Dog Day Afternoon

But this one did not star Al Pacino. No, this Dog Day belonged in the hands of the MSU football and basketball players. Much more so on the gridiron than the hardwood though.

#22 Alabama arrived early yesterday morning to face one of only three teams in the SEC that hasn't been ranked this year, us. This Mississippi State Bulldog team has looked better and better every game this season though, won big games against giant killers Auburn and Kentucky, and was coming off a by week of what I'm sure was colossal walrus sized work outs.

By 11:05 AM, Davis Wade Stadium (pictured above) was at a new school record capacity of 56,188 and nearly one out of three people had a cowbell in hand. There would be no cries for more cowbell this day.

In an immediate disappointment, freshman QB Wesley Carroll threw an interception on his first attempt, not only turning the ball over to the Tide in our territory but quelling Carroll's quest for the NCAA freshman record for most attempts without an INT of which he was just two shy. Our namesake shining through, the Bulldog Defense held Bama to a field goal and got the ball back in our hands.

After two more FG by Bama and only one from State, Alabama fought it's way to inside the MSU 10 yard line where a touchdown seemed imminent. After two battles at the line trying to run the ball into the end zone, a third down call for a throw led to the day's game changing play. Bama's QB is rushed and scrambling, and in his attempt not to be sacked, hurls the ball into the end zone and into the waiting arms of a Bulldog defense-man. With one good block, the ball is returned 100+ yards for a TD and the lead after the extra point. And this was all with less than 20 seconds in the half.

Coming out after halftime, the dawgs were rejuvenated. Allowing only one more field goal from Alabama and tacking on an offensive touchdown, the Bulldogs finished the final drive of the game with a sack that had been brewing all day, to let time expire.

Bama fans sure were proud of their million dollar coach, but our Alabama alumni coach, for the second year in a row, knew what it took to take Saban down.

Go Dawgs!
and not to let our basketball team go unnoticed
Go Dawgs!

There's only one Wednesday, there's only one OCTOBER

This might be the greatest piece of apparel ever created. I would sell a kidney to see a true yanks fan with one of these one at any point in the post season. I thought the yanks not making it to the post season would be the best thing ever but no, I was wrong; this is way better.

Updates have been shy I know. The two of us have been super busy with school and while that is no excuse, I'm using it anyway. We've made time to watch some football and of course never miss a sox game, but after that hiatus we don't have the time to sit down and write about it because we have to make up for the time spent watching. It's very confusing.

Quick football news, Mississippi State looked decent against South Carolina. I think our defense looked the worst it has all year, but I was starting like our community college transfer Riddle. So what happens? He tears his ACL, Henig starts practice this week, and we're faced to choose between Michael "I don't know which players our mine" Henig or a true red shirt freshman who has 4.2 seconds of playing time in the SEC. Personally, I'll go with Carroll. Our only two loses coming from a top 20 and top 5 team don't disappoint me too badly, but Riddle being our does. Honestly, I'm just praying that UAB doesn't upset us.

Baseball; It starts today. The last 160+ days have all been warm up and weed out. This post season is shaping up to be one of the best in a long long time.

• Red Sox win the division with the best lead in baseball with a very possible Cy Young winner in Beckett and even more than likely Rookie of the Year with Pedroia.
• The cast of teams is one of the best mixes in recent memory. Teams that haven't made it in years are all in.
• The Rookies winning 14 of 15 to force a play off game versus the Padres which was one of the most incredibly odd baseball games ever. A home run not called so and the walk off score not touching the bag all. Not too mention the all time leading saver Trevor Hoffman giving up the game.
• It is possible, though I'm not saying it will happen, to have a Red Sox / Cubs World Series. Holy Bejeezus
• D-Backs in it for the first time since the Unit and Schiller devastated the Yankess
• Phillies winning the division in the last regular season game, destroying the Mets after 159 games in the lead.
• While the AL MVP is probably locked up with Arod, the NL race is a tight one and should prove to make that league worth watching even before the WS

I could go on and on but I'll stop there. Make sure to leave comments with why you think this post season is one for the record books

alot going on, little to talk about

It was, as usual for this time of year, a pretty busy weekend in the world of sports. However, I really did not watch as much as I would normally and for good reason. It was Bulldog Bash weekend in Starkville. That is always our second home game of the season where we have live entertainment (though usually not that great, and this year was no exception) but any excuse is a good excuse to go to the old cotton district, eat a lot of food, kick back a few, and walk around bumping into people and not remembering girls' names. We got kind of a late start that night because baseball was on. And it turned out great, Sox won and the Yanks lost. It's just about as good a night can get right? Anyway that brought the magic number to clinch the division down to 7 (it is down to 6 presently) and then we hit the town.

