Mississippi State picked up a commitment from Denico Autry on Tuesday.  He is a 6′-5″ 250 defensive end from Ablemarie, NC.  Autry is a Juco transfer from East Mississippi (Scooba) where he won a national championship this year.  Both Rivals and Scout rate him as a 4-star player,  also having offers from Alabama, USC, Tennessee, Miami (FL) among others.  He is considered to be the third best JC prospect regardless of position.

The last two weeks have been big for MSU recruiting.  Quay Evans added the first five star in this class, and now Autry is the second 4-star (DT Nick James).  MSU also picked up a commitment from offensive lineman Justin Senior on Monday.  With these additions State has moved up to #21 in the nation for this class.

Also on Tuesday defensive backs Will Redmond and Kivon Coman were moved to soft verbals but have since refuted that.  Redmond said, “I’m solid to MSU” and Coman said “100% MSU commit and staying that way!”.

Wednesday proved to be another positive day for MSU recruiting as Charles Siddoway committed.  He is a 6′-6″ 300 lb offensive tackle who played his freshman year at Cal, then went to JuCo and will now transfer to State.  He was a 3-star coming out of high school but is believed to be a 4-star now.  State is up to 25 and can sign as many as 28 in 2012.

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The Bulldogs were without Arnett Moultrie (knee tendinitis) and Brian Bryant (suspension) but they were still able to hang on and beat Florida Atlantic 75-68 on Tuesday night.  Rodney Hood had 19 points and played all 40 minutes.  Bost led all scorers with 22, and he had three assists.  He is now 16 assists away from breaking Derek Zimmerman’s MSU record.  He and Steele both played 38 minutes in this one, Lewis 37, and Sidney only mustered 20.  That makes nine straight wins and brings their record to 10-1.  Next up: At Detroit (5-7), Saturday at noon.

There is always talk about a college football playoff, especially in December. A ‘plus one’, or 4-team playoff is gaining a ton of steam and may actually be a possibility in the near future.

The logical argument would be for the 4-team playoff to take place on New Years Day using the current BCS Bowls and then have the National Championship Game played between the winners a week later. This is much better than we have now, but there are some questions. Would the four teams be selected from a committee or would they be determined by a formula similar to the current BCS?

If you take the top 4 teams this year there are still two teams that didn’t win their conference (Alabama and Stanford). There’s no doubt Alabama deserves to be there, but does Stanford deserve to be over Oregon…a team they lost to by 23 points at home? The Ducks are only behind Stanford because of their loss to USC (Top 5 in the AP) and LSU (#1, and a team Stanford didn’t have to play). Oregon is also the PAC 12 Champ. But then again, Stanford is 11-1 and we’d like to see them in the playoff.

Once the SEC Championship Game got out of hand, Gary Danielson filled time by presenting his playoff scenario. It was to have a 6-team playoff. The top two teams would get a bye, but in order to qualify for the bye you had to win your conference. And teams 3-6 would be selected regardless of if you won your conference or not.

I think this is a good idea. Winning your conference is still very important. Yet, strength of schedule and getting into the top six is still important. In this scenario LSU and Oklahoma State would get a bye. The other four teams would be Alabama, Arkansas, Stanford, and Oregon.

The first round could be played two weeks after Championship Saturday, which would be this coming Saturday. To keep from having in-conference teams playing in the playoff, the selection committee would have Stanford at Alabama (4:00) and Arkansas at Oregon (8:00). Games would be played on campus. This scenario is probably the most ‘fair’ way to do it, and would still keep the regular season really important. And the losers of these two games could go on to play in traditional bowl games a couple of weeks later. The winners of these games would go on to play LSU and OSU in the semifinal on New Year’s Day. Then a week later, or maybe even the week before the Superbowl the National Championship is played.

Another scenario that would be even more fun for the fans would be an 8-team playoff. Take the top 4 rated conference champions and let them host the next four best teams. This Saturday would look like this: Alabama at Wisconsin (12:30), Stanford at Oklahoma State (3:30), Boise State at LSU (6:30), Arkansas at Oregon (9:30). That would be pretty cool.

It seems like a long shot, but Mississippi State could be involved in something like this one day. Look at Arkansas, they are #6 in the BCS right now and would be in both of these scenarios. They lost to LSU and Alabama by 24 points each. They also narrowly escaped Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. MSU can get to where Arkansas is. And if all the cards line up right, an 11-1 season and perhaps and SEC Championship could come to Starkville. Just got to keep believin’.

