Mississippi State Bulldogs football
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For current information on this topic, see 2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team |
| First Season: 1895 | |||
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| City | Starkville, Mississippi | ||
| Team Mascot | Bulldog | ||
| Team Colors | Maroon and White | ||
| Head Coach | Sylvester Croom | ||
| Athletic Director | Greg Byrne | ||
| Home Stadium | Davis Wade Stadium (55,082) | ||
| League/Conference affiliations | |||
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| Team history | |||
| National Championships (0) | |||
Conference Championships (1)
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Division Championships (1)
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| Primary Rivals | |||
The Mississippi State University Bulldogs football program has produced 14 All-Americans and 54 All-SEC members.
The Bulldogs play in Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. The facility is the second-oldest football stadium in NCAA FBS football. The current capacity is 55,082. Typical to most SEC stadiums, Davis Wade Stadium has extensive landscaping done around the playing field. The largest attendance in a game at the stadium is 56,188 which occurred on November 10, 2007 during the MSU vs. Alabama contest.
In 2005, Mississippi State opened the 46,000 square foot Holliman Center. The center includes a weight room, equipment room, team meeting rooms, a lounge, and a practice locker room.
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[edit] Historic coaching hire
Mississippi State made history on December 1, 2003, when it hired Sylvester Croom as its head football coach. Croom was the first African-American named to such a position in the history of the SEC.
[edit] 1998 Season
In 1998, MSU won the SEC Western Division Championship and competed in the 1998 SEC Championship Game, leading Tennessee in the fourth quarter before falling 24-14 before 74,000 fans in the Georgia Dome. They continued on to play in the AT&T Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, against a heavily favored Texas Longhorns team. The Bulldogs lost the game 38-11, but it was the school's first New Year's bowl appearance since the 1940 Orange Bowl.
[edit] 1999 Season
The 1999 Bulldog team finished their season with a 10-2 record, earning a final ranking of #13 nationally. They defeated Clemson in the Peach Bowl, 17-7.
[edit] 2000 Season
The 2000 Bulldogs finished 8-4 (4-4) in what would be Jackie Sherrill's final winning season at MSU. The team reached the 2000 Independence Bowl where, under snowy conditions, they pulled out an exciting 43-41 overtime victory over Texas A&M.
[edit] 2006 Season
The Bulldogs finished the 2006 college football season with a dismal 3-9 record (1-7 conference). MSU's only wins came over UAB (16-10, overtime) of Conference USA in Birmingham and DI-AA/FCS opponent Jacksonville State (35-3), with the Bulldogs' lone conference victory coming over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, a game in which MSU was a 14-point underdog, by a 24-16 margin, snapping a streak of 23 consecutive conference road losses for MSU.
[edit] 2007 Season
[edit] Rivalries
[edit] Ole Miss
Record: 39-59-6
[edit] Others
Other natural rivals for the Bulldogs are SEC Western Division opponents LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, and Auburn.
The 2007 contest between State and LSU marked the 101st time the teams had met dating back to 1896, including every season since 1944. MSU trails in the series, 33-65-3. As of 2007, LSU has won the last eight contests, dating back to 2000.
MSU and Arkansas have competed closely not just in football, but in all sports since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992. MSU trails in the series, 5-12-1, with Arkansas currently holding a nine-game consecutive winning streak dating back to 1999.
MSU and Alabama have met 92 times, including every season since 1948. Alabama claims a commanding lead in the series, 77-18-3, including 22 consecutive victories from 1958-1979
MSU and Auburn have met 81 times, with Auburn holding the series lead, 23-56-2.
[edit] Controversy
- In 1975, Mississippi State's football program lost 5 scholarships and was placed on 2 years probation with 2 years ban from television and postseason play after an NCAA investigation found the program guilty of extra benefits, improper recruiting entertainment, inducements and transportation, excessive number of official visits, lack of institutional control and questionable practice[3]. The Bulldogs were slapped with a two-year probation in September 1975 when Larry Gillard was charged with a loss of eligibility after the NCAA Committee on Infractions found he had been "provided clothing at a discount not available to members of the university's student body in general." MSU accepted the committee's finding but joined Gillard in successfully filing litigation against the NCAA to restore his eligibility in a Mississippi chancery court. Gillard was allowed to participate by virtue of a restraining order granted by the chancery court and had his best season in 1976, when he made 10 sacks for the 9-2 Bulldogs. The NCAA then appealed the chancery court's decision, and the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the NCAA action late in the 1977 season. In June 1978, the NCAA made the Bulldogs forfeit 19 games (18 wins and a tie) in which Gillard played from 1975 through 1977. That turned 6-4-1, 9-2 and 5-6 records into 2-9, 0-11 and 0-11 seasons[4].
- In 1996, Mississippi State's football program lost 13 scholarships and was placed on 1 year probation after an NCAA investigation found that a recruiting assistant offered cash and other inducements to prospective student-athletes and that an athletics representative provided improper bonuses, cash, loans and meals to student-athletes, some of whom he employed.[5]
- In October 2004, Mississippi State's football program was placed on probation by the NCAA for four years, stripped of eight scholarships over the next two seasons and banned from postseason play because of recruiting violations. The NCAA infractions committee had found two former assistants and several boosters broke recruiting rules between 1998 and 2002. Among the violations, the committee found members of the Mississippi State football program had improperly reimbursed prospective student-athletes for recruiting trips, giving recruits and their families money for hotel rooms and rental cars. An assistant coach arranged to pay for the summer school classes a recruit needed to become eligible and a booster allowed two recruits to stay in a hotel in Starkville for free. The penalties were severe because it was the second time in recent years the Mississippi State football program had been sanctioned by the NCAA. Mississippi State is considered a repeat offender by the NCAA.[6]
[edit] Bowl History
Mississippi State has an all-time bowl record of 7-6.
| Date Played | Bowl game | Winning team | Losing team | ||
| December 29, 2007 | Liberty | MSU | 10 | Central Florida | 3 |
| December 31, 2000 | Independence | MSU | 43 | Texas A&M | 41 (OT) |
| December 30, 1999 | Peach | MSU | 17 | Clemson | 7 |
| January 1, 1999 | Cotton | Texas | 38 | MSU | 11 |
| January 1, 1995 | Peach | N.C. State | 28 | MSU | 24 |
| January 2, 1993 | Peach | North Carolina | 21 | MSU | 14 |
| December 29, 1991 | Liberty | Air Force | 38 | MSU | 15 |
| December 31, 1981 | Hall of Fame | MSU | 10 | Kansas | 0 |
| December 27, 1980 | Sun | Nebraska | 31 | MSU | 17 |
| December 28, 1974 | Sun | MSU | 26 | North Carolina | 24 |
| December 21, 1963 | Liberty | MSU | 16 | N.C. State | 12 |
| January 1, 1941 | Orange | MSU | 14 | Georgetown | 7 |
| January 1, 1937 | Orange | Duquesne | 13 | MSU | 12 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ College Football Data Warehouse: Mississippi State Yearly Totals
- ^ College Football Data Warehouse: Mississippi State Bowl History
- ^ NCAA: Major infractions cases Page 1
- ^ Google cache of Chattanooga Times Free Press: SEC Storylines; The Times Free Press is counting down the top 75 events in the 75 years of SEC football.
- ^ NCAA: Major infractions cases Page 2
- ^ NCAA: Mississippi State penalized for violations in football
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