LSU

Game 5, the Bayou Bengals. LSU is 1-1 after a delayed start to their season and a heart breaking overtime loss to Tennessee just 4 days ago. Does this give our Bullpups an advantage?

"They are such a talented football team that I don't think any of that stuff's going to bother them," Croom said. "If we were equally as talented or were a great football team, then you might have a little bit of an edge there. But we're fighting an uphill battle either way."

Why LSU: As was the case last week and will again be the case against Florida, why not? The Tigers are better at every skill position (minus starting running back), are deeper, are faster and are stronger. And if history is any indication, they will not only win on Saturday afternoon at Scott Field, but they'll win big.

Why State: For starters they are coached better than LSU and after the game on Monday night, many believe they are in better shape too. The Georgia game was lost with a lack of offense, but LSU has shown nothing to make anyone believe they are better than the Dawgs from Athens. The State run defense has been stingy this season and if Norwood gets 20 or more carries, State wins.

Bottom line: Once again the Bulldogs come up short due to a lack of playmakers on offense. LSU 20 - State 10.

Florida at Alabama

The game of the week in the SEC is being played in Tuscaloosa between the #5 ranked Gators and the #15 ranked Crimson Tide. Neither team has really impressed early in the season, but the Gators have proved a lot more than the Tide, beating a pretty solid UT squad in The Swamp. USC is Bama's staple win and quite frankly, USC is horrible. No way Bama runs for 200 yards on Florida, hell it's unlikely they'll get 100 against Charlie Strong' stingy run defense. Florida wins by at least a TD.

In other SEC contests this week, USC travels to the loveliest village and gets wrecked. Auburn might run for 300 yards. Okay, that's a stretch, but you better believe they'll get more than 200 and win by three touchdowns. And USC may not score.

That brings us to Mississippi. Poor Mississippi, sitting at 1-3 after the loss to Wyoming, with all the shine all ready rubbed off their new coach. Fulmer will unleash his newly found offense on Orgeron. Look for an early party to break out up on Rocky Top.

And Vandy, well they play another non-conference nobody and move to 5-0.

2005-2006 Basketball Schedule

The '05-'06 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Schedule was finally released by the athletic department yesterday. The pre-conference schedule is fairly weak, but that's a good thing this year as this truly young team will need some time to find an identity and learn to play together in real action. Based on past Stansbury teams we expect this team to rebound and play solid defense, however we're not sure where the points are going to come from after the loss of all five starters; Lawrence Roberts, Shane Power, Winsome Frazier, Marcus Campbell and Gary Ervin. Wow, it looks even worse in print.

The pre-conference schedule includes home contests with New Orleans, Santa Clara, George Mason and five other directional type schools. The lone road contest is at UNCC, which typically puts a quality product on the floor and the boys will get a little winter sun at the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico, where the only real competition will be Clemson in the championship game.

As for SEC East opponents, State has Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia at The Hump.

The 2005-2006 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Schedule

3 Yards and a Cloud of Dust?

Once a coach starts talking of "fundamentals" and "basic strategy" you know it's happened. Croom is frustrated.

"Offensively we just have to play a whole lot better. We’re going to do that by getting back to our base things and seeing if we can execute the core of our offense."

“We got out of the rhythm of running the football. We tried to spread them out a little bit the other night and create some better running lanes for Jerious Norwood. Sometimes you do things to make it easier, but we’re going back to doing it the hard way. We’re going to knock them off the ball and if we run it thirty times and only gain one inch, then we’re just going to gain one inch. But we’re not going to try to finesse people. We’re going to block people and run and do it the sure, hard way. It’s my fault we tried to finesse them, tried to trick them and get something easy. Hey, nothing comes easy for us around here. So that’s the way it is and we’re going to do it the right way. We’re going to hit people in the mouth and block them and if we can’t, we get beat, it’s that simple.”

So does that mean we can expect up the middle, up the middle, bomb, punt? I don't think so.

“Our system allows us to do pretty much anything that our talent will allow us to do. We can go in with three backs in the backfield, or three tight ends, or four or five receivers in a heartbeat, if we have them. That’s the beauty of the offense, it allows you to adapt to whoever your best players are. Right now our best is keeping guys like Bryson Davis and our tight ends on the field, so that’s what we’ll do.”

All this talk of smash mouth football is more likely coach speak, then Croom saying we're going to do anything differently. However, if Norwood is healthy, we doubt there will be a game in which he receives less than 15 carries again this season.

Norwood has averaged 5.5 yards per carry over his career and 5.9 yards per carry when given the ball more than 15 times. The running game with Norwood is like novocain, just give it time, it always works.

Yards Gained When Receiving 15 or more Carries:

Freshman 2002
UK: 15 carries, 138 yards

Sophomore 2003
Vanderbilt, 22 carries, 113 yards
Memphis, 22 carries, 85 yards

Junior 2004
Tulane, 20 carries, 112 yards
UAB, 24 carries, 204 yards
Florida, 29 carries, 174 yards
Kentucky, 24 carries, 165 yards
Alabama, 24 carries, 96 yards
Arkansas, 23 carries 109 yards

Senior 2005
Murray State, 16 carries, 123 yards
Tulane, 21 carries, 99 yards

Things I Learned this Weekend...

