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Mullen reiterates confidence in Lee; Defense limits Cobb |
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 |
By AARON SEIDLITZ
For the Bulldog Beat
Dan Mullen embraced embattled quarterback Tyson Lee after the player’s 67-yard touchdown pass opened the Mississippi State scoring in the second half.
A sense of relief could be seen on Mullen’s face as he smiled and put his arm around the quarterback after the latter threw a deep dart down field that struck wide receiver O’Neal Wilder in stride.
The seven points for the Bulldogs evened the game at 24, and it eased the problems Lee had been facing.
Coming into the game, Lee had already thrown nine interceptions to just three touchdown passes, and then to make matters worse the quarterback through two interceptions in the first half before the long touchdown strike.
“Tyson’s giving us everything he has, he gives us everything he has,” Mullen said. “He works, he continues to battle and tries to improve himself.”
Despite the early interceptions, State remained in the game via Anthony Dixon – who went over 100-yards rushing in the first 30 minutes of the game.
Lee’s first interception came after the Bulldogs marched down the field at the end of the first quarter.
The series stalled, however, inside the 10-yard line, and Mullen marched the offense back out there on fourth down from the 2-yard line now three plays into the second quarter.
Lee rolled left, lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone and had the pass picked off by UK linebacker Sam Maxwell.
To make matters worse, if the Bulldogs had just surrendered the ball over on downs they at least would have had the Wildcats pinned deep in their own zone. Now with the interception in the end zone, UK got the ball back out on its own 20.
“The first half didn’t go well, I made some terrible throws and made some terrible decisions,” Lee said.
Later that same half Lee threw a deep pass over the middle only to have it intercepted as well by cornerback Randall Burden, who stepped in front of Leon Berry to take the ball away from State.
After that, in the first half, Mullen turned to backup Chris Relf, whose bright spot came in the form of a career-long 53-yard rush that set up a Dixon touchdown run.
Lee was back in later that possession, but it was simply to hand it off.
However, the coach had the confidence in the quarterback to place him back in during the third quarter.
Mullen’s confidence was rewarded, when Lee struck deep to Wilder on that play action pass.
“The coaches had faith in me, the guys on the team had faith in me and continued to give me the opportunities the second half. We capitalized on those opportunities and made some big plays,” Lee said.
State keys on Cobb
Despite the growth of freshman quarterback Morgan Newton for UK, what Mullen and the defense entered the game concerned with was playmaker Randall Cobb.
Cobb lines up at quarterback during certain plays, receiver on others, runs the ball and returns kicks.
Keying on the athlete paid off, though, as Cobb was limited to eight rushes for 17 yards, one incomplete pass and two catches for 32 yards.
“What I’m proud of is, we were giving up some big plays, but we didn’t give up the home run,” Mullen said.
“Cobb’s longest run was 11 yards, and his longest catch was for 20 – so when you don’t give up that home run play it gives you a chance to fight for that other down.
“I was proud of our guys continued to do that, and the defensive staff did a good job to let that happen.”
Overall, the Bulldogs defense was led by Jamar Chaney’s 15 tackles from his middle linebacker position.
K.J. Wright added 10 from the outside linebacker position.
Chaney also had half a sack, 1.5 tackles for a loss, one fumble recovery and one interception.
If Dixon staked his claim to a conference player of the week award – with the 252 rushing yards and two touchdowns – Chaney may have made a similar statement in regards to the defensive side of the field.
Pair of freshman tackles start
The rotating door up front for the MSU defense continued on Saturday.
This week, senior tackle Kyle Love was limited along with fellow senior tackle Charles Burns.
Burns was returning for the first time in a game since the Georgia Tech game due to a knee injury.
With each senior tackle not full-go for Mullen, the defense turned to a pair of freshmen at the position in Fletcher Cox and Josh Boyd.
By the end of the night, Burns and Love had each played, and the defensive front had its moments against Kentucky.
Overall, the Wildcats ran the ball 48 times for 189 yards.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 11 November 2009 )
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