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Mullen, MSU prep for Mallett |
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Monday, 16 November 2009 |
 Kim Murrell/For the Daily News Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen knows his team must win-out for bowl eligibility. By MATTHEW STEVENS
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It’s clear judging from Saturday’s performances that the Arkansas and Mississippi State are heading into two different momentum directions after Arkansas easily defeated Troy by a 56-20 margin that included a 405-yard passing performance from sophomore quarterback Ryan Mallett.
Mallett tied his own school record with five touchdown passes, and did so in style by hitting five different receivers for the scores.
The sophomore was 3 yards shy of his career best. Mallett also claimed the school records for consecutive attempts without an interception and broke Clint Stoerner’s single-season passing record.
“We’ll look at the records when the year is over with,” Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said after the game. “They are great for the individual and good for recruiting.”
In claiming the single season passing mark at Arkansas during the game, Mallett connected with Joe Adams, Greg Childs, D.J. Williams, Jarius Wright and Ronnie Wingo, Jr. for scores.
“We got a lot of guys involved, and we showed a lot of speed out there,” Petrino said. “Ryan looked at the defense and distributed the ball to our playmakers. It’s good to have so many playmakers and it makes it easy.”
The amount of points were the same amount Troy gave up to No. 1 Florida in a loss to the Gators on Sept. 12. Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen was very complimentary of the Razorbacks signal caller in his Sunday teleconference, suggesting the University of Michigan transfer had the strongest arm of any quarterback in the Southeastern Conference.
The Bulldogs head coach said he hadn’t obviously fully studied the Arkansas film in such short notice but was able to watch the 6-foot-7, 238-pound Texas native in crossover games (tape where he was studying the opposing defense).
“He can make throws that I don’t know that many other quarterbacks in the SEC can make,” Mullen said.
Arkansas (6-4, 2-4 in SEC) leads the league in scoring (37.6 ppg) and passing offense (310 ypg) and Mallet is tops in several individual passing categories including touchdown passes, quarterback rating and passing yards.
In last year’s matchup, while Mallett sat and watched while going through his transfer from the Wolverines, Arkansas freshman Nathan Dick torched the Bulldogs secondary for 333 yards passing and three touchdowns in a 31-28 MSU victory in Starkville.
Bowl bid hopes still barely alive
Mullen made very clear in the beginning of his 12-minute teleconference that the bowl game goal for the Bulldogs program is still alive. There’s just no room for error any longer.
“Here we are on November the 15th and we still are in contention to get a bowl game,” Mullen said.
After Mississippi State’s disappointing 31-3 loss to second-ranked Alabama, the Bulldogs must now defeat Arkansas in Little Rock and win the Egg Bowl matchup against Ole Miss (7-3, 3-3 in SEC) in Starkville.
“This is definitely a do or die moment. We just have to pick ourselves up and hit the field running (Sunday),” MSU running back Anthony Dixon said after Saturday’s game. “We can’t start feeling sorry for ourselves and we have to find that swagger again. The season is not over, we just have to finish strong.”
In the Southeastern Conference only one team is not eligible for a bowl bid (Vanderbilt with a 2-9 record) and Tennessee is one win away from postseason play as the Volunteers sit at 5-5 and 2-4 in league play. Mississippi State is now the only team not bowl eligible in the Western Division. Since 2002, there’s only been one season (2007) where the SEC had all but two teams produce .500 records or better and in that year MSU got a Liberty Bowl victory.
“Tomorrow we get ready for Arkansas and we just have to start watching film, then go there and it is going to be a tough fight,” Bulldogs quarterback Tyson Lee said after the Alabama loss.
Ducre could be available Saturday
Mullen was encouraged Sunday at the progress injured Mississippi State running back Christian Ducre has made and offered a positive outlook on the senior returning to the field Saturday.
“(Team trainers) told me yesterday he felt a lot better, which is going to be a real positive for us this week to get him back,” Mullen said.
Not having Ducre, who suffered a bone bruise of the knee in the win at Kentucky on Oct. 31, was a major weakness in Mullen’s eye for giving Dixon a breather in the backfield.
“You look at the stat sheet, he might not show up there, but it’s all the other things he does in the kicking game, and as a blocker, as a receiver,” Mullen said.
In other injury news, Mullen confirmed that fullback Patrick Hanrahan broke a bone in his hand against Alabama but kept playing. However, the injury will not keep the junior out of Saturday’s game in Little Rock.
“That didn’t faze him the rest of the game,” Mullen said. “He’s a tough fullback-type mentality, so that won’t slow him down at all.”
Mullen was also asked about a slight injury to defensive back and local East Webster product Johnthan Banks, who left the game briefly during Saturday’s loss to the Tide, but he said the freshman is fine and was back on the field before end of the contest.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 November 2009 )
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