Well guys, as many of you know by now, MSU welcomed the Gator Bowl’s executives to Starkville on Monday. Rick Catlett, who is the CEO of the Gator Bowl, was even awarded with his very own cowbell.Catlett had the following to say about a number of issues surrounding MSU’s invite to Jacksonville: 

-On Strickland & MSU Fans:  “I want you to know, your AD worked very hard to convince this board to make this selection. Your fans have proven they were the right fans to invite, they’ve sold all their tickets and asked for more! Scott worked very hard to educate our selection committee and people…I think Mississippi State conducted themselves very professionally and made sure we had all the facts to make the selection.”
-On State’s Season and Bowl Ticket Sales:  “It’s not the largest stadium in the conference by any means (Davis Wade), but when the school you just invited calls for more tickets four, five hours into the process it shows the passion you have.”
-Picking MSU over UT:  “It was a pretty easy selection at that point, a 8-4 team ranked 21st in the country. It’s sort of a rule, or feel, you don’t pass a team after the type of season Mississippi State had for a two-win-less team.” 
-On Cowbells:  “We’re going to let them to bring them to our game and they can ring them any time they want to!”

Catlett also told reporters that as of yesterday morning, there was only 428 tickets left. In order to put that figure in perspective, the Jaguars’ stadium holds 77,000. MSUhas sold close to 16,000 tickets, while Wolverine fans have purchased around 12,500.  

White and Sherrod Named to All-SEC First Team
The Media has spoken, and the All-SEC Team has been named. MSU’s MLB Chris White and LT Derek Sherrod were honored with First Team picks. RB Vick Ballard earned an Honorable Mention nod. Congrats to our Bulldogs! As for other honors…
-Off. Player of the Year: Cam Newton (Surprise, surprise)
-Def. Player of the Year: Nick Fairley (The next James Harrison, future NFL fines leader)
-SEC Freshman of the Year: Marcus Lattimore (Beast)
-Coach of the Year: Gene Chizik (Nazi)

Recruiting Update
Just wanted yall to keep an eye on the recruitment of QB Dak Prescott. Many of you may know that LSU is doing their best to pull the Haughton High (LA) standout away from MSU. Dak visited Baton Rouge this past weekend, but left with a ‘Low Interest’  tag on his recruitment with the Tigers. Prescott will be in Starkville this weekend, for hopefully the visit that will seal his fate in Maroon and White. At this time, Prescott has given State a ‘Soft Verbal’. He is the #66 QB in the country, a definite duel-threat, and is rated as a 3 Star. If Mullen would like to continue what he has done with Relf this season, after Russell is gone, then Prescott would be an excellent pick up. I talk at times with the LSU guy here at Bloguin, who is Kris on SaturdayNightSlant.com, and he actually gets to see Prescott play on Fridays. He continually reminds me that the kid is full of talent, and a perfect fit for Dan Mullen. Prescott holds offers from LSU, Grambling, La Tech, Memphis, and North Texas.

Last week, State did pick up their 23rd commitment of the 2011 recruiting class. Of course nothing is final until the players sign the dotted line, but Lloyd Allen became that 23rd player. Allen is a product of Gulf Coast Community College, and is rated as a 2 Star. The DE stands in at 6-4 240 lbs. Allen also has offers from UK, aTm, Troy, UH, Marshall, and UAB. Allen and Prescott are 2 of the pieces that could finalize MSU’s spot in the Top 25 of National Recruiting.

SEC News
Here’s the rest of the list of All-Conference performers. Link

Slive sticks by his ruling on Newton. Link

Urban Meyer votes Auburn #2 instead of #1…Some are saying sour grapes? Link

Remember how UT dropped UNC from their 2011 schedule? Can’t run now, huh. Link

Chris Low’s SEC Power Rankings. Link

LSU and Boise have conflicting rankings in the BCS…shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone. Link

Every Bowl Game previewed here. Link

After a strong 8-4 season, Dan Mullen and the MSU Bulldogs are headed to the Gator Bowl, to face the Michigan Wolverines. The Gator Bowl is the 6th oldest Bowl, spanning some 65 years. Michigan, who hails from the·historic Big 10 conference, finished with a 7-5 mark. The Wolverines are led by Coach Rich Rodriguez and former Heisman hopeful QB Denard Robinson.

It seemed until Saturday afternoon, that the Chick-fil-a Bowl in Atlanta, was a done deal. But, once South Carolina had a weekend to win over the Bowl’s board members during the SEC Championship’s festivities, their own deal was in·place. I myself, thought that there was no way that USC had a chance to return to Atlanta after their WEAK performance on Saturday night. Not to mention, that you have to wonder how many Gamecock fans were willing to make the same trek, to the same venue, same hotels, and everything else, less than a month later. I was quite surprised, but Chick-fil-a and Carolina·got what they deserved. A deal like that, had to be in place before the SEC Championship game even kicked off, otherwise I·believe that USC officials would not have been able to·find a Bowl representative after the game (because they left·in the 3rd Qtr). They made their bed, and now they can lay in it.

Your thoughts, did·State get screwed?

Personally, I’ll take it. Jacksonville BOUND!!!

While we are on a subject that is somewhat related to the SEC Championship, let’s discuss·one more item. In order to do so, you will have to put aside all the dislike, hate, and whatever other bias that you·might bring to the argument. And in order to even approach it, I too have to throw so much baggage aside that it almost still hinders my opinion. So, with that said, here’s my question to you…

Is Cam Newton the best college football player·ever?

Like I said, remove that cloud that is hovering over his head, and will continue to do so…remove Cecil Newton, Kenny Rodgers, and $180,000, and just examine his body of work. I’ve witnessed a single player make a team better, but never before have I seen a single player transform an entire team. Newton has single handedly taken Auburn from a 3rd place SEC West team, to a National Championship caliber team. This is going to be a whole load of I’ve Nevers but here we go. I’ve never seen a QB that is tougher to bring down, that can extend a play longer, who runs more effectively, who throws more·accurate than most truepocket passers in college football, and who can produce a touchdown on any given play. The kid is simply, unstoppable. He has talent around him, but nothing like Tebow had around him at UF, and that is the deciding factor for me. Not to mention that UF’s Defense during that time was stellar, while Auburn’s has its’ weaknesses. The fact is, whether it’s making a read in the option game, checking down·to a secondary receiver, or pulling the·ball down and running, Cam seems to always make the right choice on the·field. But, it’s the decisions off the field-of those closest to him and quite possibly his own, that will forever raise questions about his eligibility.

Your thoughts?·

Btw, did I mention that USC was terrible on Saturday night?

Mullen Speaks
Before last week, MSU had no interest at all in the University of Miami. But during last week, State fans could not wait for the Canes to hire Randy Shannon’s replacement. That has yet to happen, but it appears that Dan Mullen can be removed from the U’s short list. Mullen was questioned on Sunday night about MSU’s Gator Bowl invitation, and whether or not he had entertained offers from Miami or others. Mullen had this to say: “The only administrator I’ve talked to at any university about coaching football is Scott Stricklin. Right now we’re working on what we hope can be a deal that will suit everybody and get our program going in the right direction-the direction it’s going right now for us-in the long term. There are a lot of great things I think we can get done here at Mississippi State that I want to accomplish here at Mississippi State. I plan on being the head coach here for a long time.”

SEC·in Bowl Games

Ohio State vs Arkansas (Sugar)
Penn State vs UF (Outback)
South Carolina vs FSU (Chick-fil-a)
UNC vs UT (Music City)
LSU vs aTm (Cotton)
UGA vs UCF (Liberty)
Bama vs·Michigan State·(Capital One)
UK vs·Pitt·(Compass)
Auburn vs Oregon (BCS Title)···
Ole Miss…(crickets)…

ESPN High On MSU
I don’t know how many of yall saw it last night, but the question was raised about where would MSU be right now, if Cam Newton was at State rather than Auburn. Reece Davis, without any hesitation at all, said “Playing Oregon in the BCS National Championship.” Funny thing was, none of the other analysts doubted him. They continued to talk about MSU’s Offense and Defense, and were very high on State’s talent, toughness, and Head Coach Dan Mullen. You can tell that they like our Dawgs. 

Your·thoughts on the entire weekend, State’s Bowl invite, Newton, Mullen, and whatever else?

As of yesterday, the NCAA and SEC made it completely LEGAL to buy players by way of their parents. It’s as simple as that. Let’s look at all the ‘language’ that’s being thrown around out there…

SEC bylaw 14.01.3.2

If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student- athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career.

Problem:  [If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive...] So, what they are saying is that it’s ok for  families to solicit money from a School, as long as they never shake on it or reach an actual agreement about the payments. Even though there was not an official agreement between State, Kenny Rodgers, and Cecil Newton, is the evidence not enough? There are phone text records revealing the payment plan that would be in place to purchase Newton’s son, including a timeline and the size of each installment that would be paid. To be specific, ”$80,000 when Cameron Newton signed, $50,000 30 days later and another $50,000 30 days after that.” There were multiple phone calls and an apparent meeting at a hotel with Cecil Newton himself.

NCAA Spokesman Charles Bloom on the bylaw

“SEC Bylaw 14.01.3.2 does not apply in this situation. It only applies when there is an actual payment of an improper benefit, or an agreement (such as a handshake agreement) to pay and receive an improper benefit. The facts in this case, as we understand them, are that the student-athlete’s father, without the knowledge of athlete, solicited improper payments (which were rejected) from an institution the young man did not attend, and that the institution where the young man is enrolled was not involved.”

Problem:  [The facts in this case, as we understand them, are that the student-athlete’s father, without the knowledge of athlete solicited improper payments...]  By now, I’m sure that the NCAA has investigated the phone conversation between Cameron Newton and the unidentified MSU Recruiter, in which Cam seemed remorseful about his FATHER’S decision for him to attend Auburn and not MSU, because the “money was too much.” That conversation to me, is the KEY to this entire case. If that conversation actually took place and those words were spoken by Newton, this case is finished. Where’s the details on that conversation? At least confirm or deny the details please?

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive

“The conduct of Cam Newton’s father and the involved individual is unacceptable and has no place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics. The actions taken by Auburn University and Mississippi State University make it clear this behavior will not be tolerated in the SEC.” 

Problem: [The conduct of Cam Newton's father and the involved individual is unacceptable and has no place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics.] What’s so unacceptable about Cecil’s conduct, if Cam Newton is still an eligible and legal player for Auburn? Why has Auburn chosen to lessen Cecil Newton’s contact and involvement with the team? And last but not least, if this was any other SEC team, that was not headed to the SEC and Nat’l Championship, this case would not even be debatable. If you ask me, the fact that Slive said that “The conduct of Cam Newton’s father and the involved individual is unacceptable and has no place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics”, should by letter of the law, mean that Cam Newton should not legally have a place in the SEC or in intercollegiate athletics. 

I also agree with Pardon the Interruptions (ESPN) Michael Wilbon, that this is nothing more than  “agenda-based junk.”  Wilbon went on to add that if TCU or another smaller conference school wasn’t in the BCS’ 3rd spot, that Auburn and Newton would be in hot water.

My Say:This is nothing more than the authorities looking the other way, committing crimes of OMISSION. The NCAA always seems to catch players, agents, and families long after they are gone. What’s so sad about this case, is that the NCAA and SEC has the chance to protect two of the most prized awards in all of Sports, in the Heisman Trophy and the Nat’l Championship. Profit now, pay for it later, and preserve the BCS system that you receive money from. The sad thing is, I don’t know who is dirtier, the Newtons or the NCAA and Mike Slive. A very poor precedent has now been set by both the NCAA and the SEC. 

Your thoughts?

Donald Trump wants the ‘U’ to hire Mike Leach. Link  

Oregon could slip up on Saturday, like so many teams before them. Link 

Stanford’s Harbaugh says bring on Playoff, if BCS overlooks the Cardinal. Link

Fulmer to Vandy? Naw! Link

Btw, Jackie Sherrill mentioned that in his mind, Tommy Tuberville would be his #1 guy for the Miami job.

That’s all today boys…

One thing always accompanies the end of any regular season, and that’s rumors. Since Monday, the University of Miami has made it clearly known that MSU’s Dan Mullen and former NFL coach John Gruden are their 2 main targets, to replace the fired Randy Shannon.

Let me pause right there and say “Not gonna happen.” I’m well aware that Miami’s Football program is one of the top 20 of all-time in NCAA history. I know that the state of Florida is drenched with some of the best High School football that this fine country has to offer. I know that the ‘U’ has got a much bigger Athletic budget than what MSU could only dream about. And finally, I’m well aware that the Canes are famous for turning out NFL talent, and add every year to the meat market that pro scouts feast on. Ok, heck, I’ll even go as far as to throw in the beach, sandals, and everything else Miami in itself has to offer. But, still I say “Not gonna happen.”

Here’s why I feel the way I do…

(1) SEC is King: Even on years when the SEC fails to win the Nat’l Title, it’s still the best conference in College Football. The conference has claimed the Crown in 4 of the past 5 seasons. It has the highest attendance rates of any other conference, and dominates the NFL draft year in and year out. You play the best of the best every Saturday. The passion, tradition, and pageantry is unmatched. Because of that, why go elsewhere? Championships are without a doubt easier to achieve in another conference, but when you’ve coached among the best, anything else is a step down. Mullen is a coach who demands the best from his players and fanbase, so why would he require anything less than that from himself. Leaving the best in order to win among the mediocre, is not in the cards for Dan. And in his mind, it’s probably unacceptable to even consider, and lie to the standard he holds himself and team to. Anyway, who go anywhere else, when you are already in the best conference in football, not to mention arguably the best division in college football. Many may see that as a self-defeating argument, and a good basis for a good coach to leave a strong conference. Some have already said that State will always trail Bama and LSU in tradition and success, but one can only look to the 2009 and 2010 as reality check. Mullen took a team that finished with just 3 wins in ’08, to within inches of a Bowl bid in ’09. In 2010, Mullen responded by leading the Dawgs to an 8-4 regular season record, and a .500 mark in conference play. Dan will have MSU in Atlanta within 5 years.

(2) Building a Program Builds Pride: Let me ask you this, is there anything more rewarding in life…anything that builds more pride…or anything more gratifying then seeing the fruits of your labor? There’s nothing like seeing results, and knowing you had a hand in that product. Mullen is has put butts in the seats, breaking the season attendance record in consecutive years. When the seats are full, and continually full, that changes everything. Not only is it a display of faithfulness on behalf of the fans, or just evidence that you are doing something right, but so much more. Attendance equals atmosphere, money for the program, better facilities, etc. What’s amazing, is that since Mullen was hired, he has manufactured so much interest and excitement in the program, that he has yet to see Davis Wade Stadium empty. The Bulldog Club has members now, more than ever. He’s taught the MSU program and fans what it feels like to win and compete-week in and week out. Mullen is pulling in the best recruits in the State, and currently has MSU ranked #23 in National recruiting. He’s witnessed the hunger of 55-59,000 in the seats, and the demand that is on the horizon for expansion. I’m sure that Dan has seen the plans to do just just, and he can’t help but realize just what he is building in Starkville. He is making what used to be ‘future’ plans, an immediate reality. (Don’t fool yourself either, whether or not stadium expansion plans were apart of the university’s master plan, it would have never happened if not for success on the football field). It’s because of ALL this that I’ve mentioned, that Mullen won’t leave. Coaches are all about results, and being able to sit back and look at what they’ve built and accomplished. We are all capable of accomplishing amazing things in life, but rarely do we have the chance to effect the lives of 55-100,000 people on a given Saturday. Even though I would say that Mullen is more confident than arrogant, it can’t help but feed his or anyone else’s ego to an extent. Like I said, there’s pride in building something. And in building something it’s even harder to walk away. Dan Mullen is building at MSU, not just a winning program, but other elements that will be hard to walk away from one day.

In the midst of all this, MSU AD Scott Stricklin has already commented on the fact that the school is setting up Dan Mullen’s contract to carry over through 2014. “We’re going to be smart and aggressive in this process. The normal protocol for something like this and the way we’ve done it in the past is to rip up the old contract and sign a brand new four-year deal.” Mullen currently brings in  $1.2 Million a year, and is set to receive plenty of incentives due to the Dawgs’ upcoming Bowl appearance. As of Tuesday night, Mullen confirmed that he has NOT been contacted by anyone, even Miami. For more, here’s a link to a conversation between Mullen and the CL’s Rick Cleveland about staying in Starkville. Link

That’s my take, your thoughts?

Chris White Wins Conerly Trophy
Just days after the Bulldogs won the Egg Bowl, and the reputation of the best team in Mississippi, Senior LB Chris White won the honor of the being named the best football player in the State. White has had a stellar Senior season, racking up 105 Tkls, 6 Sacks, 15.5 Tkls for Loss, 2 INTs, and 1 Fumble Recovery. After making a name for himself in his Junior season at MSU, White improved even more in 2010. White increased in Tackles (+30) and Sacks (+5.5). Congrats Chris, you will be hard to replace. Link 

Bumphis Out
As many of yall know, leading Bulldog WR Chad Bumphis, will miss the Bowl Game with a broken clavicle. I wanted to know your opinion, as to whether or not you think the injury hurts or helps the Bulldogs more? Out for the Bowl, but that’s some major reps for a lot of our young WRs in practice and preparation.  Link

State Falls to FAU Owls
I guess we knew it was coming eventually, considering that Stansbury’s squad is low on talent and experience and having already had some close calls. I can’t wait til Sidney and Bost can play. For those of you who are new to the site, I cover basketball in-depth, but not til SEC play, or quality opponents show up on the schedule before conference play. Ravern Johnson finished with 18 pts, Kodi Augustus brought down 10 Rebs, and Riley Benock has 3 asst. Very bad shooting night for State, only nailing three 3-pointers. State missed 4 FT’s in the final minute, and a last minute tip-in for the win. Typical. 

_____News_____

aTm accepts Cotton Bowl invite. Link

Boise’s kicker is receiving death threats. Link

UT’s Bruce Pearl zingsLane Kiffin. Link

Gamecocks make History. Link

CL reports that Chick-Fil-A Bowl isn’t a done deal? Link

Hey guys, since the regular season is in the books, I figured that I would share some research that I’ve done over the past few days. At the end of the 2009 season, we all saw the drastic jump in offensive production when we compared Dan Mullen’s first season, to Sylvester Croom’s last. So, since Mullen has now had 2 years to install his Offense and dig deeper into the depths of the playbook, I figured we’d take a look at how the Dawgs have progressed just under Dan. Not only will we take a look at the Offense, but the Defense as well. For that research, we will be comparing newcomer Manny Diaz’s attacking Defense, to last year’s Carl reactivestyle Defense ran by Carl Torbush. So, here we go…

*Key*  Offense: Improvements (+) and Decrease (-)

______OFFENSE______

Scoring: 27.1 ppg (+ 2.5)

Points: 325 (+18)
  1st Qtr: 95 points (+ 40)
  2nd Qtr: 90 (+6)
   3rd Qtr: 62 (+17)
  4th Qtr: 78 (+1)

First Downs: 242 (+15)

Rushing Yds: 2,589 (-142)
   Rushing Yds per Game: 215.8 (-15)   

Passing Yds: 2,143 (+ 411)
   Avg Per Catch: 14.3 (+ 3)
   Avg Per Game: 178.6 (+ 23)

Total Offense: 4,732 (+ 269)
   Avg yds per Game: 394.3 (+ 23)

Fumbles/Lost: 17/8  (2009- 23/13)

3rd Down Conversions: 45% (+ 12%)

4th Down Conversions: 71% (+15%)

Sacks Allowed: 22 (+2)

Rushing TDs: 24 (+3)

Passing TDs: 15 (+6)

Red Zone Scores: 77% (+ 2%)
   Red Zone TDs: 60% (+ 12%)

*Key*  Defense: Improvements  (-) and  Decrease (+)

______DEFENSE______

Scoring: 20.3 ppg (- 6.5)
   
Points Allowed: 244 (-77)  
  1st Qtr: 53 points (-15)
  2nd Qtr: 74 (-29)
   3rd Qtr: 56 (+5)
  4th Qtr: 54 (-43)

First Downs: 235

Rushing Yds: 1,460 (-292)
   Rushing Yds per Game: 121.7 (-25)

Passing Yds: 2,837 (+ 197)
   Avg Per Game: 236.4 (?)

Total Offense Allowed: 4,297 (-95)
   Avg yds per Game: (+ 23)

Fumbles Forced/Recovered: 17/14 (2009  22/8)

INTs: 12 (-5)

3rd Down Conversions: 35% (-1)

Sacks: 26 (+8)

Red Zone Scores: 78% (-6 %)
   Red Zone TDs: 44% (-12%)

-Last season, Tyson Lee led the team in Total Offense. In 2010, Chris Relf is the leader with: 2,191 total yds, 683 Rushing, 1,508 Passing. 572 yards more than Lee registered last season.

-On Defense, the Dawgs top 5 tacklers saw an increase in total tackles: Chris White- 105 tkls (+30), KJ Wright- 93 (+11), Charles Mitchell- 86 (+22), Johnthan Banks- 50 (+17), Corey Broomfield- 48 (+29).

-Last season, State finished the regular season 5-7 overall, 3-5 in SEC play, 2-5at Home, and 3-2 Away. In 2010, State finished 8-4, 4-4, 5-2, and 3-2, respectively.

Any thoughts on this year’s production on both sides of the ball?

Bulldogs Honored…Again: Derek Sherrod named SEC OL of the week, LaDarius Perkins SEC Freshman of the Week. Link

Cam Newton story continues. Link

Bama announcer FIRED. Played songs related to Newton at Iron Bowl. Link

Bowl Picture for SEC. Link

That’s it today Boys!

MAROON Rising

Last November, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was capped off with a 41-27 Egg Bowl victory by MSU. As Dan Mullen’s almost prophetic words echoed throughout Davis Wade Stadium, and it was clear that the Bulldog Football program was in the right hands, and headed in the right direction. A new QB had emerged, raw and rough around the edges. Though young on Offense and Defense, the Maroon Nation knew that if the Dawgs could build on that rivalry win over Ole Miss, 2010 could be a corner-turning year in Starkville. Fast forward to Saturday night’s 31-23 victory over the Rebels, and the hopes of many, had become a reality. State finished the 2010 regular season with an 8-4 record, and a 4-4 mark in conference play. Anyway, stories are for writers, and I’m a fan first. So, let’s get to our game notes and recap.

(1) Chris Relf 2.0- Over the past 2 weeks, Relf has thrown for 512 yards (224 yds vs Arkansas, 288 yds vs Ole Miss), with 3 TDs. Not only is he averaging 256 ypg through the air, but he is also making a statement on the ground. Relf rushed for 103 yards vs Arkansas, and another 66 on the ground vs Ole Miss (84.5 ypg, in 2 wks). Relf had 354 of MSU’s 498 yards vs the Rebels, and has 683 yards in the last 2 games combined. There are a few reads here and there that Chris doesn’t make, but we all know that the option game is feast or famine. He also needs to develop a more timely, internal QB Pocket clock. But, the kid is slowly but surely, becoming the QB we all hoped he would be. Ole Miss stacked the box all night, and the kid just made plays.

(2) LaDarius Perkins Breaks Out- When MSU played UAB earlier this season, it was an excellent opportunity to rest a banged-up Vick Ballard, while getting Freshman LaDarius Perkins some much needed experience. Perkins, aka ‘Waterbug’ on this site, responded with 18 carries for 131 yards. Ever since we saw the speed that Perkins displayed on that Homecoming night, many Bulldog fans have been hoping that Dan Mullen and Les Koenning would utilize his speed in open space, where the kid could have opportunities to make plays. On Saturday night, it was Perkins who shined, gashing the Black Bears’ defense for 238 yds. Waterbug posted 140 yds on just 3 receptions (2 for TDs), and added another 98 on the ground. It was Perkins’ footwork and speed, that cut through holes in the run game and screen game, and left the Rebels in the dust. Les Koenning and Dan Mullen must read my blog, because we have been begging for a screen pass all year. Saved it for TSUN, so no complaints there. Breakout game for the Freshman, and we’ll be looking to many more of these type performances over the next 3 years.

(3) Defense was PERFECT for all but 10 Minutes- Let’s just clarify how good our Defense was on Saturday night in Oxford. Ole Miss averages 406 ypg, but were held to just 326 yds. RB Brandon Bolden averages over 85 ypg, but finished with 45 yds. QB Jeremiah Masoli who is extremely dangerous with his feet, was smothered for 12 yards on 11 carries. The Rebel Offense came in averaging 220 ypg rushing, and were held to just 65 yds. State led 31-9 to start the 4th Quarter, until the Dawg D and Offense fell asleep. Ole Miss scored on drives of 66 and 80 yds, due to some very complacent play in the Dawg secondary. After a great punt by State’s Heath Hutchins (with 2:30 left), the Dawg D held Ole Miss to just 12 yds on a 9 play sequence to end the game. The Rebs would only sniff the 37 yd line, only by way of a play which was called back due to an illegal block. State swarmed Masoli and Co., for the entire series, and secured a 31-23 MSU victory. State’s D forced just 1 turnover (INT-Broomfield), but had 3 other Masoli passes that should have been picked. For the most part, Manny Diaz did an excellent job of preparing his Dawgs not to bite on the misdirection runs that the Bears live and thrive on. It wasn’t until the 4th, when the tackling and coverage seemed to faulter for MSU. Almost a perfect game, but they played a heck of a 50 minutes. I’d have to agree with Mullen, in stating that-that was the team’s ”best 50 minutes of the season.” LBs Chris White and KJ Wright, finished with 9 tkls a piece. Wright did a remarkable job containing Masoli, and registered 2 Sacks. As for everyone else, here’s a list of their performances: S Charles Mitchell- 7 tkls; CB Corey Broomfield- 6 tkls, INT; LB Emmanuel Gatling- 6 tkls; CB Maurice Langston- 5 tkls, DE Pernell McPhee- 2 sacks, 2 tkls for loss. State finished with 3 Sacks, 10 tackles for a loss (-37 yds), and held Ole Miss on 14 of 17 3rd down tries.  

(4) STILL Not Capitalizing on the Opositions’ Miscues- We’ve been pointing it out since the Auburn game. Whether it’s a fumble recovery, an on-side kick, or an INT. Les Koenning has the WORST play-calling in these type situations. At a time when you are supposed to step on the opposition’s neck, we play it so close to the vest, that it usually results in a 3-n-Out. After Halftime, State was unable to move the ball to start the 2nd half and had to punt. On the return, State forced a fumble at the OM 30 yd line. Bad play calling, and State settles for just 3 points (24-9). On another instance in the 4rd Quarter, Corey Broomfield picks off Masoli on the OM 41. Another 3-n-Out. This trend HAS to stop. Start capitalizing! Turnovers are supposed to HURT the opposition.

(5) Offense is Clicking- 498 yds of Total Offense. 210 of those were on the ground, with 288 through the air. State held the ball for 31+ minutes, including 9:49 in the 3rd Quarter, and 8:30 in the 4th. Relf averaged 22.2 yds per completion, and the Dawg rushing attack average 4.2 yds per carry. State had runs of 34 and 71, with completions of 71, 44, and 22. RB Vick Ballard now holds the MSU record for the most TDs in a season by a Bulldog, and tied the Rushing TD record with his 16th.

Dan Mullen: ["Chris did a good job of managing the game. Their plan was to take away the run. They were daring us to throw the ball and we did. On the Egg & Smack Talk:  We say it to them, too, they know. That’s what rivalry games are all about. I promise you they’ll always get our best shot every single year. It’s something that’s really important to me and we make an emphasis of it. On the Trophy: We’re going to bring this trophy right back to where it belongs. It’s got a nice trophy case right in our building there. To send our seniors out like Egg Bowl champions just like we did last year is huge thing. On the OM late rally: The one bad thing is we got up 31-9, and I was on our guys, and I told them, 'We cannot take our foot off the gas.' And I felt on our sideline, our coaches, for some reason we felt and put it into cruise control and said, 'Oh, we're good.' And all of a sudden we find ourselves in a football game. Chick-Fil-A Bowl?: One of my goals going into the season was to the opportunity to go to Atlanta. We may get that opportunity now, maybe a couple of weeks later than we originally wanted."]

Dan Mullen OWNS Houston Nutt

I know it may get old because of how much I’ve mentioned it, but I was right, this year will go down as playing a pivotal role in the MSU and TSUN rivalry. It was all up for grabs on Saturday night, and OM could have somewhat halted State’s roll, but the Bulldogs grabbed the momentum in the series. State and OM have completely switched places and appear to be heading in opposite directions. With 2 Egg Bowl victories in a row under his belt, I’m sure that Mullen could sway a recruit or two away from the Rebs, and with a possible 9 win season-could do the same for out of state recruits. In my opinion, Dan Mullen OWNS Houston Nutt on and off the football field. And, as I also predicted, that Mullen would run Nutt out of Oxford in just 2 years (tick-tock Doc), is becoming even more of a possibility. Even now, the rumor mill is already turning out it’s whispers, but the thing is, people can notice how big of an in-state swing has taken place, that it’s not a far fetched idea that Nutt could be gone today or tomorrow. I personally see him staying on, but just for another year. The atmosphere in Oxford is by far as dead as I have ever seen it. I’m not just trying to knock a rival here, I’m just being honest. The only 2 times the stadium came anywhere close to the noise level in Starkville, was on Chris Smith’s fumble, and the score on the next play. Trust me, I know what a 4 win season can do to a stadium’s feel (firsthand), but the Rebels are in danger of a lot more than just having a Black Bear as their mascot. If the Egg Bowl crowd was anything like their other crowds this season, no wonder the Grove was the place to be. Mullen and the Dawgs have done the hard part, now they get the Rebs at home next season, with a chance to make it 3 in a row. Pivotal year? I’d say so.

Anyway, I’ll stop talking about the Egg Bowl. I’m going to act like an Ole Miss fan and act like this rivalry doesn’t mean that much to me. What I’m not going to do, is slip on my sweater-vest and penny loafers.

Other News

Miami might have an eye on Mullen and Diaz. Link

Yall see the Iron Bowl? Man, that’s how you blow a game, Bama. Link 

LSU falls to Arkansas. Link

Boiseand Nevada was AWESOME, I stayed up and watched live. Boo-hooo. Link 

Auburnis #1 in the BCS. BARF. Link

State is now #22 in every poll. Link

Caldwell is out at Vandy. Good Choice. Link

Gators fall BIG to FSU. Link 

Your thoughts and opinions on the Egg Bowl?

Is Mullen in control of the rivalry?

Is Chris Relf a ‘true’ duel-threat QB now?

BCS Shake-ups?

  Go Get ‘em Dawgs!

Well boys, we are one day away from the 2010 edition of the Egg Bowl. After last year’s 41-27 route of Ole Miss, MSU’s Dan Mullen was handed a microphone and addressed the crowd. “There’s certainly one program in this state that’s definitely on the rise and going in the right direction.” Who would have thought that those words would serve as an almost ‘curse’ to the Rebel football program. Here were are a year later, and the 2009 roles have been completely reversed. Last season, the battle for the Egg looked like this: Ole Miss was 8-3, MSU was 4-7, and the Rebels carried a #25 national ranking into Starkville. When you look at how the stage is set for this year’s game, it’s almost scary. MSU is 7-4, Ole Miss is 4-7, and State carries their #25 ranking into Oxford. Mullen commented earlier in the week about State’s progression and Ole Miss’ degression: “Obviously, since that game to now we are the program on the rise. And we plan to keep it that way.” There’s no doubt that Mullen and the Bulldogs could take hold of the reigns of the rivalry, and have the chance to make it 3 in a row, when the Rebels visit Starkville in 2011. One things for sure, we’ll find out what we need to know on Saturday.

When you play your rival, there’s always a ton of stomach-turning elements that you feel that can work against you. Teams and individual players, have the ability to play above their heads in these type match ups. Trick plays seem to stick and work, and heck, winds can even erase a field goal…even after it’s headed right down the middle.

Before we get into talking about how things will or could shake out in this CRAZY rivalry, let’s refer to what the experts at College Gameday Stats are saying. Keep in mind that you can recieve their weekly news letter, by emailing them at info@collegegamedaystats.com

• MSU Scoring vs TSUN Opponent Scoring- Advantage MSU
• MSU Pass Off. vs TSUN Pass Def.- None
• MSU Rushing vs TSUN Rush Def.- Advantage MSU
• TSUN Scoring vs MSU Opponent Scoring- Advantage MSU
• TSUN Pass Off. vs MSU Pass Def.- None
• TSUN Rush Off. vs MSU Rush Def.- Advantage TSUN

MSU Off. & Def. Leaders

• QB Chris Relf- 110 ypg passing
• RB Vick Ballard- 84 ypg rushing
• WR Chad Bumphis- 53 ypg receiving
• S Nickoe Whitley- 3 INTs
• LB Chris White- 96 Tkls, 6 Sacks

TSUN Off. & Def. Leaders

• QB Jeremiah Masoli- 161 ypg passing
• RB Brandon Bolden- 84 ypg rushing
• WR Markeith Summers- 47 ypg receiving
• DB Charles Sawyer- 2 INTs
• LB Johnathan Cornell- 4.5 Sacks

Keys to Victory 

(1) Contain TSUN’s Run Game: A mobile QB is always a threat to defenses, and Masoli is just that. His days of dazzling the crowds with long runs and amazing throws, seemed to have been reserved for his days in the Pac 10. The kid is still talented and could without a doubt cause trouble the Manny Diaz’s D on Saturday, but I think we can all admit that he has taken a step down, when considering his former level of performance on the West Coast. Welcome to the SEC. Even though Masoli is not going to bust off 70 yd runs, he could still hurt MSU with his feet, reeling off 5-10 yd runs. state has to eye him in the option game, pressure him on passing plays, and NOT over-pursue on both. When they have the chance to lay the wood to him, or simply get him down, they have to. State has seen the danger of allowing offenses to have second chances on plays. RB Brandon Bolden is the type of RByou have to worry about. Physical, straight on, N/S runner, who is not flashy, but can put distance between himself and defenses in a hurry. State must hold him to his average (85 ypg), and not allow him to get anything else. More than anyone, I’m worried about one player on TSUN’s offense. That player is Jeffery Scott (#3). If Houston Nutt needed a player that could somewhat replicate what Dexter McCluster did in recent years, Scott is the guy. So much acceleration, finds the outside edge with ease, and considering how short Masoli and Scott are, it makes it even harder for the D to eye the read plays. We will really need our DE to penetrate and disrupt the Black Bear OL.

(2) Don’t Give Up on Plays: Masoli’s scrambling abilities will keep the Dawg D busy, and so with that in mind, play til the whistle. Nutt will call for a lot of 2 receiver sets on Saturday, which could result in a number of 1-on-1 situations for our DB, considering our tendency to blitz. State cannot allow their man get too far behind them or in front of them. Broken plays could hurt the Dawgs more than they help them.

(3) Run the Ball/Impose Your Will/Pass Effectively: State got back to their bread n’ butter vs Arkansas, not to mention spicing things up in the passing game. Running the ball as effective as MSU did in that game, led to a 15 min advantage in T.O.P. If the Bulldogs can lean on the Reb DL the way they have done against other teams this season, State will have success on Saturday. On the flip side of that, allowing the opposition to get the ball on fewer possessions and fewer time to work with, means they’ll shoot for big plays, which State has to stop giving up. The option game has the ability to demoralize and frustrate opposing D’s, and State has to do exactly that. When you consider Ole Miss’ mindset, and all the intentions of revenge they will play with, State has to be the ‘more’ physical team on Saturday. They have to hit Ole Miss in the mouth, on both sides of the ball, and respond to adversity better than they have all year. Physicality is key, and any form of submission will crush a team in rivalry match ups. Impose your will, strike early, and don’t give up big plays. I know Mullen is an Offensive Brain, and is well aware of the Rebels’ struggles in defending the pass. With that said, Mullen doesn’t need Relf to throw for as many yards as he did vs Arkansas, but he has to exploit the Rebel D. I do think that if there’s one game in which State could throw deep, it’s against Ole Miss. I expect run blitz packages from the Reb D, with 8 or 9 in the box, which means open receivers. Also, State must eliminate run blitzes on the outside edge, that the Hogs starting implementing in the 2nd half. If we get up by 2 scores, we can’t take our foot off the gas. And I don’t expect Mullen to do that, considering the emphasis he places on winning the Egg. Be PHYSICAL Dawgs!

My Prediction:MSU  34  Ole Miss 20. Since my superstitions can rest, I can now make my predictions straight up, including my individual performance predictions. Here we go…

• MSU Run Off.- 240 yds
• MSU Pass Off.- 180 yds
• QB Chris Relf- 80 yds rushing
• RB Vick Ballard- 120+ yds rushing
• WR Chad Bumphis- 60 total yds
• WR Chris Smith- 30 yds
• WR Arceto Clark- 45 yds
• LB Chris White- 14 tkls
• LB KJ Wright- 12 tkls
• DT Fletcher Cox- 3 TFL, 1 Sack
• DE Pernell McPhee- 1 Sack
• DT Josh Boyd- 1 Sack
• S Nickoe Whitely- INT, 10tkls
• S Charles Mitchell- INT
• Johnthan Banks- INT

Anyway, what’s your predictions?

Individual Performances Predictions as well?

Remember, for the Ole Miss perspective, check out Jake’s Ole Miss Blog. (Link) 

Big Weekend

Auburn vs Bama  34-28

UFvs FSU 20-17

LSU vs Arkansas 24-21

UGAvs GT  38-21

USC vs Clemson 41-17

UK vs UT 28-24 

Arizona vs Oregon  38-28

Okl vs  OSU  41-35

Have a great weekend guys!

Go Bulldogs! Beat TSUN!           

Happy Thanksgiving to all you guys out there. Hope you guys are having a great time with family and friends. With that said, today’s post is going to be short and sweet. So, with that said, I figured that we would treat today as another Thursday, and post our weekly Stat Match Up Analysis. After that, we’ll take a look at MSU’s SKILL players, in collaboration with Jake’s Ole Miss Blog, who is listing Ole Miss’. 

First things first, lets take a look at how the Bulldogs and Rebels match up against one another and with the rest of the country as well.

Questions the Stats Ask

• MSU and TSUN are weak within the facet of Pass Defense, so who has the better day passing, Relf or Masoli?
• Will MSU play Tyler Russell, in order to capitalize on TSUN’s secondary?
• Can MSU keep the Rebs and Brandon Bolden from controlling the tempo of the game?
• State only gives up 20 ppg and TSUN gives up 35 ppg, does MSU have an immediate advantage?
• With OM’s Melvin Harris suspended for the Egg Bowl, will that effect Masoli’s ability to throw for his usual output?

