Notes: First of a home-and-home series; Tech will travel to Starkville next
season. … MSU is 17-9-1 in road openers; last was in 2002 -- a loss to Oregon. …
First BCS foe at Joe Aillet since it opened in 1968. … Dooley and MSU defensive
coordinator Charlie Harbison were on Nick Saban’s 2001-02 LSU staffs; Tech
linebackers coach Stan Eggen and MSU cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith were at
Alabama and Texas A&M with Dennis Franchione in 2002-04. … Both teams were 4-4
in league play last season.
-- Nick Deriso
In some ways, you can tell that Louisiana Tech’s Derek Dooley greatly admires
his Saturday opponent.
Sylvester Croom has gotten knocked around at Mississippi State, but he did it
his way, Dooley said. He never stood down.
Then, after a dramatic eight-win season in 2007, the once-embattled Croom (still
just 18-30 overall in Starkville) was hoisting the SEC’s trophy for Coach of the
Year.
"When he was building his program, the results didn’t come early," said Dooley,
who’ll coach his second opener at Tech against MSU this week. "You watch his
style: He never wavered. He never flinched. I’m sure he got a lot of pressure to
do things differently. It just goes to show how much conviction he has in what
he is doing. He stuck to his guns and the results finally came."
Dooley is hoping for a similar storyline in his own rebuilding project in
Ruston, a season after missing bowl eligibility by one game.
The odds are long, if history is a guide. (Mississippi State leads the all-time
series, 7-2; Dooley is 0-2 at Tech so far against SEC foes.) The opposing
defense is a snaggle-toothed terror.
But history also says Tech won the last time these two met, a 38-23 victory at
Starkville behind Jason Martin’s 300-yard, four-score day in 1996. And the
billowing excitement that surrounds this home game -- MSU is the first current
SEC foe to ever play at The Joe -- has bolstered the coach and his
still-emerging team.
School officials are expecting a record crowd, one that perhaps could eclipse
the Tech home crowd of 28,714 -- a 17-16 win over nearby Louisiana-Monroe --
that has stood for 10 seasons.
"The biggest thing -- and this is a fact : When you look at last year, I was
very disappointed in the way we competed against BCS conference programs," said
Dooley, who saw his team fall by a combined 124-22. "I take full responsibility
for that. I told the team that."
Still, Dooley will again steer the program directly into those kinds of
challenges, with a goal of instilling a steely-eyed determination to get better.
Just a year in, his Tech teams have already faced top-five offenses from Hawaii
and Boise State, along with eventual BCS champion LSU. Tech held Hawaii and
Fresno State, ranked No. 32 in the nation in scoring, to below their season
average for points.
Still to come this season is Kansas, and trips to recent BCS-bowl invitees in
Boise and Honolulu.
"We need to continue to build," Dooley said. "These are the kind of games we
want to be in. … How we’ll fare, we’ll find out."
Establishing offensive rhythm could be difficult for new Tech starting
quarterback Taylor Bennett, a Georgia Tech transfer. Mississippi State ranked
seventh nationally in pass defense and 35th in scoring defense, gaining momentum
as the 2007 season wore on.
In fact, MSU allowed just one rushing touchdown while posting a season-ending
4-1 mark and an eventual win in the Liberty Bowl. Meanwhile quarterback Wesley Carroll threw for 832 of his 1,392 yards over that stretch.
That makes every Tech possession count, Bennett admits.
"They are very physical; they are fast and move to the ball quickly," Bennett
said. "They come out and play straight up and try to beat you. You only get 7,
8, 9 possessions per game. That’s not much; you have to capitalize."
Tech is 1-2 against Mississippi State in season openers, having won in 1968 with
future NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw at quarterback, then falling in 1980 and
’88. Each of those contests was in Starkville.
Dooley sees history as prologue, though. That was then.
"We’re not going to be held hostage to the past," Dooley said. "These are the
kind of games that we need to play and our program needs to embrace it and enjoy
it. It shows you where you are as a program."