Mississippi State at Ole Miss Postgame Notes

Nov. 27, 2004

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes

MISSISSIPPI STATE POSTGAME NOTES
SERIES/ATTENDANCE NOTES

Mississippi now leads the series with Mississippi State 58-37-6, 19-10-3 in Oxford...UM has now won three straight in the series and three consecutive in Oxford.

TEAM NOTES

State has lost 12 consecutive road games and 17 straight SEC road contests.
MSU has now dropped 15 SEC Western Division games in a row.
MSU's 220 yards of total offense was its second-lowest output of the season (130 at LSU)...The Bulldogs' 70 yards rushing were also the second- worst of the season (40 at LSU).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

RB Jerious Norwood gained 24 yards rushing today...With that total, he now has 2,086 career rushing yards, moving him in eighth place on State's career rushing yardage list...He surpassed Kenny Roberts (2,070; 1989-92) today on that list.
Norwood ended the 2004 campaign with 1,050 yards rushing, ranking him fifth all-time on MSU's single-season list...He became the sixth MSU player ever (seventh occurrence) to rush for 1,000 yards in a single year last week vs. Arkansas...Norwood's 95.45 yards-per-game average this season ranks fifth all-time at MSU for a single year.
P Jared Cook, who led the SEC and was ninth nationally in punting entering the day with a 44.2-yard average, had another solid outing, with 40.9 yards per boot on seven attempts...Cook ended his MSU career in the top five of all three MSU punting categories: punts (4th; 198), punting yardage (4th; 8,313) and punting average (3rd; 41.99)...He averaged over 40 yards per punt in 26 of his 39 career games...He ended 2004 ranking fourth on the single-season punt average list (43.74 avg.).
DB Darren Williams had two interceptions in today's game, the sixth and seventh of his career and his third and fourth this year (three in the last two weeks)...It was the second multiple-interception game of Williams' career...He tied State's single-game school record with three pickoffs against Troy State in 2002...Williams was also only one tackle shy of matching his career high of 11 takedowns, notching 10 stops today.
DL Willie Evans recorded four tackles for loss in today's game...He had at least one TFL in 10 of MSU's 11 games this season and ended the year with a team-leading 14.5 TFLs...He ranked sixth in the SEC in that category entering the weekend...Evans also paced MSU in sacks this season with 5.5 (one today).
LB Clarence McDougal's interception in the game was his second career pickoff...The other came in the 2004 season-opener vs. Tulane.
WR Tee Milons has now had at least one catch in 10 straight games and is averaging 2.4 receptions per game (three today) in those 10 contests.
LB Titus Brown led State in tackles for the second straight week, posting 11 stops today...He had a career-high 18 last week vs. Arkansas.
WR Ty Freeman's reception in the game was only the third of his career.
DB David Heard's recovered fumble in the game was the first of his career...Heard also had a career-best seven tackles today.
DB Slovakia Griffith's caused fumble in the game was the first of his career.

OPPONENT NOTES

Mississippi's 283 yards rushing in the game tied for the most against MSU this season, matching Auburn.

OLE MISS POSTGAME NOTES
GAME NOTES

Stan Smith of Lucedale proposed to Allison Carter of Ocean Springs on the 50-yard line before the start of today's game. Both are seniors at Ole Miss.
Today's attendance was 55,810.

SERIES NOTES

Today's game marked the 101st meeting of one of the nation's most-played rivalries.
This was the 77th meeting of the "Battle of the Golden Egg," as the two schools started playing for the trophy in 1927.
The Ole Miss-Mississippi State series is listed as tied for the 16th most played in NCAA Division I-A history.
The series is also listed at the 10th longest uninterrupted series, as the NCAA considers today's game the 89th consecutive year that the two schools have faced each other.
With today's win, Ole Miss holds a 52-20-5 advantage in the "Egg Bowl".
The Rebels have now won three straight in the "Egg Bowl" and became the first team to win three straight Egg Bowls since the Rebels won three consecutive from 1988-1990. Ole Miss won 24-12 in 2002 in Oxford and 31-0 last year in Starkville.
The Rebels are now 19-10-3 in games played in Oxford.
Ole Miss snapped a four-game losing streak and avoided its first five-game skid since the 2002 season.
The Rebels finished the season 1-4 in the SEC West, avoiding going 0-5 for the first time since 1996.

REBEL NOTEBOOK

This afternoon's game versus Mississippi State marked the final appearance in a Rebel uniform for 25 seniors on this year's team. The senior class of 2004 finished their careers with a 24-20 (.545 winning percentage), and helped the Rebels to appearances in the 2002 MainStay Independence and 2004 SBC Cotton Bowls.
The Rebels held the lead at halftime (10-3) for just the second time this year. They also held a 21-14 lead against South Carolina (Oct. 9) en route to a 31-28 win.
Tonight marked the fourth time in 10 games that the Rebels led after three quarters. Ole Miss held the lead after three quarters against Arkansas State (10/2), South Carolina (10/9) and LSU (11/20).
Head coach David Cutcliffe improved to 4-2 against Mississippi State.

OFFENSIVE NOTES

Redshirt freshman quarterback Robert Lane threw his first career touchdown pass when he hit tight end Lawrence Lilly from four yards out with 6:14 to go in the first quarter.
Robert Lane rushed for a career-high 97 yards on 16 carries.
The 283 yards rushing is the most since rushing for 293 yards against Vanderbilt on Oct. 28, 1989.
The 421 yards of total offense is the most by the Rebels since they totaled 567 yards at Wyoming (9/25).
Senior QB Johnny Wickham saw his first career action when he was under center on the Rebels' final offensive series.
Senior RG Marcus Johnson ended his career by making 48 consecutive starts ... Senior LG Doug Buckles also ended his career by drawing his 38th consecutive start today.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

Senior Iroko Ayodele drew his first career start, starting at strong safety.
Ole Miss didn't allow an MSU first down until the 3:45 mark of the 2nd quarter when Fred Reid rushed for 46 yards to the UM nine-yard line. The drive resulted in a Keith Andrews 23-yard field goal.
Ole Miss held Mississippi State to just 58 yards of total offense in the first half, the fewest yards allowed in a half this season by the Rebels.
The 220 yards of total offense was the fewest allowed this season by Ole Miss.
The Rebels held MSU to zero yards passing in the first half.
The last time Ole Miss held an opponent without a touchdown, was the 2003 "Egg Bowl", when the Rebels shut out the Bulldogs 31-0.
Travis Johnson recorded an interception and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES

Kicker Jonathan Nichols extended his streak of consecutive PATs made to 116, the nation's longest active streak. The streak also ranks as the fifth longest in SEC history.
Nichols scored eight points today to end his career with 344 points, which ranks sixth on the SEC's career scoring list.
Senior P Cody Ridgeway punted three times for 121 yards today to become just the third player in school history to record 10,000 career punting yards. Ridgeway finishes his career with 10,021 punting yards.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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