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La. Tech-Miss. St. preview
08/29/08 - 01:15 PM
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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - These things just don’t happen in little
ol’ Ruston, La.
A real, live member of the Southeastern Conference will appear
in the town of 20,000 when Mississippi State opens the season
Saturday at Louisiana Tech in a game on ESPN2. Not only are they
dusting off the welcome mats, they’re sharpening the knives.
Turns out these kind of opportunities only come along once every
100 years.
“There’s a lot of excitement having an SEC football team coming
to Ruston,” Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley said. “National TV
game, these are the kind of games we certainly want to be in as a
program.”
The last time a current member of the SEC played in Ruston was
1908 when rude guest LSU thumped the Bulldogs 22-0.
Dooley would love to open his second season with a splashy upset
after leading Louisiana Tech to a 5-7 record last year. But the
team doesn’t often have success against SEC opponents. The Western
Athletic Conference member is 1-9 against SEC schools in the last
10 seasons with a 27.9 points per game average margin of defeat.
“We have not played well in these kind of games historically,”
Dooley said. “And so when you’re building a program, it’s
important you learn how to play well in these games where there’s
lots of television coverage and it’s a quality opponent.”
Mississippi State knows that story line well and won’t likely be
susceptible to ambush.
The team’s coming off a breakthrough 8-5 season that included a
gritty win in the Liberty Bowl after six straight years of three
wins or less. But there have been questions, uttered in stage
whispers, about the likelihood of a repeat after the Bulldogs
relied on big plays, sudden reversals and luck to win a handful of
games, then lost a few key players with legal troubles.
Players have heard the doubts and are intent on making sure they
prove the reversal was no fluke. Their goal is a BCS bowl berth,
not a step back into mediocrity.
“We have obviously very high expectations right now,”
sophomore quarterback Wes Carroll said. “This season can be as
great as we want it to be or if we don’t focus and play as hard as
we possibly can, it can also be a real upsetting season. I think
all the guys are right now in line. Everybody’s focused and
healthy, and ready to roll right now.”
Carroll’s surprising freshman performance helped the Bulldogs to
coach Sylvester Croom’s first winning season. Carroll returns more
prepared to lead an offense that looks an awful lot like last
season’s. Mississippi State brings an old-fashioned power-running
scheme to Ruston, led by Anthony Dixon and Christian Ducre.
Louisiana Tech’s remodeled defense will be tested right away.
“I enjoy playing in these kind of games,” said Dooley, whose
father, Vince, won a national championship at Georgia with the
Power I. “But I do know this: You better buckle that chin strap a
little tighter. They’re going to come out and try to break your
will physically and if you’re not up for the challenge, you’ll get
embarrassed just like you do when you play the spread teams.”
While Louisiana Tech knows what to expect, it is the mystery of
what it’s offense will look like under Taylor Bennett that has
Croom wary. The quarterback transferred in from Georgia Tech and
appears to be a talented duel threat.
“How he is going to fit into their scheme is an unknown and we
are going to find out when we get there,” Croom said.

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