Mississippi State is upgrading Dudy Noble Field

One of the best parks in the SEC nation is getting an upgrade. Mississippi State will putting $40M into nearly fully rebuilding the stadium.

Overhead view:

Dudy Noble's Left Field Lounge will be more...formal:

Makes the upgrades to Foley seem like window dressing.

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Cue the UGA has fallen behind in recruiting meme in T-5 hours...

Toby Johnson is going to chose a school today. Carvell has the details.

I fully expect him to pick Mississippi State. I'll not get into the rumors, but Carvell's article hits on some of the same stuff I'm hearing. While I'd like to see Johnson come to Georgia and think he'd prosper under Grantham, I also trust Grantham's ability to see how talent fits into his scheme. Johnson, playing at 305, would need to gain at least 25 pounds, to play in the middle and would likely need to drop some weight to play on the ends.

However, with Auburn and Mississippi State both playing 4-3, he fits well at both places at his current size. I say Mississippi State because Auburn has strong depth in the middle of their defense. Mississippi State graduated a starter and the two primary backups.

Anyway, look for the Internet to go nuts with Georgia recruiting fail articles around 2pm today.

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Mississippi State Still Emulating the Auburn Way?

I mean, besides having no witnesses....

Hell, even Alabama knows to hire those guys.

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#Failstate: A Metaphor

You would think I have a burr under my saddle about Mississippi State. Not true. How can I not post this glorious testament to the dangers of allowing 275 lb men to run together through fake fog?  Hell, if it were my family running into each other willy nilly, I'd post it.

No former Auburn recruits were injured in the making of this video.

H/t Orson at EDSBS.

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Profiles in Wow: Mississippi State's "Recruiting Irregularities"

(Image: AP)

It is about to get real in Starkeville. With the exception of the Teflon Don Gene Chizik, it is rare that the NCAA goes snooping around a program the way they are with Mississippi State and doesn't find a way to implicate the head coach. Dan Mullen, you are on notice.

I get it. Mississippi State is trying to out Auburn Auburn emulate the successes of Trooper Taylor's Cash and Grades Alchemy Machine™. The Bizzaro Dawgs got outbid for Cam Newton, so they are working on building the brand by copying the successes of others. How very Samsung.

Mississippi State, no matter how much cooperation, is in trouble. The NCAA is flush with power, and the Mississippi State program has 'bound to get smacked around by someone eventually' written all over it. This could have program crippling implications, especially when you consider the fragile state the program is building out of.

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PS. I am not sure of the implications for Georgia with Sheldon Dawson. We'll just have to keep an eye on that. If you have insight, please share in the comments.

recruiting irregularity

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Zing!

Dan Mullen, zingmeister:

"Yeah, he's practicing," Mullen said. "I would try to get a little more reliable source than Joe Schad." (laughing) "I'm supposed to be coaching at State College (Penn State), I guess, right now, too, according to Joe Schad last year. Wasn't that the case?"

Of course, he didn't answer the question....

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Dawgs Beat Bizzaro Dawgs

If you say Gerald Robinson only scores five points in 40 minutes, you have to assume Georgia loses any basketball game they are playing in. In the same week he goes off against Arkansas for 27, Mississippi State kept him off balance to the point he only managed five points in 40 minutes.  KCP has something to say about that now, though.

Kentavious goes off on both ends of the court, Georgia out rebounds an opponent again, this time an opponent that is very good at rebounding (3rd in the conference at nearly +4 margin on the season) and Georgia forces Mississippi State into overtime, where the Gerald Robinson show began.  Gerald comes up big with 8 of Georgia's 11 points.  The other three? KCP's long distance dagger to win it.

Importantly, Georgia played another full (or full+5 minutes) of solid basketball. We are hustling and everyone is playing tough and aggressive defense.  Yes, some shots are falling, but yesterday, we took nearly 20 more shots than Mississippi State and had nearly our same % of shots fall. We have to keep out rebounding teams to have a chance at winning these games.

Right now, all Georgia has is playing to ruin other team's post season plans. Keep this up and it could be more than that. As I said the other day, I don't know what Coach Fox told them after the double tech in Knoxville, but he needs to write it down and make posters.