MSU’s Skill Players

• QB Chris Relf- 1,220 yds, 55.4%, 7 TDs, 4 INTs; 617 yds rushing, 3.7 avg, 4 TDs
• RB Vick Ballard- 849 yds rushing, 5.9 avg, 15 TDs
• RB LaDarius Perkins- 428 yds rushing, 5.4 avg, 3 TDs
• WR Chad Bumphis- 43 receptions, for 590 yds, a 13.7 avg, and 5 TDs; 19 carries, 131 yds, 7 yd avg
• WR Arceto Clark- 295 yds, 14 yd avg, 2 TDs
• WR Brandon Heavens- 285 yds, 15.8 avg, 2 TDs
• Other Emerging WRs: Chris Smith (177 yds) & Michael Carr (7 touches for 100 yds)

Remember to know your ’most hated’ foe, and stop by Jake’s for TSUN’s list. Link  

News

Season defining win, if the Hogs beat LSU? Link

Chris Low’s Iron Bowl Preview. Link

Chris Low’s picks for this weekend. TSUN over MSU? Link

MSU nominated for Orange Bowl Courage Award. Link

Mullen, Nutt, and Dan’s focus on Masoli and Bolden. Link

Cam Newton junk. Link

State’s not the only ones giving up BIG plays on D. Link

COUNTDOWN TO BEATING TSUN:  2 Days…

Have a great Thanksgiving! Feel free to post, especially if you need that short, much-needed, mental vacation from your Family…we all do, right? 

It’s Hate Your Neighbor/Boss/Friend/or whoever else you know that went to TSUN week at Allthingsmsu.com! To celebrate I’ve teamed up with Theolemissblog.com’s author Jake Adams to compare and contrast Ole Miss and Mississippi State in preparation for the battle for the Golden Egg. Today we’re starting things off with an analysis of the importance of Saturday night’s contest. We’ll continue to talk throughout the week about the MSU and TSUN match up, even breaking down how the Dawgs and Bears stack up by position. You can get opinions from the MAROON view here, but don’t forget to check out the Red & Blue-colored view over on Jake’s Ole Miss Blog. Be sure to make rude and obnoxious comments while you’re there…let’s keep it clean though.

So, with that said, let’s kickoff Egg Bowl Week 2010, with today’s question…

What does the Egg Bowl mean to me?

First and foremost, I feel blessed to be a part of one of the nation’s best rivalries. In many cases around the country, teams have multiple so-called ‘rivalries’, which deludes what true ‘rivalries’ are all about. I know State fans such as myself loath Alabama, but my true dislike is reserved for The School Up North. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are 2 institutions that share 2 different cultures, that in my opinion are geared against one another. I believe that in some way, your institution identifies and helps shape the kind of person you are, and I’m a Bulldog. I come from a blue-collar, hard working, military family. I know every school has it’s stereotypes, some are without a doubt embellished, but there is usually some truth to those beliefs. And it’s in those characteristics of your respective institution that somewhat define you as a person.

As far as the Egg Bowl itself, it’s the heart of the rivalry and the meeting that matters the most. It was a single football game 108 years ago that set the stage for hatred, and it’s been that way ever since. Our basketball and baseball teams provide us a nice appetizer, but there’s nothing like Thanksgiving week for these 2 schools, and families around the state. Now in saying that, I want to be careful not to advertise myself as one of those that would trade beating Ole Miss for a losing season. It’s a game that I never want to lose, but it only makes or breaks State’s season if losing the Egg results in not making it to the postseason. There’s danger and reward for investing too much in one game, especially a ‘rivalry’ game. The Egg Bowl is always an intriguing match up, in that the underdog almost always has some kind of edge. You don’t have to look any further than last year’s 41-27 victory by MSU, who entered the game with only 4 wins to their name, while Ole Miss was on their way to their second straight Cotton Bowl. There are a lot of what I would call ‘fun’ rivalries, but this is not one of them. It’s not as ruthless as Auburn and Alabama can get, but it can get ugly, and there is just as much hatred. The fans hate each other, and usually the players carry out that passion onto the field. You also can’t discount what the Egg means within the arena of recruiting. For that 4 or 5 Star recruit who is on the fence-when it comes to choosing MSU or Ole Miss, the outcome of this game can provide that extra nudge in a certain direction.

I think the most important aspect of each year’s game, is what it means to the momentum of the 2 programs. Take last year for example, I think it was pivotal for the Bulldogs to earn that win, because it more or less evened the rivalry’s tug-of-war. Ole Miss had State in a very vulnerable position, winning 9 games in back-to-back seasons, with 2 Cotton Bowl appearances. In 2008, the first year of that stretch, the Rebels crushed MSU 45-0. MSU finished with just 3 wins, and a day later State was without a coach. The Bulldog program seemed in shambles, and Ole Miss’ blow out of State was just icing on the cake for the Rebels. Ole Miss would taste success once gain in 2009, coming into the Egg Bowl with 7 wins on the season, already having earned their bowl eligibility. Down the road in Starkville, Dan Mullen had re-energized the Bulldog fanbase and program, but had only won 4 games during his first year as MSU’s head coach. In the end, State went on to pound Ole Miss 41-27, and it was clear that if MSU was able to build on that win, that a successful 2010 season was indeed a possibility. Mullen’s words after the Egg Bowl, seemed to solidify that State was headed in the right direction. At the beginning of this season, I pointed to the fact that this could very well be the year that MSU grabbed momentum of the rivalry, and that Mullen could possibly run with it for some time to come. Here we are, State is 7-4, while Ole Miss is 4-7, and it appears that these are 2 teams headed in the opposite directions. Crucial, pivotal year? I’d say so. State just might have Ole Miss in that same vulnerable position that the Rebs had State in, back in 2009. A win on Saturday, could put a microscope on Houston Nutt’s job performance next season, and would have the same annual battle headed to Starkville in 2011. And, we know what home field advantage means to this rivalry.

For MSU, finishing the 2010 regular season with 8 wins, could say a lot about where the Dawgs end up bowling. There’s a fine line between Memphis, Atlanta, and Nashville. And, don’t think for one minute, that TSUN does not want to help determine the destination.  Finally, this rivalry means a lot to both schools, so don’t let the people in Oxford act as if it’s not that big of a deal when MSU wins. For some reason, that’s always the case. State wins, Rebel fans exit as soon as possible and act as if it never happened. Ole Miss wins, and brag about it just as much as Bulldog fans would. I guess we’ll see just HOW important this year’s Egg Bowl is to Ole Miss, now that the role of underdog has been reversed.

Anyway, that’s how I feel about the Egg Bowl in general.

You click (here) for a link to Jake’s Ole Miss Blog, which includes his feelings about the battle for the Golden Egg.

How important do you feel the Egg Bowl is? 

Is there an added importance on the game this year?

And, HOW much do you HATE Ole Miss?

_____SEC News_____

Special thanks to TSUN WR Melvin Harris, he is suspended for the Egg Bowl. We won’t have to worry about his 6-7frame now. Btw, Harris was the Rebs’ 2nd leading receiver. For some reason KV at the CL, keeps placing him above Markeith Summers. Link

Kyle Veazy also has an in-depth stat break down of Stateand OM. Link

Mullen wants to keep MSU as the ‘lone’ program on the rise. Nice read. Link

The Top 3 teams in the country are facing major challenges this week…maybe not Oregon. Link

Good win for the Dawgs last night. Stansbury’s boys are 3-0 on the young season, after topping Detroit 82-76. Link

That’s it boys! GO-State!

On a night where fortune met misfortune on numerous occasions, #21 MSU fell to #13 Arkansas 38-31, in one of the most intense and emotional games, that’s ever been played on the surface of Scott Field. MSU and Arkansas, alternated the role of the victim, as closed doors seemed to open at the most inopportune time for both teams throughout the night. The end result left MSU fans stunned, disappointed, but mostly PROUD of their team’s effort. Long story short, State could not have had worse things happen to them when they did. We’ll talk more about some of those misfortunes, as we make our way through our game recap. Here’s my game notes from the match up between the Bulldogs and Hogs.

(1) The BAD…Defense? What happened to BEND but don’t BREAK?: One thing was clear on Saturday night, and that’s that we didn’t force one of the best QBs in the country, to make tough throws. Mallet benefited from quick screens, open WRs, and allowing his target’s feet to do the dirty work. On his 26 drop backs, Mallet was sacked twice (LB White and DE McPhee), and hurried just 2 other times. One of those hurries resulted in an INTby Nickoe Whitley, which was easily one of the top plays in College Football on Saturday. Other than that, poor tackling, and blown assignments opened the door for big plays, taking away the need to drive the ball down field. Against Bama, State gave up big plays that were uncharacteristic of Manny Diaz’s Defense, allowing scores of 45, 78, and 56 yards. Nails, coffin, ballgame. State has forced teams to drive the length of the field for the entire year, but vs Bama and Arkansas, the Bulldogs have seemed to have lost their identity. Against the Hogs, State gave up scores of 62, 25, and 89 yards. On the 62 yd run by Kniles Davis:Dawg DE Pernell McPhee penetrated the backfield, but was held from behind, and brought down from behind by his blocker (no call). Even after Davishit the hole, the MSU secondary didn’t show the physicality that it takes to shed a blocker, both Safeties over pursued the play, which eliminated the second level of defense. No second level, means all a runner has to do is make it past the line of scrimmage. Easy TD. On the 25 yd Screen pass to DJ Williams: Diazed dialed up a blitz from the strong side, while the Hog OL patiently waited to allow State’s blitz to once again-over pursue. As Whitley and others came after Mallet, not one MSU player put their hands up to bat the pass (which was a low dart), and Williams simply cut across the Secondary by following his blocks. Easy TD. On the 89 yd TD pass to Jarius Wright: Busted zone coverage. We disguised the look by having Chris White shading Wright from the snap, as Wright’s pattern broke off, and another WR entered White’s zone that he is responsible for, White correctly shifted to his zone and shaded the new receiver. The problem is, KJ Wright was caught eyeing the back field-about the same time he realized his zone was uncovered. After that, it just got worse. Nickoe Whitley, who was not only out of place to start the play, ended up in pursuit of Arkansas’ Jarius Wright (who caught the pass). Nickoe sacrificed a TD saving tackle opportunity around the MSU 30 yd line, for the chance to re-adjust his angle for a strip. The Speed of the WR won the race, and MSU found itself down 3. Easy TD. And a BONUS break down for you readers, 7 yd TD pass to Kniles Davis in Double OT: MSU Safety Charles Mitchell showed blitz on the edge, while DE Sean Fergeson was supposed to show a zone read on the perimeter, in the flat. On the snap, Mitchell blitzed, Fergeson did not keep an eye on Davis the RB, who became a receiver out of the back field on a short delay. Fergeson saw the play developing, but was too far inside to recover.Easy TD. Anyone throwing up on their keyboard yet? The fact is, this HAS to be FIXED. The Offense was responsible for State’s 2 week long identity crisis, but the night they return to MSU’s style of football, the D performs poorly for the 2nd week in a row. Poor tackling, missed assignments, and a lack of physicality cost us. When the Offense plays as well as they did, there’s no way you can let them down with that kind of performance. We forced Arkansas into our kind of game on Offense, but not on Defense. We handed the Hogs the game on D. Now, with that said, we forced 3 turnovers, and showed some grit when we had to, but we have A LOT to clean up, with just a few days to do so. Either we are displaying a lack of execution, or other teams have figured Diaz out. Too many plays where guys went ‘untouched’. One more thing, Corey Broomfield needs to stop playing ‘shy’ football and man up and hit somebody. Poor, poor play from a good football player.

(2) The Good…Hats off to the Offense:If you would have told me on Friday that State would have finished with 32 First Downs, 486 total yards, with a 15 minute advantage in the Time of Possession battle, there’s no way I would have picked us to lose (I didn’t anyway). QB Chris Relf had thebest game of his career, finishing the night 20-30 for 224 yds, with another 103 yds on the ground. Relf tallied 1 TD, on his 23 yd TD run. Say what you will about the kid, but it was his reads and scrambling abilities that led to scores on MSU’s final 2 drives in regulation, that resulted in 10 points, and new life for the Bulldogs in O.T. Relf did a great job of protecting the ball in the passing game, with all but one of his passes having the possibility of being picked. There were a few not-so-great throws, but there werealso some catches that needed to be made. Like I always say, playmakers make plays. He missed all of his deep shots, but they ended up being effective in loosening up the Hog D, with the exception of the game’s final possession. Relf had a chance on 3rd down, but misfired to the inside of WR Arceto Clark on the goal line. Could this be the confidence building game that Relf needed, in order to become a duel threat QB? Anyway, RB Vick Ballard played his heart out. 33 carries for 150 yds, and 3 TDs. I believe he is 1 shy of the school season record. His heart, motor, and physical nature, earns him 2-3 yds more than is actually there. Enough cannot be said about his effort and determination. If I can’t have Anthony Dixon, give me Vick Ballard. I think we all saw the emergence of a future star on Saturday night, in WR Chris Smith. The Meridian native was clutch, pulling down 5 catches for 78 yds. 3rd Down go-to guy? I think so. WR Chad Bumphis was solid (5 for 45), and Arceto Clark made some difficult catches to extend drives (3 for 29). I’m really liking what I’m seeing from Michael Carr, though he finished with just 1 catch for 9 yds, he is doing a lot of the little things right, such as blocking. MSU finished with 262 yds on the ground, 224 yds through the air, and with 37:24 of possession time. The Dawgs had scoring drives of 86, 70, 60, 75, and 47 yards. Keep this up, and a 9 win season is completely a reality.

(3) The Ugly…Unfortunate Happenings:I know you guys are already asking yourselves about why I haven’t mentioned the fumbles, etc., but as you can see, I was saving it for this section. In my opinion, 5things killed MSU on Saturday night. State was up 21-17 in the 3rd Qtr, and had 2 things go against them. (1) When driving across midfield, MSU faced a 3rd Down and 7: Relf threw to an open Arceto Clark (out of his break), but was hit extremely early before the ball arrived…NO call. Even Arkansas’ sideline knew it. Killed a nice drive, and the officials HAVE to throw the flag there and didn’t. (2) After stopping Arkansas, State’s ensuing possession was moving along smoothly, until Chris Relf fumbled. Relf fought for a 6 yd gain, and as he was being brought down at the Ark 22, took a helmet to his ball-carrying arm. The hit knocked the ball loose JUST before Relf’s knee was down. After a personal foul after the play on the Hogs, the next play went for an 89 yd Arkansas score. (3) The heartbreaker. During MSU’s first O.T. possession, Vick Ballard hit the outside edge on a 13 yd run, did all he could do to stay in his feet, and dove for the pylon with the ball extended, only to have the ball knocked out of his hands. The ball carried over the pylon in the air, resulting in a touch back for Arkanasa. No doubt that MSU had ALL the momentum at that point, and the score probably would have been the game winner. (4) On back-to back plays, MSU hurt themselves once again. On the first play, State faced a 3rd down in Double O.T., and Chris Relf missed an open Arceto Clark on a slant route. The pass and the extra point, would have tied the game, and extended the Dawgs’ life. (5) On the next play, something that I have preached all year long, happened once again. Chris Relf was left all alone in the backfield in a critical passing situation, this time on 4th Down. I’ve discouraged empty sets for the MSU QBs, because it eliminates the extra protection that they are more than likely going to need. As soon as the ball was snapped, State’s most reliable OL for the past 3 years, missed the end-around block (Derek Sherrod), and Relf hardly had time to think. Relf was sacked, and Arkansas prevailed 38-31. It really hurts, when your top guys, and your most reliable guys fall short. To me, the Defense rarely made Arkansas work for their points, and made costly mistakes. With that said, Relf, Ballard, and Sherrod played their butts off.

(4) Grading the Coaches:Def. Coordinator Manny Diaz ( C-) has a lot to clean up, in order to properly prepare for TSUN. Their misdirection and option game is very STRONG. We need to practice tackling, and find some toughness before Saturday night. The D created 3 turnovers, but the quick and easy scores cannot continue to happen. Off. Coordinator Les Koenning (B+) had a much better game than I expected. I think there was 2 or 3 terrible play calls, but to be 4 of 5 on 4th Downs, you are doing something right. Stay away from 3rd Down calls that have any hesitation, and empty sets for our QBs. Dan Mullen (A-), I really like the fake punt, even though we got the first down by a literal inch. His time management was strong, he gets after the officials, and keeps his emotions in check. Gotta light a fire under Diaz to make an adjustment or two. Something.

(5) Stadium Atmosphere: Amazing. I went back and watched the replay, and I can tell yall that we are slowly but surely becoming an extremely LOUD enviornment to play in. UK struggled with the noise, and I believe we drew Arkansas offsides 3 times. Not bad. The stadium looks great (full), people are learning to yell, and we make quite the impression on TV. Keep doing our job, and Maroon out Oxford this weekend. Make no mistake, we are a big part of our Bulldogs’ 5-2 mark at home. 10th straight home sell-out. Great job of remembering Nick Bell. Loved his #36 out there on the field, along with the maroon 36 yardlines. When I heard that lone cowbell ringing during the moment of silence, and looked up to see Nick Bell’s mom ringing her cowbell, that was an emotional moment. 

Mullen on the loss: “For us to continue to build, for our young players to develop, it’s not that they have to make 25 plays in a game, they have to make the one big play at the key moment in the game. That, for us, is what we need to take that next step to be right at the top in the SEC instead of the middle.”

Anyway guys, you thoughts on the game? Best loss you’ve ever seen?

Agree or Disagree with any of my Game Notes and Opinions?

How would you grade the coaches?

Where are we going bowling?

Looks like Saturday is going to come down to the team that responds better after a tough loss, huh?

We’ll start talking about the Black Bears tomorrow.

-2 game season for Auburn. Link

-What we learned in the SEC during Week 12, Chris Low. Link

-Bowl Projections. Link

-We are now ranked #25th and Arkansas is #12.

Tomorrow will mark the first time since 2001, that 2 ranked opponents have squared off on the surface of Scott Field. #13 Arkansas comes to town as one of the hottest teams in the SEC, and are winners of 4 straight.

#21 MSU, is trying to build on their 7 win season, and is coming off a loss to Bama, that snapped a 6 game winning streak. Even though there is only 5 losses between the 2 teams, neither is eligible for the SEC Championship game, but both are focused on bettering their postseason bowl destinations. Want a history lesson?

• Arkansas leads series 13-6-1
• Average Score-  Ark  22  MSU  16
• Last 2 Meetings- (2009) Ark  42-21  (2008)  MSU  31-28
• MSU is 4-5vs Arkansas in Starkville

With history aside, let’s take a look at what the experts are saying about the Hogs and Dogs. As always we will be referring to what the odds-makers at College Gameday Stats has to say. Info@collegegamedaystats.com

• MSU Scoring vs Ark Opponent Scoring: Advantage Hogs
• MSU Pass Off. vs Ark Pass Def.: Advantage Hogs
• MSU Rush Off. vs Ark Pass Def.: Advantage Bulldogs
• Ark Scoring vs MSU Opponent Scoring: No Advantage
• Ark Pass Off. vs MSU Pass Def.: Advantage Hogs
• Ark Rush Off. vs MSU Rush Def.: Advantage Bulldogs
• College Gameday Stats Pick:  MSU

 Keys to Victory

(1) Run-Dawgs-Run: State faces the most explosive offense they’ve seen all year in Arkansas’ on Saturday. With as much that is said about Arkansas’ ability to score with relative ease, one thing that is ignored is their ability to control the clock when they want to. State has done an excellent job of keeping the ball away from most teams, by wearing down defenses with their 18th ranked rushing attack. But as much as people focus on that aspect of State’s game plan, the Hogs rank just one spot below the Bulldogs in Time of Possession. State needs to run the football effectively, and keep the chains moving. Just weeks ago, it was the UK Wildcats that gave the Dawgs a dose of their own medicine, rushing the football and eating up clock. State cannot allow that to happen on Saturday. This game comes down to one thing for MSU, and that’s the play of the OL. JC Brignone and Derek Sherrod will be taking Scott Field for the final time on Saturday, and they will have to be the catalyst for State. QB Chris Relf, RB Vick Ballard, and RB LaDarious Perkins will have to have success in running the option. And, I would like to see short passes to those RBs, as an extension of the run game. Even in a 30-10 loss to Bama, there were some nice blocks and runs at times. State had some success on 3rd Downs (50%), and Ballard and Perkins were just a step away from breaking loose on more than one occasion. If the Dawgs take those positives into account, and the fact that they are on their home turf (5-1 at home), good things could happen. State needs 5 guys doing their job, so that they can impose their will on the Hogs. Doing just that, will keep the ball away from Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet and RB Kniles Davis. Running the ball also means minimizing room for mistakes such as turnovers. The last thing we need, is to Mallet with extra possessions and opportunities. Hand it off, and as my dad says, “Let that dog eat!”

(2) Redzone Focus: State’s D has to buckle down on the Arkansas Offense inside the 20 yd line. The Hogs have scored on 37 of 40 opportunities in the redzone this season, good for 92.5%. On the other hand, State must take advantage of Arkansas’ Defense in the the redzone, where the Hogs give up scores 85% of the time (23-27). State has failed to convert trips into points this season Offense, only scoring 77% of the time (27-35). Mann Diaz’s D though, is doing a nice job of only allowing scores 73% of the time (22-30). Which I believe is good for 3rd in the conference.

(3) DL Must Pressure Mallet: Arkansas has an outstanding QB in Mallet, but they also have a number of dangerous targets. WRs Joe Adams, Jarius Wright, Cobi Hamilton, TE DJ Williams, all have right at 400 yards receiving or more. And, to make it worse, RBs Ronnie Wingo and Kniles Davis have good hands, and are dangerous in open space. The Bulldogs will have to pressure Mallet up front, and attack him before the likes of Adams and Wright can break away from coverage. Petrino does an excellent job of misdirecting opposing defenses-not with the run, but with the pass. State cannot allow sections of the field to go unmanned. Manny Diaz must make sure that Mallet is getting hit in pressure situations, not just hurried. The 6-6 QB, has struggled after taking a few hits during the past 2 seasons, and the Dawgs must attack early and often. Doing so, has the ability to force QBs into mistakes, which State will need a few of on Saturday.

(4) Win the Special Teams’ Battle:As important as Offense and Defense is to a game, Special Teams is KEY. It’s what happens on plays in this facet, that can earn you points, or set the stage for the upcoming possession. P Heath Hutchins has to keep the field position tuggle in MSU’s favor, and we cannot afford to give Mallet the short field. State needs to stay true in punt coverage, where the Bulldogs have only given up 52 yds all year. One major area, K Sean Brauchle must stay away from kicking the ball out of bounds on kick offs. Believe or not, but MSU only allows 22 yds per return on kick offs, but it’s the depth of the kick that usually makes things appear worse than they are. PK Derek DePasquale is on fire in his last 3 games, hitting 7 straight FGs. We will need everything we can get, and I see De-Paq playing a major role on Saturday night. As for our kick off return team, Perkins and Bumphis have to run with a purpose and brains. Bumphis has appeared very hesitant this season in accerlating and avoiding contact. Perkins on the other hand, just needs a few blocks, and State will start at the 45-50 all night. Like I said, run with purpose.

(5) Must Be Able to Throw the Ball: It sounds so simple doesn’t it? But, for MSU passing is not a strength for starting QB Chris Relf. I expect Arkansas to stack the box, since they know as well as we do, that we want to run the ball and control the clock. That means that we are going to have some opportunities to make plays in the passing game, and we must. Les Koenning needs to keep it simple, and RUSH the ball on 1st Downs. Short, high percentage passes are what we need to try and execute. Use the screen game to our advantage, slants, drags, and outs as well. Many people think that Tyler Russell makes us one-dimensional, but might I remind them that on ALL of Tyler Russell’s scoring drives this season, State had a big run on the drive (20+ yds). I wonder if we will see more of Tyler on Saturday? By that I mean a series or two more. 

(6) Make the Play: The Bulldogs’ play at homethis year hasn’t been the prettiest, but it’s been clutch when we needed it. Be it a timely forced fumble, interception, sack, catch, or 3rd Down run, the Dawgs have come through in Davis Wade Stadium (5-1). We can’t have drops in the passing game or in the Defensive secondary; if there’s a loose ball we have to claim it; make our kicks; make good choices in the option and passing game.

(7) Get Loud: And finally, as fans we have to BRING THE NOISE! I was impressed with the level of noise we created vs UK. We’ll need that again. We are on ESPN, as in ESPN 1 these days, so let’s help our team show out.

My Thoughts: Something tells me that our Seniors will not allow State to lose this one. JC Brignone and Derek Sherrod, who anchor the O-Line, will be looking to make Saturday’s game (their last in Davis Wade), one for the ages. FB Patrick Hanharan, who is also responsible for much of the Dawgs’ success on the ground, will lead the charge as well. On Defense, 2 of the best in recent years to put on an Maroon jersey will do so for the last time (depending on location of the bowl game), in LBs Chris White and KJ Wright. Their intensity and leadership on D, has propelled the Dawgs thus far, and I don’t see a drop off coming on Saturday. DE Pernell McPhee has had much more of a quiet career at State than anyone imagined, but I think he will pressure Mallet non-stop. I mentioned 2 weeks ago, that even though State has won 7 games, that not adding to that win total would result in disappointment. I think the Bulldogs know that, and will come into the Arkansas game ready to play. They have the opportunity to end up as a mediocre team, with just 8 wins to their name, OR as one to be remembered throughout MSU history. State could truly turn ’the corner’ with a WIN against the Hogs, find themselves in a much better bowl game, and lay the foundation for those to come. Do it for Bell and Berry!

My Prediction:  Hogs  28  Dogs  24. That’s my score prediction, but keep in mind that I’m being superstitious and picking the Hogs to win, so that State can (not really, actually I am, you get the picture). My superstitions also keep me from making my individual performance predictions, but I hope you do.

Your Prediction? Keys to Victory?

______SEC Weekend______

TSUN @ LSU   31-10

UT@ Vandy  34-17

Troy  @  South Car  42-13

Appl. State  @  UF  31-14 

WHO ya got?

In case yall missed it this week, which I think a lot of you did…

-Here’s some of the expansion ideas for Davis Wade. (Thanks, Buzzard) Link

-There have been some breaks in the Cam Newton story. Here’s an in-depth look at Auburn, Dirty Money, Football, and Politics. Link

-Kenny Rodger’s lawyer, confirms that Cecil Newton was involved in soliciting money. Link

-We also talked about HOW desperate Houston Nutt’s speech was on Monday.

-And we also talked about how much playing time that Tyler Russell should get.

-The Men’s B-Ball team is in action on Friday night vs Appl. State. Link

You can comment on any of those items as well.

Go Dawgs!!!

We are officially 2 days away from kick off between #22 MSU and #13 Arkansas. I’m sure that Dan Mullen is doing his best to prepare the Bulldogs for Arkansas’ dynamic aerial attack, while Bobby Petrino is focused on stopping the Bulldogs’ ground game. To clarify, the Hogs’ pass offense ranks 1st in the SEC, while MSU’s rush offense·ranks 3rd. With that said, let’s take a look at how these 2 teams stack up against each other, and the rest of the nation as well.

There are indeed some interesting match ups that we’ll have to keep an eye on come Saturday. Here are some things that come to mind immediately, when I look at the stats:

-Ark Pass Off.·vs·MSU Pass Def.- The Hogs average 116 yds more than·the Dawgs give up, but State has yet to see a QB as potent as Mallet.MSU Rush Off.·vs·Rush Def.- The Dawgs average 59 yds more than the Hogs give up, but outside of Auburn, the Hogs have yet to see a better rushing offense than MSU’s.

-MSU Rush Def. vs·Ark Rush Off.- The Dawgs give up 27 ydsless·that Arkansas averages,·but extra focus on Mallet and the passing game, could result in a nice day for Kniles Davis. For the record, State has yet to allow a 100 yd rusher on the season.

-As much as MSU will want to hold on to the football and control the tempo of the game, Arkansas will be looking to play the same type of game. The Hogs rank one spot below MSU in Time of Possession. That really surprised me.

-The Scoring Defense between the 2 teams, leans in MSU’s favor by 3 points (18 ppg – 21 ppg). I·really think that the team that has the better day rushing the football will win this game.

What intrigues you about the stats and Saturday’s match up?

_____Break in the Cam Newton Story_____

A day after John Bondtalked with the FBI, andKenny Rogers talked with NCAA investigators, Bill Bell dropped a bomb on the on-going Newton saga. Bell, played football with both Bond and Rogers at State, and his name had come up during some recent allegations. It turns out that what Bell has to offer to the NCAA and other investigating parties, might be the most incriminating evidence against the Newtons thus far. Here’s a report from ESPN.com, by Mark Schlabach, Chris Low and Pat Forde:

[Bill Bell, a Mississippi State booster and former player at the school, told the NCAA he received a text message from a man claiming to represent Cam Newton's father that outlined a payment plan designed to bring the quarterback to the Bulldogs.Bell said former teammate Kenny Rogers told him Cecil Newton wanted money for his son to play at Mississippi State. Bell told ESPN.com he also shared a series of voice mail messages from Rogers with the NCAA last week. Bell said Cecil Newton never specifically asked him for money, but that Newton was present during three-way calls in which Rogers discussed a pay-for-play scheme. Bell said he told the NCAA that Rogers sent him a text message outlining a payment schedule. Bell said the text included a request for $80,000 the day after Cam Newton signed with Mississippi State, $50,000 30 days after that and another $50,000 30 days later. "When he asked for it, it was like 'Bam!'" Bell said. "He told me this kid's dad is going to want money and the next day he sent me a text message. He didn't say anything other than 'This is what I want and I want it in three installments.'" Bell said he kept Rogers' text message on his old cell phone, which was damaged by water, but he is currently trying to retrieve the text message through his cell service provider. Bell also said he has recordings of several voice mail messages from Rogers, which he played for NCAA investigators. "[Cecil Newton] didn’t come out and say, ‘I want $180,000,’” Bell said. “He inferred it and talked about it, but not directly. Kenny would talk about it in front of him, and [Cecil Newton] never corrected him or said, ‘No, that’s not what we’re doing.’” Bell said the initial contact to him was made by Rogers, who played football with Bell in college. But Bell, a Florida businessman, said he also had several conversations with Cecil Newton during his son’s recruitment. He said it was going to “take more than just a relationship with [Mississippi State coach] Dan Mullen and that Cam’s relationship with Mullen wasn’t what Mullen thought it was,” Bell said. “That’s when he said, ‘Dan Mullen is going to have to put a smile on my face if he thinks he’s going to get my son.’” Bell said the reason he’s providing details of the alleged scheme is because he wants to make sure everybody knows Mississippi State didn’t break NCAA rules during its recruitment of Cam Newton. Bell went on to say, “It was probably three phone calls or so before Kenny said, ‘They’re going to want money,’” Bell recalled. “It just seemed like he didn’t know what he was doing, like it was the first time he’d ever done something like that. I really believe it was Mr. Newton asking Kenny to do it. I don’t think it was Kenny’s idea.”]

Now, there’s a large camp of people who want to protect Cam Newton in all of this, who believe that he was unaware of his father’s actions. I couldn’t disagree more, due to the fact that an MSU recruiter or insider said that Cam seemed upset in his father’s decision for him to attend Auburn over MSU, because the “money was too much.”· In my opinion, that MSU recruiter or insider, was probably Jody Wright (former MSU Asst. AD), who is now a G.A. at Bama. I don’t believe that conversation was manufactured to fuel the story forward, but that it actually happened. If that quote can be linked to show that Cam Newton was aware of his father’s monetary solicitations, and that his services were purchased, then Cam and Cecil both are in ‘hot water.’ That also confirms that Auburn paid for Newton’s talents, and we know where it all goes from there. FBI please?·

Hopefully you guys woke up from yalls’ afternoon nap yesterday, and will punch the keys today (JJ).

Anyway, your thoughts on the stat match up between the Hogs and Dawgs?

Cam Newton saga’s newest twist?

As Saturday’s match up between #13 Arkansas and #22 MSU approaches, I figured we’d take a midweek look at what’s being talked about in the 2 opposing camps. MSU’s Dan Mullen spoke about a variety of topics, and we also have some quotes from Arkansas’ Off. Coordinator Garrick McGee, and Bulldogs’ Def. Coordinator Manny Diaz. We will also look at the Hogs’ top players thus far. Saw where the ticket count is down under 600, so it’s gonna be a packed house for Senior Night at Davis Wade Stadium.

_____Dan Mullen Speaks_____

On Practice: “I think our last two games are 6:00 games so when you get to this time of year it’s actually good to get out here and make sure we’re practicing around our gametime, so our guys get used to playing…For us just a regular Tuesday, get back in our game routine. It was first down/play action mix, full pads, good hitting. We did some tackling but we didn’t change a routine that’s been very successful for us. So it was get out here, get after them, get back into that mindset of what we need to do to win. We got in a great routine in that winning streak, had a bunch of other things happen to get us out of that routine,” Mullen said. “Now we’re trying to get back on focus.”

On Relf: “Chris saw the chances. We went back and looked, he was 8-of-16 with four drops, two open receivers that he missed. So there were a lot of opportunities there, and for the receivers, everybody. We had a chance to watch it and see; in our winning games we were making those plays. If you don’t make them you’re not going to, against great teams.”

On Zach Smith (Injured): “He’s adamant that he is playing, to me…You can joke with him but he doesn’t even think it’s funny to joke with him. It was like ‘how come I’m not listed #1 on the punt team today?’” I said it’s because you’re not practicing. He said but I’m playing, so list me as #1.”- Gotta respect Zach Smith’s heart.

_____Hogs’ Off. Coordinator Garrick McGee_____

“Our kids are playing at a really high level right now,” Coach McGee said. “When we are set behind the chains, they’ve found ways to make plays and convert third downs. I know Ryan (Mallett) hit Cobi (Hamilton) on an in-cut on third-and-10 last week and it seemed really simple when he did it. We’ve just got to continue to play well on first down. Third downs become simple.” On State’s Defense: “Their defense is really complex. They would call it a multiple defense, I bet. They play three down. They play four down. They have four defensive linemen in the game in a three-down structure, with one of their defensive linemen standing up and floating around. They have a really interesting scheme that’s going to be a challenge for us.”

• During Arkansas’ 4 game win streak, they are averaging 46.5 ppg, and have converted 54% of the time on 3rd Downs during that stretch. SCARY.

_____Mann Diaz on Stopping the Hog Offense_____

“One of the things in the Alabama game is it ruined another red zone performance. We’re usually pretty hard to score on in the red zone, and when Alabama got in our red zone, they had a hard time scoring touchdowns on us. With a guy like Mallett, who is going to complete some passes, and they’re going to get some yards, if we will just understand, if we will tackle the catch, at a minimum if we’ll tackle the catch, sooner or later they’re going to wind up in our red zone, and the field gets constricted, and the offense is limited in terms of what they can do where you think you’ve got a chance.”-What Manny Diaz described, would be a nice alternative compared to Carl Torbush’s schemes last season. The Dawgs allowed Mallet to connect on long TD passes of 39, 58, and 64 yards. As much of a cushion as State has been playing in the past couple of weeks, Diaz should be able to take away the homerun ball, and present the Dawg D with opportunities to make plays against the underneath to mid-range passing game. This year’s Hog team will be even tougher than last year’s, thanks to the emergence of RB Kniles Davis. The Sophomore is approaching the 1,000 yard mark on the season.

Hog Playmakers in 2010

• QB Ryan Mallet: 2,967 yds, 67%, 24 TDs, 8 INTs
• RB Kniles Davis: 844 yds, 7.2ypc, 10 TDs
• RB Broderick Green: 333 yds, 3.5 yds per carry, 3 TDs
• WR Greg Childs: (out for yr) 659 yds, 14.3 yds per reception, 6 TDs
• WR Joe Adams: 588 yds, 17.3 ypr, 4 TDs
• WR Jarius Wright: 545 yds, 17 ypr, 3 TDs
• TE DJ Williams: 491 yds, 11 ypr, 3 TDs
• WR Cobi Hamilton: 391 yds, 15.6 ypr, 4 TDs
• RB Ryan Wingo: 274 yds, 10 ypr, 4 TDs
• Arkansas is 2nd in the SEC in Total Off. and Mallet is 15th nationally. Arkansas is 5th in Total Def. (More on stats tomorrow).

____Cam Newton Saga_____

Well guys, after an Auburn win, and 3 hours of Cam Newton worship from CBS’s Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson, all seemed somewhat ‘sunny’ again in Auburn, Alabama. The Friday before the UGA game, there were some reports that Cam Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, allegedly admitted to shopping his son to MSU. Reports say that Cam and Newton’s wife, were unaware of the bribe. Those reports seemed to have hushed, but the saga is heating up now more than ever. On Tuesday, the FBI interviewed former MSU QB John Bond, who was the first to provide information about the Newton case. Bond’s inside information, which sent shock waves through the College Football world, included Ken Rogers. Rogers, like Bond, is a former MSU player, and in all this has been identified as Newton’s representative or ‘handler’ during Newton’s recruitment and signing with Auburn. According to ESPN-Dallas radio, Rogers was interviewed by NCAA investigators on Tuesday, after he called out Cecil Newton last week, confirming that the father did in fact solicit monetary payments from MSU, in order to earn his son’s commitment. The NCAA investigative crew, also met with former MSU Football Operations Director Jody Wright. Wright is now a G.A. at Alabama. Hopefully we will find out something soon. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, said that the FBI’s involvement will be to investigate the money trail, and to see if one exists.

Arkansas writer Chris Bahn, writes that Arkansas’ attendance numbers have dropped as their ranking has increased. Btw, the Hogs are done in Fayetteville for the season, as Little Rock awaits LSU next week. Redneck Mardi Gras!!! Ugh… Link

The SEC’s dirtiest player, Auburn’s Nick Fairley, will not be suspended or punished for his continual and violent LATE hits on opposing QBs. So, just how WORTHY was MSU’s Chris Hugh’s hit on the UAB player? Remember, the one that we never even saw a replay of, or know happened? Btw, is Fairley’s actions and the Cam Newton issue, just a few of the eye-opening aspects of Auburn’s lack of institutional control? Link

Anybody see Bama backup QB AJ McCarron get spanked by Saban? Link

Story on the Hogs’ DJ Williams. The kid has overcome a lot. Link

That’s all for today guys!

On Tuesdays, I always provide notes from our very own Dan Mullen and the Bulldogs’ weekly adversary, but the truth is, Mullen and Petrino are not saying a whole lot. Here is a little bit of what I’ve gathered from the two coaches, thus far…

Dan Mullen on QB Ryan Mallet: “He can slide around in the pocket and extend plays. Very athletic that way. People get locked into thinking an athletic quarterback is one that can just run the ball and is very fast. An athletic quarterback can also be a guy that buys himself some extra time in the pocket. And he has the arm strength where he can throw a 50-yard pass and it takes about half a second for it to get there.”

Mullen on the Hog D: “They’re a very, very aggressive defense. They’re going to blitz you from a lot of different directions…They get you a little bit out of your game plan and they get into their comfort zone, which is really blitzing you from every direction on defense and coming after you. That’s one of the reasons we have to control the tempo of the game.”

·Bobby Petrino on MSU: “I know our players are excited about the week. We will be focused, and we have to do a good job in our preparation, in our practice, and get ready to go on the road and play another very good football team.”

Yaaaaawwwwwn.

Yesterday I raised the question of whether or not Tyler Russell’s passing game needed to be more a part of the Bulldog Offense, but it appears that Dan Mullen doesn’t think so. “The run game, that’s our base. The experience of our team is on the offensive line. To do that we need them to play well and they’ve played well running the football. That’s been the strength of our team this year and that needs to continue.” I completely agree coach, but a change of pace would be nice. I’m a major proponent of running the football and controlling the clock, but whenever we become predictable, and place ourselves in passing situations-be it predetermined or by circumstance, it would be nice to have the better arm in the game (at times). Mullen went on to say “When you look at our stats and the differences in our wins and losses – our turnovers – our ability to run the ball and control the tempo of the game, that’s been the difference. We have to be able to playour game at our tempo for us to be successful.” Les Koenning had this to say about Relf’s abilities, “We feel comfortable throwing the football – don’t misunderstand me now – but to win football games, our plan has been laid out by coach Mullen. Obviously as the game goes along – things change but controlling the football on the ground is our identity.”

