Bit o’ news: The Oct. 25 homecoming game against Middle Tennessee is scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff and will be televised by ESPNU. Now, for some quotes and notes from Sylvester Croom’s teleconference this morning:
• Injury-wise, MSU is in as good a shape as it was entering the Vandy game.
• On this week’s opponent, Tennessee, and its struggles: “They’re playing at home, they’re a very talented, dangerous football team. We’ve got to be at our absolute best.”
• On how coaches handle the kind of criticism UT’s Phillip Fulmer is getting: “Nobody knows the team, nobody knows the staff, nobody knows the situation better than the head coach. That’s where the head coach’s character and all that’s tested.”
• On State RB Anthony Dixon, who had a season-high 107 yards Saturday: “He ran hard, and first of all, he was into practice for the past two weeks. It was the best stretch of practices he had probably since he’s been here. He practiced with a consistent focus he hasn’t done before.”
• On DT Cortez McCraney: “He and I have had our differences since I’ve been here, but I have nothing but praise for his performance this fall.”
• On DB Charles Mitchell: “I hate to make predictions for a guy that young, but he’s been very, very impressive to me. That’s one thing I’ve talked to our defensive coaches about, I want to see him on the field more.”
• Freshman WR O’Neal Wilder, who’s been out with a knee injury all season, will likely be red-shirted, according to Croom. He hasn’t been practicing lately.
October 13, 2008 at 11:04 am |
good to see that the old adage from last year: “if Dixon gets 100+ yards rushing, State has a good chance of winning” holds up in this year also.
great breakout game for Cortez, too. heard his name more last week than i have in his career.
October 13, 2008 at 11:33 am |
didnt crxxm say dixon was practicing his best before the season started??…still dont think much of what crxxm says anymore carries any weight…cant help but think we are still under-utilizing dixon, mcrae and especially robinson…i.e., more screens to all of them…
i do think we have a decent chance against tenn but it is in tenn so it will be a tall task…we are goin to have to move the ball down field more, HAVE TO….
wilder should have been red-shirted right after they said he was going to be out so long…hopefully, he and elliott and tobias smith can overcome their injuries 110% and quickly…wish them the best…
October 13, 2008 at 12:01 pm |
First of all I would just like to say congrats to our bulldogs for GETTING IT DONE on saturday!!
Next I would like to say that we possibly have some of the dumbest fans in America and it kills me to sit at those games and listen to the BOO’s that pour down onto the field whether it be at a call by the referee or at a call that croom makes such as a timeout or anything to do with clock management….you people are making us look horrible!
Next to Mr. Locke….Why is it when I read your articles the phrase saying Tyson Lee is still making bad throws is getting under my skin?? How do you know what determines a bad throw?? Have you ever played the position or even a sport for that matter?? The 2 throws that I can only think are in question….1. this one was to Dixon who evidently ran the wrong route because the flat was open and there were 2 recievers in the area where Dixon was. 2. the throw to Henderson in the 1st quarter was a good throw….he threw it to Henderson’s back shoulder where only he could catch it and not the opponent. Get off the kid’s back Locke….he is a walk-on…he’s 5′9…he’s winning SEC football games….
October 13, 2008 at 12:32 pm |
i kind of see what you are saying 21 but there are two sides to all stories…many can say crxxm is the one making us look horrible with his coaching…if he knew how to manage a game, people wouldnt boo….i dont boo, even though i am not a crxxm fan, i dont boo the players…
and the thing about the bad throws…lets not act like lee is just a great QB…he made some very key runs sat to get the job done and thats great but it is BL’s job to cover the team….you want him to be a homer and say lee was just amazing throwing for 81 yards on 22 attempts??….i would hope not….
i didnt think he made a ton of bad throws but it seems that, so far, he does have trouble throwing the ball down field….that throw to henderson wasnt a bad throw, but there were some that werent so good…people would be saying the same thing about carroll if it was him….but sometimes he does hold on to the ball a little too long and i dont know if that is receivers, height, speed or what without looking at film…that one were he almost took the safety was pretty stupid…the one were he was over the line of scrimmage and threw it away while we had good field position was another mistake but can be fixed…the kid played a decent game but not a great one, and he is 1-1 as a starter in sec games so we will see what happens from here…
and people keep talking about his size and all this stuff and it shouldnt be a factor because of his heart and ability, well dont give him more credit that he deserves just because he is a 5′9″ walk-on…he is our starting QB now and should be held to the same standards as a 6′3″ scholarship QB(he is on scholarship now)…
October 13, 2008 at 1:12 pm |
Oops … just found out Croom was talking about Charles Mitchell, not Charles Burns.
October 13, 2008 at 5:30 pm |
Dixon had an average game. I still think he should be getting at least 3-5 more yards on most of his carries. Ducre out works Dixon in my opinion. Ducre never gives up an easy tackle. Only on about 4 or 5 runs did I see the full potential that Dixon has. He should have easily had over 150 yards rushing. He goes down most of the time on first contact. And has poor vision at the line of scrimage. 9 times out of 10 he goes the opposite way of where I see the line opening up. And I’m sick and tired of him just going out of bounds when he should be punishing defensive backs at the end of a play. If we’re going to win @ Tennessee and have a chance of going into the Bama game 5-4 Dixon is going to have to develop some cahones the next 3 weeks.
October 14, 2008 at 12:35 am |
Now wait, hold on…
First of all, AD is known for a little dancin, but we can’t blame him because half the time- as soon as the ball is in his gut he has 2 people grabbing at his ankles and it’s all he can do to step over them.
And another 3-5 more yards a carry? Seriously, so he should average 8-9 yards everytime he touches it? Not gonna happen for 99% of the Rb’s in Fball.
If he was doing that, we’d be 6-0, do the math
October 14, 2008 at 6:48 am |
No one in their right mind can do an honest evaluation of our RBs and say that Anthony Dixon runs harder than Christian Ducre. That’s all I’m saying. Dixon is not showing the kind of effort that’s needed. I’m not talking about the plays where he’s hit in the back field. If you were at the Vandy game you saw that happen less than five times. He carried the ball 27 times for 107 yards. 30 of those 107 came on 2 plays. Don’t get me wrong. I like Dixon, but wouldn’t you like to see him hit the hole like Scott for LSU or Moreno for Georgia. If he did that we see him as the most feared player on our team.
October 14, 2008 at 6:57 am |
He does seem to shuffle his feet a lot before going forward. Maybe he’s waiting for the hole to open … or not.
October 14, 2008 at 7:23 am |
Buzzard’s right with AD’s vision. Several times he has his helmet in his blockers back past the line of scrimmage with an open field, usually to his right, and he doesn’t seem to see it. At least 4-5 different times at home games he hasn’t seen the huge pickup with the closest defender 15 yards away. Not knocking him for his effort but just the vision he might be lacking that the great backs have.
October 14, 2008 at 9:06 am |
yeah i tend to agree about dixon’s vision…dont get me wrong, the guy is a truck but sometimes there is a hole there and he instead puts his head down to get 3 yards instead of cutting…but we can see the holes better than he can from where we sit…
im a titans fans and chris johnson is a great example on vision…ive been more impressed with his vision this year than his speed almost…and that is another thing i was starting to notice about elliott…for a faster, back he didnt dance as much as AD does and i liked that…im a huge dixon fan but i honestly think he could be doing a little better this year, once again, not knocking him or his effrt but at times his vision could be better….