2010 MISSISSIPPI STATE FOOTBALL NOTES Mississippi State (1-1, 0-1) at LSU (2-0, 1-0) Saturday, September 18, 2010 • 6:00 p.m. • ESPNU HD Tiger Stadium (92,400) Primary Contact: Joe Galbraith • [email protected] • Office - 662.325.2703 • Cell - 662.418.3970 2010 • GAME 3 Secondary Contact: Jay Middleton • [email protected] • Office: - 662.325.0972 • Cell - 662.213.5555 BULLDOGS FACE FIRST ROAD TEST IN BATON ROUGE OFFENSE SPREADING BALL AROUND IN MISSISSIPPI STATE SCHEDULE & RESULTS Mississippi State travels to Baton Rouge Saturday for a BOTH RUN AND PASS GAME Date Opponent W-L Score/Time Southeastern Conference tilt against LSU. The game is slated to Through just two games, nine different offensive players Sept. 4 MEMPHIS W 49-7 kick off at 6 p.m. CT, and will be televised nationally by ESPNU. have at least one rushing attempt and 10 different players have Sept. 9 * #20 AUBURN (Thurs.) L 14-17 Sept. 18 * at #12 LSU 6 p.m. Clay Matvick and Herm Edwards will call the action, and it will at least one reception. Against Auburn, nine different receivers Sept. 25 * GEORGIA 6 p.m. be the second time in three games the crew has broadcast caught at least one pass apiece. Last season only 13 Bulldog Oct. 2 ALCORN STATE TBA Mississippi State. players caught passes all season long. Oct. 9 at Houston 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at Florida TBA DOGS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER NEAR MISS DIAZ, WILSON LEAD DEFENSE TO IMPRESSIVE START Oct. 23 * UAB (HC) TBA In their last outing, the Bulldogs dropped a heart-breaking Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and co-defensive coor- Oct. 30 * KENTUCKY TBA 17-14 decision to Auburn in front of a raucous crowd at Davis dinator Chris Wilson joined the coaching staff with hopes of Nov. 13 * at Alabama TBA Wade Stadium last Thursday. Since 2000, State is 6-10 in games improving a defensive unit that finished 10th in the Southeastern Nov. 20 * ARKANSAS TBA following a defeat by seven or fewer points, but under head Conference in total defense a year ago. Nov. 27 * at Ole Miss TBA coach Dan Mullen the team is 1-1 after a close loss. Last year In the season opener, State’s defense smothered Memphis for all times Central the Bulldogs fell to Georgia Tech after losing to LSU by four and the first three quarters before the Tigers gained 92 of their 237 bounced back with a victory over Middle Tennessee after losing yards in the final stanza. Memphis finished the game with only The Series by seven to Houston. 41 rushing yards. Overall Record . LSU leads 67-33-3 Against Auburn, the Bulldog defense allowed 348 yards, in Baton Rouge . LSU leads 45-18-1 MULLEN AIMING FOR ANOTHER YEAR 2 SUCCESS STORY nearly 100 fewer than the Tigers averaged a season ago and Last meeting: . .LSU 30-26, 9/26/09, at Starkville Head coach Dan Mullen had coached two or more seasons at only the third time in two seasons Auburn hasn’t eclipsed the Last meeting in Baton Rouge: . LSU 34-24, 2008 six schools prior to taking the top spot at Mississippi State, and 350 mark. Last 10 meetings: . .LSU leads 10-0 at nearly every stop along the way Year Two has seen marked Current Series Win Streak: . LSU 10 games improvement. Wagner College went 6-5 in 1994 and 8-2 in 1995; WHITE TAKES OVER AT MLB, OFF TO FAST START Notre Dame improved from 5-7 in 1999 to 9-3 in 2000; Bowling Taking over for Jamar Chaney, now with the Philadelphia Quick Facts - Mississippi State Record . 1-1, 0-1 SEC Green went 8-3 in 2001 and 9-3 in 2002; Utah jumped from 10-2 Eagles, Chris White had big shoes to fill as he made the transi- Ranking (AP/Coaches') . .NR / RV in 2003 to 12-0 in 2004; and Florida improved from 8-3 in 2005 tion from outside linebacker to the middle of the field. In his Head Coach . .Dan Mullen to 13-1 and national champions in 2006. first game at his new position, White posted six total tackles and Career Record . 6-8 / Second Season recorded 2.5 tackles for loss, a new career high, and the highest MSU Record . same OFFENSE LOOKS TO GET BACK TO WEEK 1 RHYTHM total of tackles behind the line for a Bulldog linebacker since En route to scoring 49 points in the season-opening victory Chaney reached the same number in 2006 against Kentucky. Quick Links over Memphis, the Bulldog offense racked up 569 total yards, In Week 2, White posted 11 total tackles with another tackle News the fifth-highest mark in school history. State’s two quarterbacks for loss. Entering week three, he’s among the top seven in the Roster combined to complete 20-of-25 passes for 372 yards, which tied Southeastern Conference in both total tackles and tackles Team Stats