_______After Further Review_______

And I’ll say this, there are some guys who missed tackles that I would rate as the best tacklers on our team. There were some things that were a little out of character for us.”

I watched the Bama replay, and here’s what I saw, followed by some comments from State players:

• Johnthan Banks was much better at Safety than he is at Corner. Opposing Defenses are beginning to target him.
• Tyler Russell did a great job of stepping up in the pocket, avoiding pressure, and throwing the football with the touch that each situation required. And, it was all against Bama’s first team D. If Bumphis doesn’t fall down, then he doesn’t even throw an INT, and we probably make the loss look even more respectful.
• Vick Ballard was a·BEAST in Tuscaloosa. The kid has the same motor as Anthony Dixon, and runs hard ’til the whistle. We need to get him the ball through the air more as well.
• LaDarius Perkins is potentially our most dangerous player on Offense. Ballard holds the edge at the moment, due to the fact that he is utilized more to his strengths then Perkins is. When he gets the ball on the edge, and he can cover 30 yds in a heart beat.
• Emmanuel Gatling continues to disappoint me. He had a chance to stop all 3 of Bama’s long TDs, before they even got started. Like I’ve said before, always around the ball, but just does not make the play.
• Nickoe Whitley’s statistics do not show how hard he plays. The kid flies to the ball, and is not afraid to make a hit.
• Charles Mitchell had his first down-game of the 2010 season. He is one of my favorite players, but he looked like the Carl Torbush version of #4, not the Diaz version.
• Corey Broomfield is very spotty at times. I liked him better before we let KJ Wright take over his role as a Rover type Back. Broomfield has the tendancy to lock up with a blocker, lose focus, and take himself out of plays. Violent hands, and attacking the ball will go a long way in improving his game. Sometimes when I watch him, I think of Randy Moss rumors, about taking plays off here and there.
• JC Brignone on Physicality: The one thing we didn’t do (against Alabama) was be as physical as we normally are. I don’t like making excuses so I think it was just – we weren’t there, we weren’t us. I want to leave with this being the best offensive line in (MSU) history because I know we can be
• Mann Diaz on Game Film: “Good for 29 plays; three in horror; and 29 more good. And I’ll say this, there are some guys who missed tackles that I would rate as the best tacklers on our team. There were some things that were a little out of character for us.”
• On a sidenote, Mullen mentioned that Relf missed 2 easy TD throws, with passes that were batted down at the line.

Even though Mullen and Petrino aren’t talking, but Houston Nutt is. Nutt had his weekly press conference on Monday, just as other SEC coaches do, but none of the others sound quite as pitiful and desperate as him. Nutt made every excuse in the world concerning the Rebs’ disappointing season. And, did his best to·bring attention to the positive things he’s accomplished since he’s been in Oxford. Here are some clips, that even·an Ole Miss radio station was·grilling Nutt over:

• “Lets go back and talk about the start of the year, this season has not gone like we had planned for it to.· It all started with that first game. With the amount of players we lost this year, we all knew that this would be a difficult year. But, what we didn’t plan on was three knee surgeries, four concussions and losing a leader like Kentrell Lockett. I just want to remind our fans that it had been·50 years since Ole Miss won back-to-back January 1 bowl games.· I’m excited that we have 12 freshmen playing. I am excited about the future.· I know in my heart, now more than ever, that we can get to Atlanta. I know we can, because I know that we can recruit here; we have proven that our last two seasons. What we didn’t plan on was our first game and a few others putting us in a tailspin. It’s my fault.· We were not as ready as we should have been, but I see a lot of hope. I am excited about these next two games. I remember the day I got here; I didn’t see any life or hope. I do not want that to come back on our guys now. We have two games left, and a lot of these guys have been doing great things for the past couple of years.”
• “It is easy to dwell on the negative. It is easy to sit up on the 50-yard line and point out the bad and embarrassing. I was the first one to say Saturday was embarrassing. If you think that you are hurting, you should be in my shoes. I am sick to my stomach when I think about the Tennessee game, because we planned on winning that game.”
• “I planned on having seven wins at this point in the season, six at the worst. The bottom line is that we are not there, but I am not going to allow my players to be gloom and doom. They need to remember that they have been a part of something great. It was not too long ago when everyone was patting them on the back for winning back-to-back Cotton Bowls. I just want to tell our fans that there are good things getting ready to happen.”
• “I am not blaming anything on the previous staff; I appreciate all the players that I inherited. The players that Ed Orgeron recruited were very good players. They did a good job at getting Peria Jerry, Jerrell Powe. Michael Wallace, Shay Hodge and guys like them in here. But, the bottom line is that they didn’t know how to win and they were used to losing. I don’t ever want to go back to that point. Don’t ever get used to losing, don’t ever get to the point where it is a little bit easier to let go of the rope. You play as good as your senior class. When they play their best is when you win the most games. When you go back to the first year I was here, our senior class was phenomenal. Michael Oher was playing at his best. Peria Jerry was an awesome and violent player. Michael Wallace was playing at the top of his game. Your seniors are your leaders, the owners of the team and the motor that drives it. We have very few numbers of those guys now. We are missing our best one, Kentrell Lockett.”

Pretty sad, desperate, and embarrassing Houston. I guess you are·practicing the same speech that you will be giving a year from now, hoping to save your job. You called out what fans that are left, who were possibly considering attending the Egg Bowl. And for the record, you have had 3 years to recruit. We should be able to see some of what you can do as a recruiter, and as a coach who has had time to develop those players. All the repetitive excuses, is pretty much the equivalent of ice skating up hill. The fact is, you are out of Ed Orgeron’s talent, you can’t develop a QB to save your life, and your days are numbered in Mississippi.

How much do you think Tyler Russell should play for MSU? I’m thinkin 30% of the time…

How DESPERATE is Nutt?

-Egg Bowl’s kick off·has been set. 6pm, and we get Herm Edwards again! He’s not that great, but a good luck charm for us. Nothing like being called Memphis·State··Link

-Chris Low’s SEC Power Rankings. State is 6th. Link

After experiencing their longest winning streak since the 1999 season, MSU fell hard at Alabama on Saturday night. State is now 7-3 (3-3), while the Tide improved to 8-2 (5-2). Bama seemed to have regained some of their swagger, but the Bulldogs lost a little bit that they had acquired over the past 6 weeks. Dan Mullen’s bunch, failed to earn MSU’s 3rd win in 55 years in Tuscaloosa, and Bama just continued their usual dominance over the Bulldogs. I know, sickening. If I hadn’t watched the game, and you would have told me that State would convert 50% of their 3rdDowns, and win the T.O.P. battle by 3 minutes, I would have surely thought the Dawgs would have won. But, 3 consecutive scoring plays on Offense for the Tide of 45, 78, and 56 yards, pushed State out of reach. Here’s my game notes from the match up:

(1) Defense Must Improve: All year, the Defense has been a question mark for MSU. Not necessarily the personnel, but rather whether we are putting our guys in position to make plays, and to win ball games. Many maypoint to tackling, which I admit is somewhat of a weakness for a few of our players on D. But, my problem lies in Diaz’s coverage schemes. Either #1, he is giving our guys way too much freedom when it comes to choosing the cushion they give their respective WRs, or #2 the blame is all on Diaz, because he is purposefully putting our guys in those costly coverage sets. Like I’ve mentioned earlier this season, it’s sad when all of us in the stands can see that we are going to give up a 1st Down, before the ball is even snapped. If you are an X’s and O’s guy like me, you know exactly who the ball is going to as well, which makes it even more sickening to watch. Not only does lining up 7-12 yards off a WR hurt you on underneath routes, but in another critical area-that Bama attacked last night. What’s that you might ask? Recovery. Let’s take a 3rd Down and 9 situation for this illustration. Whether you are in man or zone coverage, before the ball is even snapped, a Bulldog player is 7-12 yards off the line of scrimmage. On the snap, the DB naturally backs up to provide space and cushion to conform to the route, and almost automatically the WR has the chains in their favor, because of the pre-snap distance. You keep the Offense from scoring, but you give up 12 yds, when they only needed 9. Now, playing that deep hurts you in multiple ways. #1, you literally change the mindset of the Offenses’s ‘underneath’ passing game’s distance. The Offense goes from using 5-7 yd passes, to 10-12 yard passes, because the coverage is set so deep. Now, the area that Bama exploited so well vs State, was our inability to recover. So, #2 playing as deep as the Dawgs have in coverage, effects their ability to react to the ball, and minimize the damage. On the catch by Marquis Maze last night, the play should have went for 12 yards and a 1st Down, instead the kid takes it 45 yds for aTD. When you play that deep off the ball, it means you have to come up and make a play after the ball has been caught. With the amount of cushion we are providing, the receivers have already caught the ball, and then have the opportunity to adjust to either a flat footed DB, or one who is headed in his direction at full speed, which benefits the WR. We should be a 70/30 Man coverageD, but Diaz’s philosophy will not ever allow that. So, since we are confined to his style, we have to make adjustments. Shorten the umbrella, face-up WRs, and save the 7-12 yard cushion for Prevent situations, and most importantly, our Secondary needs to learn where the chains are, and expect throws within that vicinity. Also, If I were Diaz, Monday and Tuesday would consist of nothing but coned-pursuit drills and tackling basics. We were TERRIBLE in both aspects. I was really happy with how we handled the Bama run game, until it was over in the 3rd, and the Tide was eating clock. Alabama did nothing special, but we sure made them look that way.

(2) Time for the Relf/Russell Platoon: One thing is clear, to beat ‘true’ SEC elite teams like Bama, year in and year out, you have to be non-predictable on Offense. You can only run the read, the counter, the QB draw, and the option so much. We are so vanilla, that when we send a man in motion before the snap, the opposing D knows who’s getting the ball, and the magic is gone. What was supposed to be a wrinkle, becomes the evident. One thing is becoming more and more clear, and that is that our Offense needs something else. There are times when it makes sense to run the ball down a team’s throat all night, but there are obvious cases in which you have to know that you can’t. Mullen has mentioned the fact that he would like to see our pass production increase, but it’s clear that Chris Relf doesn’t have the potential to make that happen. In fact, if we know that we are going to throw the ball, why not put the ball in the hands of the better passer (Russell)? With that said, I know I have to defend Tyler’s play. Since the Alcorn game, Tyler has been held out of 2 whole games, and all but 3 plays in another. Very little playing time = very little experience = occasional mistakes. It’s simple math. Yall know that I’m a HUGE Tyler fan, but I have also been the unbiased critic that I have needed to be, when it comes to his shortcomings. But, as I said after the Alcorn and UK games, I feel that he tries to over-compensate when he finally gets the opportunity to see the field, because the time he is in is so scarce. As a Freshman QB, he needs the experience just to get the “Cloud 9″ game he had vs Memphis-out of his head. There are many areas of his game that he needs to improve on, but what Freshman in college football doesn’t? So, why should he play? (1) Russell is a 58% passer, he averages 9+ yds per attempt, and has a QB Passer Rating of 141.37. (2) The kid has lead long scoring drives in 2 of the nation’s toughest places to play (@ Bama and @ LSU, vs their 1st string). (3) He’s thrown 4 TDs and 5 INTs, and about 2 or 3 of those were clearly not his fault, while the others were terrible. (4) Tyler also has a much better ‘internal’ QB Clock, that all signal callers need, in order to sense pressure and get rid of the ball. That, is something that Relf sorely lacks. (5) Russell has thrown for 555 yds, in very limited action. The fact is, we can’t continue to try and play Clock Wars with the rest of our schedule. Teams know exactly what we are going to do, and it’s only going to get easier for them to stop us. I know a lot of coaches and fans are not proponents of platooning within a series, but how is that any different from running the QB to the sideline for a breather, when we go the Rabid Dawg? There is no difference, so why not bring in Relf or Russell-off the switch, and keep defense’s honest, by capitalizing on a different strength? Or better yet, surprise them and let Relf throw and Tyler run occasionally. That’s what it’s going to take to light a fire for our Offense. Both QBs have shown moments of extreme effectiveness in what they do…why not combine the two strengths? It’s time! Btw, the Relf INT was the worst pass of the year, and KILLED our confidence and a perfect scoring opportunity early on. Triple coverage Chris? The root of the problem is Koenning, who called for the pass on 1st Down anyway. I’ve never seen a guy abandon what ‘was’ working so well in the first place. Take over the play calling Dan, or hire someone who you can trust…please. And finally, I think we lose 30-24, ‘IF’ we would have brought in Russell 2 series earlier. That would have made us look much better.

(3) We are not THERE yet: The fact is, MSU has turned the corner, but not a Bama, or an LSU type corner. We are at the point where we can beat a great program on a down year, UGA and UF for example, where we can win almost all our home games, but not to the point where we match the Top teams in the conference for 4 quarters. We don’t have the mindset, the personnel, or the depth to do so. And as long as Les Koenning is calling plays, we may not have the coaching (Btw, we passed on 10 first downs last night…10). But, I think we are 2 years away from breaking into the top tier of the SEC. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy with 7-3, and where this year has taken us, but I’m just being realistic. We are losing some players on OL and at LB, that have been critical to our success. Saturday night was a perfect example of a top tier teamthat makes plays, and a team who is not there yet, and doesn’t. We commit stupid penalties, our coaches display poor play-calling, we drop way to many passes, and we have a lot to clean up before Arkansas.

Offensive & Defensive Standouts: RB Vick Ballard- 19 rushes for 80 yds; RB LaDarius Perkins- 8 rushes for 44 yds;QB Tyler Russell-4/7 for 80 yds, TD,INT; WR Chad Bumphis- 3 catches 44 yds,TD;WR Brandon Heavens- 3 catches 21 yds;WR Arceto Clark- 2 catches 44 yds. LB Chris White- 3tkl, 1INT; LB KJ Wright, S Nickoe Whitley, S Charles Mitchell- all with 5 tkls   

      Positives     

• We are 7-3 (3-3 in SEC)
• We are Bowl bound…somewhere?
• We are better than we played on Saturday
• We are still ranked, #22 in AP, #21 in the BCS

     SEC Week 11    

UT Crushes Ole Miss, 52-14. At the beginning of the season, I mentioned that Nutt should play Nathan Stanley until the kid was worthy of being benched. I expected a down year for Ole Miss, and that move would have secured the fact that Nutt gave Stanley his shot, and then brought in Masoli for change. Nutt instead, put all his eggs in one basket, and has killed the confidence of Stanley, and just solidified the school of thought-that Nutt cannot develop a QB, even the likes of Jeremiah Masoli. I don’t see Nutt making it past next season in Oxford.

UF Let MeDown, 36-14. I was shocked that the Gators allowed the Gamecocks to come into the Swamp, with the East on the line, and do what they did. USC held the ball for 40+ minutes, after UF returned the opening kick off for a TD. 200 yds rushing for Lattimore. Spurrier lucks out on a week year in the East.

Auburn Runs Away from UGA, 49-31. It was close until the 4th. Cam Newton and Auby outscored UGA 28-10 in the 2nd half. Cam Newton is the best player in college football, just not the best ‘eligible’ player. I get tired of all the Newton worship. He is not a victim. Btw, I hope that in all this, Auburn realizes that we didn’t bring them into this, but rather Newton’s association with Auburn did. We are getting way to much blame, for making the right decisions and moves. There are rumors out there, but I’m glad that Stricklin has confirmed what we have released, and what we haven’t. I expect a new break in the story tomorrow. And DT Nick Fairley for Auburn, should have been immediately ejected for his hit on UGA QB, Aaron Murray. If in the NFL, he’d be forking over $30,000. Anyway, Auburn clinches the West.

Arkansas Rolls UTEP, 58-21. Mallet threw for 215 yds, 5 TDs; Kniles Davis ran for 182 yds on just 11 carries; 31 First Downs, and 577 yards.

Anyway, your thoughts on the SEC Weekend?

Should Tyler Russell get more playing time?

What were your thoughts about the game in general?

You could say that MSU and Alabama are thinking the same thing right now. That very thought, is that neither expected to be 7-2 at this point in the season. For MSU, 2010 was viewed by many as a stepping stone year. Most in the media, forecasted that Mullen and the Bulldogs would still be another season away from tasting success. Alabama was picked to pretty much repeat, or finish amongst the nation’s top 5. Here we are, deep in College Football’s 11th week of the season, and it appears that Bama will have to wait, but MSU appears ahead of schedule. With that said though, #17 MSU heads into possibly it’s toughest test of the season. Though #11 Bama is banged up, and a year removed from their National Title, a lot of the same pieces remain. Both the Bulldogs and the Tide are coming off a difficult stretch, but losing a teammate trumps all circumstances in sports. Bama had their post season title hopes crushed in Baton Rouge, while Mississippi State’s Nick Bell lost his short battle with cancer. What was supposed to be a week of ‘cleaning’ up various aspects of their game, turned out to be a week of grieving for the Dawgs. The fact is, Saturday’s match up is going to come down to one thing, and that’s ‘mindset’.

With that said, I figured·that we’d take a look at what the experts at College Gameday Stats have to say. Just a reminder that you can get their weekly insight and newsletter, by emailing them at info@collegegamedaystats.com:

• MSU Scoring vs Bama Opponent’s Scoring- Advantage Bama
• MSU Pass Off. vs Bama Pass Def.- Advantage Bama
• MSU Rush Off. vs Bama Rush Def.- Advantage MSU
• Bama Scoring vs MSU Opponent’s Scoring- Advanatage MSU
• Bama Pass Off. vs MSU Pass Def.- Advantage Bama
• Bama Rush Off. vs MSU Rush Def.- No Advantage
• Odds- Bama 13.5 pt Favorites
• College Gameday Stats’ Pick to Win- MSU
• Edge: MSU’s Defense

My Thoughts: Alabama is still Alabama. Tuscaloosa is still Tuscaloosa. If MSU is going to have any shot to win·at Bryant-Denny, not only will they have to channel their emotions related to losing Nick Bell, but they’ll have to take the crowd out of the game as much as possible. Hopefully, Mullen has prepared the Bulldogs the same way he did for the Florida game, and State will come out and make a statement early. Rumor has it that Tide RB Trent Richardson may not see action on Saturday, but that still leaves a ‘banged-up’ Heisman in Ingram, in the Bama back field. With Richardson out, or seeing limited playing time, look for Freshman Eddie Lacy to fill in. Lacy is dangerous for a youngster, posting a 6+ yd average, and 3 TDs on the year. As far as Bama’s passing game, WR Julio Jones brings the size and experience needed to dominate in the SEC, while Marquis Maze and Darius Hanks are just a step away from hurting you deep. QB Greg McElroy hadn’t lost since the 8th grade before this season started, but has lost twice this season already. McElroy is a consistent leader though, and manages games very well. The Rhodes Scholar also enjoys hitting his TE Preston Dial, and his RBs in dump-off or emergency outlet situations. Richardson’s absence could be felt just as much in this area, as it is in Bama’s run game. As far as Bama’s D is concerned, they are strong amongst the front 7, and rank17th in the country as a whole (307 ypg). If the group has one weakness, it has to be their Secondary, who allows just over 180 passing ypg. The Bulldogs boast the nation’s 14th ranked Rushing attack, with 3 capable ball handlers. QB Chris Relf, RBs Vick Ballard, and LaDarius Perkins, have a knack for finding running lanes, and the second level with ease. Coming off of a bye week, should mean that the Dawgs are healthy on the OL, and the RB’s legs should be rested and fresh. One negative for the Dawgs, is their passing game, which ranks 101st in the nation (164 ypg). I’m sure Mullen will be looking for ways to loosen up Bama’s front 7 through the air, and will have to do so to win. As effective as MSU’s Running game has been this season, the Dawg OL will see the most aggressive defense that they have seen, since LSU’s. If a team plans on being one dimensional vs Saban’s D, that pretty much means you should not get off the bus. Mullen noted that Chris Relf’s passing game was sharpened some during the bye week, and even Relf mentioned his need for a bigger role in this week’s game. On defense, Mullen, as well as fans, have used the term bend but don’t break, to refer to the D’s consistent performances. Diaz’s group, does just that. Limiting big plays, focusing on Bama’s strengths, and holding them to FGs, is what I expect the Dawg D to do. I also wonder if Mullen will use QB Tyler Russell in some passing situations? Even though, I have complete faith in Relf to lead.

KEYS to VICTORY? (1) Win the Trenches- I think this is probably the oldest football cliche’, but it’s simply the key to winning any and every football game. On D, DLs Fletcher Cox, Josh Boyd, Sean Fergeson, James Carmon, Shane McCardell, and Pernell McPhee have to disrupt Bama’s back field with penetration. And, as I always note, they must also open up the blitzing lanes for incoming Bulldogs to make plays. Not only could they slow down Ingram and Co., but McElroy has struggled the past couple of weeks when facing pressure. The DL will have a lot do with whether or not those two focuses become a reality. Penetrate, disrupt, and free-up. (2) Mix it Up- Non-predictable play-calling. I seriously think that this is the best coaching staff that the Bulldogs will face off against in 2010. So, with that said, MSU will have to attack Bama in various ways, not just with the Run game. Battling not just on the field, but over the headsets as well, means that Mullen and his staff, will have to have timely play-calling that attacks Bama in vulnerable moments. I look for some forms of trickery for State, but nothing excessive. Rather, different variations and extensions of Bulldog Pass and Run game. RB screens (please), option reverses, etc. On D, Diaz will have to dial up multiple looks to confuse a smart QB. (3) Win the Turnover Battle- State’s offense has not turned the ball over since the Alcorn State game (5 weeks ago), and Relf hasn’t thrown an INT since the LSU game (Week 3). Relf must play smart, throw the ball away at times, and keep the ball away from Dre Kirkpatrick and Robert Lester (8 INTs total). If I’m not mistaken, Ingram and Richardson have 3 fumbles total over their careers. So, it’s pretty clear that State is going to have to pressure McElroy in order to force Bama to turn the ball over. This game will be a Time of Possession battle, and protecting the ball keeps the clock on your side. The last few games, State’s opponents have taken the Dawgs somewhat out of their element in this facet, turning their own strength against them. If Bama holds the ball, and forces MSU into desperate possessions, then the Dawgs will be in trouble. State’s best chance, is to force Bama into the kind of game they forced UF into, earlier in the year. (4) Solid Special Teams-If Richardson plays, State must crack down on his big play abilities in the return game, and keep Bama from establishing themselves with good field position.·For MSU, Chad Bumphis, Mo Langston, and LaDarius Perkins must create· big plays in the return game. And, State’s kickers must shine when called on. On a sidenote, MSU’s D must keep Bama out of chip-shot range on FG tries, since the Tide has 2 capable kickers. (5) Frustrate the Bama Run Game- MSU and Bama, do one thing really well, and that’s wear down opposing D’s with their run game. The same way that MSU runs the read option until they bust off a long one, is the same thing Bama does with Ingram and Richardson out of their pro-set. Diaz has done an excellent job of taking away a team’s strength, and with Bama the Run will be the key. Take away the rhythm they seek on the ground, try to force them to be one dimensional, and pressure McElroy when he drops back.

My Prediction: MSU 23  Bama 20. I think it’s clear that MSU has turned the corner, and I seriously think they want more. Being bowl eligible, and surpassing last year’s win total, is not where this team·wants to stop. State will play with more heart and emotion this week, playing in Nick Bell’s memory. Not only that, but Mullen has this team ‘expecting to win’ these games now. The Bulldogs seem to be catching Bama at the perfect time, and in an unfamiliar situation for the Tide. Who are not used to bouncing back from losses. I can see State running the ball with success, and passing for the needed yards and balance. I am predicting that State picks of McElroy twice (KJ Wright & Corey Broomfield), and Derek DePasquale boots the game winning FG, early in the 4th quarter. Diaz’s D comes through with a stop to close the game.

_______SEC Weekend_______

TSUN @ UT  28-24

Vandy @ UK  41-20

UGA @ Auburn  23-21

South Car @ UF  31-17

*Latest on the Cam Newton SAGA! Link

*MSU’s Charles Mitchell will honor Nick Bell, by wearing Bell’s #36 jersey on Saturday.

Your Picks?

Well boys, believe it or not, #17 MSU and #11 Alabama are set to face off on Saturday evening. Cam Newton has somewhat dominated the headlines, but MSU players, coaches, and fans cannot allow the scandal to still the spotlight on what is a very important match up for the Dawgs. So, with that said, let’s get back on track here on the blog, with our weekly Stat Match-Up Analysis. Here’s a look at where State and Bama stack up against each other, was well as with the rest of the Nation’s teams.

Bama boast one of College Football’s best 1-2 punches in RBs Trent Richardson and Heisman winner Mark Ingram. As I mentioned earlier this week, the tandem has struggled since the South Carolina game, to put up the numbers that they are accustomed to. The production in that stretch includes performances of: 36 yds @ USC, 133 yds vs Ole Miss, 210 @ UT, and 102 yds @ LSU. For the last 2 seasons, the Tide has relied on QB Greg McElroy to manage the game, minimize mistakes, and get the ball to Ingram and Richardson. It seems now that Bama’s opponents are forcing McElroy to play more of a role in Bama’s offense, by zeroing in on the 2 backs. There are some questions about Ingram and Richardson’s health. Ingram suffered a knee injury during the summer, but returned after surgery for the Duke game (3rd game). There’s no doubt that Ingram has since suffered some wear and tear since then, andRichardson suffered a knee injury at LSU this past weekend. Richardson is currently listed as day-to-day as he recovers, but Saban noted in Wednesday’s presser that Ingram is ready if Richardson can’t go on Saturday.

Having a major part of their offense banged-up, isn’t the only concern for Bama. Many are wondering how the Tide will respond after having their SEC Title dreams, and Nat’l Championship dreams crushed by their 2nd Conference loss, in Baton Rouge. Nick Saban had this to say, “There’s a lot of improvement and a lot of things that can be done and accomplished relative to the results this team can get. Am I concerned that this team has the pride in performance to do that? I think it’s a reality check for them to see how important it is to you and what are you willing to do to make it happen.” Also, Bama has to learn how to ‘rebound’ from a loss, something they haven’t had to do in quite a while. McElroysaid this about that very issue, “I came to the conclusion that if I was sitting around moping all day, that I’d be mad at myself for letting it get me down, andif I was sitting around happy all day, I’d be mad at myself for blowing it off. It’s one of those situations that we still don’t have a lot of experience doing. Hopefully, we’ll just try to bounce back this week.” Other Bama fans are questioning the play of the OL, and are wondering if the trenches are the root of the problem. After all, “in Southeastern Conference games last year, UA averaged 188 rushing yards per game and allowed only 10 sacks in nine games (including the SEC title game). This season, withthree starters back from the 2009 line, Alabama is averaging 141 yards on the ground and has already allowed 20 sacks through only six SEC games.”- Tidesports.com

I myself, think that the magic number for State’s Defense is 150. If Diaz and the Dawg D can hold Bama at 150 yds rushing or lower, then State has a great chance to win on Saturday. That’s the only key to victory that I’ll  share today, the rest will come tomorrow. What’s your magic number for the Dawg D?

Just incase you are out of touch with “Who’s Who”amongst Alabama’s playmakers, here ya go:

• QB Greg McElroy-2,004 yds, 69%, 13 TDs, 4 INTs
• RB Mark Ingram- 641 yds, 6.0 avg, 9 TDs
• RB Trent Richardson- 634 yds, 6.9 avg, 5 TDs
• WR Julio Jones- 55 rec, 758 yds, 13.8 avg, 4 TDs
• WR Marquis Maze- 25 rec, 349 yds, 14.0 avg, 1 TD
• WR Darius Hanks- 22 rec, 339 yds, 15.4 avg, 2 TDs
• RB Trent Richardson- 19 rec, 245 yds, 12.9 avg, 4 TDs
• PKs (2) Jeremy Shelley- 8/11; Cade Foster- 6/7

Scout.com talked with MSU QB Chris Relf. The former Bama recruit is thinking along the same lines that we have been all week, which is that MSU will need to pass the ball to beat Alabama. “I think in order for us to win the game this week I’m going to have to pass more, and complete more passes.” So, what’s Relf think about this week’s practice and Saturday’s game? “I think we’ve gotten a lot better. We expect to win, we’ve worked hard in practice all week and we’re just want to go out there and win. We just have to go out and execute every play; offense, defense and special teams.”

MSU’s Dan Mullen, finally got the opportunity to answer questions about his Football team and his players, rather than about Auburn’s Cam Newton. We all have wondered how the Bulldogs mindsets have been effected by the loss of Nick Bell, but apparently State has been focused during this week’s practice and preparation “This week we’ve been able to really turn the focus back to game-planning. A lot of times you kind of peek ahead during the bye week and get some game-planning done; we weren’t really able to do that last week with everything going on. But this week our team has regained their focus and gotten back on track as far as getting back into their game-week routine coming off a bye week.”

SEC News Items

Bowl Projections from Foxsports.com. MSU vs GT in Nashville? Link

MSU’s official statement on the Newton issue. Link

Boise State…here’s how strong their conference is (WAC), they are replacing Fresno and Boise with (drum roll)…Texas State and Texas-San Antonio. Wasn’t one of those the school on the movie Unnecessary Roughness? More Homecoming teams for everyone, yay! Link

Story on UF’s New 3 QB system. Link

SEC might have 12 possible 1st Round picks. MSU’s Derek Sherrod?  Link

That’s it boys…

Just when it looked liked Cam Newton, Gene Chizik, and Auburn had diverted the attention away from themselves, and onto the likes of MSU and UF, another story broke. Congratulations Cam Newton, you are in the headlines once again. This time, ESPN reports that Cam Newton and his father Cecil Newton, admitted in separate phone conversations to MSU recruiters, that Newton would  ‘play for pay.’ The ESPN story had this to say:

[Two sources who recruit for Mississippi State said that Cecil Newton and his son, quarterback Cam Newton, admitted in separate phone conversations to a pay-for-play plan while Newton was being recruited late last year. Mississippi State compliance officials relayed the alleged conversations to Southeastern Conference compliance officials in January, according to two other sources close to the football program. Prior to Newton's commitment to Auburn, one of the recruiters said Cecil Newton told him it would take "more than a scholarship" to bring his son to Mississippi State, a request the source said the school would not meet. Cecil Newton also referred the recruiter to a third person that would provide more specifics, the source said. After Newton committed to Auburn, another source said an emotional Cam Newton phoned another recruiter to express regret that he wouldn't be going to Mississippi State, stating that his father Cecil had chosen Auburn for him because "the money was too much."]- Joe Shad

One problem that comes with kids with troubled backgrounds is…well, trouble. Auburn’s Cam Newton appears to be just that. Well, let me correct myself, Cam Newton ‘IS’ trouble. News broke last week, that Newton was allegedly ’shopped’ to schools, within the ballpark of $200,000. Kenny Rodgers, a former MSU player, apparently served as Newton’s ‘handler’ during his 2009-2010 recruitment, and was said to have offered Newton’s signature and commitment to MSU, for a discounted price. The story originated with former MSU QB John Bond, who Rodgers approached about the Bulldogs opportunity to ‘buy’ Cam’s talents. Bond informed then MSU AD Greg Byrne, who informed the SEC, who in return contacted the NCAA.

In case you missed the headlines on Monday and Tuesday of this week, an unidentified source stated that Newton transfered away from UF, after 3 separate cases of cheating. So, let’s recap the Cam Newton saga thus far…

• Strike 1- (Arrested) Newton steals a student’s laptop from a dorm room in 2008.
• Strike 2-  [He again violated the university’s honor code by putting his name on another student’s paper and turning it in, according to the source. Newton was caught after the instructor asked the real author of the paper why he had not turned in his work, the source said.According to the source, after the student said he had turned in a paper, he and the instructor went through all the submissions and discovered that Newton had put his name on the paper in question.]- FoxSports.com
• Strike 3- [Newton subsequently turned in a second paper to the instructor, but it was later found to have been purchased off the Internet, according to the source.]- FoxSports.com
• Strike 4-12 separate traffic offenses, that display the fact that Newton is or was very careless person. Behavior such as this, also comes off as an ‘above the law’ mentality.
• Strike 5- (Which is Pending) Cam Newton, his recruitment handler, and his family, received payments of some $200,000.

The sad thing is, even when a school or a person tries to do things the right way (MSU and John Bond), the wrong people can come under attack. Bond and MSU, have been tagged as ‘jealous’, while others say that State has ‘an axe to grind’ when it comes to Newton. When it comes to these recent academic rumors about Newton, many are now dragging Dan Mullen’s and Urban Meyer’s names through the mud, and saying that they might be the lead whistle blower on the issue. While the monetary allegations are a major concern for Newton, his family, and Auburn, the information that leaked about Newton’s academic records are a federal issue. Sharing such information, could result in some heavy penalties for those involved.

Here’s what I think cannot be ignored about this whole ordeal…

• The fact that Cam Newton and Auburn is NOT answering questions about all of these issues, speaks volumes. Up until now, all Newton ever says is, “I’m eligible.” All Auburn ever says is “Cam Newton is eligible.” Newton Yesterday said this about the academic issue: “I’m not going to entertain something that happened, not three months ago, or six months ago, but two years ago. I’m not going to stand up here and say whether I did or did not do it. I don’t want to beat a dead horse. It’s not going to affect me in any way, shape or form.” On the bribe issue: “There are a lot of rumors and speculation going around, and I’m not going to be up here entertaining them. I’m not here to bash anyone for what they said or what they did. I’m here to go to school and win football games for Auburn. It would be selfish for me to entertain anything that has been said about me.”
• Newton, Auburn, and Chizik are playing the media, and college football fans. Cam especially, when he says that he “wishes he could comment” on these issues “but can’t, and he’s not sure why.”  It’s a safe P.R. move for Auburn. Send Cam out there in front of the cameras, let him crack a joke, shrug everything off, smile that smile, and play the role of a compliant kid, who wishes he could state his innocence-but just can’t.
• All the scrutiny that Newton is facing now, is pretty much his own fault. Now, I do feel bad for the kid that his academic records have now become public knowledge, but whenever you have a $200,000 bribery scandal arise, people are going to dig even deeper into your past. So, even though his privacy was invaded, stealing a laptop and cheating multiple times = things within your control = your fault. We see this every November, but it’s usually related to politics.
• Even though Cam’s situation is a private matter, all it takes is one person on a college campus (let alone a Gator football fan) to find out that Newton was facing major academic punishment, and boom-word spreads like wildfire. There are more people than just Urban Meyer, Dan Mullen, and Florida’s Student Conduct Committee, that knew about his status. So, singling them out is not enough.

If last week’s news on the bribery issue wasn’t enough, then last night’s story has to have the SEC and NCAA considering Newton as ‘indefinitely suspended.’ As I said last week, there’s too much at stake, not to freeze everything and investigate the issue. First, there’s possible National Championship implications. Auburn still has UGA and Bama left on their schedule, and a tough SEC Championship game, if they finish the regular season strong. Secondly, Cam Newton is amongst the top 3 players in the country, if not top 2. I myself have him just behind Oregon’s LaMichael James, but that’s irrelevant. If the NCAA doesn’t investigate now, then it seems almost inevitable that they will be stripping Auburn of their SEC West title, and possibly their SEC and Nat’l titles, in the near future. And with any evidence, Newton will easily fail the ‘integrity’ test of the Heisman award. The bad thing is, the NCAA and SEC love to profit first, and then attack schools with penalties, after the fact. This is their chance to keep a great season of college football from being FLAWED.

I’m just glad Newton isn’t at State. Forget all the hype he would have brought to Starkville, the Heisman hype, and a possible trip to Atlanta-after all, MSU’s Defense is better. Everything that Mullen has built over his first 2 years at MSU, would be destroyed, and the NCAA would make us the most recent version of SMU. I’ll take a 7-2 start the clean way. Sometimes it pays to stay away from players who you know have issues. Trading your program’s stability and intergrity, for a chance at a successful season is never worth it. Ole Miss may be free of penalty concerning the Masoli case, but they have to admit, that right now it probably wasn’t worth going through all that trouble, and negative attention, just to bring him to Oxford.

There’s winning in making the right choices.

Your Thoughts?

Also, as yall know, the Black Bears and Vols play this weekend in Knoxville. Who does that game mean more for, a rebuilding UT program, or a struggling Ole Miss team?

Hmmm…

That’s all I got today boys!  

When #17 MSU takes on the #11 Tide on Saturday, they be across the field from a legend in the making- Nick Saban. Love him or hate, the guy can flat out coach. Yesterday, Saban went through his weekly Game Week interview, and had this to say about various issues concerning Dan Mullen’s Bulldogs…

On MSU: “Mississippi State has a very good team. Dan Mullen has done an exceptionally good job there. You all know their record, they’re 7-2, and they’ve lost to two teams in the top-10, in very close games. This is a good team. They run the ball extremely well on offense. They control the ball. Their defense has played really well this year. They’re athletic, they can rush up front and they play hard. They’ve played with a lot of conviction all year long. This is one of the best teams that we’ll play in our league this year.”

On MSU’s Improvement: “This is one of the best teams that we’ll play in our league this year. If you’re making comparisons, I guess you could say they have improved a lot, but I thought they had a pretty good team last year. Anytime you’re there for the first time in your first year players make a lot of progress in terms of what’s expected of them. I think this team has certainly made a lot of progress in a lot of areas. They have made a lot of improvement. They’ve done a great job with their players and they play with a lot of discipline. They do the things you need to do to play winning football all the time and this is a very, very good football team.”

On MSU’s Vick Ballard & Running Attack: “I had a lot of respect for (Anthony) Dixon last year in terms of being a big, strong physical back, so I was saying to myself. I’m glad that guy’s gone. The guys they have carrying it this year have really good ability, probably a little more speed and explosiveness. They are in a lot of what you would call three-back runs. They do a great job of executing a lot of gap blocking. Their backs have done a really good job and he’s been their most productive guy.”

Emotional Week for MSU, Focus: “I’m very proud of the way our team responded to that, in support of Nick Bell and his family; the compassion that our team showed for their team in terms of a tragic loss, and a young man with a bright future. I don’t know what that has to do really with the game. It’s a personal thing and I’m sure there are a lot of relationships that get affected by something like this, but when the game comes I’m sure everybody will be focusing on doing the best they can to compete. I’m hopeful that our players will do the same thing.”

Questions: “What I’ve been asking myself for two days is how are we going to stop Mississippi State from running the ball? How are we going to move the ball against them?”

_______MSU’s Dan Mullen_______

Game Week, after a Bye: “The hardest week coming into the off week is getting back into the routine after getting a little break, getting your legs underneath you, getting rid of some of the bumps and bruises to get back into the mindset of how you prepare. You kind of get into a definitive routine where you don’t even think about it, you just suck it up and go. We’ve got to make sure, (now that) we feel a little bit healthier, we’re in that routine.”

Players to Wear Bell’s #36: “I don’t know if we’re ready to announce it yet but we’ll announce it before the game.” Mullen mentioned that Bell’s number would be worn by a player, for the final 3 games of the 2010 season.

