn't do that. Let’s see how this goes.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of the Vicksburg Post. He has been a member of the Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is an LSU graduate. During his career, he received more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and the Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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