2010 Golden Triangle College Football Preview

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010 COLLEGE FOOTBALL

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www.cdispatch.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010 COLLEGE FOOTBALL

101 Airport Road • Starkville, MS • 662-323-8021

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2010SCHEDULE

Sept. 4MEMPHISSept. 9AUBURNSept. 18At LSUSept. 25GEORGIAOct. 2ALCORN STATEOct. 9At HoustonOct. 16At FloridaOct. 23UABOct. 30KENTUCKYNov. 13At AlabamaNov.20ARKANSASNov. 27At Ole MissHOMEGAMESINCAPS

Mississippi State footballcoach Dan Mullen isshown last season after his team defeated theUniversity of Mississippito win the Egg BowlTrophy. To Mullen’s right,Ole Miss coach HoustonNutt and to Mullen’s left,University of Alabamacoach Nick Saban. Photocredits:MSUsportsinformation, Ole Misssports information, KentGidley, University of Alabama.

How to reach us

SportsDepartment:327-1297To reportgame scores(24-hour line):In Mississippi:241-5000In Alabama:1-888-477-1555E-mail:

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sports@cdispatch.com,

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aminichino@cdispatch.com,

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hgmsports@cdispatch.com,

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dmiller@cdispatch.comFax:662-329-8937

FOOTBALL2010

Apublication o

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P.O. Box 511 Columbus, MS 39703 (662) 328-2424

Editor andPublisher

Birney Imes

Sports

Adam MinichinoHenry MatuszakDavid MillerJames Bailey(correspondent)

Cover Design

Jackie Taylor

Photographers

Luisa PorterKelly Tippett

Graphic Artists

Jackie TaylorHolona Yarber

ABOUT THE COVER

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

MS OPP

SCORING 307 321Points Per Game 25.6 26.8FIRSTDOWNS 229 219Rushing 140 98Passing 78 108Penalty 11 13RUSHING YARDAGE 2731 1752Yards gained rushing 3072 2054Yards lost rushing 341 302Rushing Attempts 555 442 Average Per Rush 4.9 4.0 Average Per Game 227.6 146.0TDs Rushing 21 18PASSING YARDAGE 1732 2640Comp-Att-Int 153-266-17 187-332-17 Average Per Pass 6.5 8.0 Average Per Catch 11.3 14.1 Average Per Game 144.3 220.0TDs Passing 9 18TOTALOFFENSE 4463 4392Total Plays 821 774 Average Per Play 5.4 5.7 Average Per Game 371.9 366.0KICK RETURNSNo.-Yds 61-1514 57-1253PUNTRETURNSNo. -Yds 15-151 13-173INTRETURNSNo.-Yds 17-417 17-147KICK RETURN AVE 24.8 22.0PUNTRETURN AVE 10.1 13.3INTRETURN AVE 24.5 8.6FUMBLES-LOST23-13 22-8PENALTIES-Yds 67-590 67-517 Average Per Game 49.2 43.1PUNTS-Yards 51-1986 60-2372 Average Per Punt 38.9 39.5Net punt average 34.0 35.0TIME OF POSS/Game 31:46 28:133RD-DOWN Conversions 53/159 56/1543rd-Down Pct 33% 36%4TH-DOWN Conversions 14/25 9/184th-Down Pct 56% 50%SACKS BY-Yards 18-88 20-130MISC YARDS 13 0TDS SCORED 37 41FGs-ATTEMPTS 16-21 12-16ON-SIDE KICKS 0-2 0-1RED-ZONE SCORES 33-44 32-39RED-ZONE TDs 21-44 22-39PAT-ATTEMPTS 35-35 39-41 ATTENDANCE 376,544 264,578Gms/Avg PGm 7/53792 5/52916Neutral Site Games 0/0

2009 Team Statistics

2009RESULTS

Sept. 5JACKSON ST W 45-7Sept. 12At Auburn L 49-24Sept. 19At Vanderbilt W 15-3Sept. 26LSU L 30-26Oct. 3GA TECH L 42-31Oct. 10HOUSTON L 31-24Oct. 17At MTSU W 27-6Oct. 24FLORIDA L 29-19Oct. 31At Kentucky W 31-24Nov.14ALABAMA L 31-3Nov. 21At Arkansas L42-21Nov. 28OLE MISS W 41-27HOMEGAMESINCAPS

Head Coach

Dan Mullen

Assistant Coaches

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Manny DiazDefensive Coordinator/Linebackers

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John HevesyOffensive Line /Running Game Coordinator

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Mark HudspethWide Receivers /Passing Game Coordinator

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Tony HughesSafeties / Recruiting Coordinator

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Greg KnoxRunning Backs

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Les KoenningOffensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks

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Scott SallachTight Ends

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Melvin SmithCornerbacks/Nickelbacks

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Chris WilsonCo-Defensive Coordinator /Defensive Line

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Jon Clark Assistant AD/Football Operations

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Matt BalisHead Strength Coach

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Rockey Felker Director of Player Personnel /High School Relations

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Mark Ouimet Assistant Recruiting Coordinator

Coaching Staff

SHERROD HAS PERFECT BLEND

Courtesy of Mississippi State SportsInformation

Mississippi State senior offensive lineman Derek Sherrod will try to help the offense equal the success it hadrunning the football last season. The Bulldogs led the Southeastern Conference in rushing yards per game.

BY DAVID MILLER

dmiller@cdispatch.com

STARKVILLE —MississippiState senior Derek Sherrod might be the most unassuming footballplayer you will meet.Sure, he stands 6-foot-6 and weighs more than 300 pounds, but aside from appearance you won’t find him leading the pregame hypecircle or jumping and hollering onthe field.Sherrod prefers a methodicalapproach to his preparation and how he plays the game. He’d rather com-bine his natural ability with anuncanny sense of detail and focus toget his job done.But don’t let the smile and thesmarts fool you, Sherrod is one of the Southeastern Conference’s topoffensive linemen.Sherrod was the key bookend for MSU’s punishing ground game that led the SEC in yards per game last season. But even with the success Anthony Dixon and Chris Relf enjoyed running the ball last seasonand the prep acclaim he achieved,the Caledonia High School graduate wanted to work on becoming a com-plete left tackle.Sherrod’saim was to continuefundamental work, an aspect MSUoffensive line coach John Hevesy mentioned when he was askedabout his offensive linemen.“(Sherrod) has become moretechnical and fundamental in every-thing he does,” Hevesy said. “Plus,he’sbecome a morepowerful player instead of just being a technician. The guy works his butt off.”By the time a player hits his sen-ior season, he hopes to be at the topof his game and ready to tap every ounce of potential. Sherrod believeshe’son schedule with where hethought he’d be when he saw reserve duty as a freshman in ’07.“I really do feel like I’m at thebest of my ability,” Sherrod said.“Working out with (strength) coach(Matt) Balis, he’s going to get you tomaximize everything you got. I can’t say enough about our summer pro-gram and what we got done in the weight room. I feel stronger,Ifeelquicker, and the rest of the focusnow is on having a good camp.” Along with center J.C. Brignone,

Caledonia High School product mixes technique, strength to be driving force on offensive line

“(Sherrod) has becomemoretechnical andfundamental in everythinghe does.”

Mississippi State offensive linecoach John Hevesy

See SHERROD, 15