for 8th most in a single game. State’s 49 points were the most behind the line of scrimmage. Individual Stats in a season-opener since 1974, the most in any game since 2002 NCAA Stats and the most against a Division I-A opponent since 2000. LINEBACKERS SHINE AGAINST AUBURN SEC Stats Chris White wasn’t the only Bulldog linebacker to have a Mississippi State Media Guide & Record Book DOGS CONTINUE TO EXCEL IN GROUND GAME good night last Thursday. Senior K.J. Wright also posted a In his 14 games as head coach at Mississippi State, Dan double-digit tackle total with 10. First year starter and former Broadcast Information Mullen’s team has eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark in all but walk-on Emmanual Gatling tallied a career-best six stops on the Television . ESPNU one contest. State rushed for 192 yards against Memphis and evening. White and Wright are the first Bulldog duo to each post Announcers . Clay Matvick, Herm Edwards and Jessica Mendoza 117 yards against Auburn. The Bulldogs also scored a pair of 10+ tackles in the same contest since Chaney and Wright did it Radio . Mississippi State Radio Network rushing touchdowns in each of the first two contests, marking last season against Kentucky. Announcers . Jack Cristil, Jim Ellis and John Correro the 12th time in the last 14 games the offense has scored at least XM Radio Network . Channel 199 (LSU Broadcast) Sirius Radio Network . Channel 125 one rushing touchdown. WHITLEY GETS FIRST CAREER PICK in Starkville . .107.9, WFCA Redshirt freshman safety Nickoe Whitley picked off his first RUSHING ATTACK WAS AMONG NATION’S BEST IN 2009; career interception last week against Auburn. Whitley is now the AND FOUR OFFENSIVE LINE STARTERS RETURN sixth member of the Bulldog defensive backfield with at least Mississippi State Athletic Media Contacts A year ago, the Bulldog rushing attack averaged 227.6 yards one career interception. MEDIA RELATIONS - 662-325-2703 per game, a total that ranked ninth nationally and led the SEC. Joe Galbraith - 662-418-3970 The offensive line that paved the way for the rushing attack McPHEE KEEPS PACE IN OFFENSIVE BACKFIELDS MISSISSIPPI STATE RADIO NETWORK - 662-325-4171 returns four players that started all 12 games, and the group Last season senior defensive end Pernell McPhee posted a Don Williams - 662-312-2564 now has 94 combined career starts. team-leading 12.0 tackles for loss. In the first two games of 2010, TELEVISION CENTER - 662-325-1332 In its first outing of 2010 State ran for 197 yards on 41 carries, McPhee has recorded 2.0 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, Bennie Ashford - 662-418-2165 an average of nearly five yards per attempt. Against Auburn, continuing his 1.0 TFL-per-game average. State gained 117 yards on 33 attempts, 3.5 yards per carry. FTP INFORMATION COX RETURNS TO BLOCK PARTY Located on XOS Digital Xchange Sophomore defensive lineman Fletcher Cox blocked a Contact Bennie Ashford in Television Center for login fourth-quarter field goal attempt by Auburn last weekend, the second such block of his young career. Cox also swatted away a field goal attempt against Houston last season. Saturday 18 Sunday 19 Monday 20 Tuesday 21 Wednesday i22 Thursday 23 Saturday 25 6:00 p.m. 12:00 Noon 1 p.m. Afternoon 11:30 a.m. 7 p.m. 6:00 p.m. Kickoff at LSU MSU Teleconference Press Conference Practice - Closed SEC Teleconference Coach Mullen Radio Show Kickoff vs. Georgia (Bryan Building) (Harvey’s) Postgame Afternoon Players available following 6:00 p.m. Postgame Coach Mullen and selected Practice - Closed Players available post-practice Coach Mullen and selected players available following Afternoon Friday players available following game Practice - Closed No Media Availability game 2010 MISSISSIPPI STATE FOOTBALL NOTES • GAME 3 AT LSU RUSSELL HAS COMING OUT PARTY AGAINST MEMPHIS BULLDOG NAMES ABOUND ON PRESEASON WATCH LISTS STATISTICAL COMPARISON Redshirt freshman Tyler Russell didn’t disappoint in his first Through the summer, preseason watch lists for college Mississippi State vs. LSU career game action. Russell completed 13-of-16 passes for 256 football awards were announced and Mississippi State players yards and tied a school record with four touchdowns. were mentioned on quite a few. Senior defensive end Pernell Mississippi State LSU McPhee was named to both the Bednarik and Lombardi lists, Overall Record . 1-1 . 2-0 NAMED SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK FOR EFFORT while offensive lineman Derek Sherrod joined him on the Conference Record . 0-1 . 1-0 Following his outstanding collegiate debut, Russell was Lombardi watch list.