Saturday, we headed over to a friend's place where his little brother (currently in culinary school) decided he would cook all day. We didn't stop him. After watching Ole Miss lose to Florida and bits of other college games, we headed to our own night game versus Gardner Webb University.


Yes, Gardner Webb. Power House of the Atlantic Sun Conference, and sometimes the Big South Conference. How are they in both, one can only guess. Not to be too cocky though, it wouldn't be the first time a small school had an upset (a la Michigan) but considering it would not be that big of an upset, we did not fret too much.

In good fashion, our dawgs decided to show up and play. Henig is out with his broke "fill in the blank" so we have freshman barely out of cap and gown throwing the ball. Compared to Henig, they look okay (better footwork, slightly better arm, same bad pass decisions) but where we decided to shine this game other than on defense was our run. Sure in true bulldog form we would try a run right up the center tailend and get all of 1.3 yards. But when we would option outside or anything we would carry a good 5 yard minimum. This goes back to years ago when we would throw to the tight end maybe twice a game and get 12 or 13 yards everytime. Why not do what works more often? Either way, with defense in great form as usual (except for a couple of drives) we squeaked it out of the Runnin' Bulldogs.

Did I forget to mention that? It was the MSU Bulldogs vs the Gardner Webb Runnin' Bulldogs


How great is that? I won't harp too long, but it is very nice to have 3 wins in our first 4 games. Granted our schedule becomes invinitely more difficult from here on than our last three games. Even UAB for our homecoming is a bit daunting. But hey, for first year our suspension I think we are looking very promising, especially considering the age of our not broken QBs.

Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald

2-1. That's the MSU Bulldogs' football record right now with the one loss coming from #2 LSU. Granted the wins have been over Tulane and Auburn but both are teams we have lost to in the past year. Maybe Croom is on to something this year. In each of the three games are defense has looked good and with each game our offense has looked better. Henig is out 4-6 weeks with a broken (fill in the blank). I'm okay with that because I'm not too hot on the guy. He looks scared in the pocket, has bad foot work, and more often than not makes very poor pass decisions. Our two little guys that filled in for him Saturday both looked more comfortable behind the line, although did show signs that they were indeed freshman. I am completely satisfied with the way our defense has been playing, especially versus Auburn. We look like we once did, and for what reason we became known as the bulldogs. Very agressive on the line with a hard hitting back.

Quick NFL side note. The Patriots rolled over the Chargers yesterday. Wasn't even that interesting to watch. Videos or not, the Pats are stacked. Now if we could just get the Chargers back into their baby blues and dress Belichick like a head coach instead of a bum trying to find half a hamburger in a refuse bin. The Bengals and Browns had a record breaking game though. Both QBs threw for 6 TDs in one of the highest score NFL games ever, if not the highest. I should probably look that up, but it's the NFL so I don't really care.

Painful three game series between the Red Sox and Yankees came to fruition yesterday. With the Yankees taking two of the games following two top of the eighth inning charges. Ironically enough a buddy of mine was over at the apartment for those two games but not the one Saturday in which the Sox won 10-1. So long story short, he's never invited over during Sox games again.


I love this kid. Jacoby Ellsbury is everything a minor league prospect call up is suppose to be and more. He is the fastest thing around the bases I have seen in a long time, steals bases so well that Reyes looks bland, can hit for yard, and uses those wheels effectively in the outfield. I repeat, I love this kid. Actually I love all our rookies. If the Sox can manage to hold on to all of them for a few years, we are going to be dynamite. Pedroia is nearly a shoe in for Rookie of the Year and Dice-K is still making an argument for a Cy Young if not Rookie of the Year. I think the Cy will go to our boy Beckett though, which is fine because he is on top of his game this year.

Notre Dame is 0-3. Ha ha ha. I wish Michigan would have lost though. Ole Miss drops the ball to Vandy. Florida and LSU aren't worth mentioning, we all know how they fared. And USC held up their end versus Nebraska.

Go Dawgs.