State Athletic Facilities "Fortunate"

State's athletics facilities suffered only minor damage from Katrina. And good news for the administration, Scott Field came through un-scathed.

Coach Croom's scheduled news briefing was canceled yesterday.

"We're all Mississippians, and I didn't think we wanted to be talking about football," said Templeton, who added that there are several in the Bulldogs family on the Coast he hasn't been able to reach.

LSU Postpones Season Opener

As expected, LSU postponed their season opener scheduled for Saturday night against North Texas.

"The events of (Monday) and (Tuesday) morning have made it clear that this is not the time to play a football game," LSU athletic director Skip Bertman said Tuesday. "This is a dire situation that rivals any in the history of our state, and our priorities are on participating in recovery efforts."

Other schools in Louisiana are following suit. Tulane, Nicholls State, McNeese State and other schools in Louisiana have canceled games this weekend and may not even have classes for months, if at all this semester. More than 900,000 people are without power in SE Louisiana.

In the photo above you can see the reflection of Tiger Stadium in standing water.

Total Destruction

Coast death toll tops 100 in reported news this morning, however one is forced to believe that the total number will push towards 1,000 or more when they finally finish counting, and that’s just in Mississippi.

Here at the Officially Unofficial Mississippi State Athletics Blog we’re having a hard time concentrating on sports, or work, or anything other than the total destruction left behind by Katrina. Everything else seems trivial, at best.

Check out this unbelievable video of the Mississippi Coast.

Millions are homeless and need help, please donate: American Red Cross

The picture above of slot machines from the Grand Casino littering the beach in East Biloxi is courtesy of Patrick Schnedier of the Charlotte Observer.

Maine Won't Go Away

The Cornhuskers open their season this weekend against Maine and of course that brings with it repeated mentions of the debacle in Starkville last fall.

Two very depressing stats about that Maine team that I didn't know until today.

1. Maine finished last season ranked 98th in Division I-AA in total defense. (A year later it still baffles me that MSU could only muster 7 points against the 98th ranked Division 1-AA defense. If I wasn't there, I wouldn't have believed it.)

2. The NCAA Division I-AA Black Bears finished the 2004 seasons with a 5-6 record. (wow.)

Callahan was quoted in the Lincoln Journal Star:

“They have our complete respect,” Callahan said of the Black Bears. “They’re capable of generating a lot of pressure on the quarterback — I think they blitzed (Mississippi State’s Omarr Conner) about 53 percent of the time. They come at you with a lot of variations ... “They send the house. They’ll bring everybody if they can. They can wreak a lot of havoc in your (pass) protection game if you’re not sound. Watching that film, the Mississippi State quarterback got hammered quite a bit.”

"When all this is over, we'll need a diversion."

Rick Cleveland of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger summed up the storm's impact on the Tulane football team in today's issue. The team left New Orleans on Sunday and is staying at Jackson State while preparing for their game on Sunday with USM. The ADs are meeting today to decide whether or not to postpone their season opener.

No decision has been made on the Tulane - MSU matchup scheduled for Sept. 17 at the Superdome, but I have to think it will be either moved or canceled.

Katrina puts sports in its place

(the photo of the Superdome roof is courtesy of Bill Haber of the Associated Press)

At Least 55 Dead in Mississippi

CNN is reporting that at least 55 are dead in Mississippi and other news sites are saying as many as 80 are estimated dead this morning and this number is only likley to rise as the day continues.

The carnage from Katrina is unbelievable. The thoughts and prayers of everyone here are with those on the Mississippi coast and in New Orleans.

The Biloxi Sun-Herald has pictures of the wreckage on the coast.

This photo is of damage from Hurricane Katrina that lies scattered over U.S. 90 near Biloxi, Miss. The photo is courtesty NICK OZA at the Macon Telegraph.

Video Review Comes to the SEC

Ted Lewis of the Times-Picayune wrote an article on college football instant reply today, in which he described the different reply rules conferences are using in 2005.

The review will be requested by an official in the booth in the SEC and the status of the call will be made by that official in the booth. In Conference USA the review will be requested by an official in the booth, but the call will be made by the Referee on the field, like in the NFL. Neither conference's coaches, along with the ACC and Big 11, can request a review. However, the Mountain West Conference will allow its coaches to request a review once per half and similiar to the NFL rule, it will cost the team a timeout if the play on the field is not overturned.

This is just one more reason that the College Football National Championship is a joke. The conferences are playing by different rules!

Croom likes that he won't have to make the call as he did in the NFL:

Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said advising the head coach on whether to challenge a play was his responsibility during his time as an NFL assistant, but doesn't want it now.

"We will let someone else do it," he said. "Challenging calls isn't much fun, especially if you get it wrong and lose a time out. I was very hesitant to do it in the NFL."

Further Review Might be Successful

Mississippi State Offense Struggling

In the understatement of the year, the Memphis Commercial Appeal's own Ross Dellenger wrote a piece published Sunday on the struggles of the M-State offense.

To sum it up, State can't block, catch or throw.

The good news? Murray State is up first on the schedule. If M-State doesn't win big on Saturday, State's practices, as well as this blog and messages boards such as www.sixpackspeak.com, will turn ugly, very fast.

To read the article:

Click Here

170 MPH Sustained Winds!

Katrina is a bitch and will undoubtedly do significant damage to the Southeast. Here's to hoping all residents of the region, regardless of school affiliation, remain safe during this storm.

Football takes a back seat to real issues like this hurricane, however we here at The Officially Unofficial M-State Athletics Blog hope the kick-off of the upcoming season isn't effected.

Just the Beginning....

Due to the continual amusement that M-State athletics provide, I've decided to start this blog. Also because Travis gave up his blog and the new Mississippi State Sports Blog isn't as interesting as Travis' old blog and because well, I guess I've got WAY too much time on my hands.

Hopefully, I can run a blog at least as interesting as Travis' old blog, as well as provide fodder for the rest of the M-State fans that just can't get enough info on Mississippi State athletics.

I also plan to provide some info on other college football topics from time to time. It's only four days to the first day of college football and I personally can't wait to watch Spurrier throw his visor as UCF takes a pick back for a touchdown. Go Knights!