Bama’s & State’s Mindsets: “I have no idea how they feel over there right now or what they’re going through,” Mullen said. “As far as our guys, we’ve had a rough emotional week, so to say we’re on an emotional high right now, I don’t know if that’s the case for our team either. I just think, more than all that, it’s about who is going to execute in the football game

Road Dawgs: ”I don’t know if they’re used to going into it or we’re better at going into it, I just think we’ve executed a lot better. It allowed our kids to believe in themselves. We go in expecting to win football games. We went there expecting to win that game, and when you do win they kind of learn how to expect to win, how to perform on the field, and what you have to do to win those tough games in tough environments.”

Chris Relf’s Passing Game: “We threw the ball a lot last week. And it’s better. Throwing a football is a skill. Any time you have a skill, you’re going to continually improve. He concentrates on it, he’s improved some things, and he did a nice job.”

On Beating Bama: “It would be a big win for us.We have pretty high expectations of ourselves and expectations of how we want our season to be. We’ve been successful to a point so far, so that would be a natural deal for us to improve on that success and continue on our good year.”

_______Numbers to Note_______

• State is 2-1 on the road this season, and Bama is 4-0 at home.
• After making their mark as one of the most dominant rushing teams in the country, Bama hit a speed bump at South Carolina, and hasn’t recovered since: 36 yds @ USC, 133 yds vs Ole Miss, 210 yds @ UT, and 102 yds @ LSU.
• Last 2 Meetings Bama has outscored MSU 63-10.
• Bama holds a 72-18-3 edge in the series.

_______Tide & Bulldog Players Speak_______

• Bama’s Greg McElroy: “It feels like the end of the world, it really does. It’s disappointing for all of us, of course, with the aspirations we had coming into the season. That’s why I think expectations can become so far out of reach. All is not lost with this team. We just have to regulate our confidence and be able to go out there and execute consistently. That’s really what’s separated this year’s team from last year’s team, just not being as consistent as we were.”
• MSU’s Chris White: “I think they’ll probably come in madder than ever and more ready than ever.”
• MSU’s Vick Ballard: “That’s a lot of disrespect. I didn’t even know that. I don’t know how they do any of those odds. We just have to come out and prove them wrong on Saturday.”
• Bama’s Will Vlachos: “If you go look at the way they’ve played, they deserve it (rankings). They’ve earned everything they’ve got. They’ve beaten people the right way, they’ve played physical, they’ve played smart, and they’re good in every facet of the game.”

Do you think Bama really has a ‘healthy’ respect for MSU? Or is this just all coach and player talk?

BLOG QUESTION: Where do you rank Alabama amongst MSU’s rivals? How do you view Bama, as compared to Ole Miss?

The Tide is clearly hanging their heads, but believe it or not, there’s still a chance they could make it to Atlanta. Almost impossible though. Link

ESPN writes that Les Miles and LSU, are Must-See TV. Miles eating grass?  Link

SEC’s TV schedule released for Nov. 20th. LSU and Ole Miss, get the Nat’l game on CBS. Link

The South’s oldest rivalry, has UGA waiting on the #2 Auburn Tigers. Link

The Cam Newton issue is not a ‘closed’ case yet. Link

ECU’s AD apologizes to it’s fans for the Navyloss (76-35). Btw, Texas better get ready, they get Navy next. Link 

Well boys, as week 10 of College Football comes to an end, so does one of the most saddest weeks in MSU history. The Bulldogs’ bye week consisted of Nick Bell’s passing on last Tuesday, followed by a campus memorial service on Thursday, and finally a funeral service for Bell on Saturday. Between all the grieving, and paying their last respects, Dan Mullen did his best to keep the Dawgs in their usual routine and focused on football, which is a daunting task considering the circumstances. On Sunday, Mullen had this to say about moving forward: “Our team went through a really tough week. Getting more into a game routine will just help our guys push forward…Obviously it’s something that you never really put behind you when you deal with the situation we had to deal with. But what you do is you go back, you live your life and hopefully you have great memories of people you have lost. Hopefully they’ve left you with a message that you can continue to use in a positive manner for your life.” I don’t want to sound rude, but I imagine that we have all at least thought about the fact that the Bulldogs were blessed to have to endure such a week, during an idle slot in the schedule.

With that said, #17 MSU now turns their focus to #11 Alabama. The Crimson Tide fell to (now) #5 LSU, 24-21 over the weekend. But, what kind of Bama team that will show up this Saturday vs the Dawgs, is uncertain. Earlier this season, Bama lost on the road to South Carolina, but returned home the next week, to beat visiting Ole Miss23-10. In the past, Saban teams have come out focused, poised, and dominant after losses, but not this year. Not only should we be concerned about which Bama team will show up, but which MSU team as well. Will the inability to truly rest up and re-focus over the bye week hurt the Bulldogs? Or, will State come out inspired and make a statement? Mullen is well aware of the task at hand, considering MSU has only won twice in T-Town since 1955. “It’s a great team. They’re a very, very well coached team and has great talent at every position. We’re going to have to play a great football game and follow the plan exactly to win.”

State and Bama will square off Saturday, at 6:15 pm, on ESPN 2.

Your thoughts on both MSU’s & Bama’s mindsets right now?

______MSU Recruiting______

State picked up a few new commitments last week. OL Justin Malone, committed on Wednesday (Nov. 3rd). Malone is rated as a 2 Star, and stands in at 6-6, 306 lbs. On Friday (Nov. 5th), John Harris committed to MSU. Harris is a DE, 2 Star, from Boynton Beach, FL. He also had offers from South Carolina, UCF, and Boston College. MSU is now ranked 21stin Nat’l recruiting by Scout.com.

________State Hoops________

MSU topped Lindsey Wilson, in an exhibition match up, 75-66. I ‘m not doing a write up on an ugly exhibition game-if yall don’t mind. Anyway, we will have a 2010 Season Preview at some point this week. Even though, if we don’t break away from talking about Football, that’s fine with me. State officially tips off the season on Friday, vs the TSU Tigers, at 7pm. Here’s a link to the game write up. And, if you were there, let us know what you saw. Link

_______Monday’s Talking Points________

-Apparently South Carolina and Spurrier are no-shows when it counts. Arkansas had lost 8 of their last 9on the SEC road before this one, and the only thing that makes this USC team different from the past 5 years’ teams, is ‘one’ upset win over Bama, which now looks not as impressive. Will Spurrier hang it up after this year (Anderson’s question) ?

-LSU is in it to win it. I have to say that I under-estimated them this year. You?

-I’m already calling for a UGA upset win over Auburn this coming weekend. Easy to beat Chattanooga with the scandal on your mind, but what about during the South’s oldest rivalry?

-Anybody see TSUN’sstadium attendance on TV Saturday night? They announced 53, 144…Yeah right! There weren’t 53,000 people in the Grove before the game, not to mention in the stadium during it. More like 45,000 tops, and 23,000by the 3rd Qtr. IF we lose to Ole Miss this year, I will be thoroughly embarrassed…embarrassed…embarrassed. With the history of this rivalry, it’s always a possibility. There’s no reason to not call Oxford and buy up ALL the tickets now. I show respect to even our worst enemy when they are deserving, but lose to this bunch, and we’ll need paper sacks until our Bowl game. 

-Also, keep in mind, the question about MSU’s & Bama’s mindsets this week.

That’s all I got today boys, enjoy!

During MSU’s Egg Bowl victory over Ole Miss last November, Cam Newton could be found ringing a cowbell, sitting just behind the Bulldog bench. That moment, which was caught on camera, and found it’s away around MSU blogs, and to thousands of Bulldog email accounts. Dan Mullen’s prior relationship with Newton at UF, gave MSU somewhat of an edge in luring the nation’s #1 rated JUCO prospect to Starkville. But, with all of the momentum in MSU’s favor, all it took was one more weekend visit to the Plains, for Newton to solidify his decision. To add insult to injury, Cam Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, had the final say in his son’s choice, and even made comments that referred to MSU in a derogatory way. The most famous quote sounds a little something like this: “He was leaning toward Starkville. He had that relationship with Dan Mullen and there was a comfort level there. I didn’t think that was the right place for Cam. They just don’t have all the moving parts. Cam was going to have to be the star. He’d have to do everything himself. I didn’t want him to be a rented mule.” Fast forward to Week 10 of the 2010 football season, and Cam Newton has Heisman hopes, and has led Auburn to a #2BCS ranking (#1 until this past weekend). But this time, his name is not in the news for his on-field performances, but rather some off-field allegations that could cost Auburn and some other individuals, dearly. Here’s ESPN’s latest on the Newton issue…

• [During the height of star quarterback Cam Newton's recruitment out of junior college last year, a man who said he represented Newton allegedly was soliciting a six-figure payment to secure his signature on a national letter of intent, ESPN.com has learned.

  Former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond told ESPN.com a teammate of Bond's at Mississippi State in the early 1980s contacted him soon after Newton's official visit to Mississippi State during the Ole Miss game in December, and said he was representing Newton. "He said it would take some cash to get Cam," Bond said. "I called our athletic director, Greg Byrne, and he took it from there. That was pretty much it."

  Multiple sources told ESPN.com that Mississippi State called the SEC office with Bond's information shortly after he brought it to the attention of the school. Sources told ESPN.com the former teammate is Kenny Rogers, who played at Mississippi State from 1982 to '85. Rogers operates a Chicago-based company called Elite Football Preparation, which holds camps in Chicago, Alabama and Mississippi. A Lexis search for that business lists Kenneth Rogers as the contact and his title as "agent." A Birmingham News story from 2008 said Elite Football Preparation "matches high school athletes with college programs."

  Bond said the former teammate told him other schools had already offered $200,000, but since Newton really liked Mississippi State and had a relationship with head coach Dan Mullen dating to when both were at Florida, Mississippi State could get him for $180,000. "I have no agenda other than protecting Mississippi State," Bond said. "We've done what we were supposed to do from the very beginning. Mississippi State has done nothing wrong, and I've done nothing wrong. It's been handed off to the NCAA, and it's in their hands now. I don't know what happened at Auburn. I don't know why he went to Auburn. That's not my concern. My concern is Mississippi State and making sure this doesn't cause us any trouble."]

• There has been some speculation about the $200,000 that was involved in the deal-being laundered through church(s) affiliated with Cam’s father, who is a pastor, and has ties to 5 churches. The article continues…

  [Cecil Newton said the family received a letter from the NCAA "about a month ago" asking for financial statements. He said he submitted bank statements and records for the church where he is pastor, Holy Zion Center of Deliverance in Newnan, Ga., along with other records.

  The church has been in the news in Coweta County, Ga., often in the past year. According to stories in The Times-Herald newspaper, Cecil Newton's church was in danger of being demolished by order of the Newnan City Council in 2009 for failing to meet the city's building code. One story said Cecil Newton told the council last September the building would be brought to code "inside of six months." After numerous delays, extensions and compromises from the council, renovation work began last spring and The Times-Herald reported last week that the church is in compliance with Newnan City's building requirements.

  "We have been made aware of the allegation. Unfortunately, we cannot comment at this time," Auburn assistant athletic director, media relations Kirk Sampson said. "However, Cam Newton is eligible to play football at Auburn." Auburn coach Gene Chizik reiterated that during his his Tiger Talk radio show Thursday night. "Unfortunately, I can't comment on it," Chizik said. "But here's what I can and I will this say very loud and very clear: Cameron Newton is eligible at Auburn University, period. End of story."]- ESPN Chris Low

My thinking on all of this…INVESTIGATE NOW, not later.

(1) There is too much at stake. Rarely does the NCAA have the opportunity to right many wrongs, or to punish a team, school, or player before it’s too late. For the record, I don’t care about the outcome, and like John Bond I don’t have an agenda. But, this is too important not to investigate thoroughly. If the NCAA finds Newton to be free of the allegations, and finds no wrong doing on his part, or those related to him, that’s fine. But check everything. The last thing that College Football fans want, is another tarnished Heisman Trophy Winner and National Championship Team (See Reggie Bush & USC). I predicted Auburn to win the SEC West before the season started, and I think they represent the SEC very well. But, I sure don’t want dirty teams, institutions, or players, corrupting the sport of College Football, any further than it already has been. Especially not an SEC team.

(2) There is something to this story. For the NCAA to find out something about the Newton case as early as they did, and since the story is just now being made public, tells me that the NCAA has someone right where they want them. Facts have had time to be gathered, and the Newton’s financial records have been examined for over a month now. Any evidence that could have killed or silenced this story’s release, would have done so already if it existed. The fact that this is indeed a legal matter that crosses into Collegiate real-estate, and because the NCAA has already shown their hand, doesn’t speak well for Auburn.

Should Cam Newton be eligible to play for Auburn, OR should he be ruled ineligible until he is cleared?

What do you feel will be the outcome, and your thoughts in general concerning the issue?

If Auburn was forced to forfeit their 2010 wins, imagine what that does to the SEC West…

Yellow Jackets Honor Nick Bell

By the way, I don’t know how many of you guys noticed last night, but Georgia Tech had a MSU sticker on the back of their helmets. It was a circular, white sticker, with the maroon M-State symbol. Definitely a very nice gesture from an old SEC foe, to show respect for the recently deceased Nick Bell. I actually took a picture of a GT player’s helmet with my phone (picture is below).

Speaking of Bell, there was an on-campus memorial service for him last night, where some 1,500 were in attendence (Lee Hall). Bell’s body will be laid to rest at a funeral tomorrow, in the Birmingham area. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more effected by someone’s death that I never knew, as compared to that of Nick Bell’s. Once again, R.I.P. #36.  Link

______SEC Weekend______

UF @ Vandy   38-12

#6 Bama @ #10 LSU   21-13

#18 Arkansas @  #19 USC   38-34

UT  @ Memphis   42-13

Lafayette  @  TSUN   42-31

My picks are in Bold. Who ya got?

Well guys, as many of the SEC coaches, and Dan Mullen himself have suggested, routine is what the MSU team needs now. So, with that, I figured that we would do the same here on the blog.

Before the season started, there was much debate concerning whether or not Dan Mullen could turn the corner withhis second year Bulldog team. Just evaluating MSU’s schedule, had many delaying their positive forecasts for 2011 season, when MSU would not be facing the nation’s 4th toughest line up. Here we are10 weeks later, and MSU has dominated their non-conference slate, and picked up a few wins that no one in the media expected they would. State stands in at 7-2 overall, 3-2 in conference, and a #20national ranking in the BCS standings. I myself predicted the Dawgs to finish 8-4 over their regular season stretch, and with 7 wins already under their belt, MSU is in position to reach for more than just 8wins. The remainder of the season for State, includes a trip to #6 Bama, a home match up with #18 Arkansas, and struggling rival Ole Miss. Even though the Maroon Nation is experiencing some of the biggest highs in a decade, Mullen and the Bulldogs cannot allow complacency to set in, considering that not advancing on their season’s success thus far, could result in disappointment. Dan Mullen’s motto is ‘play with relentless effort’, and I have no doubt in my mind that he and his staff will coach the same way this week, and next. In doing that, Mullen has already mentioned that he andhis staff would spend this week evaluating areas that they can improve in, be Offensively, Defensively, or on Special Teams. Along those same lines, Mullen mentioned examining what was working, and what wasn’t working so far this season, in determining whether or not those items would be implemented for the remainder of 2010. I figured that today, we could discuss the Offense’s production, and some areas of improvement.

Here is where MSU ranks in Offensive categories, both nationally and in the SEC:

Offensive Improvements

There’s no secret that the strength of this MSU team, is running the football. Even though, I think we can all agree that fact slips Les Keonning’s mind sometimes.If there is anything besides the fundamentals and execution that play into an Offense’s success-not just in a game, but on individual series, it has to be the element of rhythm. In my opinion, the only thing that has kept MSU from being 8-1, and dominant on Offense, has been the lack of rhythm at times. Now, by dominant, I’m not talking Oregon or Auburn type numbers, but game-controlling, clock eating, wear ya’ down, Offense, that comes away with points. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to earn style points, but it does have to move the chains. There is nothing more demoralizing than running the play clock down, and running for 6 or 7 yards, followed by a no-huddle quick snap, and dose of the same damage on the ground. But, it’s those terribly timed pass attempts that kill that rhythm. So, the main improvements I want to see with the Offense, are in the areas of the passing game and play-calling. As I’ve mentioned in the recent weeks, Keonning has done an excellent job of killing drives before they’ve even started. As a run-first, run-strong Offense, the last thing we need to do is throw on 1st downs. That killed us at LSU, and almost cost us vs UAB andUK. I understand the comfort in throwing on 1st, because it gives you 2 downs to make up for the yardage if you don’t earn yards. But, when your starting QB fails to complete 60% of his passes, then down-by-down play-calling has to be smarter. Here’s my keys to improving the Offense:

• Lower the amount of throws on 1st Downs.
• Implement shorter pass plays that are extensions of the running game (shuffle passes, RB/WR screens, TE drags).
• Never have QBs Tyler Russell or Chris Relf throw out of empty, shotgun sets. For QBs who are learning and growing in the system, nothing is more beneficial than an emergency receiver, or blocker. Not only that, but having RBs in the back field before the snap, gives the opposing Defense the appearance of run, and removes some predictability.
• On short yardage situations (3 yds or shorter), (A) stay away from plays that require time to develop, such as counters and read plays. Defenses know we are running, and allowing them more time to penetrate and eat up blockers, only hurts us. No hesitation.(B) (Wild Packages) I’d stay away from having a different player at signal caller on 3rd and short situations. Different players have different voices, and rhythms of cadence. Either go silent on the snap, or don’t go at all. Why get fancy and cost yourself 5 yards on a false start, when Relf can get the yards for you. I’m for the Rabid Dawg, but snap counts do not need to implemented on those type plays.
• Get Relf more comfortable throwing on the run. He had two poor throws on the run vs UK, but he’s too big of a threat for the coaches not to roll him out. Also, since Relf has shown that he lacks that internal clock, that a QB must have in the pocket, it should cut down on sacks, pressures, and the mistakes that accompany.
• Continue to keep Bumphis involved. Even if he’s not catching the ball, let the kid run it, and possibly throw it.
• Get RB LaDarius Perkins the ball in open space. Shuffle passes WR/RB screens. We’ve seen the kid’s explosiveness, but he hasn’t been allowed to be the game changer that he could be.
• Use TE Brandon Henderson and WR Chris Smithmore. Many teams are targeting their coverage on Heavens, Bumphis, and Clark, but we have to get Henderson more involved down the stretch, andSmith has to be given some chances to develop.

Rushing Leaders

• RB Vick Ballard- 619 yds, 6.7 avg, 12 TDs
• QB Chris Relf- 507 yds, 4.1 avg, 3 TDs
• RB LaDarius Perkins- 377 yds, 5.5 avg, 3 TDs
• RB Robert Elliot- 173 yds, 3.7 yds
• WR Chad Bumphis- 126 yds, 7.4 yds
• WR Michael Carr- 3 for 39 yds, 13 avg

Receiving Leaders

• WR Chad Bumphis- 502 yds, 14.3 avg,4 TDs
• WR Brandon Heavens- 264 yds, 17.6 avg, 2 TDs
• WR Arceto Clark- 222 yds, 13.9, 2 TDs
• WR Chris Smith- 9 for 87 yds, 9.7 avg
• TE Brandon Henderson- 7 for 55 yds, 7.9 avg

Passing Leaders

• QB Chris Relf- 926 yds, 7.12 avg, 53%, 7 TDs, 3 INTs
• QB Tyler Russell- 555 yds, 9.25 avg, 58%, 4 TDs, 5 INTs

What are some areas that you would like to see us improve on-on Offense?

Agree or Disagree with my assessment?

Mullen’s Wednesday Quotes on the Loss of Nick Bell

“Right now we’re trying to keep our team focused and in a routine for them, that their lives can stay as normal as possible…We’ll just try to keep the team together as much as possible. So they have their coaches and their football family to help deal with it…There is no right or wrong way to feel. That routine of doing things allows you to not just sit and get lost in the emotions. It allows you to go out and do things you normally do and hopefully feel like a normal person as you try to deal with this grief…When you’re in this, you know what a ‘football family’ is and how much goes into it. And how much these players dedicate themselves to the family. It’s been a great outpouring of support from our fans, and from other coaches around the nation. Because they know how hard it can be…They knew he was sick, to see this as something that’s not a sudden accident, that they knew was there, it puts a lot of things in perspective for our players. We try to build them up to be so big, so fast, so strong, so tough, they can do everything. This ‘warrior’ we create or whatever it is. To see how precious life is, and how fast thing can change, that is something our players are dealing with. How precious life is, every day is right now, and to take advantage of every gift and day God gives them on the earth.”

______MSU & SEC News______

There will be a memorial service for Nick Bell, tomorrow at Lee Hall, at 6:30pm.

Story on MSU’s Derek Sherrod, and his NFL future. Link

Former MSU Hoopster Phil Turner suspended at Delta State. Link

Chris Low talks toughest and weakest schedules left. Link

Bama and LSU match up. Link

Did yall hear about UGA’s Def. Coordinator Todd Grantham’s ‘choke’ signal? Idiot. Link& Picture

Nick Bell’s case, was possibly one of the most sudden that I can remember. Less than 2 weeks ago, Bell was present on the MSU sideline, and seemed to be in good spirits. Little did Nick and the MSU family alike, know what would transpire over the past 2 days. Bell, underwent brain surgery on Oct. 1st, to remove a mass that had developed from a lesion which was removed on his head, just 2 years prior. Fast forward to early Monday morning, and Nick was undergoing emergency surgery. The cancer had spread into his body, and Bell’s situation had greatly worsened over the last 3 days. After Monday’s surgery, Bell fell into a coma, and was placed on life support. Bell was in uniform just 5 weeks ago, but died Tuesday at 2:20 pm. He was 20 years old.

In remembrance of Nick, I figured that I would compile all the quotes that people shared concerning Bell, and the young man that he was.

Dan Mullen: This is a tragedy for Nick’s family, our football program, our community and everyone who had the privilege to meet and be around Nick Bell. Nick was a son and a brother to our football family and I know he will continue to look over us from heaven. Nick lived his life like a champion and will always be remembered in our hearts that way. During this impossible time, we pray for Nick’s family and all those he has touched…He was an amazing kid. Coach (Matt) Balis and I were talking, he never came in having a bad day. He never came in upset, never came in with anything but a smile on his face, to go to work and to play. You see his smile and his ability to light up a room and his personality, just a great person to be around at all times. He was always someone who was going to lift his teammate’s spirits. And he loved to play the game. It’s hard to find somebody that has such a positive outlook in everything they’re doing, and he had that. He had that positive outlook of every day whether it was working out, running springs, talking about going to school, going to class, getting his degree. Things that he wanted to achieve in life. He always had a very positive outlook on all the great things he wanted to do. And I’ll say this, he accomplished a lot of that. For a 20-yard old to accomplish all the things he did in life, and impact as many people’s lives as he had, that’s pretty remarkable.”

MSU A.D. Scott Stricklin: Words can’t express our sadness. Nick was a model student-athlete – special in the classroom, on the field and to those whose lives he touched. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his teammates and his coaches. He will be missed by the entire Mississippi State community and our athletic department family.”

MSU School President: “Nick was an outstanding young man, who proudly represented our university with character and enthusiasm in everything he did. He was an exemplary student-athlete, always giving the maximum effort on the football field and in the classroom. Nick left us too soon, and we mourn his passing, but we also celebrate the impact he made and fondly recount the many lives he touched in our Bulldog family.”

Megan Mullen (Dan’s Wife): “There are few people in the world who have the unique ability to light up a room. Nick was one of those extraordinary individuals. Every single one of us in the Bulldogs football family is a better person for having Nick in our lives.”

Mike Slive- SEC Commissioner: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Mississippi State’s Nick Bell today. We join the entire MSU family in mourning the loss such of a tremendous young man.”

Mullen after Tuesday’s practice:  “Obviously this is a difficult time for our football family. Our football is hurting right now and I’ve got a lot of 18 to 22 year-olds right now learning how to deal with grief like this for the first time. Nick was a son and brother to everything in this football family. We went out today at practice in our sanctuary doing the thing we love the most, that Nick loved doing the most. It kinda felt good to sweat out the feelings and emotions inside. It was very therapeutic for our guys. We told them there’s not a right or wrong way to act or feel. I know for them doing what they love for two hours was therapeutic for a lot of guys.”

Video of Mullen’s address. Link

About 50 members of the MSU family visited with Nick at the UAB Medical Center, as well as Alabama DE Marcell Dareus, and Auburn LB LaDarius Owens.

Matthew Stevens of the Starkville Daily summed up Nick Bell’s career quite well: [Bell started two of the four games he played in this season, compiling seven tackles and two for a loss. In his MSU career, Bell has 22 tackles and four and a half stops for a loss. The 6-foot-3, 265-pound defensive end played in all 12 games last year as a red-shirt freshman earning a pair of starts and recording 15 total tackles in his first season with the maroon and white. Bell was recruited to State out of Jess Lanier High in Bessemer, Ala., by the staff of former MSU head coach Sylvester Croom. Bell began his high school career at Adamsville (Ala.) Minor High School and committed to State on November 2007.]

Help for the Bell family: Mississippi State athletic department will establish a memorial fund for the Bell family through the Bulldog Club. More details will be available online at www.mstateathletics.com and donations can be made by calling 662-325-3074. -CL

Today we pay respect to Nick…tomorrow we’ll talk about his and our #20 MSU Bulldogs.

R.I.P. Nick Bell, you will be greatly missed.

Well guys, as our MSU Bulldogsrest up, and prepare to get back to work during their bye week, there are a number of things that have to be going through the coaches’ and players’ minds. There’s no doubt that a strong 7-2 start has Starkville running over with confidence, but a Nov. 13th date in Tuscaloosa with the #6 Crimson Tide, is an rude reminder that the 2010 season is far from over. With that said, Dan Mullen said something during his talk with Jack Cristil on his coach’s show, that got me thinking. To paraphrase the 2nd year MSU coach, Mullen mentioned that he and his staff would spend this week evaluating areas that they can improve in, be it Offensively, Defensively, or on Special Teams. Along those same lines, Mullen mentioned examining what was working, and what wasn’t working so far this season, and determining whether or not those items would be implemented for the remainder of 2010.

So considering what Mullen had to say, what are some things that you feel are important to address, improve on, scrap, or clean up, during this bye week? I’ll share my mine tomorrow, but here’s some starting points for you guys…

• Improvement on Defense? On Offense? Special Teams?
• Improved passing attack?
• More playing time for QB Tyler Russell?
• Different personnel utilization?

Please share your thoughts, opinions, and some details describing ‘why’ you feel that way.

* Yesterday, I mentioned that I added a new addition to the site. It’s the SEC Digital Zone, which can be found on the right hand section of the site’s design. It is a blue colored, box display, that houses all kinds of highlights for SEC Sports. You can even customize your search by team, and individual plays in games. This is a useful tool, that provides about 2 to 3 minutes of replay material and video for all SEC games. And it shows you what you want to see, without ever taking you off of my site. You can even watch interviews, from our Bulldog coaches. Try it out and let me know what yall think?————>

_______MSU Items_______

Keep DE Nick Bell in your thoughts and prayers. It turns out that his cancer has spread, and has ‘turned for the worse.’ We all know God is able. Link

The Starkville Daily’s Matthew Stevens, had a good write up about what we might expect moving forward. Bowls, Bama, etc. Link

Here’s some Basketball scrimmage notes from Stevens as well. Bost, Lewis, and Bryant shine. Link

Renardo Sidney, learning the ropes. Link

Clarion Ledger article on Mullen’s desires for MSU Offense. Link

TV line-up for Nov. 13. State and Bama. Link

 “7″, that’s right, “7″ WINS. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty. But, for the 3rd straight week, MSU has found a way to win in the closing minutes of a ball game. On Friday, I referenced our legendary announcer Jack Cristil’s quote about this match-up, as always being a Cat n’ Dawg fight…and it was just that. MSU mustered up just enough Offense and Defense, to continue on their best start to a season, since 1999 (8-0). After winning their 6th in a row, and 7th game on the season, MSU now heads into a bye week-for some much needed R & R, before heading into Tuscaloosa next week. Not only do the Bulldogs need a week off to rest up from all the weeks of tension and on-field drama, but I feel the fans do as well. With that said, here’s my thoughts on the game…

(1) Defense- What a performance by Manny Diaz’s Defense. There were times when we were all scratching our heads, be it a coverage call here, or a wide open UK receiver there, but it worked. UK had their chances in the 4th Quarter, with possessions at the 14:53, 10:21, 7:05, and 5:08 minute marks. State was dominant on 3 of the 4 UK possessions, but it was the Cats’ final drive that tested the Dawg D. UK would move the ball from their own 10 yard line, to the the MSU 20. For 17 plays and 4 and a half minutes, the Wildcats methodically marched toward pay dirt, and 54,000 + held their breath. With their backs against the ball, the Bulldog D made sure that UK didn’t make it past the 20 yard line. Cats’ QB Mike Hartline, was forced into 3 straight incompletions, and a game sealing interception (Johnthan Banks) with 31 seconds left. I think we could all complain about the D’s inability to contain Randall Cobb, who put up 182 total yards, and the fact that we failed to find our way to Hartline at times, but we can’t ignore all of the positives:

• State has yet to allow a 100 yd rusher.
• State forced 4 turnovers: 3 INTs & 1 Fumble
• 3 of those 4 Turnovers were forced inside the MSU 25 yd line.
• State was held below in their average Offensive production in: Rushing (-10), Passing (-22), and Points (-17).
• State gave up only 17 points, which is their yearly average. 
• State also had 4sacks, 7 QB Hurries, and 9 Tackles for Loss
• State only surrendered 347 yds on 85 plays.

LB Chris White continues to make a name for himself, leading the team with 15 tackles, and an INT. Charles Mitchell totaled 8 tackles, and fellow DB Corey Broomfield had 7 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 2QB hurries, and a Tackle for loss. LBs KJ Wright and Cam Lawrence, played solid with 6 take downs apiece. On the DL, Josh Boyd was an absolute ‘Man’, with 5 tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks, for -13 yards. Sacks were registered by: Wade Bonner, Josh Boyd, Shane McCardell, and Fletcher Cox. I can’t say enough about how risky Diaz’s philosophy is, but it works. And Manny Diaz said it himself:  “That’s how we win. We win grind-it-out affairs. That’s a situation that we feel very comfortable in. We’re in the same boat at Florida, and the whole mindset on that drive is, nothing matters until they cross that goal line. And we’re mixing up pressure and coming from different places, and we figure at some point during that drive, we’re going to get you.” A great night, considering the Defense was on the field for almost 36 minutes. They made the kinds of plays that you have to make-in that type of game. I’m just glad we ran our Defense.

(2) Les Keonning…What are you thinking (Part 3)? First Downs, Etc. : (1) If you asked anyone who watches SEC football, what MSU’s strength is on Offense, they would have to say running the football. 54,000+ in Davis Wade know it, millions at home know it, but why doesn’t Les Koenning? If we are going to win any of our remaining games, we have to run the football on 1st Down. If the strength of your team is not throwing the football, then why do you pass on 1st down? His terribleplay calls, continually put State in bad yardage situations the entire night. I guarantee you, that if we were to go back as far as the Alcorn game, that 90% of our 3 and Outs, or drives that we failed to earn more than 2 First Downs on, were halted by pass play-calls on 1st Downs. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing a second time, and expecting a different result. Now, with that said, I know there are times you have to mix it up, such as the pass to Bumphis for 35 yds vs the Cats, but we can all admit that-that type of success is a rare occurrence for our QBs. Stick to our strength, run the football, get some type of yardage on 1st Downs, and eat up some clock. State had the ball for only 24minutes in the UK game, and the play-calling not only had a lot to do with the time of possession battle, but the scoreboard as well. (2) Secondly, I think we might be the worst team in the country, after a momentum grabbing play. On the 3Turnovers we forced vs UK, State went 3 and Out on every possession. That’s a big time ’thanks, but no thanks’ to the D, who just did their job. If Koenning calls plays that fit the Offense’s strengths, then UK doesn’t even have a shot after the first quarter, and we could go into how many other times he has done the same thing this year (Hello, Auburn). Run the ball Les. (3) In short yardage situations, why are we running plays that take time to develop? It’s those very situations when the DL is going to get some push up front, and fight for penetration…it’s a given. There should be NO fake hand-offs, NO read options, NO draws, NO counters, and NO hesitation (unless you’re in 4 down territory, and have an extra play to follow). Direct snap to Relf, push behind that big OL, and fall forward. Worked vs UGA and vs UF, why would that not work vs UK? Common sense goes a long way. And finally, why run LaDarius Perkins in those same situations when you need inches or a few yards? He is not a 3rd down back, and he needs space, not congestion. Vick Ballardis the tough yards guy, but like I said, just snap it to your 240 lbs QB, and fall forward. Long story short, we were on our way to torching UK, but took our foot off the pedal. Something tells me we can do better than Keonning? I’m not calling for heads to roll, after all, he has a hand in our success this season as well.

(3) Game Ball, Special Teams: PK Derrick DePasquale hit from 33 yds out, and improved to 6-7on the year, and 6-6 during the last 2 weeks. P Heath Hutchins punted for a 43 yd average, with a long of 63, placing 5of those inside UK’s 20 yd line (2 inside the 10, late). The kickoff coverage team held Randall Cobb to a 22yd avg, and -1yd on 2 punt returns. In the return game, MSU’s Chad Bumphis had 1 KR for 32 yds, and also returned 4 punts for 44 yds (11 yd avg). I think the only time that I have ever criticized FB Patrick Hanharan, was when he released his block too early on Bumphis’ miraculous run from the goal line. If the FB holds his block, Bumphis turns a flat-out mistake, into a 99 yard punt return for a TD. Anyway, great night for the unit.

(4) QB’s: First off, Chris Relf was really close to having a good night passingthe football. I know he missed a deep shot early on, 2 other easy throws on the run (Heavens), and one other time he had Bumphis as a decoy, sitting wide open on the sideline. I wouldn’t pin what appeared to have been an overthrown ball to Henderson on him (on the goal line). The TE just didn’t run his route fully, and seemed to open his stance up to early for the catch. We scored on that drive anyway. Relf did finish 7-17, for 111 yds, with a beautiful TD strike to WR Arceto Clark. Relf also finished with 16 rushes, for 79 yards, and another TD on the ground. Tyler Russell, saw the field for one possession (0-2), and missed a perfect opportunity to hit a wide open Chad Bumphis, when he threw to a deeper man, and his pass fell short. Sometimes I wonder if Tyler is played so little, that he tries to over-compensate when he gets on the field. That was a perfect situation, where you hit your #1 WR in the open for 30 yds, rather than throwing 50 yards down field on a well-guarded man. The maturity will come though. Arkansas, Ole Miss, and even Bama, have secondary problems at times, and we could see him in those games. 

(5) 200 yds Rushing=Wins: State continued to tap into it’s identity, by running for over 200 yards yet again. As for the men who made it happen- Vick Ballard- 103 yds and Relf- 79 yds. MSU is 6-0 when rushing for 200+ yards this season. And yes, those 6 came during this stretch of 6 straight wins for the Bulldogs. State’s only win without 200+ yards rushing? Memphis, when the Dawg Offense ran for 197 yds. I’m really liking the way that WR Michael Carr runs with the ball in his hands, and the kid is gonna be a good one. Relf missed some reads that could have broken the game open in the 2nd half. But, a win is a win.

(6) Officiating was RIDICULOUS: I hate to complain about officials, and I abide by a strong motto that if you have something taken from you, you simply take it back. Was it just me, or was just about every critical and pivotal UK possession extended by a penalty on State? I know we only had 4 penalties on the night for 50 yards, but the timing of those calls were crucial. The pass interference calls were especially B-A-D. They robbed us of one of our INTs, in which the defender positioned himself to get a hand on the ball before the receiver, and did. Heck, they even threw out the yellow laundry on MSU WR Chris Smith on a jump ball. Bad calls all around, and I expect more from Steve Shaw and his officiating crew. Either way, we won, but rarely does MSU beat the other team and the officials in the same night. To quote a guy beside me at the game, “when you do those 2 things, that tells you the direction we might be headed in.”  I’m glad this team keeps its’ composure, and finds ways to overcome adversity…where ever that adversity may come from.

(7) I…Brett Holloway…Rang Responsibly ; Proud of the Stadium Noise: It went against every bone in my body, but I did not not ring when I was not supposed to. And now, I’ve become the designated Yell Leader in my section, with the help of Chris (Morecowbellplease). The 2nd quarter crowd noise was pitiful, and Davis Wade was falling into a lull of becoming about as loud and intimidating as grandparents at a tee ball game (not very loud, Btw). But, when it counted in the 4th quarter, I’d have to say that was the loudest I’ve heard our stadium, when only using our voices. Many on the site have mentioned how dependent we have become on the bells to make the noise for us, and it showed on Saturday night. Our first critical 3rd down on Defense-in the 4th quarter, caused me to just yell at every one in front of me in my section, and told them they “sounded like a high school stadium.”  But, after that point they got into it, and the stadium as a whole made it difficult on UK. We ‘almost’ got as loud as VT their for a second, and I was proud. Get the people around you to yell. If you are not close to losing your voice on Saturday nights, you are not doing your job. I’m a firm believer that our voices are louder than the cowbells will ever be. I’ve been on the field at LSU, Auburn, Bama, and Arkansas, and that blanket of natural sound, coming from nothing but people, is a lot more intimidating. Let’s keep it up. Buzzard, is the only one excluded from almost losing his voice, because he has to be able to spread the gospel on Sundays. The rest of us, no excuse. 

______SEC News______   

Auburn’s still #1, spoils the Bears’ UPSET party…Ole Miss got dressed up all pretty, and then gave up 572 yds. Link

Arkansas torches Vandy. Link

Carolina continues to play to the level of their opponent, but beats UT. Link

UF beats UGA in OT. Link

Your thoughts on the WIN?

On being 7-2?

And the crowd noise without the cowbells?

*Btw, I predicted INTs by Chris White and Nickoe Whitley, and it happened on 2 straight plays, not bad. And, another prediction that’s becoming even more true, week-by-week, that this would be a HUGE year for the State and Ole Miss rivalry, and the direction of the 2 schools…looks like it to me.

Well boys, Prediction Friday is here. Game Week 9, welcomes the UK Wildcats(4-4, 1-4) to Starkville, for a date with the #21 MSU Bulldogs (6-2, 2-2). UK looks to bounce back from a 44-31 loss to UGA, while State looks to prove they belong in the Top 25, after struggling with UAB. State improved to 4-1 at home with that win over the Blazers, which may be trouble for the Cats, who are 1-2 on the road this season. Saturday’s match up will showcase the SEC’s #4 Offense (UK’s), against the SEC’s #5 Defense (MSU’s). This one should be exciting. Before we dive into what the experts are saying, and our predictions, let’s first take a look at the series’ history.

• First Meeting: 1915, MSU 12-0
• Last Meeting: 2009, MSU 31-24
• UK leads the series 21-16
• UK is only 7-11 in games @ MSU
• MSU is 2-1 in the last 3matches with UK
• Average Score:  UK  21.61  MSU  21.08

What are the experts saying? For that, we will turn to College Gameday Stats. If you would like to receive information concerning their weekly publication, email them at info@collegegamedaystats.com. As always, CGS always breaks down the advantages that exist on both sides of the ball, for both teams.