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Mississippi State Review

The Good:

• The defense.  I could have a whole section on their play, but Washington was a beast, Rambo continues to impress, the interior line was spectacular. Oh, Jarvis Jenkins Jones was everywhere.  I am a little surprised he wasn't there to stop Nickoe Whitley from peeing on the hedges.
• John Jenkins: Body slam artist.
• Crowell's running in the first half.
• Run blocking.
• Not getting rattled on defense.  Mississippi State had over a quarter of their offensive output during the FG drive in the first quarter, with well over 90% of those yards on that little screen thing they ran.  We stayed the course, brought the pressure and didn't allow them to have anything close to that kind of drive again.
• Play calling in the first half.  We had them off balance from the start.  Crowell's running was a factor in that, but the two TD passes were perfect calls at the perfect time.  With the one to Orson, three guys were open and the first read was the easiest, since Charles had position on his defender the whole time. As for the second half, as long as we see the defense play like this and we have a 2 or more score lead, get used to it.
• Figgins and Thomas' blocking.  Carlton blocks like a much bigger player.
• Five more sacks.  

The Bad:

• Gates false start on 3rd and 6 during the long drive in the fourth.  You knew Bobo wasn't going to let Murray throw another ball. Samuel had a 7 yard run.  Walsh trotted out and missed the FG. Instead of continuing a drive that had the potential to make this a game we'd all go Yes! about, the 5+ minutes was just time off the clock.
• Conditioning.  The offensive line looked gassed in the second half. The starting tailback looked completely uninterested in fighting for extra yards in the second half.  The game isn't won getting to 100 yards of rushing, despite what some pundits go to bed wishing for.  The game is won on getting stronger as the game goes on.  We didn't do that on the offensive side of the ball.
• [insert obligatory offensive line pass blocking snark here]
• The hurry up and wait no huddle.
• Walsh's shanks.  He didn't miss a single second half warm up (that I saw).  His attempt in the second half was pure wiffage.  We all know he is a spectacular kicker.  As Blutarsky put it: "there’s a young lady out there who needs to step up and do the right thing by her man."

The Ugly:

• Murray's throws to the players in white, particularly the one returned for a TD.  The first took a decent play to come up with it. The second was a nice mental play on an ball that needed more arc. But that third one.  Wow.  About four things went wrong, the worst of which is under throwing a sideline route to a 6-3 manbeast that might be able to flatfooted jump over a truck.

Boys, we are back in this thing. No one is ready to proclaim all is awesome, but Grantham's defense is playing very well and in the SEC that will get you places.  Bobo's offense is playing competently, especially when strong plays are called.  The play calling has significantly improved, for that matter.  The players looked coached up.

What did I miss?

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Mississippi State Preview

Mitchell with the catch (Image:Hipple)

Here we are, another game that we have more talent than the team coming to Sanford Stadium, but not confident we have enough of the other stuff that it'll take to win.  Last year, Mississippi State was, well, Mississippi State.  They came into the game at 1-2 (0-2) in the conference with a close loss to Auburn and getting dominated by LSU.  Mullen had his team ready to play and they donkey punched Georgia, 24-12.

They would go on to reel off 6 straight wins, with the only really big win coming against the Florida team that looked terrible in their worse home game in years, 10-7.

Mullen will have his team ready to play again. On paper, this is a simple win for Georgia. If being a Georgia fan has taught me anything, there rarely is such a thing as a simple win the past few years.

The biggest source of concern is the one drive that the defense allowed a TD last week. Two misdirection plays that allowed receivers to be open way behind our D backs and bam! Touchdown.  Maybe it because I still get the shakes when someone mentions a wheel route, or maybe it is because Relf is a very dangerous misdirection weapon, but I am worried about how we handle those plays.  Bacarri Rambo was the source of many of those very plays I am worried about, and he is a big key in this game.

I didn't trust him at the beginning of the season.  I was wrong. He is leading the nation in interceptions and is sixth in passes defended.  His play is notably improved and he plays like the guy we thought we'd see based on his Freshman year.  It isn't an overstatement to say Bacarri is very much the biggest defensive surprise of this team.  Between the edge rushing threat of Relf and Ballard, and the ability of Relf to force defenses to decide early to stop a run or a pass, Rambo's new mindset and approach will be put to the test.  Getting CRob back to provide run support and edge contain will help, as the Dbacks will have to respect Chad Bumphis' ability to get separation and Relf's ability to plant and throw to him at nearly any time.

On offense, it is simple: Four yards at a time.  Runs or passes.  Murray needs to be sharp.  Orson, White, Figgins, Crowell, and Samuel need to catch what is thrown to them.  Crowell, Thomas and Samuel should focus on extra yards, not the home run.  Louisiana Tech wore Mississippi State out with its short passing game.  The 17 year old starting QB for Tech was 29/40, averaging just over 5 yards per pass.  Tech was effective enough neutralizing the Bizzaro Dawg's speed.  Add in the Mitchell/King/Brown deep threat and that is a pretty good recipe.  That and scoring TDs anytime we can, instead of running three times and settling for the FG inside the 20.