1. State is better than I thought and getting better every week. Hopefully that trend continues.

2. Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va. is a magical place where opponents go to die. There is not a better atmosphere in the ACC and only a few can be found in the country. That place is loud every play. You can't tell if it's third down or first down. One word: relentless.

3. Wisconsin may be in the midst of a special year to end Alvarez's career.

4. The honeymoon is over in Oxford. Mississippi is in melt down mode after their loss to Wyoming.

5. Meyer will win a lot at Florida, but he won't be hated like Spurrier. Florida scored 49 points in the first half at Kentucky and Meyer pulled his starters early in the third quarter. Spurrier would have hung at least 70 on the Wildcats.

6. If you live on the edge, you lose as many as you win. Clemson lost in overtime for the second straight week after a 2-0 start in which both games were decided late in the fourth quarter against A&M and Maryland.

7. Cornhole is a ridiculously fun tailgating game.


(Photo of Orgeron walking through the Grove before Saturday's defeat at the hands of the Wyoming Cowboys is courtesy of Bruce Newman, Special to The Clarion-Ledger.)

Tornado Hits Campus

Starkville residents were more worried about Katrina wrecking havoc in Starkville than Rita, but a tornado, spawned from the remnants of Rita, had a much bigger impact on campus. 100 year old oak trees are down all along the center of campus and a few buildings lost sections of their roofs, including Perry Cafeteria. It appears this RV, along with the University Hills mobile home community took the worst of the beating.

It has been reported that the athletic facilities all made it through the storm intact.

Improvement?

Mississippi State has a very good coaching staff. It's more than schemes, plays called, etc. They are developing young players and putting them in the right positions on the field. The linebackers are the most obvious example (after the shift to youth before Florida last year), but you can look at the whole team and see this happening.

24 points and less than 100 yards rushing. Against UGA? No way. But it happened.

Speed kills, unfortunately size matters too, and that's where this defense is hurting right now. Our linebackers while speedy and valiant, are undersized. How many times was the defense in position to make plays on Saturday only to have a bigger, faster, stronger player win the head to head battle? It all comes back to talent.

And talent? We're getting there. Pegues, Fitzhugh, Chaney, Littlejohn...all freshman, all recruited by this staff and all playing critical snaps and making plays on this defense.

And you don't think this team has bought in. Goal line stand anyone? I haven't seen a head coach as upset at Davis Wade as Mark Richt since the Florida thrashing in 2000.

The offensive production is indeed offensive. But what is so frustrating is that even with the ineptness of the offensive line the opportunity for positive plays are there. One guy misses a block. An open receiver either drops a ball or Conner misses him. And Conner, well, he's not a great quarterback, but he is a warrior and a hell of a leader.

At the beginning of the year, I predicted we'd be 2-2 after the Georgia game. Only I thought Auburn and Georgia would wreck us and Norwood and/or Conner would be out hurt by the LSU game. Not only that, but we've arguably already played the best two defenses in the conference as well.

The team has impressed me so far in this young season.

Through four games in 2004
Tulane: 28-7 W
Auburn: 14-43 L
Maine: 7-9 L
@LSU: 0-51 L

Through four games in 2005
Murray State: 38-6 W
@Auburn: 0-28 L
Tulane: 21-14 W
Georgia: 10-23 L

I'd call that significant improvement.


(The photo, courtesy of Rogelio Solis, Associated Press, is of Georgia tight end Pope dragging Bobo across the goal line.)

Beamer

Not only will we here at The Officially Unofficial Mississippi State Athletics Blog be watching the VT-GT game in newly expanded Lane Stadium this weekend, but so are these guys, which always makes things more entertaining.

State fans may find this article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Hokie Head Coach Frank Beamer interesting.

Excerpts of interest:

On a cold Monday morning, two days after that dismal 2-8-1 season ended, (current VT AD) Braine was summoned to the office of the university president, Dr. James McComas. "The meeting lasted maybe 10 minutes, max," Braine said. "He asked me point blank: 'Do we need to get rid of our football coach?' I said, 'No sir. He's a good coach. But we need to give him more money to hire some assistant coaches.'

"What Frank's done wasn't impossible, but it was next to impossible," Braine said. "He's accomplished something that no one dreamed was ever possible at Virginia Tech."

"His whole thing is, don't ever get too high and don't ever get too low," said Beamer's only son, 27, now in his second year as a defensive assistant and recruiting coordinator at Mississippi State. "I know he feels really good about this year's team, but the only thing he says is, 'I think we have a chance to be pretty good.' "He always says, 'Things can change quickly.' So, stay steady, stay even-keeled, and I can seed that in Dad in his coaching and his life. That's him."