• MSU Scoring  vs  UK Opponent’s Scoring:  Advantage MSU
• MSU Pass Off  vs  UK Pass Def:  Advantage UK
• MSU Rush Off  vs  UK Rush Def:  Advantage MSU
• UK Scoring  vs  MSU Opponent’s Scoring:  None
• UK Pass Off  vs  MSU Pass Def:  Advantage UK 
• UK Rush Off  vs  MSU Rush Def:  Advantage MSU
• MSU is a 6.5 point favorite 

My Thoughts & Keys to Victory:Even with RB Derrick Locke out earlier this season, UK knocked off Carolina. Locke’s role will be handed over to 2 young RBs Donald Russell and Raymond Sanders. To fill the void, I believe that Joker Phillips will dial up more Wildcat packages than usual, and rely on WR Randall Cobb’s running abilities. Not only will Cobb run out of the Wildcat package, but I expect him to at least attempt 2 or 3 passes down field. Cobb usually attracts plenty of attention, and any cheating up by Bulldog DBs, could result in beneficial deep shots for UK. WRs Chris Matthews’ and Cobb’s physicality and size, will challenge MSU’s DBs, and La’Rod King cannot be forgotten as well. In order for MSU to stop UK defensively, they must do what has benefited them all year: (1) Stop the run and (2) pressure the QB. The Bulldogs have not allowed a 100 yd rusher this season, and that’s something that can’t go unnoticed. LSU’s Michael Ridley, Auburn’s Cam Newton, and UH’s Bryce Beall, are just a few that have failed the mark vs MSU. UK has only given up 9 sacks, which isn’t that bad of a stat. Stopping what UK wants to accomplish in the run game, will eliminate their balanced attack, and cause them to be somewhat one-dimensional. The most important aspect of the Wildcats’ attack that MSU needs to focus on, is the underneath game. Stop the dump passes to the RBs out of the back field, and the screen game. Manny Diaz’s defense almost always takes away the homerun ball, so covering the short field, and disrupting the blocking on those types passes are key. The main thing that MSU can use to their advantage in stopping the UK Offense, is their own Offense. MSU ranks 2nd in the SEC in Rushing Offense (15th in the nation), while UK is next to last in stopping the rush. MSU should control the line of scrimmage with ease, due to the fact that UK is undersized on the DL. Running the ball effectively, should move the chains, wear down the Wildcats, eat the clock, and take away possessions from UK. Considering that UK’s problem has been somewhat assignment based, MSU might benefit from running some counter plays, shuffle passes, and the usual read option. State will still be going up against an SEC DL, but not the ‘prototype’ Line that most SEC teams can boast about. With Tobias Smith and JC Brignone back to full-speed on the OL, State should have a lot more success in opposing their will on the Cats, since the Dawgs can get back to their usual rotation. State almost always dominates the Time of Possession, and Saturday shouldn’t be any different. Hopefully, Keonning can use the run game to draw in the Cats’ secondary for a big pass play or two. Also, Keonning and Mullen have to call smart plays and packages, in pivotal situations, and I sure hope we don’t resort to trick plays in the redzone. I wouldn’t mind a reverse, once the option is set up, but no more RB passes, or throw backs. Last but not least, our kickers have to be solid. No kicks out of bounds, no shanked punts, and we have to make our FG tries. State needs hang time, distance, and excellent coverage. I’m a fan of pooch kicks and directional punts, especially with Randall Cobb returning all the kicks.

My Prediction:  MSU  31  UK  16. After enjoying some national attention in the rankings, and earning a bowl bid with last week’s win, MSU shows that they are focused, and ready to take on the rest of their 2010 schedule. MSU will run the ball with ease, to the tune of 230 yards. QB Chris Relf will be back in true form, after playing in a ’protected’ role last week. Vick Ballard’s return will be hard to ignore, as Ballard rushes for 100 + yards. LaDarius Perkins, who ran for 131 yards last week, will run with a new found confidence. And, WR Chad Bumphis will have success running out of the Rabid Dawg. MSU will sack UK’s Hartline twice, but 5 other QB knock downs will force the UK QB into 2 INTs. I look for Nickoe Whitley to pick off a deep pass, and Chris White to come away with one over the middle. Cobb will have 120 total yards. And UK will be held to 330 yards.

Your Thoughts?  Your Prediction?  Black uniforms?

MSU’s Derek Sherrod, was named as one of 16 college football players, to the National Football Foundation’s Scholar-Athlete Class of 2010.  Link 

_______SEC_______

Auburn @  TSUN   38-34

UF  vs  UGA  20-16

UT  @  USC  34-10

Vandy  @  Arkansas  42-9

Something to think about: Chris Rainey returns to action for UF and Urban Meyer this week, but I have to ask…what’s more serious- a stolen laptop, or a death threat? Imagine where the Gators would be right now, if Meyer hadn’t reacted the way he did in Cam Newton’s case. Death threats aimed not just at a person, but a female, is a serious matter. If I was Cam Newton, I’d want nothing more than to face UF and Meyer in the SEC Championship. That scenario could take a step in the direction of becoming a reality, with a UF win on Saturday. Anyway, something to think about. 

Arkansas’ DL arrested for drug possession. Link 

Heisman Watch…sorry, Cam Watch. Link

Aaron Murray better than Jeff Brantley? Link

Chris Low’s What to Watch For in Week 9. Link

Anyway boys! Bring em’ and Ring the heck out of em’! And please, please…YELL!

Go Dawgs!!!

One thing Jack Cristil always says about this week’s match up, is that it’s going to be a “Cat & Dawg fight!” That statement is probably the best way to describe the battle between the MSU Bulldogs, and their annual East rival, theUK Wildcats. #21 MSU (6-2) is riding a 5 game winning streak, while UK (4-4) enters the contest as losers of 4 of their last 5. Both teams have different resumes, and both teams are definitely experiencing different emotions here in Week 9. As I mentioned earlier this week, the winner of this game will shed some light on where their teamis headed for the rest of the season. MSU benefits from a bye week in Week 10, and then prepares for what’s usually a brutal stretch vs Bama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss. And, the Wildcats began a very favorable end to their 2010 schedule, which features Charleston Southern, Vandy, and UT. Let’s take a look at how MSU and UK stack up against each other, and the rest of the nation.

I’ve heard of balanced offenses before, but a balanced defense? UK gives up 176 ypg passing and 176 ypg rushing. With that being said, giving up almost 200 rushing yards a game is not necessarily something Joker Phillips would like to brag about. On that same note, I thought we’d chat a little bit about UK’s Rush D, which plays right into the hands of MSU’s 15th ranked rushing attack (2nd in SEC). The Wildcats are 11th in the SEC in Rushing Defense, and have allowed a league high 22 rushing TDs. The Cats have also allowed5 opposing rushers to eclipse the 100 yd mark. Ole Miss’ Brandon Bolden, UF’s Trey Burton’s 5 TD performance, Auburn’s 400 yd rampage, and UGA’s Washuan Ealy’s career day, are just some of the nightmares Kentucky would like to forget. For the first time this season, MSU’s Offense has to be excited about what they are seeing on film from an opponent. MSU’s veteran OL, should be able to take advantage of UK’s undersized DL, but until the emotion and passion of an SEC game is played out, we won’t know. What we do know though, is that MSU has the tools reek havoc on the Wildcat D. Speaking of those tools, here’s a list of MSU’s top runners heading into Week 9.

If that’s not enough, UK will also have to keep an eye on WRs Brandon Heavens and Michael Carr, who have gotten quality yardage on some touches out of the backfield. One reason why I think UK’s Pass D is ranked 17th nationally, is due to how comfortableopposing teams are in rushing the ball against the Cats. Why should teams pass, when you can protect the football and run, which keeps the ball away from UK’s Offense. Their Pass Efficiency Defense, isn’t any better than our Defense’s, which tells me that if our running game is effective, thentheir will be some holes intheir coverage.

Your Thoughts?

_______MSU & UK Injuries Part III_______

-MSU: RB Vick Ballard, and C JC Brignone are back up to full-speed, and will start vs UK.

-UK: RB Derrick Lockedid not practice on Wednesday. WRs Chris Matthews, La’Rod King,and Randall Cobb did practice on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure Phillips was just trying rest his star WRs, but in Locke’s case, he continues to suffer from stingers.

-MSU’s DB Dennis Thameswill return to action, after serving a one-game suspension during the UAB game week. I wonder if it was because he was dancing like an idiot after the win over UF, rather than respecting the fight song and Alma Mater? Just a thought…

_______Welcome Aboard Rodney Hood_______

MSU and Rick Stansbury, picked up one heck of a commitment yesterday, in Rodney Hood. The Meridian native is rated as a 4 Star by some, and a 5 Star by others. Also, Hood is rated asthe #13 SF in the country, and the #21 ranked playeroverall. Great addition to the Basketball team!Here’s a link to a video that shows Hood making his decision. You can hear Buzzard’s cowbell ringing away. Link

_______SEC Items_______

-When’s the last time the Cocktail Party featured 2 not so sexy UF and UGA teams? Still, the game couldhave ahand in the East title.Link

-SEC, school-by-school graduation rates. UT is dead last. Link

-How’s Auburn handling their #1 status? Link

-Ole Miss tries to avoid big plays vs Auburn. Link

-Chris Low’s list of Best in the SEC so far…LB Chris White & Dan Mullen make the list. Link

That’s it boys, Predictions tomorrow!

Hump day is here, which means we are half way to the weekend, and a match up with the UK Wildcats.

As far as Kentucky goes, I figured that today would be an excellent opportunity to get to know their playmakers, if you don’t already. Here’s my list of Big Blue’s standouts…

• QB Mike Hartline- 2,144 yds, 17 TDs, 4 INTS, 67% Passer
• WR Randall Cobb- 47 receptions, 511 yds, 5 TDs, 10.9 yd avg; Rushing- 32 rushes, 195 yds, 3 TDs, 6.1 avg; Passing- 4 of 6, 51 yds, 3 TDs
• RB Derrick Locke-574 yds, 7 TDs, 5.3 yd avg; Receiving- 24 receptions, 225 yds, 9 yd avg
• WR Chris Matthews-37 receptions, 565 yds, 7 TDs, 15 yd avg
• WR La’Rod King-27 receptions, 337 yds, 5 TDs, 15 yd avg
• PK Craig McIntosh- 8/10, 80%, Long of 50
• LB Danny Trevathan- 81 Tackles, 9 TFL
• FS Winston Guy- 54 Tackles, 2 INTs

Just to give you an idea where these guys are at amongst other SEC players: Locke is 2nd to only Cam Newton in rushing yards per game; Hartline is 3rd in Total Offense; Cobb is 2nd in receptions per game, Matthews is 5th, and Cobb is 9th; McIntosh is 4th in FGs; Derrick Locke is 5th nationally among All Purpose Runners, and 2nd in Conference; In that same column, Cobb is 8th nationally, and 3rd in Conference. Trevathan is 1st among SEC tacklers.

___UK___

Yesterday, I mentioned that Joker Phillips has a lot of guys beat up, but that are still hoping to play on Saturday. Many of those guys, including Cobb, Locke, and Matthews, took fewer reps than their teammates on Tuesday.

Joker Phillips on MSU: “When you watch those guys play against Florida they re-established the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. It will be physical. We did not win the physical battle (against Georgia), so that’s a huge goal in this game. (State) re-established the line of scrimmage and ran the ball for four, five or six yards a carry and then the third-and-six’s they had they ran the ball and if they didn’t get it they punted and played great defense. I expect them to try and run that ball, that’s what they do.”

With all of UK’s playmakers, Def. Coordinator Manny Diaz is really going to have to call a smart game. We’ve touched all week on how we struggle to defend well against the screen game, and surrender yardage in the underneath game. The Wildcats will probably be the most well-rounded Offense we will see this year. When you consider all the different ways an offense can attack you, it’s easy to admit that UK has all the tools to do just that. I just hope that PK Sean Brauchle has his directional kicking down pat, and that P Heath Hutchins is ready to help us win the field position battle.

___MSU___

Mullen on Tuesday’s Practice: “Tuesday is always a tough, physical day for us, and we got a lot of first down, play action stuff in. It was a good day. The defense did pretty good today. This is a tough, high-scoring, explosive offense so we’re going to have to play good defense to just contain them. I don’t know if you’re going to stop them, hopefully you just contain them.”

On Injuries: “It’s not just the one player, it’s the water-down effect. It’s an increased number of snaps for everybody and the chance of injuries increase. That’s the toughest thing. But our guys have battled through, and if we can get through this game we’ve got a chance to heal-up over the bye week.”

On Michael Carr: “It was great trying to get Michael Carr involved. He’s getting more and more confidence and you see that, not just touching the ball. He caused the game-winning fumble on the kickoff coverage, that comes with player development. As young players grow up they make those plays.”

On Nick Bell: “It’s good for our players to see him around. But it’s also great having Nick around the hotel with the team, in the Dog Walk, and being around the team as much as possible. It keeps his spirits up. He has a tougher schedule than we do.”

-Ballard and Brignone, were involved in the entire practice.

MSU LB Chris Hughes has been suspended by the SEC, for Saturday’s match up with the Wildcats. Hughes was found in violation, when he targeted a UAB player’s head when making contact, last week. Mullen: “We coach our players on these situations-how to lead with your shoulder, make sure you wrap up and see the front of the jersey-not only to avoid pointless penalties, but to make sure everyone is safe on the field. This is a teachable moment for Chris and our entire team. He’ll face the consequences for his actions and learn from it.” Hughes is a Freshman, and earned his first playing time during the Alcorn State week. He has recorded 5 tackles in 4 games, and serves as a back up. The SECdeemed his hit as a “flagrant, unsportsmanlike act.” Did anyone catch Mullen’s hand shake with Callaway at the end of the game? No words, just a quick shake, and the Blazer coach sprinted off. I don’t know if he was upset about the hit, or how his team lost.

_______MSU Basketball_______

Today could be a big day for MSU Basketball, as Rodney Hood is set to make his commitment at noon. Hood, just as any top recruit, had quite a list of schools on his radar, but has since narrowed his choices down to Louisville, Mississippi State, Florida State, Alabama, and Marquette. Hood is rated as a 4 Star, and as the #13SF in the country. His size and length would greatly benefit any college team, measuring in at 6-8, 175 lbs. MSU is greatly in need of a strong 2011 class, and Hood would be a great addition to Stansbury’s first 2011 recruit, in Deville Smith ( 3 Star, #24 PG). So Buzzard, keep us posted. 

The Starkville Daily News’ Matthew Stevens, has a great piece on the 2010-2011 Bulldog Basketball Team. Stansbury, recently addressed members of the Starkville Rotary Club, and shared his insights for this year’s team. Link 

Anyway, which aspect of UK’s Offensive attack are you most worried about?

Which aspect is the most important to stop, their rushing game or passing game?

Personally, I really think we’ll be able to run our Offense, and run it well.

That’s all today boys!

Hump day is here, which means we are half way to the weekend, and a match up with the UK Wildcats.

As far as Kentucky goes, I figured that today would be an excellent opportunity to get to know their playmakers, if you don’t already. Here’s my list of Big Blue’s standouts…

• QB Mike Hartline- 2,144 yds, 17 TDs, 4 INTS, 67% Passer
• WR Randall Cobb- 47 receptions, 511 yds, 5 TDs, 10.9 yd avg; Rushing- 32 rushes, 195 yds, 3 TDs, 6.1 avg; Passing- 4 of 6, 51 yds, 3 TDs
• RB Derrick Locke-574 yds, 7 TDs, 5.3 yd avg; Receiving- 24 receptions, 225 yds, 9 yd avg
• WR Chris Matthews-37 receptions, 565 yds, 7 TDs, 15 yd avg
• WR La’Rod King-27 receptions, 337 yds, 5 TDs, 15 yd avg
• PK Craig McIntosh- 8/10, 80%, Long of 50
• LB Danny Trevathan- 81 Tackles, 9 TFL
• FS Winston Guy- 54 Tackles, 2 INTs

Just to give you an idea where these guys are at amongst other SEC players: Locke is 2nd to only Cam Newton in rushing yards per game; Hartline is 3rd in Total Offense; Cobb is 2nd in receptions per game, Matthewsis 5th, and Cobb is 9th; McIntoshis 4th in FGs; Derrick Locke is 5th nationally among All Purpose Runners, and 2nd in Conference; In that same column, Cobb is 8th nationally, and 3rd in Conference. Trevathan is 1st among SEC tacklers.

___UK___

Yesterday, I mentioned that Joker Phillips has a lot of guys beat up, but that are still hoping to play on Saturday. Many of those guys, including Cobb, Locke, and Matthews, took fewer reps than their teammates on Tuesday.

Joker Phillips on MSU: “When you watch those guys play against Florida they re-established the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. It will be physical. We did not win the physical battle (against Georgia), so that’s a huge goal in this game. (State) re-established the line of scrimmage and ran the ball for four, five or six yards a carry and then the third-and-six’s they had they ran the ball and if they didn’t get it they punted and played great defense. I expect them to try and run that ball, that’s what they do.”

With all of UK’s playmakers, Def. Coordinator Manny Diazis really going to have to call a smart game. We’ve touched all week on how we struggle to defend well against the screen game, and surrender yardage in the underneath game. The Wildcats will probably be the most well-rounded Offense we will see this year. When you consider all the different ways an offense can attack you, it’s easy to admit that UK has all the tools to do just that. I just hope that PK Sean Brauchle has his directional kicking down pat, and that P Heath Hutchins is ready to help us win the field position battle.

___MSU___

Mullen on Tuesday’s Practice: “Tuesday is always a tough, physical day for us, and we got a lot of first down, play action stuff in. It was a good day. The defense did pretty good today. This is a tough, high-scoring, explosive offense so we’re going to have to play good defense to just contain them. I don’t know if you’re going to stop them, hopefully you just contain them.”

On Injuries: “It’s not just the one player, it’s the water-down effect. It’s an increased number of snaps for everybody and the chance of injuries increase. That’s the toughest thing. But our guys have battled through, and if we can get through this game we’ve got a chance to heal-up over the bye week.”

On Michael Carr: “It was great trying to get Michael Carr involved. He’s getting more and more confidence and you see that, not just touching the ball. He caused the game-winning fumble on the kickoff coverage, that comes with player development. As young players grow up they make those plays.”

On Nick Bell: “It’s good for our players to see him around. But it’s also great having Nick around the hotel with the team, in the Dog Walk, and being around the team as much as possible. It keeps his spirits up. He has a tougher schedule than we do.”

-Ballardand Brignone, were involved in the entire practice.

MSU LB Chris Hughes has been suspended by the SEC, for Saturday’s match up with the Wildcats. Hughes was found in violation, when he targeted a UAB player’s head when making contact, last week. Mullen:“We coach our players on these situations-how to lead with your shoulder, make sure you wrap up and see the front of the jersey-not only to avoid pointless penalties, but to make sure everyone is safe on the field. This is a teachable moment for Chris and our entire team. He’ll face the consequences for his actions and learn from it.” Hughes is a Freshman, and earned his first playing time during the Alcorn State week. He has recorded 5 tackles in 4 games, and serves as a back up. The SECdeemed his hit as a “flagrant, unsportsmanlike act.” Did anyone catch Mullen’s hand shake with Callaway at the end of the game? No words, just a quick shake, and the Blazer coach sprinted off. I don’t know if he was upset about the hit, or how his team lost.

_______MSU Basketball_______

Today could be a big day for MSU Basketball, as Rodney Hood is set to make his commitment at noon. Hood, just as any top recruit, had quite a list of schools on his radar, but has since narrowed his choices down to Louisville, Mississippi State, Florida State, Alabama,and Marquette. Hood is rated as a 4 Star, and as the #13SF in the country. His size and length would greatly benefit any college team, measuring in at 6-8, 175 lbs. MSU is greatly in need of a strong 2011 class, and Hood would be a great addition to Stansbury’s first 2011 recruit, in Deville Smith ( 3 Star, #24 PG). So Buzzard, keep us posted. 

The Starkville Daily News’ Matthew Stevens, has a great piece on the 2010-2011 Bulldog Basketball Team. Stansbury, recently addressed members of the Starkville Rotary Club, and shared his insights for this year’s team. Link 

Anyway, which aspect of UK’s Offensive attack are you most worried about?

Which aspect is the most important to stop, their rushing game or passing game?

Personally, I really think we’ll be able to run our Offense, and run it well.

That’s all today boys!

Well guys, after some healthy discussion yesterday about UAB, I figured we’d move on to the UK Wildcats. If you had to ask me, I’d probably tag them as the best 4-4 team in the country. Just a quick recap on their season thus far…

• Wins:  Louisville 23-16, WKU  63-28, Akron  47-10, and Carolina  31-28
• Losses:  UF  48-14, Ole Miss  42-35, Auburn  37-34, and UGA  44-31

The most glaring loss, is of course the UF match up. If you remember right, that was the night that the Gators’ Trey Burton, accounted for 6 TDs, and not a whole lot went right for the Cats. The following week, UK traveled to Oxford, and though dominating the statistics, 3 turnovers eventually killed Kentucky’s chances. Throw in a last second loss to now #1 Auburn, a signature win vs the then #10 Gamecocks, and another loss due to 4 turnovers against UGA, and there you have it. Ups and downs, and many could even compare the 2010 Cats, to the 2009 Bulldogs. With that said though, the season is far from over for UK and MSU. In fact, a win on Saturday could send both teams in new directions, with different outlooks for the remainder of 2010. With that said, here’s a look at what Joker Phillips had to say about the upcoming match up in Starkville…

“Big game for us (vs. Mississippi State).  Got a chance to play a ranked opponent on the road. Guys are playing really good right now. They have a five game win streak. Offensively they’re second in the league in rushing, which is how you win in this league is running the football. They’re second in 3rd down conversions, 48 percent, which is a really high number. And the reason why they are so high is they do a really good job on 1st and 2nd down of giving them 3rd and shorts and then converting them. Got a really good runner in the junior collegetransfer (Vick Ballard). He’s tied for second in the league in rushing touchdowns actually first with (Cam) Newton and (Marcus) Lattimore, so that tells you what type of runner he is.  He’s got 12 touchdowns and averaging 6.6 yards a carry. On defense they are third in the SEC and one of the tops in the country on scoring defense, giving up 17 points a game. They’re fifth in rushing, which is how you win in this league is stop the run. You run the ball, stop the run, you’ve got a chance to win. Their linebacker, Chris White, has similar numbers to the (Justin) Houston kid we just played from Georgia. He’s got five sacks, has 12 tackles for a loss, has 70 tackles, and he’s their leader on their defense. And you look at our four losses, the thing that we have to do that we keep talking every week, the common denominator, is in our four losses we’ve turned the ball over ten times and we’ve only created three in our four losses. So we’re minus seven in our four losses and our four wins, and we haven’t turned the ball over, and we’ve created eight. So we’re plus eight when we do win the game. That speaks volumes to me. The thing we’ve got to do is create turnovers and we’ve got to protect the football to win games in this league.”

On Relf:  “He’s rushed for 400 yards. Like I said, that’s what they committed to do, to run the football, control. Because of the way they’re playing on defense, I think it’s a great plan, run the football, don’t turn it over, punt is not a bad play. He’s completing about 55 percent of his passes. They always have numbers. When you’ve got a quarterback that can run the ball like he can, similar to Auburn they don’t ask him to run it as much because of the Ballard kid, but they always have numbers against you when you’ve got a quarterback that can run the football like that.”

UK Injuries: WR La’Rod King, CB Martavious Nelom, CB Cartier Rice, and RB Derrick Locke, are all banged up. Most will participate in non-contact drills, and be back up full speed by late week, and ready for Saturday. Just FYI, King is an emerging presence at WR, and Locke is UK’s main RB, and a really good one at that. Rice and Nelom are substitute guys at Corner. If these players don’t heal up before Saturday, MSU would have a lighter load ahead of them on Saturday, especially if Locke isn’t full speed. He is currently the nation’s 25th leading rusher.

Currently UK is ranked 52nd in CBS Sports’ 120 Team Rankings. Surrounded by: (49) Notre Dame, (50) UGA, (51) Pitt <-> (53) NIU, (54) PSU, (55) Temple 

__________MSU’s Cowbell Issue: MSU ‘Probably’ in Violation?__________

Welcome to the “grey area issue” we knew would arise. The first questions that MSU fans had when the Cowbell Compromise arose were: How many bells ringing at once is too many? How loud is too loud? And my main questions were: By what standard would we be held to? And, will we be notified ‘when’ we are in violation?

The Reflector, MSU’s school newspaper, is reporting that State is in violation of breaking the compromise. Apparently MSU AD Scott Stricklin has talked with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, after every home in 2010. To which Stricklin noted, “After every game he told me he thought we probably were in violation.” Probably? Probably is a big word Mr. Slive. You either ‘are’ or you ‘are not’, there’s no in between. Make the call. All he is doing, is trying to silence the cowbells for the final 2 home games of the 2010 season, while holding yet another carrot above our heads, acting as if we have 2 more chances to prove the SEC wrong. Which tells me, that we are already in violation, we will be fined, and we should ring them like we used to. Then there’s the mention of the compromises’ trial period ending in June, which means nothing, since football ends in November (at least at DWS). All that says is we have 2 games left to bring them into DWS legally, and wait for an unfair, subjective fine, that will be strung out like an act of Congress. The Stricklin has the onions to say this to MSU fans, “Maybe the cowbells aren’t as important to Mississippi State people as I think they are.” And, I couldn’t disagree more. You can’t take a tradition that has become a symbol of defiance for 36 years, and remold it into an object of compliance. We were sold out by the brass at MSU, and Stricklin helped pave the way. His politicking for a compromise is what’s going to cost us our tradition, NOT fans inability to conform to a stipulation that had us set up to fail from the beginning. Stricklin also had this to say, “We need to do better and the good news is we’ve got two more home games to prove we can handle this the right way. There’s a lot of people at Mississippi State where this tradition means a lot to them and I’m one of them.” I didn’t know that NOT ringing your cowbell was a tradition…sorry for going on and on, but this makes me sick.

Just in case you want to know my opinion once again on the Cowbell issue, here’s a clip from a post of mine from the old site: “All I know, is that it’s a politically correct solution that appeals to 11 of the 12 SEC schools, mainly because it takes away 99.9% of the reason why most people hate it…and that’s stadium noise while their team has the ball. I guess it’s great that State fans like myself can walk in with their beloved cowbells, free of worry, for the first time in 36 years, but at the same time, I have a problem policing when they can be used. Either make them illegal or legal. I myself, was fine with the sound reward of sneaking mine in, and ringing it til my arm fell off, especially when the opposing team’s offense was on the field. This whole situation, is the equivalent of giving your Corvette keys to a teenager who will be home alone for a week, and then telling him,  “you can’t take it to the prom, you can’t drive it to school or on a date, BUT you can drive it up and down our neighborhood street.”  This has failure written all over it, and I’m sure we’ll be looking at monetary fines next season.”

Ring Away! You only have 2 game left. The Cowbells will be banned.

______SEC News______

- I can imagine that Gus Malzahn is licking his chops to face Nutt again. Link

- Chris Low’sHots and Nots, Week 8. Link

- Gators seek a rebound. Link

- MSU’s LaDarius Perkinswin SEC Freshman of the Week, for the 2nd time this season. 13 carries, 131 yards, and 2 TDs.

Your initial thoughts on UK?

Will cowbells be completely banned next year? Your thoughts?

Well boys, it was ugly, but hey ‘Bowl Eligible’ has a nice ring to it. The Bulldogs are 6-2, and have now won 5 in a row. MSU is bowl bound for the first time in 3 years, and for only the second time in a decade. After coming off a signature win vs the (then #22) UF Gators in the Swamp, it seemed a relief to see a UAB Blazers team on the schedule. Little did State know, that UAB would take them down to the wire, and not let the Bulldogs punch out until the final whistle. Anyway, lot of negatives, and a few positives make my 5 points:   

(1) Unconfident Play-Calling Produces a Lack of CONFIDENCE- We didn’t run our Defense, and we didn’t run our Offense. And, when you don’t put your guys in position to win by way of coaching, then 9 times out of 10 you are going to lose. This is the 2nd time this season, that the MSU coaches have under-performed against an inferior opponent. Defensively- Do we not have SEC quality personnel, that can play man coverage against the likes of Alcorn and UAB? Those are SWAC and C-USAopponents, just in case you needed a conference reference. Last year and this year, we have forced almost all of our turnovers in man coverage. Diaz’s Zone D, does nothing more than surrender field position, while keeping the Defense from attacking deep. I sure wish that someone on staff would have researched the Blazers’ scheme, because in doing so, they would have seen where UAB only averages about 6 yards per catch, and don’t usually challenge teams vertically. We gave them cushion, and they averaged 10.3 yards per catch. Just as I said after the UH game, it’s sad to give up 3rd & 7′s, and 3rd & 9′s, before the ball is even snapped. Just watch our coverage on the replay. What you will see is a Safety 17-20 off a slot receiver, and a CB giving the outside receiver a 9-12 yard cushion. In doing that, you give a team who’s strength is the underneath passing game, all the screens and underneath passes they want. That is passive, and submissive defense. Zone coverage preaches responsibility, but it hinders us more than it helps us. I can’t tell you how many times we have 3 guys within 5 yards of the ball, and no one makes the play. It seems to me, that our Defense is more dependent on the opposing offense making mistakes, than creating opportunities for themselves. That is not an ‘opportunistic’ defense. I realize that you cannot play man the entire game, and I know you have to mix it up, but we are becoming somewhat predictable on D. And, when you run a stripped down, elementary version of your D against inferior opponents, they will capitalize on it. Offensively-If Les Keonning would have ran our Offense last night, everything would have been different. (A) Run the football, and let Relf run. Our Offense is really easy to defend, when they know Relf is taking the night off. Our coaches can say we came out flat, but the truth is, when the players know that you are taking your foot off the gas as a coach, then what do you expect them to do as players? I’m not saying there wasn’t a time or two last night where Relf missed a read on a keep or give, but I think we all know that the kid wants the ball, and wants to make a play. I think we have all agreed that there are times that Chris holds onto the ball, when he should make the toss or hand-off. So, that right there tells me that they took Relf out of the scheme for the night, and told him to hand it off regardless of the read. If we let Relf run, and run our Offense in it’s full form, then we eliminate predictability, and the game is over at halftime. Not only that, but we do what we do best, which is eat clock, and keep UAB’s strength off the field (their offense). (B) I haven’t called for Tyler Russell since the LSU game, but if Mullen and Keonning are going to throw the ball for the majority of a possession, why not put him in? Secondly, if you want to ‘truly’ protect Relf, and if you are not going to let Chris Relf be Chris Relf, then why even play him? Russell missed out on quality game experience and snaps last night, thanks to Keonning. Even though Russell has been placed in the background for the last 3 games, he is still going to be needed down the stretch. He needed the time that could have been awarded to him, if our coaches had done their job. Last Point-As coaches, you put your guys in position to win, by the way you coach. All week long, UAB watched tape of MSU at their best. And, all week long, MSU watched tape of UAB at their best. Now, after doing that, both teams have to put their best on the field…UAB did, MSU didn’t. In knowing that an inferior opponent is going to throw their best at you, combined with all of the adrenaline and emotion they would bring with them, why would you give them anything less than your best? We ran a base, vanilla game plan on both sides of the ball, that almost cost us our ranking and national embarrassment. That’s also a dangerous approach, because when you call basic plays like we did for most of the night, what happens when you need to execute a difficult play, in a big game-changing situation. Coaches need to call themselves out, rather than the players. 

(2) C-USA Officials…Terrible-They did whatever they could to benefit the conference. From making up player’s numbers, to ignoring the obvious. The out of bounds face mask call, that didn’t even happen? The ‘out of bounds’ 1st down catch for UAB, that led to a score? The touchdown call, when the RB for UAB was short by almost a yard? The illegal substitution call, when we were in the no huddle? Now, all of the MSU false starts were completely unacceptable on our part, and Johnthan Banks’ penalty was pure stupidity, but we got hosed, in order to keep UAB’s drives alive. This game really felt a lot like the UH game last season.

(3) MVP’s: Derek DePasquale & LaDarius Perkins- Saturday night belonged to these guys. DePasquale, nailed FGs of 29 (2), 43, 39, and 28, finishing a perfect 5-5 on the night. In what has been a sporadic year in every aspect of place kicking, DePasquale, who hadn’t attempted a FG since the Alcorn State game, racked up 15 points in clutch kicks for State. RB LaDarius Perkins, had a career high 131 yards on just 13 carries, with 2 TDs. Perkins averaged 7.3 yards per carry, and his 51 yard scamper late in the 4th quarter, put MSU in perfect position to take control of the game. The Freshman was asked to lead the MSU running attack, since starter Vick Ballard was only 85%-health wise. I really can’t think of an MSU RB in the past, that is as quick and explosive as Perkins is. With that said, Ballard still needs to be our main back in the option game, but Perkins showed that he is a nice change of pace. And hopefully Perkins’ display of speed, was a reminder to our coaches to get him the ball in open space. 

(4) Tackling, Items to Clean Up- (A) I guess it just wouldn’t be MSU football, if we didn’t kick at least one ball out of bounds on a kick off. PK Sean Brauchle failed to consistently put hang time or distance on his kicks, let alone a mixture of the two. But, to his credit, his last kick really allowed the unit to get down field, and cause a UAB fumble, which sealed the game. (B) Tackling was extremely poor on Saturday night, and we awarded UAB with a lot of second chances, on individual plays. The play that stands out to me, was the 42 yard pass to UAB’s Mike Jones down the sideline, that should have been about a 10 yard play. Missed tackles led to an extra 30 yards, and set up UAB for an excellent scoring opportunity. What’s even worse is when Point (A) and Point (B), happen on the same possession. We gave UAB 70 yards on those 2 mistakes. (C) We can’t keep spying in on the opposition’s run game, with our DBs. What did they have Broomfield doing?

(5) Positives- (A) We won, and we are Bowl eligible. There’s no doubt in my mind, that MSU teams of the past would have lost that game. Our coaching style, which I’ve already addressed, didn’t fit the style that you want when facing a team with nothing to lose, but our guys overcame some adversity. (B) Even the top teams in the country have a game here and there like this, and coming out on top is what you want. (C) We won this game on Special Teams, which has been our worst unit throughout the season. I just wish that we could have gotten some things accomplished, and polished up some areas that needed it. Instead, we had to fight tooth and nail.  (D) We continued our stretch of running the football pretty well (271 yards), and might have gotten Perkins a little more comfortable back there. (E) As bad as the game felt, we held UAB below their usual total Offensive numbers. (F) P Heath Hutchins continues to impress with some nice punts. (G) Michael Carr finally got fed the rock. (H) I think our fans needed this game as a true warm-up for UK and Arkansas. We weren’t very loud, but on UAB’s last 2 possessions we stepped it up. I really think that if we could make noise like that consistently, visiting teams will have some trouble. I myself, liked it a lot better when the cowbells were illegal, but I also like the fact that about 70% of the stadium said heck with it at the end, and DWS sounded like the one of old. Yall may hate me for it, but I’m ringing away.

Quotes

Mullen: “We’re moving on, next week we’ve got Kentucky at home, the last game in the middle stretch of our season. We finished 2-2 in the first stretch, we’re 4-0 in this middle stretch. We’ve got one game to get to a bye week and have the opportunity to get healthy…It comes down really to this is a one-game season for us next week. Because you get to the bye week and you get to regroup. When we talked to them earlier in the season we split the season into thirds; the first four games, the next five, and the last three. So we’re finishing up that middle third of the season. I think it’s a great feeling for our kids, a great feeling for me, it’s a huge boost to our program. That’s going to be a lot of extra practices that our young players get now with the opportunity to go to a bowl game. And it’s a great boost to our fans, I mean I really expect us to have a great fan base whatever bowl game picks up. I know we’re going to travel well and our fans are going to be excited to go.”

“I’m happy we found a way to win this game. Because I was worried, that’s a talented team we played, we’re coming off a tough battle last week, our kids are being patted on the backs by everybody this week in class and told how good they are. To find a way to win a tough ball game was fantastic; now we’ve got that behind us. So now we’re bowl eligible, we’ve been ranked, they can get back to class and worry about going to school and being good students and working hard on the football field and stop getting patted on the back. So our student body, instead of patting them on the back, kick them in the rear end and tell them they’ve got to get going!”

_______Other SEC News________    

Ole Miss falls to Arkansas. Link

Carolina tops Vandy. Link

Bama rolls over UT. Link

UGA is HOT, ever since we beat them. Win over UK. Link

SEC is making a statement in the BCS. Link

Your thoughts on Saturday’s game? On the weekend in the SEC?

Well boys, it was ugly, but hey ‘Bowl Eligible’ has a nice ring to it. The Bulldogs are 6-2, and have now won 5 in a row. MSU is bowl bound for the first time in 3 years, and for only the second time in a decade. After coming off a signature win vs the (then #22) UF Gators in the Swamp, it seemed a relief to see a UAB Blazers team on the schedule. Little did State know, that UAB would take them down to the wire, and not let the Bulldogs punch out until the final whistle. Anyway, lot of negatives, and a few positives make my 5 points:   

(1) Unconfident Play-Calling Produces a Lack of CONFIDENCE- We didn’t run our Defense, and we didn’t run our Offense. And, when you don’t put your guys in position to win by way of coaching, then 9 times out of 10 you are going to lose. This is the 2nd time this season, that the MSU coaches have under-performed against an inferior opponent. Defensively- Do we not have SEC quality personnel, that can play man coverage against the likes of Alcorn and UAB? Those are SWAC and C-USAopponents, just in case you needed a conference reference. Last year and this year, we have forced almost all of our turnovers in man coverage. Diaz’s Zone D, does nothing more than surrender field position, while keeping the Defense from attacking deep. I sure wish that someone on staff would have researched the Blazers’ scheme, because in doing so, they would have seen where UAB only averages about 6 yards per catch, and don’t usually challenge teams vertically. We gave them cushion, and they averaged 10.3 yards per catch. Just as I said after the UH game, it’s sad to give up 3rd & 7′s, and 3rd & 9′s, before the ball is even snapped. Just watch our coverage on the replay. What you will see is a Safety 17-20 off a slot receiver, and a CB giving the outside receiver a 9-12 yard cushion. In doing that, you give a team who’s strength is the underneath passing game, all the screens and underneath passes they want. That is passive, and submissive defense. Zone coverage preaches responsibility, but it hinders us more than it helps us. I can’t tell you how many times we have 3 guys within 5 yards of the ball, and no one makes the play. It seems to me, that our Defense is more dependent on the opposing offense making mistakes, than creating opportunities for themselves. That is not an ‘opportunistic’ defense. I realize that you cannot play man the entire game, and I know you have to mix it up, but we are becoming somewhat predictable on D. And, when you run a stripped down, elementary version of your D against inferior opponents, they will capitalize on it. Offensively-If Les Keonning would have ran our Offense last night, everything would have been different. (A) Run the football, and let Relf run. Our Offense is really easy to defend, when they know Relf is taking the night off. Our coaches can say we came out flat, but the truth is, when the players know that you are taking your foot off the gas as a coach, then what do you expect them to do as players? I’m not saying there wasn’t a time or two last night where Relf missed a read on a keep or give, but I think we all know that the kid wants the ball, and wants to make a play. I think we have all agreed that there are times that Chris holds onto the ball, when he should make the toss or hand-off. So, that right there tells me that they took Relf out of the scheme for the night, and told him to hand it off regardless of the read. If we let Relf run, and run our Offense in it’s full form, then we eliminate predictability, and the game is over at halftime. Not only that, but we do what we do best, which is eat clock, and keep UAB’s strength off the field (their offense). (B) I haven’t called for Tyler Russell since the LSU game, but if Mullen and Keonning are going to throw the ball for the majority of a possession, why not put him in? Secondly, if you want to ‘truly’ protect Relf, and if you are not going to let Chris Relf be Chris Relf, then why even play him? Russell missed out on quality game experience and snaps last night, thanks to Keonning. Even though Russell has been placed in the background for the last 3 games, he is still going to be needed down the stretch. He needed the time that could have been awarded to him, if our coaches had done their job. Last Point-As coaches, you put your guys in position to win, by the way you coach. All week long, UAB watched tape of MSU at their best. And, all week long, MSU watched tape of UAB at their best. Now, after doing that, both teams have to put their best on the field…UAB did, MSU didn’t. In knowing that an inferior opponent is going to throw their best at you, combined with all of the adrenaline and emotion they would bring with them, why would you give them anything less than your best? We ran a base, vanilla game plan on both sides of the ball, that almost cost us our ranking and national embarrassment. That’s also a dangerous approach, because when you call basic plays like we did for most of the night, what happens when you need to execute a difficult play, in a big game-changing situation. Coaches need to call themselves out, rather than the players. 