Finally, we are going to see a fake punt, onside kick attempted and/or some other trickeration.  Count on that.  Hopefully, the 'extra focus' on special teams will pay off this week.

In the end, I am far more hopeful about this game than I was sweltering on the Marta platform for an hour after the Boise State game.  Georgia isn't quite the super team we've seen the past two weeks.  Mississippi State isn't the slogging mess we've seen the last two weeks. We'll have a good idea which team Georgia is by about 4pm on Saturday. I think we win, but don't pull away until late because we don't do anything easy.

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Stat Worth Watching

Figgins on the move, something I hope we'll see against MSU (Image: Hipple)

Digging around, looking at Mississippi State's season, something really jumped out at me.  Teams are completing 71% of pass attempts against them.  It isn't as if they have faced a low number of attempts, as they are in the middle of the pack in that regard.

Considering the need to get the ball delivered quickly and the speed of the Bizzaro Dawg's defense, it wouldn't surprise me to see Georgia focus more on Orson and screen passes to establish a short passing game.  I hope Bobo doesn't forget that running past speed rushers and swing passes are another way to neutralize that threat.

How do you think Georgia is doing if Murray is 14/19 at the half with 103 yards?

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Mississippi State - 3 Questions

Unlike other games this season, there were way more than 3 questions rolling around in my head.  This article literally could have been 13 questions.  It took some doing to get this down to just three.

1. Does last year's loss, and all the malaise that resulted from it, play into the game this year? Other than the Florida game, which is too much of a long term pattern to be mere coincidence, I don't put too much stock into what happened last time we played some one.  Sure, there are lessons to be learned, but on the mental side of the equation, the games are independent events with independent actors.  For whatever reason, I don't think that is the case this year.  Way more than Georgia's pride was wounded by the loss in Starkevegas. The 2010 Georgia Bulldogs will to fight was demolished.  Does that mean anything this year?  I hope so.  There is no doubt this team plays with more passion and want to than last year's team did.  I think we'll see that translated into much more level headed, and hard nosed, play this week.
2. Can we make Relf look like he did against LSU? I am not saying our defense is as good, fast or strong as LSU's.  The level of their competition is higher, to this point in the season, than ours.  I am saying that in order to be assured a win, we have to hold Mississippi State to under 250 yards offense.  I worry about our defense's ability to edge contain. Last year, we didn't contain him (or Ballard, for that matter) at all, allowing Relf 107 yards rushing on 20 carries.  We have to make him make tough decisions and do so often enough that his first thought is 'get the ball to Ballard because one of these big mofos is about to treat me like the pretty girl in her first day on the cellblock.'  Relf's confidence is as shaky as a Jim Donnan investment scheme.  We have to shatter it.
3. Can we game plan competently enough on offense to counteract Mississippi State's very active defense? Think back to the Boise State game.  Spit the throw up out of your mouth.  Now remember their defense bring pressure from everywhere, even from seemingly behind Murray.  That is what we'll see from Mississippi State.  Now, last season, we handled that well enough...until we got close to the goal line.  Just to refresh your memory, we settled for two short field goals in the second quarter.  We put either or both of those into the end zone, we have a different game.  However, going back to the issues discussed in question one, can we do that this year?  With the TEs and FBs, coupled with a much better running back option, I think we can.  We have to be able to for a win.

Look, if we lose to Mississippi State again, the sky will be falling again.  If we win, we will have beaten a 2-3 (0-3) team that needed a miracle to beat LaTech.  I don't believe a win, other than another total domination game, changes the fans' mind set.  I do believe it changes the emotional and mental state of the team for the rest of the season.

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The Sick Man of the SEC

As prologue, I'll admit that I didn't watch the game closely.  I took my rambunctious toddler to Starkville and she made it impossible to adequately watch the play-by-play in an analytical way.  I haven't had the heart to watch the TiVo yet and I'm unlikely to have the desire to watch any significant portions of it.  More stringent observation, however, isn't needed for what I'm about to say.

Georgia shouldn't lose to Mississippi State.  Ever.  We have too many inherent advantages, from our fertile recruiting base to our superior financial wherewithal.   I've heard Jeff Dantzler talk about our lack of brilliant talent due to recruiting misses for the in-state elite.  But, no matter what you say about our talent level, it should be (and I believe is) above State's at all times.  What State can do, though, is make sure their athletes are well coached and that their effort is maximized.  That's exactly what they exploited Saturday night.  With inferior talent and resources, State beat a sinking Georgia program that appeared careless, undisciplined, and hopelessly unlucky. They did it with a well-coached, fired-up team that took advantage of its breaks and won a conference game.  It was an effort in stark contrast with their opponents.

