The Mississippi State Bulldogs were tired of hearing Kevin Smith’s name. On Saturday afternoon, they proved it—sort of.
A look at the stat sheet might be misleading, as Smith ended the day with 119 yards. But on 35 carries, that’s only 3.4 YPC.
More importantly, the Bulldogs kept Smith from getting loose—his longest run was 15 yards—and kept him out of the end zone, even though he’d been there a nation-leading 29 times this year.
Ironically, the other No. 24 in the game, MSU’s running back Anthony Dixon, did the real damage. While Smith was busy fumbling in his own territory, Dixon was rumbling for big first downs—and the final TD plunge—late in the game.
Dixon’s final tally was 86 yards (3.6 per carry) and the all-important go-ahead touchdown.
The real story, of course, was the Bulldogs’ relentless defense, which limited UCF’s high-scoring offense to a season-low three points. Mississippi State’s D has carried the team all season long, and Saturday was no exception, as the Bulldog offense registered an embarrassing 39 total passing yards, leaving the defense to do the dirty work.
Gang-tackling, big hits, and interceptions were key to the Bulldog victory. As usual, Derek Pegues was the defensive MVP, picking off two passes, helping to stop the run, and lighting up quarterback Kyle Israel on his trademark blitzes.
Entering the game, these two teams were polar opposites. While UCF had ripped off seven straight wins and posted 34 points or more in each of them, Mississippi State needed a one-point, come-from-behind win over Ole Miss just to become bowl eligible.
In the end, Sylvester Croom, the SEC Coach of the Year, got a much-deserved bowl win, and the all important momentum heading into next season.
As for the SEC—it’s one down, eight to go.
15 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Anonymous about 1 year ago
The Mississippi State win against Alabama made them bowl eligible at 6 wins, Ole Miss was number 7.
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Tim Pollock about 1 year ago
6 wins would have tied them with Alabama and South Carolina. 6-6 with a loss against Ole Miss would not have put them in a bowl game. The 7th win guaranteed a spot.
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Eric Brown about 1 year ago
I have the SEC going 7-2 this bowl season. The two losses should come from Tennessee and Arkansas. I think UT's game will be very close and they are certainly capable of winning, but the coaching defections always seem to have an adverse effect this time of year. Arkansas is probably not going to get much of anything out of McFadden, and Missouri is good enough to beat them even if he played.
From there, I see smooth sailing with the exception of Auburn/Clemson. That's a toss up, but I'm taking the War Eagle Tigers.
As for the MSU/UCF game, I'd like my 3 hours back. Thanks. That was painful to watch.
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Smith J. Howard about 1 year ago
I get the joke about both teams having Tiger mascots, but don't let Auburn folks hear you calling them the War Eagle Tigers. For some, I guess it's a sensitive subject, but "War Eagle" is their battle cry. I've seen some intense arguments over Auburn being called the "War Eagles", the "Eagles", the Eagle-Tigers", etc.
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Eric Brown about 1 year ago
I didn't even mean to use the old 'same mascot' joke, actually. That was a terrible accident. And thanks for the warning about Auburn fans. I've crossed paths with my share after wins and losses. They are just like the rest of us SEC freaks.
Except they make it very clear that they do NOT use hair gel.
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Tim Pollock about 1 year ago
Jager bombs
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Tim, you used the word 'eligible.' We were ELLIGIBLE at 6-6 because we could have been chosen over any other 6-6 team (Alabama or SC).
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Tim Pollock about 1 year ago
Anonymous Coward,
Not sure what dictionary you are using, but the word elligible does not exist. And as I said earlier, a loss to lowly Ole Miss would have knocked MSU out of bowl contention, in my opinion.
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Nate Headley Batteries about 1 year ago
Wow everyone pull out their cocks and startin wackin off, Mississippi State was able to beat national power Central fuckin Florida.. let the celebratory jizz spray
Good job SEC, you beat a non-BCS conference school 10 to fuckin 3. Thats so fuckin exciting, Im about to piss myself... oh and of course THIS victory validates the SEC as the best conference of all-time right?
this shit is about to get real annoying and fruity, that is until LSU gets shut out 20-0 by the Buckeyes. And then Les Miles can go have an orgy with Vern Lundquist, Gary Danielson, and the fuckin SEC commissioner.
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Tim Pollock about 1 year ago
Nate,
The point was that the SEC's worst beat the Conference USA's best, which would seem to indicate that the SEC is strong...and the C-USA is very bad. Nobody claimed this win puts the SEC on top--yet, but it's a pretty good start to the SEC's bowl season.
From your masturbation and orgy comments, you seem to have quite a strong bias against the SEC. You also appear to be a Big 10 fan based on your unrealistic shutout prediction in the NC game. Should we be impressed with Purdue's victory over CMU?
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Erick Blasco about 1 year ago
Tim, it's just semantics. The Bulldogs were eligible at six wins but would not have been guaranteed a spot but with their seventh win plus the SEC tie-ins, the Bulldogs were in. Why people are making a huge deal about it, I have no clue.
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Rusi Patel about 1 year ago
Does it really matter? The story with Mississippi State is Sly Croom. Both Mississippi State and Alabama won this weekend, but State has a better record.
As for Nate, wow, you need to get a grip kid. You completely missed the point. Mississippi State has been the worst or near the worst program in the SEC for years. For them to go and beat the C-USA champs means a lot to that program. UCF is coached by George O'Leary who is a pretty damn good coach. They have a great RB. They also almost beat Texas this year and are much better than you are giving them credit for.
Central Michigan is also pretty good. You don't win the MAC two years in a row and not be good.
I would think that this year of all years would show that anyone can beat anyone else, especially if there is talent on your side of the field. That, and if your QB is named LeFevour. What a fucking great name.
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Tim Pollock about 1 year ago
I agree about Sly Croom.
But we need to be honest about teams like UCF and CMU. Sure, UCF almost beat Texas, but USF steamrolled UCF by 50.
As for CMU, they were blown out 52-7 by Kansas, 45-22 by Purdue (back in September), 70-14 by Clemson, and 44-14 by North Dakota State. They finished 8-6.
Whatever the case, everything changes during bowl season, and almost all of these games have been fun to watch.
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Brett Harper about 1 year ago
State was definitley tired of hearing Kevin Smith's name. That's all we heard one ESPN and all the online conversations about the game. The only thing the UCF fans could talk about was Kevin Smith. I couldn't tell you how many cars we walked by on the way to the stadium that had 24K written on it with shoe polish. And as a crowd of people and I walked to the stadium we were walking down the road chanting MSU and Maroon & White and all of the UCF fans were chanting one thing and that was Kevin Smith's name like he was the only person on the team. So It was very satisfying to watch State hold him to 3.4 YPC and scoreless. GO Dawgs & GO SEC (6-2). Oh yea, and State was bowl eligible after the Alabama game and they were guaranteed a bowl after the ole miss win, so anonymous guy is right.
And Nate, I hope you come back and leave some more wonderfully intelligent comments after LSU wins.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Waiting for the football genius and masterbation-obsessed Nate to make his appearance after a 38-24 night... SEC much, Nate? ;-)
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