(2) C-USA Officials…Terrible-They did whatever they could to benefit the conference. From making up player’s numbers, to ignoring the obvious. The out of bounds face mask call, that didn’t even happen? The ‘out of bounds’ 1st down catch for UAB, that led to a score? The touchdown call, when the RB for UAB was short by almost a yard? The illegal substitution call, when we were in the no huddle? Now, all of the MSU false starts were completely unacceptable on our part, and Johnthan Banks’ penalty was pure stupidity, but we got hosed, in order to keep UAB’s drives alive. This game really felt a lot like the UH game last season.

(3) MVP’s: Derek DePasquale & LaDarius Perkins- Saturday night belonged to these guys. DePasquale, nailed FGs of 29 (2), 43, 39, and 28, finishing a perfect 5-5 on the night. In what has been a sporadic year in every aspect of place kicking, DePasquale, who hadn’t attempted a FG since the Alcorn State game, racked up 15 points in clutch kicks for State. RB LaDarius Perkins, had a career high 131 yards on just 13 carries, with 2 TDs. Perkins averaged 7.3 yards per carry, and his 51 yard scamper late in the 4th quarter, put MSU in perfect position to take control of the game. The Freshman was asked to lead the MSU running attack, since starter Vick Ballard was only 85%-health wise. I really can’t think of an MSU RB in the past, that is as quick and explosive as Perkins is. With that said, Ballard still needs to be our main back in the option game, but Perkins showed that he is a nice change of pace. And hopefully Perkins’ display of speed, was a reminder to our coaches to get him the ball in open space. 

(4) Tackling, Items to Clean Up- (A) I guess it just wouldn’t be MSU football, if we didn’t kick at least one ball out of bounds on a kick off. PK Sean Brauchle failed to consistently put hang time or distance on his kicks, let alone a mixture of the two. But, to his credit, his last kick really allowed the unit to get down field, and cause a UAB fumble, which sealed the game. (B) Tackling was extremely poor on Saturday night, and we awarded UAB with a lot of second chances, on individual plays. The play that stands out to me, was the 42 yard pass to UAB’s Mike Jones down the sideline, that should have been about a 10 yard play. Missed tackles led to an extra 30 yards, and set up UAB for an excellent scoring opportunity. What’s even worse is when Point (A) and Point (B), happen on the same possession. We gave UAB 70 yards on those 2 mistakes. (C) We can’t keep spying in on the opposition’s run game, with our DBs. What did they have Broomfield doing?

(5) Positives- (A) We won, and we are Bowl eligible. There’s no doubt in my mind, that MSU teams of the past would have lost that game. Our coaching style, which I’ve already addressed, didn’t fit the style that you want when facing a team with nothing to lose, but our guys overcame some adversity. (B) Even the top teams in the country have a game here and there like this, and coming out on top is what you want. (C) We won this game on Special Teams, which has been our worst unit throughout the season. I just wish that we could have gotten some things accomplished, and polished up some areas that needed it. Instead, we had to fight tooth and nail.  (D) We continued our stretch of running the football pretty well (271 yards), and might have gotten Perkins a little more comfortable back there. (E) As bad as the game felt, we held UAB below their usual total Offensive numbers. (F) P Heath Hutchins continues to impress with some nice punts. (G) Michael Carr finally got fed the rock. (H) I think our fans needed this game as a true warm-up for UK and Arkansas. We weren’t very loud, but on UAB’s last 2 possessions we stepped it up. I really think that if we could make noise like that consistently, visiting teams will have some trouble. I myself, liked it a lot better when the cowbells were illegal, but I also like the fact that about 70% of the stadium said heck with it at the end, and DWS sounded like the one of old. Yall may hate me for it, but I’m ringing away.

Quotes

Mullen: “We’re moving on, next week we’ve got Kentucky at home, the last game in the middle stretch of our season. We finished 2-2 in the first stretch, we’re 4-0 in this middle stretch. We’ve got one game to get to a bye week and have the opportunity to get healthy…It comes down really to this is a one-game season for us next week. Because you get to the bye week and you get to regroup. When we talked to them earlier in the season we split the season into thirds; the first four games, the next five, and the last three. So we’re finishing up that middle third of the season. I think it’s a great feeling for our kids, a great feeling for me, it’s a huge boost to our program. That’s going to be a lot of extra practices that our young players get now with the opportunity to go to a bowl game. And it’s a great boost to our fans, I mean I really expect us to have a great fan base whatever bowl game picks up. I know we’re going to travel well and our fans are going to be excited to go.”

“I’m happy we found a way to win this game. Because I was worried, that’s a talented team we played, we’re coming off a tough battle last week, our kids are being patted on the backs by everybody this week in class and told how good they are. To find a way to win a tough ball game was fantastic; now we’ve got that behind us. So now we’re bowl eligible, we’ve been ranked, they can get back to class and worry about going to school and being good students and working hard on the football field and stop getting patted on the back. So our student body, instead of patting them on the back, kick them in the rear end and tell them they’ve got to get going!”

_______Other SEC News________    

Ole Miss falls to Arkansas. Link

Carolina tops Vandy. Link

Bama rolls over UT. Link

UGA is HOT, ever since we beat them. Win over UK. Link

SEC is making a statement in the BCS. Link

Your thoughts on Saturday’s game? On the weekend in the SEC?

I’m going to be careful in saying this, but I truly can’t remember feeling this good about MSU football, since the 8-0 start of 1999. I can still remember the posters, the buzz on campus, and believe it or not, the expectation to win. Something was in the air in Starkville. Though the Bulldogs are only 5-2 to start the 2010 season, some of those same elements are surfacing once again. Before getting into the final stretch of their SEC schedule, State hosts the UAB Blazers for Homecoming. With that said, let’s take a look at our Stat Match Up Analysis.

Also, here’s what the experts are saying about the game. CollegeGamedayStats.com breaks down of the advantages that exist for both MSU and UAB, on both sides of the ball. And you can get this information emailed to you on a weekly basis, by contacting them at info@collegegamedaystats.com.

MSU Scoring vs UAB Opponent scoring- Advantage MSU

Series History

• First Meeting- 2004, UAB 27-13,  Last Meeting  2007, MSU 30-13
• Overall Record- MSU holds 2-1 edge
• Average Score in Series: MSU 19 ppg  UAB  16 ppg

My Thoughts- First and foremost, UAB’s offense has some weapons. They run a 2 QB system, much like MSU has throughout the season. But, in the same way that Chris Relf has become more of the mainstay at QB for MSU, Bryan Ellis has become that guy for the Blazers. Ellis has thrown for 1,198 yards, 8 TDs, and 5 INTs. Though Ellis is the primary signal caller, it’s actually his back up- David Isabelle, who’s play resembles that of MSU’s Chris Relf. Isabelle is the leading rusher on UAB’s team, racking up 394 yards, and 4 TDs (5.5 avg). The Blazers have 2 RBs that are having decent years, in Pat Shed (317 yds) and Daniel Borne (160 yds). Both RBs average just at or above 5 yds per carry. UAB also has some playmakers at WR, with 6 players who have over 100 yards receiving on the season. Frantrell Forrest leads the group with 364 yards, and 4 TDs, followed by Patrick Hearn and Mike Jones, who are both just over the 200 yard mark. Just like Dan Mullen, Blazer coach Neil Callaway really likes to spread the ball around. One major area of weakness for UAB, is a PK. Josh Zahn is only 3-12 on the season, which includes a 2-7 performance at UTearlier this year. If Zahn takes care of business in Knoxville, there’s no telling where UAB’s season would be right now. I’d have to speculate that they would be 4-2, rather than 2-4, coming into Starkville. If I was coach Callaway, I might pick up an MSU student who is kicking for tuition, or for a free pizza.

My Prediction:  MSU  49  UAB  10. MSU has imposed their will on opponents over the past 4 weeks, establishing themselves as the #21Rushing Offense in the country. State has rushed for 175, 230, 409, and 212 yards respectively, during that stretch. Though MSU has surpassed the 500 yard mark 3 times this season, I look for this to game to feature an Offensive explosion in all aspects. UAB has played mostly teams from their C-USA conference, or teams of that caliber. They’ve also played an extremely weak UT team, and couldn’t close the deal when it mattered. One things for sure, UAB has yet to see an Offense that is as physical as MSU’s. State will win the war in the trenches, continually knocking the Blazers off of the ball, and the Bulldog running game will find their way into the Defensive secondary with ease. Drawing in defenders to contain the MSU run game, will open up passing lanes for Chris Relf and Tyler Russell. I also think this is one of the Coach’s last chances to get some guys back in the groove, and dig into players’ skill sets, such as Russell, Arceto Clark, Ladarius Perkins, Chris Smith, etc., with the tough SEC road that awaits. I really think that Mullen and Les Koenning, will use this game as a chance to get in some work in the passing game, and in the Rabid Dawg formation. I’d really like to see Bumphis and Perkins turned loose. I’m predicting MSU to post close to 300 yards in both the passing and rushing departments. As for UAB, they will put up a maximum of 17 points, but will struggle to protect the ball, and cash in on redzone FG attempts. Defensively, I think that the Bulldogs staff and players, learned their lesson during the Alcorn game, that you can’t take any game lightly. So, I look for them to come out and seal the deal on being bowl eligible, and man-handle UAB. Thanks to Mullen and Matt Balis, the team will be focused.

Individual Performance Predictions

• QB Chris Relf- 130 yds passing, 80 yds rushing. 3 total TDs
• QB Tyler Russell- 160 yds passing, 20 yds rushing, 1 TD
• RB Vick Ballard- 120 yds rushing, 2 TDs
• RB LaDarius Perkins- 80 total yds
• WR Chad Bumphis- 180 total yds 2 TDs
• WR Mo Langston- 2 catches for 35 yds
• INTs- Johnthan Banks, KJ Wright
• Sacks- LB Chris White (2), DE Pernell McPhee (2), DT Fletcher Cox

Your Thoughts & Predictions?

Personal Performance Predictions?

And what would you like to see the Bulldogs get out of this game?

Bloguin College Football Roundtable Discussion Part II 

Since we are at the midway point of the season, writers here at Bloguin were asked to give their updated predictions for the rest of 2010′s College Football landscape. Here’s mine…

I. Prediction to win each Conference:

• ACC- VT
• Big 10- Michigan State
• Big 12- Oklahoma
• Big East- West Virginia
• Conference USA- ECU
• MAC- Temple
• Mountain West-TCU
• Pac 10- Oregon
• SEC- Auburn
• Sun Belt- Troy
• WAC- Boise State (Praying for Fresno State)

*I actually had just a few changes. MSU to win the Big 10 (surprised everyone), ECU to win the C-USA (since Keenum is out for UH), and Auburn to win the SEC out right (had them winning just the West originally).

II. Mid season Heisman Choice:

• Oregon’s LaMichael James. Listen to these stats: #1 RB in the country, averaging 169 yards per game, 7.4 yards per cary, 9 TDs, 31 rushes of 20+ yards, and 3 receptions for 96 yards. And, he is just a sophomore! My original pick was Terrell Pryor, mainly because the media is in love with OSU and him. And just as I predicted, it was his for the taking, but he failed to seize the moment vs Wisconsin. That’s ok, because James is a better player. Quack Attack!

III. 2010 BCS Champions

• Oregon-You might be as surprised as I am. But, I’m rolling with preseason pick of Auburn winning the SEC West, and now winning the SEC. Bama has some teams left on their schedule, including #24 MSU, #4 Auburn, and  #6 LSU, that could bump them back in the chase with wins. But, I just don’t see it happening for Saban (pass me a tissue). They are one loss away from falling out of the championship race, and it will come. Oregon is on top with the writers and coaches, and Oklahoma will not last, and could fall as early as this weekend. If Oregon and Auburn face off for it all, I’m not sure that even Auburn can hang with the Ducks. I’m SEC, through and through, so I’ll definitely be pulling for Auburn. By the way, as far as Oregon is concerned, are they better without Jeremiah Masoli?

Your Thoughts and Predictions?  

And if you are interested in what other Blogiun writers had to say, here’s a list of the participating blogs…

LOHD, A USC Gamecocks Blog – www.leftoverhotdog.com
Bama Sports Report, A Alabama Blog  – www.bamasportsreport.com
SOX & Dawgs – http://soxanddawgs.com
Subway Domer, A Notre Dame Blog – www.subwaydomer.com
Saturday Night Slant, A LSU Blog – http://www.saturdaynightslant.com
Blatant Homerism, A OU Sooners Blog – www.Blatanthomerism.com
The Boone Docks, A OSU Blog – http://www.boone-docks.com
Rise Northern, A Northwestern Blog – http://www.risenorthwestern.com
Randall Simon’s Sasuages – http://www.randallsimonssausages.com
ACC Rivals – http://www.accrivals.com
Lamberth Field, A UVa Blog – http://www.lambethfield.com
Eye and Eer, A OSU & WVU Blog – http://www.eyeandeerblog.com

_______Blog Question Re-Cap_______

(1) Your Thoughts & Predictions for UAB vs MSU? Personal Performance Predictions? And what would you like to see the Bulldogs get out of this game?

(2) Opinions on the Roundtable Predictions?

(3) Is Oregon better without Masoli?

That’s it boys! Enjoy, and Go DAWGS!!!

The weekend that MSU played in Baton Rouge, I took advantage of an opportunity that had been extended to me over the summer. And, that would be a trip to Virginia Tech. Located in Blacksburg, Va, the school is surrounded by a town of passionate and dedicated fans. Even though in the end, the town may not have a choice, since 30,000 students are spread over the 19.4 square mile town. The town and campus are such peaceful venues, that it’s literally impossible to imagine something as horrific as the 2007 massacre, happening there. But, once you meet the fine people that make up Blacksburg, it’s easy to see how the town rebounded and unified. Simply put, Blacksburg is a special place. I didn’t know what to expect from this ACC school that I had only watched on TV, but I have to say that I left impressed.

Being from an SEC school, and of course, allowing that bias to dictate how I judge everything else in college sports, I couldn’t help but use that as a measuring stick in Blacksburg. Visiting on just the 3rd week of the season, all the conference expansion talk that had dominated the summer, was fresh on my mind. Tech was one of the schools that I had on my wish list, and I figured taking in VT’s gameday experience and atmosphere, would tell me how the Hokies measured up.

Driving around campus on Friday, there was no doubt that there was a football game taking place on Saturday. Fans and students were moving about on campus, all wearing VT’s famous Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange colors. From just about anywhere on campus, you can see the towering features that make up Lane Stadium, whether in obvious site, or above the tree lines. Lane almost has the strong presence of a military fortress. An amazing looking facility. As we drove past the outside of the stadium, the engraved words “Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University” adorned the outside face of the Home side. Making our way around the South side of the stadium, we passed the flag pole plaza, where an American flag, a Virginia state flag, and a VT flag, all fly high. On a side note, almost all the campus architecture has been built with limestone (from the Blacksburg area), which provides quite a uniform, clean, and historiclook. My friend and tour guide for the weekend, told me that numerous projects have either been redone or scrapped, until limestone became the main building material. In case you didn’t know, limestone has even found it’s way inside the stadium. Before every game, players touch the Hokie Stone before running onto Worsham Field.

On gameday, we walked through tailgating that had overtaken any available space around the stadium’s parking lots. Motor homes, buses, decorated cars, tents, flags, TV’s, and gameday radio made up the scene. As we approached the Stadium, and walked past the ECU team bus, we entered in through theSouth endzone’s gates. After finding our seats, the first thing I noticed was the big ‘VT’ symbol stretching across mid field. You can tell that Tech takes just as much pride in their natural playing surface, as we do at State. The game was scheduled as an ‘Orange Effect’, similar to what we would call a ‘Maroon Out/White Out’. I have to say, that walking into a stadium that actually followed the dress code almost unanimously, is impressive. Every where you looked, Orange filled your vision. The West and East sides are quite steep, and I can imagine that from a player’s perspective, it’s very intimidating to the opposition. To give you an idea of the steepness, just imagine rows of seats that ascend straight up to where the upper deck starts at Davis Wade Stadium. We have club level seats and some different gaps and angles, but the seating at Lane is full the entire way up. I can’t tell you how well that design holds in the sound from sideline to sideline. The West side houses a large, enclosed press box, and luxury suites. The South endzone is made up of 2 levels, with 15 suites, and a media banner. The Cadettes’ Band seating section is there as well. The North endzone is made up of the student section, the Hokie Band, Video screen, and scoreboard. Along the top rows, you will find retired numbers and banners, for those such as Michael Vick. I mentioned that Lane Stadium holds in noise quite well, and I was told that VT brought in designers who kept that very concept in mind, while expanding Lane.

Pregame was one of the best I’ve seen in all America. I’d put it right up there with LSU’s and Auburn’s. After the Cadette Band completes their military march and song, they make their way down to the North endzone’s and West Sideline’s tunnel, and split. Then, one side of the stadium chants “Let’s Go!”…the other yells “Hokies!” Which probably goes back and forth 7 or 8 times, and then after a short pause, Enter Sandmanby Metallica begins blaring on the PA system. In Blacksburg, that means you start jumping. And, immediate excitement sets in. Pretty awesome sight, to see 66,000+ jumping in unison. As the song builds, the players eventually bust out of the tunnel, with one player carrying an America flag, while another brings out the Hokies’ famous metal lunch box. As yall know, VT started off the season 0-2, with losses to Boise State and James Madison. I was wondering how the fans would respond, because we’ve all been there before…waiting for our team to show us some sign of life, and something worth cheering for. The crowd was loud at the start, but after a 17-7 run for the Pirates, flashbacks of James Madison had many arms crossed. Tech would fight their way back into the game, and trailed 24-21 at the half. The Hokies stormed out of the gate in the 2nd Half, outscoring ECU 28-3, and moving on to a 47-29 victory. I was really blown away by the crowd noise in the 2nd half, especially when VT held ECU on some pivotal 3rd downs. If you tune into the VT and GT game on Nov. 4, and notice Hokie fans shaking their car keys, you witnessed another Tech tradition. The keys represent 3rd downs as ‘key’ play. Also, on 4th downs, Hokie fans have another signal, calling for a blocked punt that Beamer’s boys are so famous for. Coming from the land of cowbells, I was amazed that Lane was able to surpass the sound of our beloved noise makers, with vocal chords and lungs alone. Even if you are not yelling, 10 of the 15 people around you are. I’ve now added the yelling to my cowbell ringing. We’ve gotten very spoiled in the past, thanks to having noise at the flick of our wrist. I’d have to compare Lane Stadium’s loudness to that of Auburn’s, which is a very loud setting. As far as noise goes, ‘Skipper’ the cannon is fired after every score, and shakes the foundation of Lane. Very, very, loud. And lastly, I have to mention VT’s final quarter tradition, the Hokie Pokie.The Band, Dance Squad, and Hokie mascot, alldo the Hokie Pokie to start the 4th quarter…so, there ya have it.

So what did I think?

Let’s just say VT is welcome to join the SEC anytime they want. The tailgating, the chants, the car keys, Enter Sandman, Skipper, the passionate and screaming fanbase, the tradition and history, the Hokie Pokie, and Beamer Ball…all welcome! For those who know VT better than I do, I sure hope this write up does the school justice. Anyway, ever thought about the things MSU and VT have in common?

• Maroon
• Major Engineering and Agriculture Schools
• Military history
• Drill Fields
• Cannon
• Shane Beamer coached at MSU
• Both State Colleges, Land Grant Institutions

Also, special thanks to Daniel Carper,a friend and my tour guide. And, also to his family, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Carper, who live in Blacksburg. Thanks for hospitality, and treating me like family. And, I’mcoming back next year, I hope.

Thoughts, Questions, & Comments?

Here are some photos I took, enjoy…

It seems like every week I say this, but where does the time go?

Game Week 8, welcomes UAB to Starkville. UAB has had quite a roller-coaster type season thus far, with only 2 wins to their credit (2-4). The Blazershave 2 losses by a combined 4 points, but the other 2 were by 21 points or more.

• Wins: 34-33 vs Troy, 21-6 vs UTEP
• Losses: 32-31 vs FAU, 28-7 vs SMU, 32-29 (OT) vs UT, and 42-7 vs UCF
• Combined Opponents Record: 20-17
• Opening Line: MSU 20 point favorite

We will take a more in-depth look at UAB tomorrow, during our Stat Match Up Analysis, but you can still chat about them if you like. Long story short, the Blazers have a pretty good offense, they don’t score as much as they should, and their D can’t stop anybody…but, they rank higher than TSUN though.

Welcome Nick Brassell

Now that it’s official, welcome aboard Mr. Nick Brassell. Brassell, the #9 WR, chose MSU over Bama, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and UT. Brassell is also rated as a 4 Star, and as the top player in the state of Mississippi. “I committed to MSU again. I am going to go through with it.” Many wondered if South Panola coach Lance Pogue had a hand in the confusion, and actually commented on two of his players’ commitments to MSU. “I spoke to Nick and Kendrick Market and they are firm with their commitment to MSU. They are 100% MSU, and I am proud for them to make their decision. We sure wish them well and know they will do well. They are just great kids and come from great families. Nick had a lot of pressure on him but he wants to go to MSU, and we are happy fo him… In no way I am out recruiting and never would I get in the recruiting business. I have enough on my hands trying to lead these boys in the classroom and out on the football field. I have a kid playing for Nebraska, Memphis, UAB, USM, Ole Miss, and now a couple headed to MSU. I want to run a program that when a kid says he is committed, he knows what the word commitment means.” Just to so you can rest assured, the talented Wideout has added the ‘No Interest’ tags, to all the schools I mentioned previously. Along with Brassell’s verbal, State also received the same gesture from one of Brassell’s teammates, Kendrick Market. Market is not to be overlooked, and is rated as a 2 Star, and as the #119 Safety in the country. He has also had a lot of success out of the Wildcat package at Panola, rushing for 587 yards, and completing 20-30 passes,  for 312 yards, and 4 TDs. Brassell on the other hand, racked up 1,200+ yards receiving last season, with 16 TDs. Keep in mind that South Panola is a top 5 program, and these kids are extremely well coached. Nice pick up for Dan Mullen and MSU, and the commitments now have MSU ranked 19thnationally, in recruiting. Sorry if I jumped the gun yesterday, but the way the kid was talking, and Ole Miss’ ties to South Panola, and there in lies my train of thought.

Langston Embraces His New Role

On Sunday, Dan Mullen informed us that DB Maurice Langston is seeing some time at WR, in order to help with the loss of Leon Berry. Langston doesn’t mind the move, since he played the Receiver position while he was at Arkansas State. “It’s kind of like deja vu’. It reminds me of my old JUCO days. It feels good to go out there and run routes and catch passes. I’m trying to learn everything. I’m not just trying to just have a certain amount of plays that I know, I want to pretty much be in it just like all the other wide receivers so I’ll be able to rotate. I haven’t really practiced with the defense since last week, they’re trying to let me learn all the offensive plays. Leon is a huge, huge miss for us, but I’m coming in trying to fill that void for everyone. I’d say I’ve got about 3/4s of the playbook down right. Going back to receiver is really nothing to me. It’s like riding a bike, just jump back in there.” Les Koenning:  “He’s adjusting well. He’s a smart young man and he’s got some qualities as an offensive player. He adjusts to the ball well. I think he’s enjoyed the move, it’s only been a week with him. But we’ve got to create some depth there.”

Injuries

We chatted Monday about the Bulldogs’ injury list, which includes Charles Mitchell and JC Brignone. Mullen: “We’re really protecting guys still and trying to get them there. They get a couple of reps here and there. We’re protecting a lot of those guys to get them healthy. I talked with the trainers and they’re really not concerned with anybody for Saturday.” Brignone: “It sucks to sit on the sidelines, especially to watch my team win like that and just want to be a part of it. But I know I did what I had to do to get my guys ready to play.”

Chris White

Kudos to the BEAST. After a weekend that earned him SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors, he was also named the Bronko Nagurski Player of the Week. Now that White has been honored, he is on the national watch list, which awards a winner on Dec. 6. Gotta love the way Chris plays, in an almost old school fashion. The Clarion Ledger has an article on White, here’s the Link.

Scout Interview Scott Stricklin

On the Stadium expansion plans: “Populouis, an architecture firm located in Kansas City, was here the week of the Georgia game with their latest rounds of designs. That was the first time they had actually come to a game and they were able to see the third largest crowd. And they could get an idea where the energy in the stadium is coming from. They are scheduled to come back here in two or three weeks with another round of designs and proposals. And, also, we are getting closer to what the cost estimates might be. We don’t have any hard costs yet, and that is, obviously, an important part of it, because you will get an idea what certain components cost. Once we have those in-hand we will have a better idea what our next steps are in finding funding…We will probably add 5,000 to 7,000 seats in this next phase. But that’s not an end point. There is also a plan for the next five to seven (thousand) after that and the next five to seven after that and the next five to seven thousand after that. But we need to be smart about it…The day I was hired I felt there would come a day when we have 75,000 seats on this campus and it may even be more. But you have to take those steps to get there. I threw that number out to get people thinking. Sometimes we get locked into our current view but it’s important to have some vision for down the road.”

*Btw, many are saying that Virginia Techwould be a great model to go by. I agree, that place holds in a heck of a lot of noise. Would yall mind if tomorrow, I share a post on my visit to Blacksburg? And then we can talk stats and predictions on Friday?

______Other News______

Heisman chat is alive and well. Cam Newton tops the list. Boise’s Kellen Moore, shouldn’t be on any one’s list, but he’s on everybody’s. Not to hard to beat 2 or 3 decent teams, and then beat up on Homecoming teams. Give me a break!  Link

Chris Low wrote an article on the Bama and UT power shift. Man, that rivalry is over for a few years. Link

Randall Cobb criticizes fair weather fans on Twitter. Can’t blame him. Link

Finebaum onChizik. Man, that’s looking a good hire now. Link

The John Blake saga goes even deeper. Now Brian Bosworth is involved. If you didn’t know, he worked for Jackie Sherrill in his last season, when I started. Kind of a jerk.  I remember Blake getting in an argument, and almost physical fight with the OL Coach at practice one day. Nice! Link

______Blog Questions______

Would Auburn’s Cam Newton have broken Tebow’s records, if he’d played a full 4 years at UF or Auburn?

What would MSU’s record be, if Newton was at State? Not stirring up dust, just asking…

Initial thoughts on UAB?

Once again…Would yall mind if tomorrow, I share a post on my visits to Blacksburg (Virginia Tech) ? And then we can talk stats and predictions on Friday?

Well guys, good Tuesday to yall. MSU is in the news, which means we have some items to discuss.

Nick Brassell Backs Out

I mentioned the fact that Nick Brassell committed to MSUyesterday, but it appears that he has changed his mind. Brassell is the #9 rated WR in the nation, and hails from South Panola. “I am still interested in whoever. I am still interested in State, but I do not have a number one anymore. I am still highly interested in State, but I am also still interested in Ole Miss and Alabama and anyone else who is really interested in me. They (State) are a good school and all, and I am still looking at them, but it is a long time until February. I just do not have a final decision yet. I want to see who all is going to offer me and compare it to the list of schools that have offered me. I guess I just got kind of caught up in the moment last night. I always felt like they were on the rise and then they beat Florida at Florida. Coach Smith called last night and told me they were offering my teammate Kendrick Market, and I just told him I was coming without giving it enough thought. I talked it over with my family, and we decided that the best thing for me to do was to open my recruitment back up. I just need to let everything cool down and take my visits and see after that.” When Brassell changed his mind, he made sure to cover all his bases, especially with Houston Nutt and Nick Saban. I just told them that I made a mistake and wanted them to know that I was still highly interested in them. Both of them understood. Coach Nutt said he was not going to back down and still come after me real hard . That is what Coach Saban told me too. It is a long ways until signing day.”

In front of a Homecoming crowd of 90,517, the MSU Bulldogs walked into a perfect Gator Bait situation, but instead, left as one of the nation’s Top 25 teams. Saturday night’s match up came down to a field goal try in the closing seconds, but ended with the promises and predictions that were made by Bulldog players, becoming a reality. Earlier in the week, RB Vick Ballard made the comment the he “knew” that State was going to “upset” UF in the Swamp. Bulldog CB Corey Broomfield, made mention of his previous experiences in the stands of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, saying “It’s a great atmosphere…I’m ready to see what it sounds like quiet.” Those words were considered by many in Gainesville as the perfect bulletin board material that Urban Meyer needed to inspire his Gators, that had lost 2 in a row. But, as UF’s Chas Henry’s 42 yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, Meyer was left with his face in hands, and overcome with disbelief. Meyer also seemed to be at a loss for words as well, considering his midfield visit with close friend and once student Dan Mullen, was cut awfully short. As for Mullen, he had this to say about the game: “I’ve said all week I’ve had success in this stadium. This is not an upset. Our team expected to win this football game.”

Anyway, game stories are for the guys who get paid to write them, and I don’t get paid enough. So here’s my assessment of MSU’s signature win in the Swamp…

Offense: Two words…Chris Relf. The kid gets it done. Relf rushed for 84 yards, on 22 carries, and a TD. He’s 5-2 as a starter, and has become the silent leader of the team. After running with authority in the 1st half, Relf did seem a little timid-running the ball at times in the second, but still showed the grit that was needed to get the yards, and keep the chains moving. State got 16 first downs on the night, 14 of which, by rushing the football. Not only was MSU sticking to their identity as a run-first team, but it was clear that they wanted to impose their will on the Gator defense, and did just that. Call it vanilla, call it elementary, but the Bulldog OL owned the trenches, to the tune of 4.3 yards per rush. RB Vick Ballard, who was on a scoring rampage over the past 3 weeks, racking up 8 TDs during that stretch, finished the night with no scores to his name. But, Ballard gashed the Gator D at times, and finished with 98 yards, on just 20 carries (4.9 avg). If it weren’t for the speed of UF’s LBs, he may have broken loose on more than one occasion. I’m really proud of the way that Relf and Ballard both carried the ball. There were times when their running lanes would close, but having the patience to let the blockers do their job and find some kind of window, led to positive yardage all night. How effecient was the MSU run game? State ran the ball 49 times, but only lost 7 yards throughout the entire game. The Bulldogs who lead the SEC in Time of Possession, won that battle yet again, holding the ball for 7+ minutes in 3 of the game’s quarters. In 2 of those 3 quarters, State held the ball for 9 + minutes, including 9:58 in the 4th Quarter. UF ran 16 more plays MSU, but State still held the ball longer. Saturday night turned out to be the Relf & Ballard Show, but the contributions of WR Chad Bumphis can’t be ignored. Bumphis rushed for 21 yards on 3 carries, and also had a 30 yard reception. Though the stats may not seem like much on paper, the catch and one of his runs, were key to either MSU moving down field to score, or keeping an edge in the field position battle. With all of that said, we can’t say enough about the OL, and the job that coach John Hevesy has done. A dramatic turn around, when compared to the LSU and Auburn match ups. On Friday, I noted that MSU needed to do the following: State must be able to run, and run effectively. If you can move the ball on the ground, you usually eliminate mistakes that you encounter in the passing game, and it allows you to keep the ball away from the Gators’ play makers on Offense. Pound the ball, wear em’ down, and take the crowd out of the game with long, clock-eating possessions. I think we did just that. Besides our scoring drives, I’d have to say that the most important possession of the game, was our last. UF had a lot of momentum, we forced the turnover, and kept the ball from the 7:50 mark, until just under the 2 minute mark. 

Defense: What a performance for Manny Diaz’s crew. The Dawg D racked up 9 tackles for a loss, -31 rushing yards, 3 sacks, and 3 turnovers.  Doing it every kind of way possible, State forced UF into turnovers on a fumble, an interception, and on downs. LB Chris White was a large part of MSU’s success, coming away with 11 tackles, 3sacks, and 4.5 tackles for loss. White refused to be bottled up by blockers, was excellent in pursuit, and had a hand in almost every big play on the defensive side of the ball. LB KJ Wright pitched in with 8 tackles (0.5 for loss), 1 pass break up, and a huge fumble recovery in the 4th quarter. Wright amazes me with his consistency in finding the primary passing lanes, and his ball-hawking. DB Johnthan Banks turned the Gators away in the 1st quarter with his first INT of the season, and now has 3 vs UF in 2games (2 for TDs). The DL didn’t put up great stats, but their penetration, and freeing up of blockers was key, allowing the LBs and blitzes to attack the back field. DT Fletcher Cox registered 1.5 tackles for loss, 3 tackles overall, and made the biggest play of the night, when he stripped Florida speedster Jeff Demps at the MSU 17 yard line (recovered by Wright). The play of DT Josh Boyd and DE Sean Ferguson cannot be overlooked as well. Both players caused UF RBs to redirect their runs, and disrupted the back field with their presence. DBs Corey Broomfield and Nickoe Whitley did an excellent job finding the ball, and finished with 7 tackles apiece. Overall, a great performance by our D. There were about 2 stretches in the game, for a string of about 6 or 7 plays, where the Bulldogs got pushed around, and lost their dominant foothold. Of course, I am referring to the possessions in the 2nd half when Trey Burton entered the game, and gave the Gators a much needed spark. UF added just enough wrinkles here and there, to convert on 3rd downs, and remove predictability that led to a big score. Hats off to the Dawg D though, every time we needed a big play, they provided it-forcing BIG turnovers, and keeping UF’s Chas Henry out of comfortable field goal range. Even though the Gators had their moments of explosiveness, State held UF to just 361 total yards (only 33 yards above MSU’s Def. average). #2 on my keys to victory list, was containing the Gators’ Jeff Demps. Diaz did just that, as Demps totaled just 43 yards on 8 touches.

Special Teams: Every game this season, the Special Teams Unit has given us plenty to complain about. But, on Saturday night, the only thing I could complain about was the missed FG by Sean Brauchle (40 yds, 4th Qtr- 10:56). But, let’s put that aside and focus on the good. (1) Brauchle made an earlier FG attempt, and those 3 points turned out to be the deciding factor. (2) Brauchle averaged 63 yards per kick off, and UF’s speedy KR Andre Debose only averaged 21 yards per return. (3) Only punt was fielded by the Gators all night, and was returned for just 5 yards (Janoris Jenkins). (4) Heath Hutchins punted for a 43 yard average, and his final boot of the night, a 48 yarder, was downed at the Gator 4 yard line. HUGE. I really don’t care that we failed to pin UF back, but keeping the ball out of Jenkins and Debose’s hands, was perfectly fine with me. Not allowing UF to display their speed in the open field, was a very smart decision by Mullen, in how he managed the Special Teams. (5) I really liked all the pre-snap movement and adjustments on the line. I know one time, re-positioning was the difference in avoiding a blocked punt. I never thought that our Special Teams would have the edge on UF’s, but we completely took them out of their element, with our approach in this facet of the game. I saw a lot of improvement.

Improvement?: I’m not trying to be greedy, trust me, I am thrilled about the win in the Swamp. But, State could have blown this game wide open! I know Mullen is happy with the win, but he also agrees that we have some things to clean up.

• (1) We KILLED our own drives: We had 3 false start penalties that killed us. On our first possession, QB Chris Relf was G-O-N-E, on a QB draw, but the play was whistled dead because of a false start. Sad thing is, it wasn’t even one of those plays where the opposing D knew that the play was dead from the start, and just gave up. It was the perfect play call, the D was caught off guard and flat-footed, and Relf had no one left to beat. That’s 7 points instead of 3, that we should have had on that drive. On our last possession (4th Qtr- 7:50-2:00 mark), State ended up holding the ball for almost 6 minutes and could not be stopped. 2 false starts in a row, a loss of yardage later, and MSU had stopped themselves. We had to punt the ball and our chances to close out the game-away. Don’t even get me started on the drive we had earlier in the 4th quarter (Inside the UF 20 yd line), where veteran OL Derek Sherrod got called for holding, and killed yet another drive. I think the thing that bothered me the most on the false start penalties, was the fact that the call was on players that were not even really involved in the play, or getting the ball. Such as a WR, or a RB, who’s only job is to watch for the snap and block.
• (2) There are still plays to be made: First play of the game, LB Emmanuel Gatling missed a perfect chance for an easy INT. On UF’s last drive, 3 different Bulldogs (Whitley, Banks, and Z.Smith) had a chance to pick off the same Brantley pass that would have sealed the game, and stopped UF’s almost game winning or game tying drive.
• (3) Brauchle’s missed FG: Gotta have that one. If that game goes into O.T. because of his earlier miss, our chances of winning at the Swamp are probably ZERO, considering Trey Burton was finding his zone, and would have had the short field to work with. 
• (4) DBs need to MAN UP: I know these guys are somewhat smaller, but as athletic as Nickoe Whitely, Corey Broomfield, and Johnthan Banks are, I know they can shed blocks from guys that are their size or smaller. I get so mad watching the secondary, when one of these guys are getting man-handled or locked up by a WR. Get your hands inside, sling that guy off of you, and make the play. Defenders never get called for penalties in those situations, but for some reason always turn into the more submissive party. Whitley and Broomfield, could easily have 5 or 6 more tackles apiece. And to be honest, whether they do or don’t, is COMPLETELY up to them. These same guys, took some really bad angles, and missed their assignments on the edges, in defending the option, when Burton was in the game. Of all these guys, Banks is the only one with an excuse, just due to his body weight.
• (5) Poor play-calling, at the wrong moment, strikes once again: I haven’t had a complaint for Les Koenning, since the Alcorn game. But, why is it that after a HUGE, game changing play, we decide to abandon our identity, and throw the football??? Does our series after the on side kick vs Auburn ring a bell? We might be 6-1 right now, if Koenning calls better plays on that very possession. As for Saturday night, there’s no excuse to not come away with points, with the ball on the UF 40 yard line, 1st and 10. Instead, we didn’t move the ball an inch, and punted. For the record, I have no problem throwing on one of those plays, and if you are trying to capitalize with the passing game in a situation like that, throw the ball deep in a one-on-one situation. Take a shot, that’s fine. But don’t call 3 pass plays in a row. Stick to our strengths.