For the first time in a long while, I agree with every line of a Mark Bradley column.  He makes most of the points that immediately ran through my mind on the long drive out of Starkville.  It's not a happy agreement, but it's difficult to argue any point he makes.  The issue is one of faith.  We, as fans, have kept our faith in Richt for the most part.  He's built a large stack of chits during his career in Athens.  Last night's game, however, may have exhausted Richt's supply.  Losing to Carolina and Arkansas isn't fun, but it's temporarily understandable.  Losing to State isn't understandable.

To borrow a metaphor from nineteenth century European history, Georgia is the "sick man" of the SEC.  A former power that has run into hard times due to repeated setbacks, relevant only because of its reputation, size and affiliation with other great powers.  Georgia is withering before our eyes.  When a team that has won championships in recent memory begins to lose battles with State, Kentucky, Arkansas, and South Carolina, none of whom have won a championship in longer than recent memory, the only conclusion is a degenerative, sustained illness.  An illness consuming the patient, who is condemned to a slow and painful death. 

The question for Greg McGarity is one of prescription, not diagnosis.  We know the program is sick.  The question is the cure. 

Quinton

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Two MSU Tickets Need a Good Home

I have 2 tickets for the Mississippi State game. They are in Section 311 Row 9. If you're a Dawg fan in Northeast Atlanta and can pick them up before 6 pm, they are yours.

Sold. Thanks.

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Preview for Mississippi State

There are tons of previews around. You know why you're not going to get one here? Because the preview only takes one sentence to write.

"Georgia is better than Mississippi State, and Georgia will win if our players give max effort every play."

If our guys pout or loaf their way into Starkganistan, it will be one long ass ride back to Athens. It really can't be much more simple than that.

I'm taking UGA +2. Richt's record as a true* road underdog is ridiculously good. The only game I can think of that he lost as a road dog was Auburn 2004. I can't remember if we were the favorite or not in Baton Rouge 2003. Regardless, those two teams weren't exactly the MSU Bulldogs of 2010.

Is your memory different than mine?

PWD


*Meaning not neutral site games.

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Fran Tarkenton on the Dawgs

Before the ULL game, Georgia legend and former co-host of That's Incredible, Fran Tarkenton was asked on his Atlanta radio show about the 2010 Bulldogs. He's always very candid and this time was no exception. When he was asked about Grantham, he laughed and said (paraphrase):

"Fans love it when a new coach comes in and promises that the players will suddenly tackle better and run faster. Remember, the 3-4 defense is not a magic elixir. It's been around since the early 1970s. At the end of the day, you still have to make plays."

Basically, he was insinuating that our optimism as fans preseason was overblown. Upon further reflection after Saturday's game, Tarkenton's comments about the defense seem even more valid because (not to put words into his mouth) you can't talk your way to victory. You have to go out and make plays.

He went on to say (and remember this is all pre-ULL) that UGA has too much talent to go worse than 8-4. If the defense does evolve and Murray emerges, we could win 9 or 10 games. As I said yesterday, I absolutely believe that he was correct there.

However, this team with this many kids who struggle with motivation can't start at 0-2 in the SEC heading into Starkville. Mullen might be the most overrated coach in the league right now, but that team still has hope. And when hope and enthusiasm faces self pity and disinterest, hope often overcomes its talent.

We need a win in the worst way on Saturday.

PWD

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Kickoff Time for UGA vs. Mississippi State Announced

The Georgia Bulldogs will kickoff against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at 7:00 pm EST from Starkville.  The game will be telecast on Fox Sports Net (FSN). 

The full TV slate for the Sept. 25th weekend:

12:21 ET, UAB at Tennessee (SEC Network)
3:30 ET, Alabama at Arkansas (CBS)
7:00 ET, Kentucky at Florida (ESPNU)
7:00 ET, Georgia at Miss. State (FSN)
7:30 ET, Fresno State at Ole Miss (CSS)
7:45 ET, South Carolina at Auburn (ESPN)
9:00 ET, West Virginia at LSU (ESPN2)

Source: SECSports.com

This week's Georgia vs. Arkansas will kickoff at 12:00 pm EST on ESPN.

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UGA to have a bye week before the 2011 Cocktail Party?

RedStripe over at SicEmDawgs.com does a good job with future football schedule tracking. A few weeks ago, he found that Mississippi State announced some future dates for 2011. The implications of their announcement suggest that Georgia likely has an open date before the 2011 Georgia/Florida game.

It's possible that we'll play Kentucky that week like we're doing in 2010, but it seems more likely that the SEC wants to alternate bye weeks for UGA and/or Florida going forward. No team should have a bye week every single year. It's competitively unbalanced.