A rocky start: None of that, however, mattered in the fall of 1992, when Shane Beamer was a sophomore quarterback at Blacksburg High and life was tough for the entire family. "I can remember going to school, a couple of teammates of mine would always say, 'Hey, where you gonna be living next year?' Or, 'Who's our quarterback gonna be next year? You're not gonna be here.' "

The night of Blacksburg High's homecoming dance, Shane recalled showering while listening to Virginia Tech's loss at Louisville. "I remember sitting there in the bathroom, crying and being very upset," he said. So was his younger sister, Casey, then 11, who answered the phone later that night — the Beamers' home phone number was listed then — and the caller asked for Frank.

"This guy just lit into her," Shane said. "He said what a terrible coach her dad was, and Virginia Tech needed to fire him. What kind of guy would call and rip into an 11-year-old girl, as far as what kind of coach her dad is?"

When Shane came of age, he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles, took his driver's test and passed. "They called my name to come up to the front counter," he said. "I reached to grab my license, and the guy said, 'Tell your dad he'd better win more football games if you want to keep this.' It crushed me. It was my 16th birthday."

Georgia

Game 4, the other Bulldogs. Georgia is 3-0, with wins over Boise State, South Carolina and ULM. The Boise State performance was impressive, but it turns out Boise doesn't play any kind of defense. The USC victory was nice, but it turns out USC doesn't play any defense either. And ULM, well, it's ULM and the score was 17-7 in the third quarter.

Why State: Georgia's offense hasn't proved anything yet against any kind of formidable defense and State has, if nothing else, a pretty strong D. USC did a pretty good job chasing Shockley around and forcing him to make mistakes, if State's front four can do the same and keep the score close going into the fourth quarter, then the Pups have a chance.

Why Georgia: Why not? They're ranked seventh in the country, have a ridiculous amount of talent and a very stingy defense. They have a great stable of running backs, an experienced quarterback and one of the best tight ends in the country in Pope. If Georgia doesn't turn the ball over on offense, the game won't be close.

Bottom line: Georgia covers the 15.5, but only because State can't score. UGA wins, 28-3.

Tennessee at LSU

UT plays a second straight SEC game against a top ten conference opponent on the road (conspiracy theorists say this is the SEC's payback for Fulmer skipping out on media days in Birmingham last year), this time traveling to Baton Rouge. We don't know what exactly to expect from LSU, after only one game, but one would assume after their first game with ASU, that their offense is better than Florida's. The line is LSU -6.5. The Vols will cover, but the Bengals will get what counts, the W.

The other SEC conference games this weekend won't be competetive. The Hogs will get whipped again, this time in Tuscaloosa and Florida will get their offense rolling against a really bad Kentucky team. And what's the over-under on how many points MSU puts on the board?

The out of conference games aren't any more appealing, but do provide a couple opportunities for upsets. Troy travels to Columbia (any chance the Cocks lose this one? - probably not) and Wyoming plays at Mississippi (a pretty good chance the Rebs go 1-2). Auburn has another scrimmage, this one against Western Kentucky, and Vanderbilt will go 4-0 after beating Richmond.

Croom's Thoughts this Week

On beating Tulane: “We had guys who played very well last week. Willie Evans of course had an outstanding game, David Heard, Kevin Dockery, Quinton Culberson, Clarence McDougal. Blake McAdams did an excellent job punting and keeping us out of trouble all night long. Chris McNeil had one of his better games."

On game week: “It’s a big game this week, against a great opponent. Fine players, good coaching staff, tradition, all that good stuff that you like about college football. We’ve got it all here on our campus Saturday night in prime time, so we’re excited about being a part of that."

On practice this week: "If I had a truly veteran football team with a lot of experience we’d be in shorts all week under these circumstances. But we’re still very young and have a lot of work to do in order to get better and have any chance of beating Georgia. It’s a fine line we have to cross this week, but our players are excited about it and we’ll be enthusiastic."

On three-straight games against top-ten teams: “It’s big-time. And we’re going to focus on this one because we definitely have to take them one at a time. But this truly is what college football is about—playing a big-time opponent, on TV, what more can you ask for? It’s great exposure for our program, a great chance for our players to display their skills, their character, to see the product of all the hard work they’ve put in. I look at it as a challenge but more than that as a great opportunity for us.”

On similarities to the 2004 Florida game: "We won’t know until around midnight Saturday, but I sure do hope so. I’ve been talking to our players, last year’s Auburn team and Florida team, this year’s Auburn team…I doubt anyone puts Southern Cal or one of those NFL teams on the schedule, (so) we won’t see any more talent than we saw in those games. There’s nothing to be afraid of, we know what to expect. We’ve been up against the best so let’s go line up and play."

On defending a mobile quarterback: "It’s not going to be easy, (Shockley) is bigger and just as elusive (as Topps), and he has a better cast of characters around him. That changes everything. We were able to shut down Murray State’s running game and focus on Topps, and even that was difficult. Georgia has an excellent running game, excellent wide receivers. This will be a huge challenge for our defense.”