There’s no disputing what the three major college sports are: football, basketball, and baseball. Baseball is well behind basketball, and basketball is well behind football, but they are all well ahead of everything else. A good season in each one of these sports is usually defined by going to postseason play. That’s a bowl game for football and the NCAA Tournament in basketball and baseball. MSU has had some success in all three sports, but not at the same time.

State has never gone to a bowl game in football, the big dance in basketball, and regionals in baseball in the same academic school year. It’s almost uncanny how the last 20 years have featured success in only one of two between football and basketball. One team is up, the other is down.

MSU has been really close to achieving this feat three times. In 1990-91 baseball and basketball made it, but football went 5-6 in Rockey Felker’s last year as head coach. In ’94-’95 football went to the Peach Bowl and basketball made it to the Sweet 16, but baseball fell just short with a 34-25 record. In ’98-’99 football went to the Cotton Bowl and baseball went to the Regionals, but basketball fell short dropping to the NIT.

In 2011-12, a bowl game has already been secured for the football team. The basketball team looks good with a current ranking of 16th in the country. Coming off a Super Regional appearance last year, the baseball team is poised to make the NCAA Tournament again this coming spring. We shall see, but this looks like it could be the first year MSU accomplishes this feat.

Best Defenses

1. Alabama, (A+) – They are incredible. Their linebackers and safeties are the best in the country, Upshaw and Barron probably being the best at their position in the country. D Line is good, corners are excellent. I think their coaching is a little better than LSU.

2. LSU, (A+) – They are incredible. The defensive line is stacked. They are stacked at linebacker. The secondary is second to none. Tyrann Mathieu and Morris Claiborne make up the best cornerback duo in the country. They have speed everywhere, and I think they have a little more of it than Bama.

3. Georgia, (A) – They have a lot of playmakers on defense, and they are evenly scattered throughout, with an underrated D Line. They’ve come a long way from ’09 and even last year. Todd Gratham should be assistant coach of the year.

4. South Carolina, (A-) – The Gamecocks have the best defensive line in the SEC. That’s lead to a great passing defense certainly helped by Antonio Allen and Stephon Gilmore. They’ve been the backbone of USC’s 10-win season.

5. Mississippi State (B+) – Outside of the second week, and second to last week of the season the defense played great all year. They held everyone else including LSU and Alabama to under 25 points. Losing Manny Diaz figured to be a big blow, but Chris Wilson held the D up to the same level statistically.

6. Florida, (B) – The Gators had a solid defense. They held it together which Charlie’s Weis offense looked for itself, and never found it either.

7. Vanderbilt (B-) – They have played well all year, keeping Vandy in all their games but one, and in that one they held Bama close until the 2nd half.

8. Arkansas (C) – The Hog’s D was touted as Bobby Petrino’s best defense since he’s been at Arkansas. Whether it was or not is up for debate. In the end, it was just good enough.

9. Tennessee (C-) – The Vol’s have some talent here but they are young like the rest of the team and have struggled at times. They play hard, but don’t have much depth right now.

10. Kentucky (D+) – Danny Travathan and Winston Guy willed this unit to a strong finish, that gets them a ‘+’.

11. Auburn (D) – They got whipped a number of times. But they’ll be better next year.

12. Ole Miss (F) – It’s not even close, they were horrible. Tyrone Nix gets the award for the worst assistant in the SEC.

Best Offenses

1. Arkansas (A) – Everything is good about the Hogs offense, until they play Alabama and LSU. This is a good example of what would happen to Oklahoma State or any other high-powered offensive team when they play a super defensive team.

2. Georgia (B+) – Aaron Murray came on late and will lead a quality group of SEC QBs in 2012. UGA has plenty of talent, although they can’t keep anyone healthy in the backfield.

3. Alabama (B) – Trent Richardson, a great offensive line, and decent quarterback and receivers. That’s all they need with their defense.

4. LSU (B) – The Tigers philosophy is run the ball and punt if their in their own territory. If not, air it out. But in either scenario play really physical and once the 2nd half comes around there will be plenty of yards for everyone to gain.

5. South Carolina (B-) – Conner Shaw played pretty well down the stretch. Despite losing Marcus Lattimore, they were able to beat Florida and Clemson for a 10-2 record. Nice job by Steve Spurrier.

6. Vanderbilt (C+) – Once Jordan Rodgers took over this unit played really well. Zac Stacy had a great season and was probably the 2nd best tailback after Lattimore got hurt.