*On a side note: I would also like to make one other point. Even though this was not the typical Gator team that we’ve become familiar with over the past 5 years, it was still the same old Swamp. I was really glad that our guys did not fold under the atmosphere and noise that Ben Hill Griffin is famous for. Only one thing is worse than a Gator team being up and in the lead, and that’s a Gator team who is trailing. The desperation that 1st quarter deficit created, put MSU in a 3 quarter battle with a racous crowd. I’m pretty sure that MSU teams of the past, would have crumbled under that pressure, but these guys didn’t.

*This is how it starts: What is that you might ask? It’s how programs turn the corner. State has now beaten 2 of the SEC East’s Giants, in UGA and UF. I know as well as you do, that neither team is having the year that everyone thought they’d be having, but that’s not MSU’s fault. A win at home vs UGA is a win. And, a win in the Swamp is a win. MSU is starting to win the games that they are supposed to, and few that they are not. To climb back into the national spotlight, sometimes you have to do so over big name programs having down years. State only has 1 game left on their schedule, that many might consider a definite loss (Alabama). UK and Arkansas are fine football teams as well, but are by no means untouchable. And, I’m starting to think Bama’s mojo is somewhat wearing off. Anyway, the Bulldogs can earn bowl eligibility this weekend vs UAB, but finishing out this season with at least 4 SEC wins, would be a great foundation for the 2011 season. Pretty nice feeling, knowing that the Bulldogs are 5-2 against the nation’s 4th toughest schedule. It’s amazing just how far Mullen has taken this team in 2 years. Soon, the media will stop focusing on what other teams did wrong-in order to lose to us, and focus on what we did right-in order to beat other teams.

Moving Forward:  Mullen said it best: “I’ve always felt our team has done a tremendous job dealing with the emotion of defeats. Now we’re going to see how we deal with some success…We’re going to enjoy this win but we need to make a lot of improvements if we’re going to have continued success with this program.We (MSU) didn’t cross the finish line at the University of Florida.”

 Your thoughts on the win?

What’s the win over UF in the Swamp mean for MSU?

How good does it feel that MSU is ranked? I was a sophomore in college the last time that happened…

Do you think UF has some major problems?

______SEC Weekend______

-Vandy is TERRIBLE, and the worst team by far in the SEC.

-I told yall! WAR EAGLE! Link

-USC…well, same old story. Link

-Week 7 Helmet Stickers, Chris White? Link

-Bowl Projections, including MSU. Link

Guess it’s time to find out who has the bigger CHOMP! MSU travels to Gainesville this weekend, to take on the #22 Florida Gators. Both teams weigh in at 4-2, with similar resumes, and both are trying to make their OWN statement. For UF, who started the season ranked #4, they are out to prove that they still belong amongst the top programs in the SEC. Even in some wins earlier this season, the Gators failed to turn the heads of voters, and lost some ground in the rankings. After 2 tough losses to Bama (31-6) and LSU (33-29), the Gators look to right their ship vs the Bulldogs.

For MSU, their statement is a little different. In Dan Mullen’s second season, the Bulldogs are out to prove that they can make the big plays-that are there to be made, against quality SEC opponents. Earlier this season, State had (now # 7) Auburn on the ropes, and with every chance to win the game. The Dawgs however, couldn’t close the deal, falling 17-14. It’s games and moments in those type games, that MSU is looking to turn in their favor. With that said, let’s examine the history behind the MSU & UF match up…

• First met in 1923 (Tied 13-13) 
• UF holds a 33-18-2 Advantage in the series (64%)
• Gators are 22-7 vs MSU (as the Home team)
• Average Score:  UF  21   MSU  15
• UF is 7-3 in the last 10 vs MSU
• Last meeting: 2009,  UF 29-19

And as we do every week, let’s take a look at what the experts at CollegeGamedayStats, has to say about the game:

• MSU Scoring vs UF Opponents’ Scoring- None
• MSU Pass Off. vs UF Pass Def.- Advantage UF
• MSU Rush Off. vs UF Run Def.-  Advantage MSU
• UF Scoring vs MSU Opponents’ Scoring- Advantage MSU
• UF Pass Off. vs MSU Pass Def.- None
• UF Rush Off. vs MSU Rush Def.- Advantage MSU
• UF Favored by 7 over MSU
• Experts pick home field advantage, as the deciding factor.
• And as always, you can get their inside information on all the SEC games, by emailing them at info@collegegamedaystats.com

My Thoughts: If I was Dan Mullen, there’s a number of things that I would bring up about the Gators. My non-spitting, Lou Holtz speech to the guys would include the following points: (1) MSU hung with Florida last season, without even scoring an offensive TD. (2) They were the #1/ #2 team in the country last season (depending on who’s ranking you subscribe to) when the 2 met, but this season UF is #22, and falling in the rankings. They are not the same team. (3)They don’t have Superman anymore. No more Mr. Heisman, and his knack for winning games. Also, no more Aaron Hernandez, Brandon James, Brandon Spikes, Carlos Dunlap, Joe Haden, or Major Wright. Once again, this is a different Gator team. (4) MSU is better on offense and defense in 2010, than they were in 2009. State’s D did everything in last year’s match up, but the improvement on both sides of the ball, gives MSU an even better chance vs UF this year. For what it’s worth, Mullen could even tell the Dawgs that they are better than UF on offense and defense, because statistically they are. (5)The Bulldog Coach, could even bring up the fact that most all of UF’s play makers are hurt, or playing through an injury. Demps, Brantley, Thompson, Elam, make the list. Mullen could even bring up the suspended Chris Rainey. (6) And most importantly, throw all this out the window…this all fan talk, and items that fans only pay attention to. Mullen will tell them the most important thing that you can tell a team- we can only worry about ourselves, and what we can control. Do that, and do your job, and we’ll be fine.

Can’t blame me for trying to build up some kind of confidence…after all, we are heading into one of the toughest venues in the country. I’m not downing the Gators in anyway, I’m just pointing out some things that are worthy of being mentioned.

_______Keys to Victory_______

(1) Run the Football- State must be able to run, and run effectively. If you can move the ball on the ground, you usually eliminate mistakes that you encounter in the passing game, and it allows you to keep the ball away from the Gators’ play makers on Offense. UF may struggle at times moving the ball, but every snap they have can be considered dangerous with their talent level. Pound the ball, wear em’ down, and take the crowd out of the game with long, clock-eating possessions.

(2) Contain Jeff Demps- It’s hard to find someone, as explosive as Demps. He’s one of those players that can take a simple dump pass, or read option hand off, and turn it into a game changing 60 or 70 yd play. Follow your gap assignment, watch the cut back, and penetrate the offensive back field. Demps is recovering from an injury, which might slow him down to an extent, but he’s still the fastest guy MSU will see this season. With other play makers not going 100%, stopping Demps or allowing him to run wild, will have a lot to say about the outcome on Saturday night.

(3) Mix Up the Blitzes & Pressures- Brantley has an accurate, quick release, so State must hide their coverages and blitzes. It’s really time to see the DL and LB, create those opportunities that this attacking defense is supposed to create. Hopefully, mixing the blitzing angles up, and taking away any patterns of predictability, will force Brantley into mistakes.

(4) OL Must Show Up- UF has done a really good job stopping the run this season. Bama’s Ingram and Richardson totaled just 110 yds, and LSU’s Ridley was held to 82 yards. One thing that I do like though, is the fact that both Jordan Jefferson and USF’s BJ Daniels, were able to scramble and run for yards vs UF. The 2 QBs put up 47 and 107 yds, respectively. If Relf can sense when to tuck it and run in passing situations, then he’ll benefit from keeping the LBs eyes in the backfield, and attack through the air. Also, the OL has to show up so that MSU can stick to what works for them, the run game. Relf, Ballard, and Perkins will have to be given some lanes to plow through, and hopefully, pick up yards in chunks at times. UF’s D is a lot like MSU’s. They too, are very much a bend but don’t break defense. So, I don’t look for an extremely low scoring output by either team. If State can run the ball behing the big ol’ hog mollies, they’ll match the Gators step for step.

(5) Make the Plays- I know it sounds cliche’, but how many dropped balls, missed tackles, missed INTs, and just stupid mistakes, have cost MSU over the past 2 seasons. When a play is there to be made, MAKE it! Seize the momentum when it’s there for the taking! Get off the field on 3rd Down! Want it more! That’s what championship teams do, they make plays. I really think this will be the Defense’s game, and that will make or break us. We must also make every FG, and get down field on every punt. Funamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

_______My Prediction_______

UF  28  MSU  24. Just like the UGA game, I’m going to use some reversepsychology on the football gods…even though I don’t believe they exist. I am however, extremely superstitious. So anyway, just reverse the score and you have my real pick for this game. I know, I know…but, I feel good about this one. Call me a homer, but I really think that ALL the pressure is on UF in this one. This is not a must win for State, but it is for UF, considering where their program is at, and all the expectations that seem to be dwindling for them. MSU just needs to show up, and display the fact that they can hang with some of the SEC’s best. Anyway, the Addazio booing won’t stop, the Meyer and Mullen -Student vs the Teachercover story will be talked about throughout the game, both in the stands and in the booth. Something tells me that the added pressure, won’t be a good thing for Meyer and Co., and all the banged up Gators won’t help the situation. I really think this will be a close game, somewhat similar to the UGA game, but a strong 2nd half for the Bulldogs and the Dawg D, produce a big signaturewin for Mullen and MSU. For State to come away with a win though, they have to put the Swamp’s atmosphere, the UF winning tradition, and any self-defeating thought aside, and focus on each individual play. Maybe I’m crazy. Win or Lose, the Gators will know that MSU was in the house, and came to play. A close win, or a close competitive loss is in store for MSU. Since I’m sticking to superstition, no individual player performance predictions will be made (pssssss…Relf and Ballard, 180 yards rushing combined). Feel free to make your own though, I just can’t bring myself to do it. 

What’s your prediction for Dawgs & Gators?

What’s your Keys to Victory?

_______SEC Weekend_______

Arky @ Auburn      War Dang Eagle!  38-21

Vandy @ UGA    Who cares?  20-13

USC @ UK   Too close for comfort. 24-21

Bad News Bears @  Bama   Ouch!  41-10

* My picks in Bold

Who ya got?

-And TSUN chose their new Mascot yesterday, BOW DOWN! Land Shark and Hotty Toddy!!! Make way fooooor…Rebel-the Black Bear? Nutt’s comments: “I’m glad that our students had the opportunity to get what they wanted. But I’ll be honest, I haven’t thought that much about it. I know we’re Ole Miss Rebels, I know now we’re a black bear. But I’m worried about a different type of animal right now — I’m worried about them elephants.”- In perfect English from the Rev. Right.

Your Thoughts on the choice? According to Jake’s OM Blog, the bear has been sighted. Link

Markillas and Car, be careful down there.

Kick off is 2 days away for MSU and #22 UF. And, if anything is certain, it’s that Saturday will certainly serve as a decent gauge in revealing what these 2 teams are made of. But, that’s for Saturday to determine. With today being Thursday, it’s time to dig into our weekly Stat Match Up Analysis.

• Total Off.         MSU  416 ypg (38th)   UF  323 ypg (96th)
• Rushing Off.    MSU 211 ypg (23rd)   UF  140 ypg (76th)
• Passing Off.     MSU  205 ypg (72nd)  UF  183 ypg (87th)
• Scoring Off.     MSU  31 ppg (44th)     UF  31 ppg (47th)
• Total Def.        MSU  328 ypg (36th)   UF  306 ypg (21st)
• Rushing Def.   MSU  113 ypg (26th)   UF  117 ypg (34th)
• Passing Def.    MSU  215 ypg (64th)   UF  188 ypg (39th)
• Scoring Def.    MSU  17 ppg (22nd)    UF  20 ppg (37th)

UF- Opponents’ Combined Record  (17-12)

We can’t ignore UF’s stats, which are far from Gator-like, but we also can’t ignore the fact that UF lost some major players to graduation, and the NFL draft. Tim Tebow, Brandon James, Joe Haden, Aaron Hernandez, Carlos Dunlap, Major Wright, and Brandon Spikes…ring a bell anyone? In the past, just knowing that Tebow was on the Gator sideline, made it hard to bet against Florida. Brandon James, and players that remain-such as Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, made UF a rushing power house. Most of those big names that I mentioned earlier, were the cornerstone of the nation’s #2 defense. That was then, this is now. Fast forward six games deep into the 2010 season, and UF is searching for an identity on offense, while their defense has done their fair share to keep the Gators’ SEC East hopes alive. Even though Florida lost the talent they did, their shelves are still well stocked with young talent. But, the question is, can Off. Coordinator Steve Addazio put the right pieces together? UF will be trying to put 2 tough conference losses behind them, before preparing to face UGA.

Wins: Miami (OH), USF, @ UT, UK   Losses:Bama, LSU

MSU- Opponents’ Combined Record  (21-13)

After a slow start, MSU really seems to have returned to their identity on offense, which is runningthe football. One of the main reasons that identity was lost, was the absence of RB Anthony Dixon, who is now in the NFL. But, after sputtering to start 2010, better OL play, QB Chris Relf’s consistency, and the emergence of RB Vick Ballard, seem to have State headed in the right direction. Everything began to click in the 4th game of the season against UGA, when MSU rolled to a 24-12 victory. State added W’svs Alcorn State and Houston, and will ride a 3 game winning streak into the Swamp. This will be State’s first conference game since Sept. 25, and not to mention, the first time they have stared across the line of scrimmage at a SEC caliber defense as well. After 2 straight 500+ yard performances, it’s back to reality for the Bulldogs, but finding their niche has given the Dawgs a lot of confidence.

Wins:Memphis, UGA, Alcorn State, UH   Losses: Auburn, LSU 

-What sticks out to you guys, when you look at the stats?

-Does looking at the stats change your mind about the Gators? Or do you still see this as a traditionally tough Gator team?

-Without reading into the stats too much, how well do you think MSU stacks up to UF, this year?

I think Mullen had an excellent quote yesterday, when he said this: ”I think our mentality is our guys believe they can do that now more than they did at that time last year. And that’s half the step. Whether we actually make those plays or not, we’re going to find out on Saturday night. But I think the belief and expectations for players that think they’re going to is much higher.”

_______MSU & SEC News_______

Chris Low touches on my question from Tuesday, about UF possibly missing Mullen. Link

Low’s SEC QB rankings. Link

Low’s SEC Superlatives thus far. Link

Urban Meyer defends Chris Rainey. Desperate move? Link

Do yall realize that if Vick Ballard replicates the success he had in the first half of 2010-in the second half, he’ll top Bama’s Shaun Alexander, as the SEC record holder for TDs and points in a season for a RB?  Link

Not a lot today boys, but I need rest, my apologies… 

With Game 6 behind us, that means one thing…we are at the midway point of the 2010-2011 season. MSU (4-2, 1-2) is being considered by many, including ESPN’s Chris Low, to be the most improved team in the SEC, after finishing just 5-7 in 2009. I thought today, that we’d take a glance at some of the factors that have the Bulldogs on the rise.

Offense: Many wondered how long it would take Dan Mullen’s Offense to embrace and fully grasp the Spread Attack, that he and Urban Meyer perfected for almost a decade. MSU finished 2009, ranked among the nation’s leaders in rushing, and the same appears to be in store for the remainder of the 2010 season. But, in order to run an effective Spread styled offense, you must have some kind of passing game, to keep defenses off-balance. From the looks of things, QB Chris Relf has done his part in improving his passing game, to play a huge role in helping the Bulldogs find that needed balance. Here’s a look at where MSU ranks among the rest of the nation in Offensive categories…

• Total Offense: 38th (416 ypg)  6th in SEC
• Rushing Offense: 23rd (211 ypg)  3rd in SEC
• Passing Offense: 72nd (205 ypg)  8th in SEC
• Scoring Offense: 44th (31ppg)  5th in SEC
• RB Vick Ballard- Tied for 4th in the nation in Scoring (12 ppg)
• Yards Per Game: Vick Ballard- 70 (rushing), Chris Relf-161 (pass/run), and Tyler Russell- 123 (pass/run), Bumphis- 71 (receiving)
• 11 different players have at least one rushing attempt, and 14 different players have at least one catch.

Defense: One area of drastic improvement, is the defensive side of things for MSU. First year MSU Def. Coordinator Manny Diaz, and Co-Def. Coordinator Chris Wilson, have somewhat restored State’s strong defensive presence, and identity. Diaz’s philosophy, which is centered on attacking the offense, hasn’t created quite the amount of big play opportunities that we’d expected, but has in a lot of ways-carried the team through certain games in 2010. Here’s a look at where the Dawg D stacks up thus far…

• Total Defense: 36th (328 ypg) 6th in the SEC
• Rushing Defense: 26th (113 ypg)  6th in the SEC
• Passing Defense: 64th (215 ypg)  8th in the SEC
• Scoring Defense: 22nd (17.5 ppg)  4th in the SEC
• Chris White, KJ Wright, and Charles Mitchell: all avg 7 tackles per game.
• Chris White- 1.25 tackles per loss a game.

Even though State is 4-2, they’ve had their chances against the likes of Auburn and LSU, and their wins have come over Memphis, UGA, Alcorn, and Houston. MSU’s numbers have been lower vs SEC competition, which is nothing out of the ordinary, when SEC foes meet. But, time will tell what kind of team MSU really has, considering the road that lies ahead. Can the Bulldogs hang with UF, Arky, and Bama? Can they Beat UK and Ole Miss? One things for sure, even if they don’t come away with W’s vs the big boys, staying competitive and at least earning a bowl bid, goes a long way in building for next year.

Looking around the SEC, there are many other story lines, such as UGA’s collapse, Auburn’s rise, UF’s sputtering ‘O’, USC topping the SEC East, UT’s rebuilding year, and LSU’s well…luck? I predicted that Auburn would win the West, and it appears they may well on their way to doing so. I called out UGA from the start, as possibly the most overrated team in the Preseason Top 25. But, I am surprised the most by USC’s ability to throw the past aside, and take control of the East. If I had known that Lattimore was going to be a BEAST of a Freshman, then I would have picked them higher. With all this said though, Bama and UF ain’t out for the count, Spurrier still has time to lose momentum, and LSU has the meat of their schedule coming up, as most do. So let’s take a look at who everyone has left on their schedule…

• Bama- Ole Miss, @ UT, @ LSU, MSU, Ga State, and Auburn
• Arky- @ Auburn, Ole Miss, Vandy, @ USC, @ MSU, UTEP, LSU
• Auburn- Arky, LSU, @ Ole Miss, Chatt, UGA, @ Bama
• UF- MSU, UGA, @ Vandy, USC, App St, @ FSU
• UGA- Vandy, @ UK, UF, Idaho St, @ Auburn, GT
• UK- USC, UGA, @ MSU, Charleston, Vandy, @ UT
• LSU- McNeese, @ Auburn, Bama, ULM, Ole Miss, @ Arky
• TSUN- @ Bama, @ Arky, Auburn, Lafayette, @ UT, @ LSU, MSU
• MSU- @ UF, UAB, UK, @ Bama, Arky, @ Ole Miss
• Sorry, but I’m not wasting my time on UT or Vandy

Toughest Remaining Road:  (1) Ole Miss- 4 of the top teams from the West (Bama, Arky, LSU, and Auburn), 3 of those on the road, Lafayette who hung with Okl State, and the Egg Bowl.  (2) Arkansas- 3 of the top West teams, road games at USC and MSU, and a non-conference date with UTEP.

Easiest Remaining Road:  UK-South Carolina will be tough, but wins vs UGA, Charleston, Vandy, UT, and possibly MSU, will have the Cats bowling.

Most Underrated SEC Teams:  UKand MSU

Deserving of More Respect:  LSU

-How do you feel about MSU so far this season?

-Biggest surprise in the SEC this year?

-Who in your opinion, has the toughest and easiest road remaining?

*Don’t forget to watch the BULLDOGS on ESPN-U today, at 5pm. They’ll be giving a behind the scenes look at MSU and Dan Mullen. The segment was recorded last week during our preparation for Houston.

That’s it boys!

*Btw, All Things Maroon went over 20,000 pageviews, and 11,000 visits, in just 3 and a half months! Thanks guys!

Tuesday of Game Week 7, brings us to what Dan Mullen & Urban Meyer had to say about their match up, this upcoming Saturday…

Dan Mullen

• “This is a big game going back in conference play and we are ready to get back on the road in the SEC. This is Florida and they are always a tough opponent, especially at home and we know they are going to have a great crowd. They are a very talented football team and we have to adjust to their speed. Talent top-to-bottom is good since they finished top five nationally in recruiting for the past five years. We’ll have our hands full but we have to come out and execute at a very high level. You look at ways to be successful in the Southeastern Conference and one of those ways is you have to protect the football and can’t turn it over. You have to be able to create turnovers. You have to be able to run the football and control the tempo of the game. When we get down in the redzone and have an opportunity to score, we have to score. That is what we need to do to get a tough road win.”
• On Meyer: “I am sure Urban (Meyer) and his guys are going to get things turned around. If you look, they didn’t just lose football games but lost to two top-10 football teams.”
• What he learned from Meyer: “After being with him (Meyer) for so many years you pick up on ways to handle so many different situations. He has done a great job everywhere he’s been if you look at his history. He does a great job with his staff and keeping everyone involved and he does a fabulous job managing their program from top to bottom.”
• Still talks to Meyer:  ”I imagine we’ll talk a little bit more after this game this year when we’re not playing each other every single year. It’s probably been two weeks since I talked to him in person.”
• On UF’s Offense: “They are a different from the team from last season. You just have to study them and try and familiarize yourself with them. They have a lot of young players that weren’t even there when I was there that are playing regularly for them now. How they utilize their athletes is different and that creates match up problems with us so that is why we have to watch film and study them.”
• On the 2009 MSU and UF Match Up: “Our guys came out fired up and ready to play Florida and the stadium atmosphere was unbelievable. We were stressing to our guys that these are the kind of games that we are going to need to start winning if we want to get to the level we want to be. I think the guys understood that but as the game wore on, I don’t think we had anyone confident enough to step up and make the big plays that were necessary for us to win that game. I think when the game ended, they realized we could have won that football game. I think that changed the demeanor of this team from ‘we are not just here to compete, we are here to win’ and now I think the guys are going into a game believing that we are going to win.”
• On the Swamp: “I don’t know if it’s more of a hornet’s nest than any time you walk into The Swamp on a Saturday night to play a football game.”

Urban Meyer

• On MSU: “Obviously, a huge game this weekend. We’re 4-2. We have an upstart team coming to our stadium and we have to play very well. They had a lot of yards last week against Houston. They’re a spread option football team, throwing the ball better than they have.”
• Is MSU Better in 2010?: I thought they were pretty good last year. They have very good personnel. They had an excellent back (Dixon) last year, and one this year that’s running real hard. As a team they are better, but I thought they were pretty decent last year. They are aggressive in Special Teams. Their gonna come after us, in punt block. Their Punt Returner (Bumphis) is a decent player. They have an All SEC. They have are very multiple, and have a new defensive staff. They bring it from everywhere. And, we have to make sure we cover all our bases.” 
• On Mullen’s Personality: “Dan is a unique personality. Dan and I get along great…Real smart guy.”
• *Side Note*- Since none of UF’s outlet sources provide a true transcript of Meyer’s press conferences, I listened to all 20 minutes just to give my humble following the nuggets above. But one BIG thing stood out. At the end of Meyer’s press conference, a reporter was asking questions about Dan Mullen, and it got a little ugly if you ask me. The reporter asked Meyer the following questions: “Would you comment on the fact that Dan is annoying, and hated by the Tebow family? / Many players really loved the guy, but some hated him, can you expound on that issue?”  MAJOR PROPS to Meyer in how he handled the reporter, telling the guy that he must really be looking for a story and something to write, because none of that was true. He called the reporter out, by clarifying the Tebow issue, which was at the beginning of Tebow’s signing, concerning Chris Leake. And, he went on to mention that everyone that has worked with or around Dan Mullen, has come away liking the guy, including the Tebow family, who LOVES Dan Mullen. Meyer also went on to talk about how close Dan and Tebow continue to be, and how well he built relationships with former players under Meyer, at every school that they have worked together. Meyer once again corrected the reporter about his desperate need for a story, and as he walked off, the reporter yelled out- “Yeah, but isn’t he obnoxious?”…Kudos to Urban, for showing the class he did.

* While I’m at it, let me say this. I know many people may disagree with me, but Dan Mullen leaving UF, was like removing the corner stone of the foundation-that is Urban Meyer Football. UF’s play calling is about as predictable as it gets. Steve Addazio ain’t got nothin’ on Dan Mullen (thanks, Denzel Washington). When is he going to realize that his offense and personnel is still geared and catered towards a Tebow type QB? Inside the 10, here comes Trey Burton…by the way, Kirby Smart is calling the ’jump-pass’ for you, from the Bama sideline. I don’t see UF winning another ring, until Addazio is replaced. I think it will take Meyer well into his retirement, to admit that losing Mullen was what removed the Gators from dominance. I look for the Gators to be a great team year in and year out, but not the team they were when Mullen was in town. I have no doubt that Mullen would be utilizing the personnel a lot better, the predictability would be absent, and UF would still be on top of the SEC East, if not the entire conference. The Gators have lost that swagger, and you can find it on the MSU sideline. I’m not calling them out, I’m not trash talking over this week’s match up, I’m just saying wait and see. Wait and see if Mullen was the missing piece. Wait and see if it takes someone other than Addazio, to return the Gators to the Offensive machine they once were. I know there are other problems on the team, maybe some off-field distractions, etc., but a lot of last year and this year, have a lot to do with Mullen’s absence. And, I think it’s reporters like the guy I mentioned, who know it deep down, and can’t help but kick up some dust, to assuage that very fact…but, maybe it’s just me.*

_______Confident Talk from the Dawgs________

DB Corey Broomfield:  “It’s a great atmosphere. Like I wrote on my Facebook, I’m ready to see what it sounds like quiet.”- That was smack, sorry.

RB Vick Ballard: “I think we’re going to upset them…I know we’re going to upset them.”- Yeah, that’s smack too.

DT Fletcher Cox: “Once you believe, then you can do a lot of things. You can believe that you can beat somebody, then you can do it.”- Not smack.

Where’s Smooooooot when ya need him? Oh yeah…on a boat. Oops.

Here’s what Mr. SEC had to say about the Bulldogs: Mississippi State — Dan Mullen makes his return to Gainesville this week and his team actually appears to be ready for the showdown.  I’m not suggesting the Bulldogs will walk out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a victory, but I do think it’s clear that Mullen has made big strides with the MSU program in just a season and a half.  The Dogs are 23rd in the nation rushing the ball (rolling up more than 400 yards on the ground against Houston last week) and their defense has shown improvement under Manny Diaz.  With games against Auburn, LSU, Georgia and Houston already in the books, the Bulldogs are still allowing fewer than 18 points per game.  Regardless of the outcome, this MSU-Florida match up looks a lot more interesting now than it did back in August.

-In case yall missed it, Bulldog WR Leon Berry had surgery yesterday on his dislocated left ankle. Berry was injured on the Second Half’s opening kick off vs UH this past weekend. The replay revealed Berry’s ankle rolling and turning, under the pursuing tackler’s body. Mullen’s response to questions yesterday, mirrored what he had previously said on Sunday-concerning Berry’s injury, in that he expected a return from # 9 around the Bowl Season. Berry had 1 KR for a TD (97 yds), 8 catches for 188 yards, and 1 TD.

-Twice as Nice! MSU’s Derek Sherrod was crowned once again, as the SEC’s Offensive Lineman of the Week. He was recognized the first time after his performance vs UGA. Sherrod was highly touted coming out of high school, but it seemed to take awhile for that potential to manifest itself. But since last year, he has firmly established himself as a leader, and one of our most reliable players. He is truly starting to dominate.

-MSU’s TV Times: 7 o’clock on ESPNU, for both the UF (Oct. 16th) and UAB (Oct. 23rd) games. 4th time on the ‘U’ this season. I know one thing, it’s better than watching your team on the your home computer like TSUN fans have all year.

Injury list growing in the Swamp? Link

11th UGA player suspended for 2010 season, RB Caleb King. Link

Need the rule book to explain the LSU fake FG toss? Here ya go. Link

Btw, yall don’t forget about Jake at The Ole Miss Blog. They’ve got Bama this week…not a position I’d want to be in. Link

What do you guys think, is Mullen the missing link for UF and Meyer?

Your thoughts on Mullen’s and Meyer’s comments?

Do yall think Ole Miss is in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ situation, with Bama coming off a loss?

On Saturday night, MSU walked into Robertson Stadium with a purpose: Leave 4-2. And, they did just that. The Bulldogs put up 500 total yards for the third time this season (538), with 409 of those coming on the ground. Vick Ballard who is emerging as one of the best RBs not just in the SEC, but possibly the country, ran for 134 yards and 3 TDs, on 14 carries. With the ‘W’ at Houston, State is now 4-2 on the season, and will be riding a 3 game winning streak heading into the Swamp. As always, I’m not here to type game stories, I’m here to give you thoughts from a fan’s perspective, so let’s get started.

Vick Ballard: Is a Beast. In the last 3 games, Ballard has made a name for himself in Starkville. 311 yards, on 34 carries, averaging 9 yards per carry, with 8 TDs. He is the perfect mix of physicality and finesse, and seems to be the right fit for Dan Mullen’s spread attack. Like we’ve touched on before, he is a hard-nosed runner, and has the speed and agility to find the second level with ease. Whether or not Vick has success running the ball, will have a lot to say about MSU’s overall success in 2010. Run-Vick-Run. Mullen on Ballard: “I think Vick, what I saw him do, made the nice runs that were there, but also create on his own, breaking tackles, making some people miss, and turning kind of a regular run into a longer run. I think you see him getting more and more comfortable in our offense now. And when you have that comfort, you see him trusting and hitting the holes like he’s supposed to, and then being comfortable to create on his own when he gets in the open field.”

QBs Chris Relf & Tyler Russell: For the 3rd straight game, Relf has protected the football (no INTs), commanded the team down field, and has been very efficient in both rushing and throwing the football. The Alcorn State game was nothing more than an opportunity to allow Chris to throw the football more, and work on that aspect of his game. But, when you consider the UGA and UH games, games in which we are relying on Chris to play a vital role in our running identity, he has shined. Relf posted 109 rushing yards vs UGA, and 96 vs Houston. As good as he has been running the football, there are still areas of improvement needed in his passing game. On plays that allow any type of time to develop, he continually stares down receivers, which attracts double coverage, or allows defenders to jump a route. Les Koenning is beginning to give Relf more opportunities to throw on the run, which immediately presents a double threat for the defense. One thing that I would like to see more, is isolateddeep routes, rather than 2. That’s just adding to the number of possible mistakes that our QBs can make. As inaccurate as our guys have been down field, why put them in position to throw into a congested area. Spread the guys out, eliminate mistakes. We should have had 2 INTs against us, on our first possession alone, but we were very fortunate to not turn the ball over. As for Tyler Russell, he saw action in the second half, connecting on 5-9 passes, for 72 yards. And, Russell added 40 yards rushing on 3 attempts. Tyler has really benefited from the fact that he is not known for being much of a runner, catching opposing defenses off guard with some nice reads and runs. With all that said, I really like the way Chris Relf is playing, heading into a BIG Week 7.

Time is MSU’s side: That means one thing…we ran the football. Of our 80 total plays on offense, we finished the game with a 57:23 ratio, running the football. MSU controlled the clock, holding the ball for at least 8 + minutes a quarter (09:16, 8:44, 10:11, 10:51-by quarter). Those totals, helped the Bulldogs finish with almost a 19 minute advantage in T.O.P. Of course, being 8/15 on 3rd downs helps too. State finished with 28 first downs. Run the football, use the play action and hit guys on short, quick routes.

Diaz and the D: Every game I have something to say, both positive and negative. The Good?  UH was averaging 465 ypg, and we held them to 403. Bryce Beall came in averaging 104 ypg, and UH averaged 185 as a team, but were held to 17 and 47 yards respectively. The Cougars were 6th in the nation in scoring, at 44 ppg, but the Dawgs only surrendered 24points. I really liked the pressure we got on the QBs, 1 Sack, and 7 Hurries. The Ugly?  First of all, I really like the way we responded after giving up the opening, quick score by Houston. I’m impressed by all these stats that I have previously mentioned, but our Secondary and Diaz’s scheme has to get better. I understand that by playing zone, you give yourself the best opportunity to be in position to make a play vs UH’s spread attack. But, on 3rd and 10 situations, having a Safety playing off the Slot WR by 15 yards, is just giving in, and surrendering ground. There’s a quote from the movie The 300, that I would run my Defense by: Give them nothing, and take from them everything. I’m not a fan of surrendering 70% of the field, and buckling down for the last 30%. Bend but don’t break, only takes you so far. It’s just sad to give up 3rd and longs, before the ball is even snapped. The D has done their job this season, but why hinder them from doing more? All that aside, Charles Mitchell (13 tkls) and Chris White (11 tkls), were absolute ball hawks. Props to Corey Broomfield, for playing zone and man coverage the way it’s supposed to be played, and coming away with 2 INTs. And, I never like calling a kid out, but Emmanuel Gatling and Damien Anderson, have yet to impress me…by a longshot. Gatling is always near the play, but apparently not athletic enough to make the tackle, the tip, or pick. Anderson, is Toast #2. Zach Smith, still Toast #1.

Special Teams: Still pretty bad. On chip shots of 31 and 39 yards, Sean Brauchle has to put more air put under the ball. His 47 yarder was close to being blocked, and rightfully so, because you somewhat sacrifice height for distance. But either way, you have to learn your lesson from the first blocked kick, realize he almost got the first one, and kick the third ball better. Also, can we please go one whole game, and not kick the ball out of bounds on a kick off? Return game was pretty weak, nothing new there. Maurice Langstonhad the longest return once again (28 yds), after Berry left the game. If you watched the return closely, he was actually once block away from breaking it, but got ahead of the blocker he needed. Mo might be our best option, considering Berry is injured, and Bumphis hasn’t played well on KR this season.

Play Calling (Les Koenning):Very good night. Had our guys not fallen asleep in the 3rd Qtr, the score would have been worse for UH. I like the aggressive screen calls on 3rd and short, getting our WRs the ball quickly so they could make plays, and of course I thought we stuck to our identity, running the ball. I’m really a fan of plays where Relf keeps the ball from the get-go, in short yardage situations, and just plows for way more yards than we need. I’d put this one, right up there with the UGA game. 

Toot my on horn, if I may?: I made a few predictions on Friday: (1) A decisive, controlling win vs UH. (2)Corey Broomfield’s INT, (3)3 Turnovers predicted. And for what it’s worth USC over Bama. You gotta toot it when ya can right?

*WR-Leon Berry and C-J.C. Brignone left the game with injuries. Berry appears to be finished for 2010, with the exception of the final games. Brignone, one of MSU’s most reliable leaders, hope to return to the practice field no later than Thursday, and see action on Saturday.

Anyway, MSU is now 2 games away from being bowl eligible, and with 3 games remaining in October, you have to like MSU’s chances to achieve that by month’s end. The Bulldogs now look ahead to this week’s battle with the #22 UF Gators, in Gainesville. UF has lost 2 in a row, and appear to have definitely lost a little bit of their edge. I personally cannot tell you the last time these two teams met, with the same record. State did receive 7 votes from the 59 possible coaches’ votes, and are at least starting to get some national attention. Mullen on visiting the SWAMP, a place he is all too familiar with: ”First of all, I’ve been very successful there, so I hope my success continues this weekend. When you go back to places you coached at for four years, everything about this weekend is going to be different. You’re in a different locker room, you’re arriving at the stadium with a different entrance, you’re standing on a different sideline, you’re wearing a white jersey.”

SEC Power Rankings ‘All Things Maroon’ Style: (1) Auburn  (2) USC  (3) Bama  (4) LSU  (5) UF  (6) Arkansas  (7) MSU  (8) UK  (9)  UGA  (9) Vandy  (10) UT. We will find out who’s the real #7 and #8 soon.

_______4 Questions_______

How would you rank the SEC?

What were your thoughts on the UH game?

Also, what are your feelings on Les Miles? Wasn’t it just 3 years ago, when he had that confident swagger, and looked like he was in COMPLETE control of the happenings on his sideline? But now, he seems to have lost that edge.

Finally, who’s your #1 team in the nation, with Bama losing. Your thoughts on Bama now, and how the rest of the SEC views them?

Hard to believe that Game 6 is here, but it is. As you know by now, MSU (3-2) will be facing the UH Cougars (3-1), at Robertson Stadium, in Houston, TX. Kick off is set for 7:00 pm Central Time, as both teams try to earn their 4th win of the season. We’ve talked all week about the magnitude of this game for State, but today we actually get to talk about what he hope unfolds. MSU seems to have regained their identity on Offense, thanks the reawakening of the Offensive Line. Chris Relf’s improvement has him looking more and more like a SEC QB, RB Vick Ballard has emerged as the number one Back, and the Bulldog D, seems good enough to keep State in some games this season. UH on the other hand, has lost 2 QBs, in just as many weeks, including Heisman hopeful Case Keenum. The Cougar Defense is somewhat unproven due to their slate of opponents thus far, and many have to wonder how they will hold up in 2010, considering Keenum’s absence will result in fewer points on the scoreboard. With that said though, the Cougars have a ton of talent, and are deep when it comes to skill players. QB Terrance Broadway hopes to show Coog fans that he is their QB of the future, and a duel threat one at that. RB Bryce Beall, is among the nation’s top RBs, and adds another dimension to UH’s attack. One thing to keep in mind though, is that James Cleveland, UH’s leading veteran WR, is suspended for the match up.

As always, here’s what CollegeGamedayStats.com has to say about tomorrow’s game, and some advantages that exist…

• MSU Scoring vs UH Opponent Scoring- Advantage MSU
• MSU Pass Off. vs UH Pass Def.- None
• MSU Rush Off. vs UH Rush Def.- Advantage MSU
• UH Scoring vs MSU Opponent Scoring- Advantage UH
• UH Pass Off. vs MSU Pass Def.- Advantage UH
• UH Rush Off. vs MSU Rush Def.- None
• The experts have MSU as a 5 point favorite.

*Remember, you can always contact them at info@collegegamedaystats.com, in order to receive their newsletter.

So, with that insight, here is my breakdown for MSU at UH…

_______Keys to Victory_______

-Control the Clock, Run the Ball:MSU must establish the ground game early, and keep pounding away at UH. Relf, Ballard, Perkins, and even Bumphis, will not only wear down the Coog Defense, but eventually break off some big runs. The read option, when ran successfully, creates those types of opportunities. Running will keep MSU’s identity intact, and also eats clock, which keeps UH off the field, and therefore off the scoreboard. Mullen and Koenning could also benefit Relf, by calling high percentage pass plays. If the OL can push around the UH DL during run plays, that will only provide them even more confidence in pass protection. I really think that running variations of the Rabid Dawg or Wild Bumphis, will keep UH extremely off balance.

-Keep the UH WRs in Front; Force Turnovers: One thing that the MSU D cannot afford to do, is let the UH skill players get behind them. Just about every team that State has played this year, has had their WRs run read patterns, sneaking behind the MSU coverage, and keep the chains moving. UH runs down field screens, or what some call dinks and dunks, and then eventually hit you over the top. This was the one game last season, where it was evident to me, that the Bulldogs needed a Def. Coordinator, due to Carl Torbush’s inability to make adjustments. I have complete faith in Manny Diaz, to make adjustments within a possession, rather than at the Half. I doubt that we will rush as many guys as we have been this season, just because of the numbers game that will be an ongoing challenge. But, whether we are blitzing 4 or 5, we have to get to the Freshman QB (Broadway), make contact, get our hands in the passing lane, and disrupt their game plan. MSU has also had a pretty poor showing, when it comes to forcing the opposing Offenses into turnovers.The potential is there, but we have to force them into mistakes. Pick 6 this week?