On the offensive line: “They didn’t have any sacks this week so that’s a positive. I don’t worry as much about us running the football, I really don’t. When I get worried is in our protections, making sure we can throw the football. Because if there’s any crack Jerious Norwood will find it. We still have to scheme some things, the reality is we still don’t match up as well as I’d like to physically in the offensive line vs. the top defensive lines around. This year none of our players played offensive tackle last year. We don’t have a single (veteran) tackle, Anthony Strauder didn’t start at guard last year, Johnny Wadley didn’t start most of the year. Chris McNeil is really the only true starting offensive lineman from last year, that would make any coach in this conference real worried. And then our backups are freshmen.”

On Willie Evans: "He might say he’s progressed in spite of me the last two years! But he played a very good game the other night, great effort, great intensity. He did not have a quality spring, I think he was distracted by some things off the field and had his attentions elsewhere. But he’s come back this fall really focusing and trying to have a big year, and the other night was a great individual effort. And he’s going to have an opportunity this week to have another one."

On the secondary's tackling: “I thought Dock approached (training camp) like a NFL player. He went out every day with a professional attitude, he was going to strap it on, smile and have a great time. He competed in every drill, it was really amazing to see because last year I didn’t think we had anybody take that kind of mental approach towards practice. He made it fun for himself. Now we’re seeing the results of the work he put in. Just the tackling in the open field, the timing and breaking on balls, sometimes he’s almost too confident. But a good corner has to be confident, in fact you have to be downright arrogant to play back there and be very good at it. Both he and David Heard are not very big, but Dock made a few hits that looked like he was propelled from a gun. Demario Bobo is the one who really surprises me, that was a major decision when we moved him back to that position. We moved him to get some more range, because Florida hit a few post-patterns on us last year and we knew we had to put somebody back there to cover ground and keep people from going deep over our middle safety. He has speed and length. We felt we were giving up run support doing that but so far that has not been the case. He played well the other night, but the Auburn game really surprised me the way he tackled. In spring he was not one of our better tacklers but he has really improved it.”

(All quotes taken from David Murray's weekly press conference recap.)

The Woodshed

State's upcoming stretch of Georgia (7), LSU(3) and Florida(5) will likely be the toughest run of games any team in the country faces this year. Southern Cal, for example, only has one game on the schedule against a current top 15 opponent (Cal, currently 14). The only bright spot is the first two games are played at home, starting with Georgia this Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

State is currently a 15.5 point dog against Georgia and a rational observer can't seem to understand why the spread is so small. Adding to State's offensive struggles, back-up tailback Ambrose is likely out for the season with an ACL. God help us if Norwood gets banged up early.

The big story early in the week is how many players on this State squad call Georgia home. Seven from the last recruiting class alone are from the Peach State. Croom has marked talent rich Georgia as crucial territory on the recruiting trail.

"They've got so many players in the state of Georgia that Georgia and Georgia Tech can't get them all, so they might as well let us have some," said Croom.

No television execs thought it was a good idea to pick up the LSU game next week (I guess no one is thinking about an upset in Starkville this weekend), so Templeton scheduled a 1:30 p.m. CT kick-off.

Things I Learned this Weekend...

1. Michigan State owns Notre Dame. They even planted a flag at the 50 yard line to prove it. Five straight against the Irish. Nice.

2. Willie Evans is a beast. We knew he was good. We didn't know he was four sacks in one game good.

3. PAX and CSTV should relinquish their rights to ever show a live sporting event again. It was like watching a high school game with the one camera on top of the press box showing the whole field.

4. Alabama is loaded at running back. Even Jimmy Johns got 13 yards on three carries. Where was that rushing attack the last two weeks? (We said it before and we'll say it again...Ron Cooper sucks.)

5. Vanderbilt will go bowling this year. And Mississippi won't.

6. Fulmer has another nemesis at Florida. Meyer is apparently no myth.

7. Miami has lost its swagger. And I'm pretty sure Virginia Tech stole it.

2-1

It was a nice win, it was an ugly win; it was Norwood up the middle for 34 yards, it was Norwood up the middle for minus two yards; it was Eric Butler making a nice break downfield on a Conner scramble for a TD, it was Milons dropping balls and Prosser fumbling; it was Pegues touching the ball for the first time on offense and picking up a few yards on an end around, it was Anderson getting the play called back for a hold; it was 21 points in the second half, it was one first down in the first half; it was the first road win since 2002, it was a neutral site victory in the morning.

Well, that's enough Dickens...it was a win.

And we'll take it. We'll take it anyway we can get it.

Game balls go to the defense, Evans in particular for his four sack night and Dockery for laying wood on the edge all evening. A game ball goes to true freshman Blake McAdams, 10 punts and a 46 yard average is better than State fans have seen in a long time. And of course, you have to give a game ball to Norwood for his 99 yards on 21 carries. He earned every inch.

Goats? Well, McCorvey is definitely a goat. And if he isn't calling plays, then that falls to Croom. Either way, the offense is horrible and there are no signs that it's improving. There better be some magical coaching happening in the near future in Starkville, or the next three weeks are going to be a train wreck.

The 2-1 record is State's best three-game start since 2000. So they've got that going for them, which is nice.

(The photo is of Willie Evans getting one of his four sacks on the evening. Courtesy of Greg Pearson/The Associated Press.)

