October 2001 Unofficial MSU Football Skuttle-Butt
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Football Stadium Expansion Pictures (09/24/01)

10/30/01
STARKVILLE, Miss. ­ The Southeastern Conference has announced that Mississippi Statešs game with Alabama, Saturday, Nov. 10, will be televised by Jefferson Pilot Sports. Kickoff for the SEC West game has been set for 11:30 a.m. (CT) at Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Reprinted with permission of the MSU Sports Media Relations Department

10/19/01 - The 2nd Annual BULLDOG BASH is today from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. in downtown Starkville at The Old Main District. Jackie Sherrill, football players, cheerleaders, pom squad, the Famous Maroon Band, and Bully will all be there. There will also be games for all ages, giveaways, food, face painting, pep rally, autographs of athletes, live music and also downtown stores will be open. Come on out and join in the fun with other members of the MSU sports family. Admission is free.

Football news:

  • Here are a few of the players that are expected to at this Saturday's game on unofficial visits. Players are seniors unless otherwise noted.
    LB Marvin Byrdsong, Longview, Texas.
    DL Otis Riddley, Provine HS, (MSU commitment).
    OL Monte Collins, Provine HS (MSU commitment).
    WR/DB Kirk Downs, 6-foot-0, 150, Baldwyn HS, Freshman.
    QB/DB Kyle Downs, 6-foot-0, 150, Baldwyn HS, Freshman.
    DE Patrick Dillinger, 6-foot-2, 165, Baldwyn HS.

    10/11/01 - PRACTICE UPDATE:

  • MSU went through a solid 21 period practice yesterday.
  • Mario Haggan returned to practice and participated in contact drills. Other players who were at practice but did not actively participate were Dicenzo Miller, Kenric Fairchild and Tommy Watson.

    10/10/01 - Jackie Sherrill quotes from yesterday's press conference.

    Players that played well: "I thought that Korey Banks played his best game. (After reviewing the game-film) Dwayne Robertson really played a lot better than we thought he did during the game. Josh Morgan played well on pass-protection. He has played well in the secondary. Jason Clark played well later in the game. He had a concussion during the game but is fine now."

    Troy State: "They started off the season playing Nebraska. And they played very, very well in the first part of the game. Then they turned the ball over a couple of times and it was 28 to 7. Against Miami, they held them to 101 yards rushing which is very good. Miami came back and threw the ball well. Troy State will play the same type defense against us, putting eight people on the line of scrimmage.

    "This is a team that will play four-wide. Their tailback, Demontray Carter, is a transfer from Auburn. He was a great player in high school. He has a lot of speed and he is bigger now. They have two good receivers and their quarterback, Brock Nutter, is very athletic. He moves around and does a very good job. Their offense is one where they play different formations but their number one formation is four-wides. Their offense is similar to the offense Dameyune Craig ran at Auburn."

    Practice this week: "We had a good practice (Monday). I expect we will have a good one (Tuesday). Normally on Tuesday we go 24 periods. Plus we have kicking. That will make it a good two hours and a half. We will scale back Wednesday, then scale back even more Thursday. That is our normal work-week."

    What happened on the 50-yard touchdown run by Auburn? "On the 50-yarder, our secondary was on the line of scrimmage playing like linebackers. You don't have the ability to make that play when that happens. Our secondary was not in the correct position at that time."

    Playing loose: "We need to get back to playing loose and aggressive. We need to just go out and play. You can't dwell on what happened yesterday. You can't go back and change what happened. What happened yesterday is gone. You learn from it and move on. We have a lot of games left. The key is to correct the things that need to be corrected and continue to improve."

    MSU fans, supporters and guests:

    In order to give our fans a safe atmosphere to enjoy the MSU-Troy State game, law enforcement officials have placed strong restrictions on event management.

    No back packs or any large bags will be allowed into the stadium. Purses will be permitted, but will be subject to search.

    In addition to the above, if you leave the stadium, you will not be allowed to re-enter the stadium unless you purchase another ticket. No "PASS OUT" stubs will be allowed for any situation.

    From a traffic standpoint, Darden and Lee Streets that run east-west, immediately south of the stadium and Barr Avenue, an east-west artery, immediately north of the stadium will be closed to through traffic at 7 a.m.

    Unattended vehicles without a parking pass displayed in the window will be removed.

