2008 Woodie Awards
Power outage takes center stage
Matt Jones
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Sports
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A halftime show from the Ole Miss "Pride of the South" Band caused a lot of problems when the post-show fireworks blew a transformer outside the stadium. The result left half the stadium without power for about an hour. Power was restored in early in the fourth quarter.
A malfunction caused one of the fireworks to hit a power line, igniting it and blowing the transformer, causing the majority of the University of Mississippi campus to lose power.
Power was lost in the north and east sides of the stadium, including the large video scoreboard located in the north end zone. One small scoreboard displaying only the time and score remained working in the stadium's south end.
The outage also knocked out the microphone for the stadium's public address announcer, as well as the lapel microphone for referee Hubert Owens.
The fireworks were supposed to mark the beginning of the university's "Momentum" campaign to raise money for a new basketball practice facility and expansion to the football stadium.
Arkansas fullback Peyton Hillis said players noticed something was wrong when they returned from the locker rooms for the second half and the scoreboard wasn't on. The players didn't hear any of the explosions, however, Hillis said.
The vibrations from the fireworks caused the stadium to rattle and lights to flicker for a few minutes following the performance.
The freak occurrence might have been summed best by an Ole Miss official in the press box who said, "It's amazing when a million-dollar scoreboard can be knocked out by a five-dollar firecracker."
Dick Returns
While Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick has been scrutinized for his play at times, no one can deny the junior brings his A-game against Ole Miss.
Dick has started two games against the Rebels and played in the fourth quarter of last season's win in Fayetteville.
Dick didn't put up great numbers, but was effective Saturday, completing 11-of-17 passes for 96 yards and three touchdowns. Dick was intercepted once on a fourth down hail mary on the Hogs' final play of the first half.
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