Tulane

Tulane's football team has been through a lot the past three weeks. Hell, they've just been a lot of places the past three weeks. Tulane left New Orleans on August 28 with enough equipment for their road game against Southern Miss scheduled for the next Sunday. They headed to Jackson, Miss. to ride out the storm and spent the week practicing at Jackson State and watching their city flood. After the game with Southern was postponed, they made their way to Dallas, where they spent the next week pondering the situation in New Orleans and the future of their season. Tulane made the decision to play the season that week and since then Tulane has moved again, this time to Louisiana Tech, their new home for the fall semester.

Tulane left campus with game tape of Southern, limited practice gear and their away uniforms. And the last article I read, they didn't have any game tapes of MSU.

Tulane will have emotion on their side for Saturday night's game at the Independence Bowl. But that's not all. Tulane's offense is led by a new coordinator and returns just about everyone from an offense that improved throughout the year, including QB Lester Ricard who missed the second half of last season with an arm injury. Although the lack of practice time and the emotional drain of the past three weeks will be surely be felt. On defense, Tulane has three new linebackers expected to start and their defensive line wasn't anything special last season, meaning State should be able to run the ball. Tulane does have a very solid secondary, which doesn't bode well for an MSU passing attack that was abysmal last weekend.

State needs a fast start to quell some of the emotion on the Tulane sideline. I envision a lot of running between the tackles on offense and I think the MSU defense will come to play, still trying to prove to everyone that they are for real this season.

If State doesn't win this game, Croom will lose a lot of support for what he's doing and the program will be staring 1-4 in the face with UGA, LSU and Florida next on the schedule. State needs to win the games they are favored to win this year to show progress, not only to the current players and fans, but to recruits who are considering giving four years of their lives to this program.

The bottom line, MSU wins 28-13.

The patch above will be worn by all Tulane athletics teams throughout the 2005-06 academic year. Tulane University president Dr. Scott Cowen charged Tulane athletes to "carry the torch, be the face and represent the name" of the University for the upcoming seasons while its students, faculty and staff remain displaced from New Orleans.

Vols v. Gators

UT and Florida headline three SEC conference games this weekend, with Mississippi traveling to Nashville and Alabama facing off against Spurrier.

Arkansas is playing THE USC out in Los Angeles, in what should be a blood bath, especially after the Hogs got ripped last weekend by the Commodores.

Kentucky heads to Bloomington to take on Indiana. UK will play more like they did the first week of the season and beat the Hoosiers.

I said earlier this week that Vandy would be 5-0 before losing to LSU. And I stand by my prediction.

I'm taking the Gamecocks against Alabama because I don't think the Tide will score 14 points. Shula's chair is getting warm.

UGA and Auburn will both beat up on big-time patsies (ULM and Ball State respectively).

That brings us to Tennessee and Florida in the Swamp. I always look forward to this game, but this year even more. It'll be fun to see if Meyer's offense has the same effect on UT that Spurrier's offense did. I'm guessing it won't. Vols win by a field goal.

One Neighborhood in Gautier

As Mississippi State and Tulane prepare to play this Saturday night as part of a telethon to raise money for the Boys and Girls Clubs of New Orleans, we would be remiss not to remember the thousands of people on the Mississippi coast left homeless by Katrina.

My roommate from college, a 2001 mechanical engineering graduate of Mississippi State University, sent me these pictures of the neighborhood he called home in Gautier, Miss. The good folks who lived in these destroyed homes still don't know what they're going to do, whether or not they'll rebuild, and if so, how. Their stories are like thousands of others from New Orleans to Mobile, Al. and that's what makes them so tragic.

The country was glued to this tragedy for more than a week, 24/7 on CNN and FOX News, but like we typically do, with our thirty second attention spans, we're already starting to move on. Other news is creeping onto the front pages around the country and the political blame game continues.

After 9/11 the country adopted a phrase, "We Can Never Forget." Yet, it seems half the country already has. This individual, in the comfort of his home, far from the ravaged landscape of the coast, truly hopes the citizens of this country don't forget the victims of Katrina after the pictures stop coming into their homes every evening.

And for what it's worth, this blog, although preaching to the choir for the most part, will remind the average sports fan from time to time of the catastrophic storm that made land fall on August 29, 2005 and encourage its readers to do what ever they can to help.

May God give strength to those who need it most.

Croom's Thoughts this Week

About execution at Auburn: "That’s what bothered me so much about the game, not so much that we lost but the way we lost. If they’d done something we hadn’t prepared for that’s on the coaches, on me, but that’s not the case. There was nothing new out there at all. I wasn’t sure after Murray State, I just wanted something else to gauge that by. But we are definitely a better football team."

About pre-snap penalties at Auburn: "I was about ready to beat myself. We talk about it, we practice it, we do things from a punitive standpoint. We will continue to do that; the next step is hey, you don’t play. It’s that simple. It’s going to end one way or another."

About the Tulane game: "We haven’t seen them play of course. But they closed out with a flourish last year and I’m sure they’re greatly anticipating playing this game after the difficulties they have gone through. They’re a veteran football team and I expect them to be playing at an emotional high. We will match that emotion and play a lot better game than last week, I have great confidence our players will do that."