7. Auburn (C) – Michael Dyer is a stud. McCalleb is fast. Emory Blake is good. But Gus Malzahn is having major problems with his quarterbacks. Frazier isn’t ready, but Trotter and Mosley can’t do the job.

8. Mississippi State (C) – The O line was injury-proned in the first half of the season, Chris Relf lost his confidence, but Tyler Russell came in and the Dawgs finished pretty strong. Vick Ballard was the constant throughout. Chad Bumphis had a disappointing year, only coming up big in non-conference games.

9. Florida (D+) – Charlie Weis is beyond over-rated.

10. Tennessee (D) – Injuries hurt really bad, but things were not good in Knoxville.

11. Kentucky (D) – They were pretty awful all year, they had to use a WR at QB vs. Tennessee. Morgan Newton getting hurt probably saved this grade from being an ‘F’.

12. Ole Miss (F) – It was probably just a ‘D’ for most of the year but they tanked once Nutt was fired. A pretty big waste of talent this team was.

Best Coaching Jobs

1. Les Miles, LSU – In year’s past it seemed like LSU was winning in spite of Miles. But this year it seems like he has elevated their play. LSU has had a ton of distractions but they only seem to make the Tigers better. Miles hasn’t done many tricks or gadgets at all…he knows what to do for this team to win.

2. James Franklin, VU – Vandy is a hard place to coach, but Franklin got the most out of this team. They could’ve easily been 9-3…or at least better than 6-6. Vandy played with a different swagger this year, and they are going to a bowl again.

3. Mark Richt, UGA – Georgia could have easily folded after being 0-2 and everyone calling for Richt’s head. But they won 10 in a row behind a stout defense and a solid offense.

4. Steve Spurrier, USC – The last 5 games could’ve fallen apart for USC with the loss of Garcia and Lattimore but Spurrier held them together and now they can reach 11 wins for the first time in their history.

5. Gene Chizik, AUB – He may have won the national championship last year, but he lost an unprecedented amount of players off that team. Still, he managed to win some close games and get back to a bowl.

6. Nick Saban, UA – Saban is the best coach in the SEC, be it recruiting, X’s & O’s, or motivation.

7. Bobby Petrino, ARK – No one likes Petrino, but everyone agrees he can coach. The question is, can he get over the hump with his ‘offense first’ approach in the SEC?

8. Dan Mullen, MSU – Things didn’t work out the way everyone in Starkville had hoped
this year. But the team never quit, won the Egg Bowl for the 3rd straight year and a bowl for the 2nd. Four of MSU’s six loses were against top 10 BCS teams, the other two were against # 16 UGA and #25 Auburn.

9. Joker Philips, UK – Kentucky got off to a horrible start this year. They looked awful in two non-conference wins and were not competitive for the first half of the season. After their bye week (Week 7) they came out and beat Jacksonville State, played better vs. MSU, then pulled out a solid victory vs. Ole Miss. After getting smashed by Vanderbilt they fought hard and barely lost at UGA, and then Philips was able to lead the Cats to their first win over Tennessee in 27 years. For that alone he should keep his job.

10. Derek Dooley, UT – The mess he inherited at Tennessee was a tough job. He’s got good players but no depth, then the injuries to key players really put a damper on the season. Still, the Vols should have lost to Vanderbilt and they did lose to Kentucky….just a sniff away from a winless SEC season. He should get another year in Knoxville, but if he doesn’t win at least 7 games he’s out.

11. Will Muschamp, UF – 2010 was one of the worst season’s for recent Florida football, and Muschamp has brought them down from that. Charlie Weis has been a disaster at O.C., everyone’s just afraid to say so. How can they not win with all the talent they have on the roster? This was a really bad coaching job.

12. Houston Nutt, UM – Ole Miss was absolutely awful this year. Nutt deserved to be fired. He has completely burnt their program to the ground and threw in the worst season in Ole Miss history to boot.

Top 25 SEC Players:

1. Trent Richardson, UA
2. Courtney Upshaw, UA
3. Tyrann Mathieu, LSU
4. Donta’ Hightower, UA
5. Barkevious Mingo, LSU
6. Danny Trevathan, UK
7. Jarvis Jones, UGA
8. Ben Jones, UGA
9. Melvin Ingram, USC
10. Morris Claiborne, LSU
11. Aaron Murray, UGA
12. Alshon Jeffrey, USC
13. Sam Montgomery, LSU
14. Brandon Boykin, UGA
15. Fletcher Cox, MSU
16. Mark Barron, UA
17. Barrett Jones, UA
18. Bacarri Rambo, UGA
19. Zac Stacy, VU
20. Tyler Wilson, ARK
21. Jadaveon Clowney, USC
22. Dre’ Kirkpatrick, UA
23. Jerry Franklin, ARK
24. Johnthan Banks, MSU
25. Da’Rick Rogers, UT

Dee Bost and Arnett Moultrie are blazing a streak through the non-conference schedule for Mississippi State. The excitement hasn’t heated up yet, but this team has a chance to be Stansbury’s best in a while.