It'll also be nice to have 7 home games in 2011 for only the 2nd time since league expansion in 1992. The other years were 2002 and 2006.

See Also:
-- Tickets: 2009 Georgia vs. Florida Game
-- Unofficial 2011 Schedule - SicEmDawgs.com

PWD

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Mississippi State Series Sketch

Mississippi State comes to Athens this weekend for the SEC opener at Foley Field.  The Dawgs took out Georgia State Wednesday in Atlanta 11-6.  The good news from that game, other than the win, was Alex McRee's return to the mound after his bout with mono.  The bad news was McRee may have rushed back a bit soon.  He pitched just one inning and gave up two earned runs.  McRee will start Saturday in his usual spot, between Holder on Friday and Grimm on Sunday.  Frankly, I'd rather have McRee at 100% later than 75% now, if the rush back is going to hinder his recovery.  He's just too important to jeopardize. 

Thus far, State hasn't hit or pitched particularly well.  Their team average is .288 and their team ERA is 4.18. They won their series against Carolina last weekend, but have three bad losses at Hawai'i earlier this year.  State is #25 in the Colligate Baseball poll, so they can play.  But, they haven't seen a team with Georgia's offensive firepower yet.  It should be a good series.

The weather is supposed to be great this weekend, so get out to Foley Field and root on the team.

Quinton

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Hoop Dawgs lose another one

Image: DawgPost.com
Georgia fell to Mississippi State by six points tonight in Athens. They played about 15 minutes of competent, SEC-caliber basketball. The other 25 minutes...not so much.

David Hale has all the details and post-game quotes including discussion of a new offense for the b-ball team that apparently debuted in this one. As David Ching said, the idea of cutting loose Dustin Ware and letting him make plays is appealing.

Dustin Ware looked like an SEC caliber freshman point guard in this one, and that's a good thing. He got 14 points, 5 rebounds, and two assists in 37 minutes. Ricky McPhee, walk-on shooting guard, had the game of his life scoring 15 points in 24 minutes.

Jeremy Price looked good at times, and he looks to be shaking the confidence issues of the past. However, the box score shows him with five turnovers. As Felton said post-game, that doesn't really sound right. Some of those (not all) may be a score keeper error. Someone turned it over. just not JP in all instances.

On the downside, our guys had about 19 turnovers in the first 23 minutes of the game, and Trey Thompkins continues to struggle going 1 of 8 from the field. Most of Trey's problems look to be mental. He's never dealt with anything remotely similar to the sort of adversity that he's currently facing.

The team didn't quit on Felton, and they actually improved significantly in the second half. I doubt any changes will be made this week. They head to Gainesville on Wed (Raycom) and Tuscloosa on Saturday (FSNS). UF looks like a definite loss. Bama is a somewhat winnable game. The Tide has lost 4 of its last 6, and they play a rare Thursday Night game before facing us. Maybe they'll pout their way to a defeat.

(Note: If you're reading this and finding a tone of embracing a moral victory, then we have a disconnect. That's most certainly not the intention. I just didn't feel like piling on when I wrote it.)

See Also:
-- Dawgs fall apart again - DawgPost
-- Dawgs put up fight but lose - ABH

PWD

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Mississippi State Hires Dan Mullen

Florida Offensive Coordinator Dan Mullen has accepted the head coaching position at one of coaching's great graveyards Mississippi State University. The Bizarro Dogs struggled to produce anything resembling a coherent offense under the Sly Croom administration, and this is a hire designed to rectify that situation.

(Image: MSU vs. UGA 2006 by Hipple)

Realistically, MSU never had a shot at a "big name" proven head coach due their facilities and overall position in the football universe. So, they went out and found one of the most proven coordinators in the country.

The MSU search was quick and professional. Basically, it was handled in the opposite fashion of the Auburn search. Given the current trajectory of the Auburn search, it's entirely possible that MSU will end up with a better coach than the Tigers.

Now, if Florida's Charlie Strong (Defensive Coordinator / LB Coach) and Dan McCarney (DL Coach) would just find work elsewhere, I'd be even happier.

See Also:

-- Mullen to Mississippi State - Tallahassee Democrat
-- Should Mullen coach the Title Game? - Palm Beach Post
-- Mullen's Recruiting Challenges at MSU - ESPN
-- AU REVOIR, DAN - EDSBS
-- A Look at Dan Mullen - MS State Sports Blog
-- MSU's Man - Fanhouse
-- MSU to hire Dan Mullen - Commercial Appeal

Who do you think they should've hired? Will this hurt the Gators?

PWD

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