About emotions this week: "There’s nothing normal about this situation; it’s not going to be business as usual. There has got to be more brought to the table than normal if we’re going to have a chance to win this football game."

About practice this week: "We’ve got a lot of work to get done this week. It was definitely beneficial to work on our blitz pick-up and on our blitz package on defense because we’ll need to do a good job in both areas this week. We also spent a lot of time working on our young guys, trying to get them along a little bit further. Normally we go out Monday in shorts; we went out in pads to let them know we’ve got to bring everything we’ve got. "

About freshman OT Calvin Wilson: "We’re going to try to get Calvin integrated into the rotation as fast as we can without putting him in harm’s way. I will say this, from what I saw yesterday he is a phenomenal athlete and what was impressive was he didn’t miss any assignments. He hasn’t had any reps in weeks and did not miss assignment. He got mental reps by watching and that says something about him, to pay attention in meetings and practice. He’s a guy that wants to be a good football player."

About Norwood: "He says he feels a lot better but we’re going to give him time to rest. He’ll start doing some things but of course he won’t have contact during the week."

(All quotes taken from David Murray's weekly press conference recap.)

Red Sox Need More Cowbell

Bill Simmons waxed poetic on his blog yesterday about former MSU pitcher Jon Papelbon on ESPN.com's Page2.

The Red Sox, in need of a closer since...well, all year, may have found one in the rookie on Monday night.

As Simmons wrote:

"So the kid comes out for the ninth, throws two hitless innings, gets the obligatory go-ahead homer from Big Papi in the top of the 11th -- seriously, this is getting ridiculous, he's like the Dominican Roy Hobbs at this point -- then effortlessly retires the side in the bottom of the 11th for the win. Forty-five pitches, no hits, one baserunner, one strikeout."

"Can it happen with Papelbon? After watching Monday's game, I say yes. And as strange as this sounds, the 2005 Red Sox can't win the World Series without him."

"Big Game for the Big Easy"

Saturday's contest against Tulane will be part of a telethon to help rebuild Boys & Girls Clubs damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Some of the money raised will also go to the Conference USA relief fund.

The game, televised by CSTV, will air at 9:00 p.m. ET from Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La. and will include a concert at halftime. Musical artists have not been announced.

Things I Learned this Weekend...

1. Notre Dame really is God's team.

2. Texas has no one left on the schedule as good as Ohio State. And they still won't go undefeated because their offensive coaching staff is umm...lacking.

3. It is really hard to find a good college quarterback these days. Oklahoma. FSU. Miami. I could name a dozen more, but damn.

4. Spurrier scares Gawga fans. And that makes me laugh. The "ole ball coach" will win an SEC Championship at South Carolina.

5. Virginia Tech is the new Florida State. They will dominate the ACC for years to come. I realize it was against Duke, but the Hokies scored more points than yards allowed. Wow.

6. Vanderbilt will be 5-0 before losing to LSU.

7. I didn't think it was possible, but the Mid 11 is worse than the Big 12.

1-1

Well...it was hot. And it was typical.

State's offense made stupid penalty after stupid penalty. The OL couldn't slow down Auburn's rush. Milons handed the Tigers a touchdown. And the defensive line couldn't stop a quarterback sneak if their lives depended on it. And oh yeah, the best player on the team busted up his shoulder during the first series.

Other than all of that...it was a beautiful day.

At least the defense came to play, holding Auburn to 118 yards rushing (320 total yards) and three touchdowns, two really, before the game turned into a glorified scrimmage in the fourth quarter.

Croom has a lot of work to do to get this offense prepared for Georgia, Florida and LSU. Tulane better be a win next week, or State is looking 3-8 or worse in the face, again.

(Photo is Auburn's Will Herring picking up a fumble by Mississippi State's Tee Milons during the third quarter. Also chasing the ball are Auburn's David Irons, left, and Travis Williams and State's Jerious Norwood. Herring scored on the fumble recovery to make it 21-0. (AP Photo/Todd J. Van Emst)

Auburn

Week two of the 2005 State Football Campaign takes the Bullpups to play a team that didn't lose last year. A team that returned a lot of players from the 2004 season, but lost its most recognizable faces. And a team that looked lost at times last week against GT, especially on offense.

Why State: Auburn rushed for only 50 yards last Saturday night. That's 2.2 yards per carry. It's obvious they miss Ronnie and Cadillac more than Tubberville thought they would. And while Tre is a good back, he's no first round draft choice. And while State's defensive front is not as good as Georgia Tech's, they can certainly play. On the flip side GT ran for 139 yards. PJ Daniels is a great back, but I'll take my chances with Norwood any day. A lot has been made of State's ineptness at offensive line during the off-season, but GT's OL wasn't highly touted coming into the season either. If State can find a way to run effectively and keep Auburn and their monster receivers off the field, they've got a chance.