A week into December, and State already has three wins over teams from BCS conferences: Texas A&M, Arizona, and West Virginia. Not only did State beat them, but they only trailed for a few seconds in all three of those games combined. And that’s with Renardo Sidney only providing 8 points and 3 boards per game. The great news for this team is they are going to continue to get better and that those three wins will be front and center once the resumes are reviewed by the selection committee in March.

MSU is already up to #17 in the AP poll. This week’s only challenge is Troy (4-3) at the Hump. The next two week’s slate of games should go smoothly as well will FAU, at Detroit, and Northwestern State. If all goes well the Dawgs should be ranked in the Top 15 for their showdown with #6 Baylor in Dallas on December 28th.

Vick Ballard has 1,009 yards rushing so far this year (84.1 ypg), which is 4th most in the SEC. He is averaging 5.6 yards per carry. LaDarius Perkins has 408 yards, Chris Relf has 311.

Tyler Russell is averaging 115 yards per game through the air…that is good for 8th best in the SEC. He has thrown for 8 touchdowns and 4 INTs with a 53.5% completion percentage. Chris Relf has thrown for 9 TDs and 7 INTs, 59.6% completion percentage and 108 ypg (9th in SEC).

MSU does not have a receiver in the Top 10 of the SEC in receptions or yards per game. The leading receiver is Arceto Clark with 28 catches for 404 yards and 3 TDs. Chad Bumphis, who has led State in receiving the last two years is second with 342 yards and 3 TDs.

Ballard is 8th in the SEC in all-purpose yards with 98.8 per game.

Cameron Lawrence is 3rd in the SEC in total tackles with 114 (9.5 per game). Brandon Wilson and Charles Mitchell are tied for 7th with 92 (7.7 per game).

Fletcher Cox leads the team with 4 sacks, which is 16th best in the SEC. Josh Boyd was second on the team with 3.5. Cox also leads with 12.5 tackles for loss, 9th best in the SEC.

Johnthan Banks is tied for second in the SEC in passes defended with 14 and is tied for 3rd in the SEC with 5 interceptions. Nickoe Whitley had 4 INTs which ties him for 6th place.

Derek DePasquale is 11 for 17 on field goals so far this year. He is one of only three kickers to be 100% on all his PAT attempts (34 of 34). Brandon Swedenburg is 7th in the SEC in punting, averaging 41.9 yards.

DT Fletcher Cox was named to the AP All-SEC 1st team. OL Gabe Jackson and RB Vick Ballard were named to the 2nd team. OL Quentin Saulsberry got an honorable mention.

Chris Relf came to Mississippi State as a 2-star recruit from Montgomery, Alabama in 2007. His recruiting class included 34 signees, and he was one of four quarterbacks ([Juco transfer] Josh Riddell, Wesley Carroll, and Zach Smith). Riddell got playing time in ’07 but only threw 37 passes before an ACL injury that effectively ended his career. Carroll took over for Riddell as a true freshman and led State to the Liberty Bowl. Zach Smith converted to a defensive back where he played his entire MSU career. Relf redshirted in ’07 behing Carroll and Michael Henig.

Prior to the 2008 season Michael Henig decided not to come back for his senior season and MSU picked up Juco transfer Tyson Lee at quarterback. Sophomore Wesley Carroll began the year the starter but Lee took over and played most of the year. Relf only saw limited action as a red-shirt freshman going 2 of 9 for 13 yards and had -13 yards on 7 rushing attempts. Sylvester Croom, the coach who recruited Relf, was asked to step down after a disappointing 4-8 season. Soon afterwards Carroll left MSU for Florida International, making Relf the #2 quarterback for the 2009 season.

Dan Mullen took over in 2009 and was able to utilize Relf’s strengths as a runner. Although Lee started every game, Relf got at least 2 carries in each game. He ran for 500 yards (41.6 YPG) and was 22 of 41 for 283 yards. His breakout game was the ’09 Egg Bowl when he relieved Lee by rushing for 131 yards and a touchdown and throwing for 2 touchdowns as well in a 41-27 win over #20 Ole Miss. With Tyler Russell red-shirting during the 2009 season and Tyson Lee graduating, Relf was poised to become the starting quarterback in 2010.