    MSU athletic officials ask that you arrive early for the game and be patient as the university works through the restrictions for this event. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

    Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Sports Media Relations Department

    10/09/01 - Practice update:

  • The team went through its normal Monday practice. After practicing their kicking drills to begin practice, the team divided into different positions and did individual position drills. After that, the defense went through their regular Monday conditioning drills, including their sprints, while the offense practiced their regular run-play drills.
  • I talked to Dicenzo Miller at practice yesterday. I asked him if the ankle injury hurt his running during the game Saturday. He said it didn't. Although he was dressed out, he didn't participate in practice yesterday. He was wearing a lower leg immobilizer on his leg to protect his ankle.
  • The players appeared to be in good spirits and had what I felt was a good practice.

    STARKVILLE, Miss. ­ The Southeastern Conference has announced that Mississippi State's game with LSU, Saturday, Oct. 20, will be televised by national cable network ESPN2. Kickoff for the SEC West game has been set for 8 p.m. (CT) at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field.

    The LSU game will be State's fifth nationally televised game in its first six appearances of the 2001 football season. It will also be the 34th time in MSU's last 43 games that the Bulldogs have appeared on a network telecast. The MSU-LSU game has appeared on ESPN2 the last three years.

    Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Sports Media Relations Department

    10/08/01 (1:30 p.m.) - I talked to Brandon HS head football coach Dan Davis a few minutes ago. He told me that Jerious Norwood has an MCL strain. He should only be out for 1 to 2 weeks at most. Jerious, as most of you know, was injured last Friday night against Meridian HS. Prior to the injury, he had 192 yards on 21 carries. He also had a 77-yard run called back due to a penalty.

    10/08/01 - MSU football in the SEC team stats. Points and yards are per game averages. SEC ranking in parentheses.

  • Scoring Offense: 14.5 points (12th).
  • Rushing Offense: 112 yards (11th).
  • Passing Offense: 195 yards (9th).
  • Total Offense: 4.6 yards (10th).
  • Scoring Defense: 23.5 points (9th).
  • Rushing Defense: 168 yards (9th).
  • Passing Defense: 180 yards (3rd).
  • Total Defense: 5.3 yards (7th).
  • Turnover Margin: -1.50 (12th).

    MSU's first three SEC opponents, Florida, South Carolina and Auburn, are 1st, 6th and 8th in the SEC in scoring offense and 1st, 3rd and 5th in scoring defense.

    10/04/01 - Don't forget about the Jackie Sherrill Show tonight at Harvey's in Starkville. They would love to see you there.

    Practice Update:
  • The team had a similar practice to Tuesday's practice, although it was only 20 periods yesterday.
  • Although not a talkative bunch this week, the defense was making plays in practice yesterday. The coaches are emphasizing to them that they haven't been making plays in games and that they need to start doing so.

    10/03/01 - Practice Update:

  • The team went through the normal 24 periods yesterday.
  • The players appeared to be very focused with less joking around than is normal. The physical part of practice was about the same as normal, although, at times, the first and second offensive and defensive lines went against each other in individual drills. At times, that part of practice was very, very physical, especially on the offensive side.
  • After the individual drills, the offense and defense practiced against the MSU scout teams representing the Auburn offense and defense.
  • One highlight of the practice was the enthusiasm of the MSU defensive scout team. One player in particular, Nathan Jackson, was really animated and put forth tremendous effort during the team practice. He seemed to totally understand that the scout teamers had a very important job to do. That job was to make sure that the first and second team offense was ready to play against Auburn Saturday night. Hats off to Nathan for taking a leadership role.
  • Injuries: Dicenzo Miller did various individual running drills during practice yesterday, although he did not go through any contact drills. Starting offensive tackles Kenric Fairchild and Derrick Thompson did not practice and continue to go through treatment for their minor knee injuries. According to Coach Sherrill, neither will play Saturday unless they are at practice Wednesday. Junior Carl Hutchins and red-shirt freshman David Stewart will start in their places if they can't play Saturday.

    10/02/01 - Practice Update:

    Yesterday was the normal short Monday practice of 13 periods.

    The defense usually does conditioning work on Monday. Due to the 52-0 loss to Florida this past Saturday, the conditioning was a little tougher than normal. Each Monday, the defense starts off with 20 sprints followed by additional sprints to equal the points allowed, therefore, with the 52 points that they allowed, they ran 72 sprints. On top of those sprints, any player who committed a penalty had to run additional sprints to equal the number of yards his penalty or penalties equaled. In other words, if he committed a penalty that was 5 yards, he ran 5 additional sprints; 15 yards, 15 additional sprints.

    On the offensive side the players first ran individual drills, then the offense did some run play polishing getting prepared for Auburn. The complete gameplan will be installed Tuesday.

    As for the intensity of practice, it was a little quieter Monday with less laughter than normal. Since there was almost no hitting, there was really no way to tell how intense the players truly are. Tuesday will be MSU's most physical practice of the week and may be the best intensity gauge of the week.