Why Auburn: Did you miss the line about the monster receivers? Cox threw for 342 yards last weekend. Obviously the four picks hurt Auburn, but a kid on his first start throwing for 300 plus yards is impressive. Expect Auburn to try to establish the run early and once those defensive backs start inching up...TD Auburn.

Bottom Line: State hangs in for a while, but Auburn pulls away in the fourth quarter with big plays in the passing game, 34-21.

SEC Season Begins Saturday

The first SEC games of the season take place this Saturday with State traveling to the Loveliest Little Village, South Carolina and Georgia hooking up in Athens, and Vanderbilt trying to continue their winning streak at Arkansas.

Auburn will try to figure out what went wrong last weekend against the Jackets and then attempt take out their frustration on the Bullpups. The last time AU lost a season opener (USC in 2003) they followed up the next weekend with a big upset loss to GT. Will history repeat itself?

A lot has been written about Spurrier's return to the SEC, but the real story this weekend is whether or not Georgia is as good as they looked against Boise State. Anyone else think UGA's offense looked vaguely similar to FSU's, you know, back when Charlie Ward was running the show? Spurrier said Shockley is a Heisman candidate this year. Mind games? We'll find out Saturday.

Southern Miss and Alabama play their annual game in Tuscaloosa this weekend. The Tide needs to get their offense moving after an unimpressive outing last week. And USM needs to show if their defense can be as competitive as in the past without their long time DC Tyrone Nix, who is now the co-defensive coordinator for the Gamecocks.

Vandy got a nice win last week at Wake. But traveling to Arkansas is another story.

LSU finally gets to play a game, albeit on the road, when it travels to Arizona State this weekend. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Tiger Stadium, but Katrina ensured that wouldn't happen. LSU has faced a lot of distractions this past week while assisting hurricane victims in Baton Rouge. Hopefully, the Tigers will play well. They deserve it.

A couple likely routs round out the SEC weekend with La Tech in the Swamp and Idaho State traveling to Kentucky. Yawn.

SEC's Longest Road Losing Streak

As Joedy McCreary of the Associated Press so eloquently put it today, "Mississippi State hasn't come home happy in a long time."

State has lost 12 straight road games. That's right. 12. And they've lost 15 straight road SEC games. That takes us back to Kentucky in 2000.

Vandy ended their streak of 18 straight road losses last week at Wake Forest, but still holds the conference lead with 16 straight.

Croom laid it out in his typical straight forward style, "It takes a good football team (to win road games). Bottom line around here, we just haven't been very good."

Croom's Thoughts on Auburn

A few takes from Croom's Press Conference on Tuesday, courtesy of DawgsBite:

on Auburn's Receivers: "Everybody is going to big, tall receivers, guys with tight end type bodies, and the two Auburn has are very good players. We don’t have many people to simulate those guys on the scout team, if we did they’d be playing! They’re going to have to imagine going up against tree-like individuals."

on MSU's Receivers: "...all our receivers have got to get a lot better this week because I’m sure they’ll have their corners sitting in their face, trying to hold them up. We’ve got those smurf-guys out there so I’m sure Auburn will try to manhandle them a little."

on Auburn's Defense: "This is one of the top defenses in the country. They have excellent athletes, and an excellent scheme in place. So we are going to have to earn everything we get, there are not going to be any cheapies."

on State's Offensive Strategy: "We’re just going to try to run to the football, get our guys in the right gaps, keep our pad-level a little low. I told our linemen if they stand up they’ll be on roller skates. We don’t do a lot of changing, our schemes are in place."

on the difference between last year's AU team: "The biggest difference from last year is just not having those two running backs, they were special. The running back they have now is very good but those two last year were in a class by themselves."

on talent comparison: "We’re not as talented as Auburn is. So what? We’re going to line up and play, we’ve got a plan to give us a chance to win. We do have a chance to win, we’re going down there with the intention of winning the football game. If we win it we still don’t have as much talent as they do."

on Jordan Hare: "I’ve never been in that stadium. At Alabama we always played in Birmingham. In fact I don’t think I’ve been to Auburn but once or twice, but not in the stadium."

on hatred of Auburn: "It’s different. But it’s still there! I have a great deal of respect for their program…but it’s still there."

Tulane Game Moved to Independence Bowl

The Times-Picayune is reporting the September 17th contest with Tulane, as well as the rest of Tulane's home games, will likely be played at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The game with State on September 17th will be Tulane's season opener.

Tulane's football team will stay at Louisiana Tech this fall. Tulane has canceled this semester.

This game was scheduled to be televised by CSTV at 7:00 p.m. CT from the Superdome in New Orleans. No word yet on whether the game will still be televised.

Things I Learned this Weekend...

1. UGA is good. Real good. We're talking challenge for the SEC title and win a BCS bowl good. Either that or Boise State will only win three games this year.

2. Reggie Ball has grown up. We knew Calvin Johnson was really good and we knew P.J. Daniels could tote the ball, what we didn't know was that Ball could play four quarters of solid football on the road in an environment like Jordan Hare.

3. Brandon Cox isn't the answer for Auburn. Four picks and a lost fumble?!?! Ouch. Another good defense is playing on the Plains this fall, but the offense will struggle all year if Cox doesn't shape up. Then again, what the hell was AU doing throwing the ball 44 times?