As a junior, Chris Relf was able to lead MSU to a 9-4 season and a Gator Bowl victory. He started every game during the season, sharing only limited time with Tyler Russell. He ran for over 100 yards twice (UGA, ARK) and threw for over 200 yards 4 times (Alcorn St., ARK, Ole Miss, Michigan). In the last 3 games of the season (ARK, Ole Miss, Michigan) Chris was 51 of 73 (69.8%) for 793 yards, 6 TDs, 2INTs, and 58 carries for 199 yards and 2 TDs. Relf threw for 1,789 yards in ’10, which was the most passing yardage for any MSU quarterback since Kevin Fant in 2003 (2,151). He also rushed for 713 yards. The 2010 season was the most successful year for MSU since 1999.

Coming into the 2011 season Relf was the unquestioned starter for the Bulldogs. He represented the team at SEC Media Days and was picked to the pre-season all-SEC third team. The year started out with very strong performances against Memphis and Auburn, although he fell inches short in a dramatic finish on the plains. Relf struggles to get anything going over the next four games and was eventually pulled for Tyler Russell at halftime of the UAB game. He spent the next four games playing sparingly including not at all vs. Arkansas after suffering a concussion against Alabama. On Senior Day, coach Mullen rewarded Chris with the start and he performed well going 8 of 13 for 70 yards and 2 touchdowns, rushing for 49 yards and leading MSU to their 3rd straight Egg Bowl victory.

For his career, Relf is 255 of 441 for 3,188 yards, 27 TDs and 16 INTs. He has rushed for over 1,500 yards. He has passed for more yards in his career than any MSU QB since Kevin Fant (5,631). As a starting quarterback he is 13-8 (.619), the best winning percentage since Wayne Madkin (.650). Since he arrived on campus in 2007, MSU has made it to 3 bowl games (’07, ’10, ’11), the only other times in MSU history a player could say they went to three bowl games was ’91, ’92, ’94 and ’98, ’99, ’00. Chris Relf has been a great player for Mississippi State and he has been the centerpiece that has allowed Dan Mullen to rebuild the program. He has led MSU to 3 straight Egg Bowl victories and has been a key player throughout the 16 straight sellouts of Davis-Wade Stadium. Congratulations to Chris Relf on a great career at MSU.

Mark Hudspeth pulled his name out of the hat, then Larry Fadora rejected them, so Ole Miss will announce Hugh Freeze as their head football coach. What was he doing six years ago? Girls basketball coach at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, TN.

As head girls’ basketball coach from 1994 to 2005, Freeze led Briarcrest to four state championships (1998, 2001, 2004, 2005) and was the state runner-up three times (1999, 2000, 2003), while compiling an overall record of 305-63. He earned District 15AA Coach of the Year honors in both 1994 and 1995, was the WBCA District 9 National Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2001, and was selected TSSAA Coach of the Year four times (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004). He was also the Nike Select Team coach in 2000 when they won the National Championship.

This is a great hire for Ole Miss…but for the wrong sport.  Perhaps the Ole Miss administration is looking for a two-for-one coach with the Freeze hire, they may need it while paying Houston Nutt’s $6 million buyout.  Times are tough in Bearville; loss, rejection, and having to settle for a coach making less than seven of the nine MSU assistant coaches.

MSU is headed to Nashville, TN to play Wake Forest in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. The game will be played on Friday, December 30th at 5:40 CST. Tickets are $60 for Lower Level, $80 for Club Level, and Upper Level $17-39.  Cowbells are allowed!

Wake Forest is 6-6 this year. They finished tied for 2nd in the Atlantic division of the ACC. This is their first trip to the Music City Bowl.

The Music City Bowl was founded in 1998 and pitted the SEC vs. Big East. The first ever game was Virginia Tech 38 Alabama 7. In 2002, the bowl dropped the Big East and picked up the Big Ten. That lasted until 2006 when the ACC replaced the Big Ten. An SEC team has played in this bowl game for 12 out of the 13 years (2005) it’s been played. Kentucky has more appearances than any other team with four. Minnesota has the most wins with three.

Mississippi State has never participated in the Music City Bowl. This will be MSU’s 16th bowl appearance in program history, they have a record of 9-6…but have won four in a row. This game will be the 7th ‘cold weather’ bowl game State has played in; the Dawgs have a 4-2 record so far including a 43-41 win in the 2000 ‘Snow Bowl’.