-Respect the UH Run Game:We cannot take RB Bryce Beall for granted. The kid is averaging over 100+ ypg, he is among the top scorers in the nation, and can catch out of the backfield. Kevin Sumlin loves to run the draw play or a quick base run, after a big pass play. This is an excellent way to gas an opposing D, and catch them off guard for a big gain. So, I see Beall as just as vital to their Offense, as their passing game is. Be watching for those two plays, after big pass play. Not only do we have to worry about Beall’s feet, but QB Terrance Broadway as well. UGA, LSU, Auburn, and even Alcorn State, have had success when their QB tucks it and runs. Diaz must have someone spying Broadway, so that MSU can get off the field on 3rd downs.

-Solid Special Teams:Quite possibly MSU’s most inconsistent area in 2010. We must make our FGs, punt effectively for field position, shoot for touch-backs on kick offs, and have some decent returns. Usually winning the special team’s battle, is key for the visiting team in road games, and that won’t be any different on Saturday. I’m really ready to see our whole unit show up and play an entire game. If they do, this one will not be close.

_______My Prediction_______

MSU  34  UH  20

MSU has really been seeking the kind of game in which they win decisively. In the UGA game, MSU owned the 4th quarter, but until the final 10 minutes, the game was far too close for comfort. I really look for MSU to come out and take control of this game early. I see us scoring on our opening drive, and on our first possession after the Half. QB Chris Relf will come away with 80 rushing yards, RB Vick Ballard with 110, and WR Chad Bumphis with 60. Due to the attention that Bumphis draws in the rushing game, I see Arceto Clark, Chris Smith, and Leon Berryleading the WRs. I can only see us throwing for around 180 yards, but effectively at opportune times. I think QB Tyler Russell will play, and play well, when he gets the nod. But, all in all, Tyler won’t have to do much. KJ Wright and Chris White will both register a sack, and Corey Broomfield will come away with an INT. In a year where we have lost the turnover battle in about every game, I see MSU coming away with 3on the night. I don’t see Berry or Bumphis returning a kick, but putting us in decent field position more than once. As for UH, I have QB Terrance Broadway throwing for 230 yards, 1 INT, and losing a fumble while scrambling. As far as RB Bryce Beall, I think we hold him to 85 yards, with 2 TDs. I look for RB Michael Hayes to have a big night, with 150 total yards receiving/rushing.

Your Prediction?

Expect anyone to stand out?

And, Buzzard brought this question up yesterday: Will MSU be Bowl eligible by the end of October (UH, UF, UAB, UK) ?

______Other SEC Games_______

UT @ UGA

Arkvs  aTm

Bama @ South Carolina…I know, I know

LSU @ UF

Auburn @ UK

Who ya got? My picks are in ‘bold’

Let’s chat it up today…in other words, don’t disappear like yall do every Friday at noon

GO DAWGS!!!

It’s Thursday! And that means that it’s time for our weekly Stat Match-Up analysis. Both MSU and UH, will be looking for their 4th win of the 2010 season-this weekend. The Cougars (3-1), however, have some statistics on their side for this non-conference series. Houston is currently riding an 18 game winning streak within the confines of their Robertson Stadium. And, UH holds a 4-3 record vs MSU at home. Before we get into our stats breakdown, let’s take a look at some more of the history between MSU and UH.

• The 2 schools first met in 1956, UH won 18-7.
• Last season, UH won 31-24
• UH leads all time series with MSU 9-6 (60%).
• UH, as mentioned previously, holds a 4-3 edge over MSU at home.
• Average score in the series: UH 23 MSU 15

With that said, here’s how the 2 stack up against each other, and the rest of the nation:

-Cougar RB Bryce Beall is ranked 25th in the nation in rushing (104 ypg), and tied for 2nd in scoring (13.5 ppg). MSU’s RB Vick Ballard is tied for 12th in scoring (10.8 ppg). When looking at the stats, you can’t help but consider who MSU and UH have played thus far. State has faced the likes of Auburn, LSU, and UGA, while UH has UCLA, UTEP, and Tulane on their resume’. Even though some of these opponents can refute the strength of a certain team’s schedule, the average college football fan would have to say that MSU has played the tougher stretch. It will also be interesting to see how UH’s offensive stats survive Keenum’s absence, considering that their rankings have dropped out of the top 10 already.

Dan Mullen on the UH Cougars: “We’re going to have to play real well. They’re a very explosive offense that we’re playing this week. But I think our team has had a pretty solid week of practice so far. We’re getting some guys healthy that have been banged up a little bit.” On last year’s loss: “We just didn’t play a complete football game, and had plenty of opportunities to win.”

Well guys, with Alcorn State in the rear view, let’s move on to the Houston Cougars.

Record:  3-1  W’s: Texas State 68-28, UTEP 54-24, and Tulane 42-23. Only one Loss to UCLA 31-13.

UH has been the victim of misfortune for much of the young 2010 season, but that’s not in reference to their record. Instead, the 3-1 Cougars have suffered in losing their dark horse Heisman candidate QB Case Keenum, and their 2nd string QB Cotton Turner. Keenum, known for always posting gaudy numbers, threw for 636 yards, and 5 TDs in 3 games. In all reality though, Keenum was hurt around the halfway point in 2 of those games, and was well on his way to repeating his usual season totals, that have made him a 13,500+ yard passer in his career. The Abilene, TX Senior, was also a victim of deja vu, injuring himself both times-while tackling or pursuing the defensive player that had just intercepted one of his passes. Keenum’s back up, Cotton Turner, also had his season cut short vs UCLA, in a 31-13 loss to the Bruins. Turner had seen action in every game, and was 15-20, for 180 yards, and 2 TDs. With the top 2 guys exiting the 2010 season early, the job is now up to either Terrance Broadway, or David Piland, who has been named a Co-Starter as of Monday. Broadway, who was forced into action, is 24 of 36, for 258 yards, and a TD. The only thing that Cougar fans can complain about, is Broadway’s inability to get rid of the ball at times (5 sacks). Broadway was a 4 star recruit, and one of the Top 5 duel threat QBs coming out of high school.

At RB, Houston can take a deep breath. Bryce Beall (pronounced Bell) is off to a fast start, especially when you consider how much Houston spreads the ball around. Beall has racked up 418 yards, on 62 carries, for 9 TDs. And Michael Hayes has also been solid carrying the ball, running for 130 yards on 38 carries, for 5 TDs. Throw in the occasional run by a WR, and UH has multiple ways to attack you from their back field.

Dan Mullen has already commented on UH’s talent at WR, and rightfully so. The Cougars have 5WRs with at least 100 yards receiving. James Cleveland leads the pack, with 20 catches for 324 yards, and 3 TDs. Cleveland is followed by Patrick Edwards (19 for 259 yards), RB Michael Hayes (14 for 165 yards), Kierrie Johnson (10 for 125 yards), and Tyron Carrier(14 for 121 yards). But, good news for MSU, Cleveland, who torched the Dawg secondary last season for 131 yards, will not play. The top WR has been suspended for the match up with the Bulldogs.

REVENGE? I don’t know about yall, but I was sick after the UH game last season. 2questionable calls, which negated one Bulldog TD, and the other cost MSU a 1st down inside the UH 10 yard line. Both calls happened in the final minutes, and crushed the Dawgs chances. It was hard enough surviving Case Keenum’s passing attack, but to have the game swing on 2 HUGE calls, hurt. Mullen said he still regrets not challenging the latter call, in which Tyson Lee was flagged for an illegal forward pass, after crossing the line of scrimmage. Replay showed that Lee had about a yard of cushion, when he made the throw. Sickening.

_______MSU TE Marcus Green, is Done for the 2010 Season_______

This one is gonna hurt. For 3 weeks now, MSU has been without TE’s Brandon Henderson and Marcus Green, but it is now clear that Green will not return. “He’s tried the last couple of weeks. We tried to get some swelling out of his knee and see if he could play with a brace but (the medical staff) just didn’t think it would be stable enough.”- Mullen. Marcus suffered a slight tear in his ACL, during MSU’s Thursday night battle with Auburn, earlier in the year. Green had 6 catches for 72 yards, and will be sorely missed. He had all the skills that you look for in a TE, but with even more big play ability. Mullen made mention of working on a medical redshirt appeal, at season’s end. Henderson, who will start if 100%, has 3 catches on the year for 25 yards (8 yd avg). If Brandon can’t go, Kendrick Perkins will get the nod, and probably will see playing time anyway. I myself, would like to see WR Sam Williams in on the plays in which Green was going to be a target, and not in a blocking role.

______Mullen on using Bumphis in ‘Wild’ Sets______

“It allows us a lot of flexibility. We can play him, Chris, Tyler back there. But it also gives us another avenue not to change personnel groupings and put another guy in the backfield able to run the ball. Defensive coordinators will call a lot of their game plan based on your personnel groupings. So if we can keep the same personnel groupings and use multiple formations it has the tendency to confuse them a little bit. Along with tempo.” Passing? ”Sure, we’d all like to throw some passes! We’ll monitor that as it goes on and how it progresses.” Keep in mind that Perkins also took snaps in the ‘Rabid Dawg’formation (JBuzz), and Les Koenning has admitted that there are multiple players who can QB the wild sets.

As we mentioned yesterday, MSU RB LaDarius Perkins earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Link

Mullen is all about playing the in-state schools. 2013, State will play Valley. Link

Chris Low’s Week 5, Hots and Nots. MSU’s Leon Berry makes the list. Link

Bama’s Ingram and Auburn’s Newton, leading the Heisman race. Link

Brian Harbach’s Week 5 Review. Link

Your thoughts on UH? Losing Green? And who ya got, Ingram or Newton for Heisman?

I have to admit, that-that was one of the ugliest blowouts I’ve ever seen in my life. In front of just 50, 439 fans, MSU rolled to a 49-16 victory over Alcorn State, but hit some speed bumps. The game featured continual ups and downs, and the Maroon and White Faithful-who seemed to still be recovering from an emotional hangover from the UGA game, looked for something to cheer for. Yall have read the different newspapers game stories, so I’m not going to bore you with that. But, what I will do, is give you my game notes from Saturday.

(1) Chris Relf 2.0-It’s becoming more and more apparent that Chris Relf is developing into an SEC QB. MSU was not staring across the line of scrimmage at the likes of UF and Bama on Saturday, but the kid is almost doing everything right. Relf has really cleaned up his throws, throwing a cleaner ball than ever. His timing has definitely improved, which gives any QB the best chance to hit their intended WR while open. I think the coaches are getting more comfortable with calling passing plays that attack the opposing defenses at the second level, when Relf is in. His passes up the middle are improving (hitting guys in stride), but his strength is still getting the ball to receivers outside the hashes. I really liked his decisions and footwork when pressured by UGA, but he clearly got too comfortable in the pocket vs Alcorn. But, who can blame him? Anyway, I really agreed with the Mullen’s plan to protect him on Saturday, limiting his runs, while letting him get some passing game work in. Relf finished 11-15, for 209 yards, and 2 TDs.

(2) Tyler Russell- Let me explain what the coaches are trying to do with Russell, that isn’t working. Besides about 6 or 7 of the play calls that were dialed up for Tyler, just about all the other ones limited his options. By giving Russell fewer options, the Offensive coaches think that they are minimizing the amount of possible mistakes a young QB could make. But, fewer options, as in just 3 WRs on some plays, quickly turns into a numbers game, which means throwing into double coverage for Tyler. So, in trying to minimize mistakes, the coaches have maximized them. His football IQ, and passing ability really doesn’t require trimming the Offense to fit him, especially against Alcorn. With that said, Tyler really has to put separation between his WRs and the Defense. Either put it out in front of your guy, or stretch the deep ball more horizontally. Anything to give your guy a step. Russell completed 8-14 passes, for 127 yards, and one poorly thrown INT.

(3) The Offense is MUCH Improved-Ever since the Bulldogs left the Auburn and LSU games in the past, the Offense has a whole has played better. The past 2 weeks, Relf and Russell have connected on 27 of 42 passes, for 471 yards, and 3 TDs. And, the MSU ground game has posted 406 yards, and 6 TDs. The OL which struggled through the opening stretch of the 2010 season, has since only given up 2 sacks and 2 QB hurries. The WRs are looking good as well, and 7 of 11 on 3rd down ain’t bad. Give me a little more of WRs Chris Smith and Sam Williams.

(4) Defense still has some questions- Having a bend but don’t break mentality can be a good thing. But, having that mindset vs Alcorn State? I was really disappointed with the Defenses’ performance on Saturday. Diaz’s group gave up 330 total yards, 16 points, 5.2 yards per play, and failed to force a turnover. We gave their WRs too much cushion, allowing variations of the WR screen, and gave up way too many big plays. State allowed 3 runs for 10+ yards, 2 of those for 20+, and 1 for 70+. In Defending the pass, MSU allowed 6 passes for 10+ yards, 2 for 20+, and 1 for 50+. The Bulldogs did have 4 Sacks, and 4 more QB Hurries. Either way, not the kind of performance you want to post against Alcorn. I know that game experience is valuable, and these games just happen to be the perfect opportunities to get some guys in, but we subbed in 2nd and 3rd string combinations way to early. 24 different Dawgs, saw the field for Diaz. It also seemed that we were very thin behind the DL, possibly from over blitzing. If it weren’t for a few diving ankle tackles for KJ Wright and others, Alcorn could have easily put up more yards and points. It seemed as if every time we blitzed one direction, the Braves sealed off the edge or middle crease, and it was off to the races, if not for some great plays on D. The QB run for 78 yards, was embarrassing. Nickoe Whitely and about 3 other Bulldogs, bit on one of the worst juke moves I’ve ever seen, and took pitiful angles in their pursuit. I still think the SWAC officials gave Alcorn the TD catch in the back of the endzone, such a questionable call. No way a guy catches a ball, and kicks the pylon (which is a yard and a half out of bounds) immediately, and can be ruled inbounds. Either way, we shouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with. So, going into Week 6, Diaz STILL has work to do. Houston is not an easy place to win, but thank goodness we’ll be facing their 3rd string QB (more on that later).

(5) Clarity at RB-Last week, I stated that Vick Ballard had set himself apart as our #1 RB. After this week, there’s no doubt. Ballard has run for 196 yards over the past 2 weeks, with 5 TDs. Do your math, that’s 8.9 yards per carry. Vick is the closest thing we have to a Dixon style back, runs the ball extremely hard, looks for contact, and has the speed to find the second level, and bust a big one. Sound familiar? As far as some other issues that have been clarified at RB, #1 Robert Elliot is done, and #2 LaDarius Perkins is still not being used correctly. If you watch Perkins, you have no doubt in your mind that he is talented, and extremely quick, but he is a guy that needs the ball in the open field. He busted off a nice 30 yarder vs Alcorn on a read play, but can we please throw the kid a screen, or a shovel pass? I’m about as bothered by this, as I am the Defense’s situation-week in and week out.

(6) Special Teams, still shaky- First of all, the Leon Berry KR for a TD (98yds), NICE. Berry now has 3 in his 2 yr career at MSU. It’s about time our return game showed some life. But a missed FG, and a ANOTHER kick off out of bounds…unacceptable. Kudos to Heath Hutchins, 42 yard average on 2 punts.

(7) 2 words…Chad Bumphis- The former Tupelo WR got 4 carries out of the ‘Wild Bumphis’ package, for 38 yards (9.5 avg). Bumphis also caught 9 passes for 133 yards and 2 TDs (15 yd avg). I know that most of our opponents focus on Bumphis, especially SEC teams, but we have to continue to get creative with how we get him the ball. Will we see passes soon? 

-Officiating was ridiculous. We had 9 penalties for 75 yards, and we are the least penalized team in the SEC. Plus, Alcorn’s OL held all day, which would have negated half of their big plays. Thanks SWAC.

-Alcorn had the ball for at least 8 minutes of each quarter.

-After calling an almost perfect game vs UGA, Les Koenning was back to his old ways again. Throwing on 3rd and 1, and then not pick up the first on 4th down?!?

-Second time this season that we have held an opponent scoreless in 2nd half.

-Quotable: “We came out a little flat. We didn’t play with the emotion and the passion we played with last week. The stadium felt that way, our fans, players, coaches, we’ve got to do a much better job getting them up and going.” – Mullen

Anyway, your thoughts on the Alcorn game?

______SEC News_______

UF blew their chances at Bama? Is Bama that good? Link

When is the last time UGA lost 4in a row? Dawgs fall to Buffs. Link

UK gives away game at Ole Miss. Here’s a look at all the mistakes. Link

Les Miles sucks at time management. Tigers luck out vs UT. Link

32 Reasons to love or hate the SEC. Cowbells are #12! Link

MSU receives 5 votes for Top 25. Link

Your thoughts on the Alcorn game, and how the SEC is shaking up?

Game 5 is one day away boys! The MSU Bulldogs will play host to the Alcorn State Braves on Saturday. As I mentioned yesterday, Alcorn is 3-0 on the young season, while the Bulldogs are 2-2. Yesterday we talked about Alcorn State’s stats, and looked at where they stack up amongst the rest of the Div. I FCS. So today, I figured that we would take a look at MSU’s stat rankings, and place them side-by-side.

CollegeGamedayStats.com’s analysis. I have to admit that I laughed when I read the breakdown on Wednesday, because these guys usually just provide an advantage to one team or the other, but they turned comical this week. By the way, if you would like to recieve their weekly news letter, just email them at info@collegegamedaystats.com

-MSU’s Rush Off. vs Alcorn’s Rush Def.- Did you not see the spread?

-MSU’s Pass Off. vs Alcorn’s Pass Def.-The BCS Conference team

-Alcorn’s Rush Off. vs MSU’s Rush Def.- Shouldn’t be close

-Alcorn’s Pass Off. vs MSU’s Pass Def.- Alcorn might get Dan-handled

-MSU Scoring vs Alcorn’s Opponent Scoring- The one that’s in the SEC

-Alcorn State Scoring vs MSU’s Opponent Scoring- SEC > SWAC

-MSU is favored by 41.5

Since we won last week, I can get back Since we won last week, I can get back to the old way of doing things, which means not only listing my Game Prediction, but my Individual Performance Predcitions as well. So, here we go…

My Prediction: MSU 52 Alcorn 9. There’s no reason to breakdown this game in any kind of in-depth manner, so we won’t. I do however, feel that our Defense will force 3 or more turnovers, and the Offense will post over 500 yards. It would be nice to see this go down as a pad the stats kind of game, putting up someBIG numbers in areas that we have failed to do so-so far. Sacks, INTs, 100 yard rusher, 100 yard receiver, and a Special Team score. Those areas need a boost, and when you look at who MSU’s first 4 opponents were, it’s easy to see why. Other SEC teams have had multiple chances to dent their stat columns, but State hasn’t. Time to do just that. I’d love to shut them out more than anything though.

Individual Predictions

• QB Chris Relf- 70 yds passing, 120 rushing, 2 TDs
• QB Tyler Russell- 180 yds passing, 25 rushing, 1 TD
• RB Vick Ballard- 120 yds rushing, 2 TDs
• WR Chad Bumphis- 80 total yds, 1 TD; 1 KR for TD
• WR Arceto Clark- 75 yds
• RB LaDarius Perkins-60 total yds, 1 TD
• LB Chris White- Leading tackler (12)
• SNickoe Whitley, LB KJ Wright,DB Maurice Langston- INTs
• Chris White, DL Pernell McPhee, S Charles Mitchell- Sacks

Anyway, what’s your Score Prediction?And maybe throw in your Individual Performance Predictions as well?

And Buzzard brought this up yesterday, do you think Alcorn is better than Memphis?

Scout.com’s Week 5 Questions and Previews. They have State in the top 7 of the SEC Power Rankings. Link

I know TSUN is still trying to decide on a new mascot, but they don’t need to forget my suggestion: The Ole Miss Freddie Krugers! For those of you who are new to my site, here’s a link to my old site, where I posted this idea. Link

_______Other Games_______

UK @ Ole Miss  31- 28

Vandy @ UConn 24-10

UF @ Bama 28-20

UT @ LSU 31-6

UGA @ Colorado  17-16

Texas vs Okl 31-20

Stanford @ Oregon 38-31

VT @ NC State  21-17

My picks, as always in ‘bold’. Who ya got?

That’s all I got today boys! Happy Friday…

CLICK ON THE (0) COMMENTS TO CHAT WITH EVERYONE, PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY ON HERE, SECTION IS MESSED UP TODAY————————–>

Game 5 is one day away boys! The MSU Bulldogs will play host to the Alcorn State Braves on Saturday. As I mentioned yesterday, Alcorn is 3-0 on the young season, while the Bulldogs are 2-2. Yesterday we talked about Alcorn State’s stats, and looked at where they stack up amongst the rest of the Div. I FCS. So today, I figured that we would take a look at MSU’s stat rankings, and place them side-by-side.

And as always, we’ll now take a look at CollegeGamedayStats.com’s analysis. I have to admit that I laughed when I read the breakdown on Wednesday, because these guys usually just provide an advantage to one team or the other, but they turned comical this week.

• MSU’s Rush Off. vs Alcorn’s Rush Def.- Did you not see the spread?
• MSU’s Pass Off. vs Alcorn’s Pass Def.-The BCS Conference team
• Alcorn’s Rush Off. vs MSU’s Rush Def.- Shouldn’t be close
• Alcorn’s Pass Off. vs MSU’s Pass Def.- Alcorn might get Dan-handled
• MSU Scoring vs Alcorn’s Opponent Scoring- The one that’s in the SEC
• Alcorn State Scoring vs MSU’s Opponent Scoring- SEC > SWAC
• MSU is favored by 41.5
• By the way, if you would like to recieve their weekly news letter, just email them at info@collegegamedaystats.com

Since we won last week, I can get back to the old way of doing things, which means not only listing my Game Prediction, but my Individual Performance Predcitions as well. So, here we go…

My Prediction: MSU  52  Alcorn  9. There’s no reason to breakdown this game in any kind of in-depth manner, so we won’t. I do however, feel that our Defense will force 3 or more turnovers, and the Offense will post over 500 yards. It would be nice to see this go down as a pad the stats kind of game, putting up some BIG numbers in areas that we have failed to do so-so far. Sacks, INTs, 100 yard rusher, 100 yard receiver, and a Special Team score. Those areas need a boost, and when you look at who MSU’s first 4 opponents were, it’s easy to see why. Other SEC teams have had multiple chances to dent their stat columns, but State hasn’t. Time to do just that.

Individual Predictions

• QB Chris Relf- 70 yds passing, 120 rushing, 2 TDs
• QB Tyler Russell- 180 yds passing, 25 rushing, 1 TD
• RB Vick Ballard- 120 yds rushing, 2 TDs
• WR Chad Bumphis- 80 total yds, 1 TD; 1 KR for TD
• WR Arceto Clark- 75 yds
• RB LaDarius Perkins- 60 total yds, 1 TD
• LB Chris White- Leading tackler (12)
• S Nickoe Whitley, LB KJ Wright, DB Maurice Langston - INTs
• Chris White, DL Pernell McPhee, S Charles Mitchell- Sacks

Anyway, what’s your Score Prediction?  And maybe throw in your Individual Performance Predictions as well?

And Buzzard brought this up yesterday, do you think Alcorn is better than Memphis?

Scout.com’s Week 5 Questions and Previews. They have State in the top 7 of the SEC Power Rankings. Link

I know TSUN is still trying to decide on a new mascot, but they don’t need to forget my suggestion: The Ole Miss Freddie Krugers! For those of you who are new to my site, here’s a link to my old site, where I posted this idea. Link

_______Other Games_______

UK @ Ole Miss  31- 28

Vandy @ UConn  24-10

UF @ Bama  28-20

UT @ LSU  31-6

UGA @ Colorado  17-16

Texas vs Okl  31-20

Stanford @ Oregon-  38-31

VT @ NC State-  21-17

My picks, as always in ‘bold’. Who ya got?

That’s all I got today boys! Happy Friday… 

Well guys, one thing we haven’t talked about here in Game Week 5, is our opponent. So with that said, let’s check out Alcorn State.

The Braves are a part of the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference), which is a Div. I FCS conference. In other words, along the same line as teams such as Appl. State, James Madison, Wofford, and Jackson State. Alcorn is 3-0 on the young season, and defeated Alabama A&M, 41-21 last weekend. Their other 2 victories, were over Langston(50-27), and Miss. Valley State (27-9). As far as where the Braves rank in the stats, here’s a look (keep in mind, FCS, not regular Div.I)…

• Total Off.-347 ypg (57th)
• Rushing Off.-193 ypg (26th)
• Passing Off.-153 ypg (85th)
• Scoring Off.-39 ppg (7th)
• Total Def.-343 ypg (53rd)
• Rushing Def.-89 ypg (12th)
• Passing Def.-254 ypg (96th)
• Scoring Def.-19 ppg (16th)

RB Gabriel Nash- 100 Rushing ypg (18th)  QB Brandon Bridge- 181 Total Off. pg (62nd)

As far as what Dan Mullen is saying about the match up with Alcorn State…

• “Our players were able to make some plays, even though I think there’s a lot of little things we need to improve on as a football team. We need to capture that momentum with a young football team and help that momentum carry us into this week and hopefully the rest of the season.”
• “They do all the little things right, and it makes them a very, very dangerous opponent. Their kids played hard in all three phases, and it’s going to be a tough game.”
• “We’ve got to watch them on film, they’re 3-0. A very, very well coached team. Very disciplined team. They do all the little things right and makes them a very dangerous opponent.”
• On Bridge: “He’s pretty athletic.You watch him run around and make plays. He had some big runs against Alabama State last week. We just got to go a good job containing him and make him throw the ball from the pocket.” 

One of things that we’ve talked about (mainly in the comments section), is Romaro Miller’s address to the Ole Miss fanbase. Miller, the former Rebel QB, had the following to say about this year’s developments thus far (I didn’t edit it, so these are his exact words)…

From The Heart Romaro Miler

Carry the fight to the opponent and keep it there for 60 Minutes.

Any time you jump out and do what I am about to do, you must weigh your pros and cons. I have always been a big reader of The Spirit, but as an ex-player I kept my posting at bay. I have talked to countless ex-players and they all support what I am about to write. I feel that I should share some thoughts and concerns with my fellow Reb fans with whom I share my love for Ole Miss and the Ole Miss football team. All of us that have this same passion know that we all bleed red and blue. As an ex-player there were certain things that got me focused and motivated me to play the game hard for those 60 minutes. David Cutcliffe was the coach at the time. The team would always start pregame chants and we would repeat them before every game as we came out of the tunnel down to the field. My favorite was Carry The Fight To The Opponent And Keep It There For 60 Minutes. Now whether we did that or not I guess is debatable in your eyes perhaps, but that was our goal. This has been on my mind and in my heart all year. I am seeing something that is very hard for me to take sitting down as a former OM football player. I feel that it is time some things stop right here and some of our fans get called on the carpet. Everyone loves being a winner. It is during the difficult times when we may not win that is my concern. First and foremost, the team is not my concern. We have some incredible talent and I know that our team will get there. I do have a real concern in our fans though. It seems when we win and we are ahead in a game our fans leave the game and go to the grove. When we are losing, our fans, instead of staying when our team needs us the most, leave out of frustration. At halftime, some of our fans and students leave and go to the grove to get something to eat and drink. This is a problem because when the game starts back they aren’t in their seats to kick the second half off. I have pondered this over and over again. Is it cool as a fan to sit in the stands and watch my Rebels bleed, sweat, and work hard or is it cooler to be in the grove with food and drink in hand while not supporting my Rebels who are working hard on the field to win that game? The first three home games were all prime examples. The 1st half of these games the atmosphere was great. Listen, I have been in the pit many times at Ole Miss and all over the SEC. Trust me, when I say this, the TEAM FEEDS OFF YOU! We had a great first half crowd and then I begin to see fans not come back after halftime. For some reason we have made “The Grove” the pinnacle of a game weekend at Ole Miss. It’s a wonderful place, but the game has to be the main attraction. I am asking every fan to understand that any football team feeds off of the energy of the fans inside the stadium. This is nothing new to any of you. You have seen momentum become a game changer with fans time and time again. Saturday night in the first half against Fresno the stadium was loud and the players were jumping around getting what they call crunk. In the 3rd quarter the crowd left and the team’s energy went flat. The D gave up 10 in the 1st half and a lot more in the 2nd just like the JSU game. Ask yourself, how was the atmosphere for Vandy? Ask yourself this question: If I was on the field playing in front of less than 40,000 fans when there were 55,000 in there the first half, could I get up to play? Most will lie and say as long you’re on the field that you could. I will say those guys are rare, off the top of my head Ray Lewis and he is a special player. Trust me when I say this but it is hard to motivate yourself to maximum output without maximum support. 11 o’clock kickoffs? Don’t even get me started on that. Be honest with yourself and think about Arkansas , Auburn or even MSU fans on TV, it looks a lot different. We have the only fan base in the SEC that the team has to get the crowd up. We need to stop making excuses. At other schools fans get the team up with their energy. We have true SEC crowds when we play an LSU or a Bama, but when we play JSU or Fresno State we may as well have a South Panola crowd in the second half. Heck, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we closed the beloved Grove at halftime. I would bet my next month’s check that if we had Saturday night’s 1st half crowd for the whole game against Vandy and the JSU game WE WIN. If you don’t believe that ask any player or even ex-player. This football team along with those before and after will bust their humps for Ole Miss in the months of January, February and March when not a soul is looking. Then for the fans to come to the games and not cheer, or to leave, is a bit disheartening. Really it is utterly ridiculous. Kentrell Locket tore his ACL fighting for the fans, the love of the game and the WIN. In addition, about 100 more guys do this every Saturday for us, for the love of Ole Miss and ultimately for the WIN and so we can go to work on Monday to brag. I know that I am more than likely to get roasted for telling the truth but that is the chance I am willing to take for the love of my team and my university. It is worth the sacrifice if that is what it takes. Fans, we need you all of the time, not just half of the time. Our coaches work hard to get prospects to campus. If we bring them to a game and they see the 2nd half crowd with most of them gone, my feeling is they will want no part of Oxford, particularly if they go to the State game against Alcorn State where there are 55,000 fans ringing the hell out of those damn bells. I just hope like hell our recruits were not there to see MSU tear down their goal posts after they beat Georgia – something our fans made fun of them for (Ima Edit, DID NOT HAPPEN, they are retractable). Let’s say AK has a great basketball recruit in town and he goes to the football games and sees the crowd leaving, how do you all think that this helps Ole Miss? With us fans, me included, these are the issues our coaches have to overcome. Students, I left after the game Saturday and went to the square. I felt the same way you did in less time with my Vodka and Cranberry. I missed nothing. If Coach Nutt asks everyone to wear blue, then Cobra, don’t let high powered school officials on the field in RED. Beyond a shadow of a doubt I love our military, but somehow we have got to make sure that when the center is about to snap for the extra point, we don’t shoot the cannon! Whoever is in charge of the game day experiences at Ole Miss, we need a lot more. Give fans more reason to stay by making the atmosphere more exciting. I drive around all day in my job and I can’t wait to see the 1st OM billboard. Lord knows I’m tired of the Leg humper billboards everywhere. Coach Nutt, AK, From Dixie With Love, or Colonel Reb may not be here forever but the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) which we love will be. This whole thing is about teamwork and the fans’ job in this puzzle is to cheer. I am doing this because I feel we are in this together. I hope that each of you will take this to heart. It’s time we demand the best from ourselves and everyone connected to our University. I learned a long time ago to control what you can control and we can control our HOME field. I will be at the next game early in RED and loud, and I will stay until the end, but the question is will my 60,000 plus friends and fellow fans do the same? My greatest hope is that you say YES, that you will. I hope that you will stay the whole game. I hope that you will be in your seats after halftime. I hope that you will cheer loudly. I hope that you will send cheers of encouragement even on the most screwed up plays.Obviously, I am not really preaching to many Spirit subscribers on this issue. We are the diehards, but we can do our part in this too. Every one of us needs to spread this message to other Rebel fans. It’s time we, as fans, accept this responsibility and ask others to do the same.

Hotty Freakin’ Toddy!!!!!

Romaro Miller

-As an MSU fan, I can’t wait til us Leg Humpers beat Ole Miss this fall. But, he makes a lot of good points, and many need to take those words to heart. Ole Miss is in a fragile state, and a loss to UK this weekend could devastate the program. He’s trying to revive just about every aspect of Rebel football, but some are not in agreement with Miller. Check out what the Oxford Square had to say in response to the former QB. Pretty CLASSLESS Link

-Btw, every SEC analyst on SEC Gridiron, picked UK to win this weekend.

I know we are months away from MSU Basketball, but Dee Bost has been officially cleared to play in 2010. He will have to sit out and endure a 9game suspension, due to the way he handled what he described as “testing the NBA waters.” This is huge for the Bulldogs, who were really gonna be in trouble if Bost was unable to return. I mean. we have some weapons coming back, but there’s no doubt that a down year was in store for MSU. Bost gives State their best shot at another strong run, and yet another NCAA appearance. Bost on getting reinstated: “I want to thank the NCAA for hearing my case and allowing me to return to school and play basketball. I only wanted to test the waters and then return to Mississippi State. I realize I made a huge mistake in how I handled the situation, and I am thankful for a second chance.”

-John Chavis faces UT for the first time since he left for LSU. Link 

-Meyer calls Bama, the nation’s most talented team. Link

-Chris Low talks about MSU’s resilience. Link

-LSU’s Heisman Hopeful Peterson, on OFFENSE? Link

-Oregon and Stanford, Pac 10 takes SEC time slot…don’t get too excited West Coast, ya can’t hang. Link

Your thoughts on Alcorn State (No score prediction yet)? Romero Miller’s comments?  Dee Bost?  

One thing that everyone has been talking about, is the fact that MSU made it out of the first-third of their season at 2-2. That first stretch included Memphis, #21 Auburn (now 10th), #15 LSU (now 12th), and UGA. All but one of those match ups took place outside the confines of Davis Wade Stadium. We’ve already had some of those moments like we did in ’09, otherwise known as what might have been’s. If the Bulldogs don’t throw 5 INTs at Baton Rouge, you wonder what the outcome might have been. If Corey Broomfield, Leon Berry, or Chad Bumphis make plays against Auburn…you get the point. Either way, that’s in the past, and that’s where State needs to leave it.

So at .500, we move into a new stretch of the season, the next third. Alcorn State visits MSU this weekend, then the Bulldogs hit the road for games at Houston and #7 UF. State concludes that stretch with Homecoming vs UAB. With the Gators match up aside, MSU could easily finish that second leg at 3-1. At this point we don’t know a lot about Florida, because they haven’t played a complete game yet. This past weekend’s performance vs UK, was definitely a step in the right direction, and all in Gainesville seemed to be getting back to normal. But, I think a lot will be said about this Gators team, when they travel to Tuscaloosa this weekend. How Meyer’s squad responds with a win or loss there, will forecast the rest of their season, and the Bulldogs’ chances, when they visit on Oct. 16. 

Since we are looking ahead, I wanted to share something that Buzzard brought up yesterday, which was that we’ve already won more games at home this season, than last. So with that said, I wanted to gauge how yall felt about the rest of the 2010 HOME schedule for MSU. Here’s my thoughts…

Alcorn State(Oct.2)- This should be a sure win for MSU. The fact that we are playing a SWAC team, and not a Div.II cupcake, only adds to our schedule, that is ranked in the nation’s top 5 toughest. I know it’s not Nebraska or anythingWe can’t take them for granted, but this should be a pad the stats kind of game for MSU. Relf and Ballard should be turned loose, and Russell should have a Memphis type showing. Win

UAB (Oct. 23)- This Homecoming match up should be another ‘W’ for MSU. UAB is a competitive bunch, but we should be able to execute exactly what we want to do on both sides of the ball. We will give up some points, because Offense is where the Blazers’ talent lies. Their 2 QB system is productive, and our D will be tested, but it won’t be anywhere near enough for UAB. Win

UK(Oct.30)- UK will give almost everyone they play fits this year. Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke, Chris Matthews, La’Rod King, and depending on Mike Hartline’s performance, he can be a playmaker too. UK’s weakness is the Defense, where the Cats had to replace all of their studs from the past few seasons. A shoot-out could be in the making, when the Dawgs and Cats hook up. I really feel that whoever wins the time of possession battle, wins the game. If MSU can run like they did vs UGA, which they should, this could be another ‘W’. Close Win

Arkansas(Nov. 20)- This game could be interesting. Ryan Mallet, Joe Adams, and Greg Childs will bring one heck of a passing attack into Starkville. As I mentioned about howI wonder UF will respond to a win/loss vs Bama, I wonder the same about the how the Hogs will respond after losing to the Tide last weekend. They come to State in between their dates with UTEP and LSU. Depending on what’s at stake at that point in the season for both teams, and the crowd in Starkville, I can’t safely predict this one. Toss Up

If State wins 3 of those 4 home games, which is a possibility, that would give State at least 5 wins. And in the long run, set MSU up for their first Bowl run since 2007.

Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? Don’t give scores for the games, just a Win, Loss, or Toss Up. And remember, just the HOME games that remain.

_______After Further Review_______

I watched the replay again last night, and here are some items that caught my attention. KJ Wright is a BEAST. What an emergence for the Senior LB. We all knew he was good, but he is really making a name for himself. I hope Manny Diaz continues to turn him loose, as more of a ‘Dawg’ back. He’s making tackles, redirecting plays with his presence, and getting a hand on anything that comes his way. He sacrifices selfsih endeavours on certain plays for the good of the team. Rather than keeping his angle for a sack, he realizes he can’t get there in time, and fills the passing lane instead, resulting in a batted ball. Just FYI, Wright, Mitchell, and White are all in a 3 way contest for most tackles. Nothing like a little healthy competition. Sophomore Fletcher Cox is also on the rise. He is really disrupting the run game for opposing Offenses, and getting the penetration that’s needed to do so. From Mullen’s interviews, it’s pretty clear that he will rest this week (high ankle sprain) vs Alcorn. Maurice Langstonis sooo close to making big plays. He had 2 deep balls thrown on him vs UGA, and put his hand up just at the wrong time. If he turns around a second earlier, he ends up with 2 INTs. And lastly, we should have beaten UGA by the score of 31-6 or maybe even 38-6. Way too many opportunities that were blown. I’m not getting greedy, just sayin. On Bumphis’ drop that resulted in settling for a FG, he had 4 yards on his guy, a great angle, and Relf hit him in stride. Even if he doesn’t score on the play, it’s still a big gainer, and we more than likely punch it in. The other 7 is from the bad play call made by Mullen on the Perkins-Relf pass. Then again, Maybe UGA still gets their cheap TD at the end though.

_______In other news_______

-Dee Bost’s situation, is still pending, and the NCAA wants to know who paid for him to attend NBA work outs in Las Vegas.

-Miles sticking with Jordan Jefferson. Link

-Brantley looks ahead to battle with Bama D. Link

-Who’s your #1 SEC Heisman candidate? Link

Thoughts on remaining home schedule? Who’s your SEC Heisman?