4. The MAC is O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D! 1-10 on opening weekend. Wow.

5. VT-NC State will be a great rivalry. Just three hours apart, similar schools, playing similar styles of football, these two teams are growing into one of the best rivalries on the East Coast.

6. The Big East is horrible.

7. Year two of the Croom era is off to a much better start than year one.

1-0

State started the season on the right foot Saturday evening beating the Racers of Murray State 38-6. Conner threw for 240 yards and four touchdowns and Norwood ran for 123 yards on 16 carries, while the defense proved they were as good as advertised by holding the "other MSU" to just six points (a TD and missed PAT). And led by redshirt freshman Keon Humphries, with 5 receptions for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns, the young receiving corps also proved worthy of praise.

The offense was very effective, scoring on five of their first seven possessions (when was the last time that happened?) before calling off the proverbial dogs, while actually resembling the WCO for the first time under Croom. Conner mentioned in post game remarks that he felt more comfortable reading defenses this year and made two adjustments at the line that led to touchdowns.

And while it's difficult to get too excited about pounding a team from D-1AA, the progress from last season appears to be excellent.

Next up: Auburn, Saturday, September 10, 12:30 p.m. ET


The photo, courtesy of J.D. Schlawm of the Jackson Clarion Ledger, is of Coach Croom and players during the pre-game prayer in honor of those affected by Hurricane Katrica.

The ACC Simpsons

Thought this was pretty amusing....

Cock 'n Fire...and Vandy Wins?!?!

Spurrier's Gamecocks came out firing, but left frustrated. An impressive passing attack in the first half by sophomore Blake Mitchell was reminiscent of the Gators, but the lack of a running game and inability to move the ball in the second half reminded us all of the shape of the program Holtz left behind and the strange defensive fronts, alignments and calls from Ron Cooper and company on the sidelines was like a reincarnation of the MSU defense from 2001-2003 (some cross of Joe Lee Dunn and Rob Cooper's insanity). Carolina fans are hoping today that UCF isn't the same team that went 0-11 last year or it will be another long year in Columbia.

And how about those Commodores! Vandy beat Wake last night for their first season opening win in 8 years. And in the understatement of the day, Wake is in for a long season.

In another game of interest for State fans, upcoming opponent Houston looked great in the first half before getting dominated in the second. Oregon's defense also looked oddly familiar in the first half, reminding this viewer of the State secondary in 2003, when Oregon put 42 points on the board at Scott Field. But unlike that MSU squad in 2003, Oregon was able to make a couple adjustments and blow out Houston in the second half. Houston may be a tough game by the time October 22 rolls around, but hopefully State will be ready after losing at Houston in 2003.

Murray State Racers

Game 1: 6:00 p.m., Saturday, September 3

Opponent: Murray State

Mississippi State and Murray State will be playing football Saturday evening on the heels of the greatest natural disaster to hit this country in our lifetime.

Five Bulldog players have family directly affected by Katrina. Some of those lost their homes, like countless others in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. And adding to the heartbreak, David Heard lost his father last week before Katrina hit, yet he, like those who lost everything, hasn't missed a single practice all week.

"It shows a great sense of character," Croom said. "They're stronger than I am. It has affected all of us as human beings. How can you not be devastated by what we've seen? We just have to continue to try to move on."

University officials are hoping football can serve as a diversion by giving away tickets to those taking refugee from the storm in the Starkville area. While trivial, hopefully the Bulldogs will give them something to cheer about.

As for the game...the Racers won't be able to slow down Norwood. Look for State to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, generate some turnovers and win big.

Prediction: Bulldogs roll, 38-10.

The Visor is Back

A big, "Welcome Back!" to the ole ball coach. The SEC just wasn't the same without him.

USC kicks off tonight against Central Florida on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET, starting a weekend of intriguing SEC match-ups against non-conference opponents. This weekend UGA plays Boise State, Florida matches up with Wyoming, Mississippi heads north to Memphis, Knoxville welcomes UAB, and UK squares off against their rival Louisville.

Also tonight, Vandy travels to play the Deacons. And in the SEC game of the weekend, Georgia Tech visits the Plains.

Most SEC fans will know a lot more about their teams after this first weekend of play. Some teams however are playing class A patsies; STATE v. Murray State, Middle Tenn at Bama and Southwest Missouri State at Arkansas; these teams (as long as they win) will still have a lot of questions about the upcoming season. And LSU, who had North Texas on the schedule, has postponed that game due to Katrina.

The SEC will take some blows this weekend, most likely from Louisville, Memphis and Wake Forest and possibly from Wyoming and Boise State, if either can catch Florida or UGA taking them lightly, however unlikely that may be. Georgia Tech also has a great opportunity for an upset at Auburn, however if history teaches us anything, Reggie Ball will make a costly mistake in the second half that will seal the win for the Tigers.

We're thinking the SEC will be 8-3 this weekend, with Vandy, Mississippi and Kentucky starting the season in an 0-1 hole.