Dixon's Career Night Leads State To 31-24 Road Win At UK

Saturday, October 31

Lexington, Ky.

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

4-5 , 2-3

Kentucky

4-4 , 1-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Mississippi State	3	7	21	0	31
Kentucky	7	10	7	0	24

Dixon's Career Night Leads State To 31-24 Road Win At UK

October 31, 2009 | Football

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

• Official Statistics
• Official Statistics (PDF)
• Postgame Notes & Quotes (PDF)

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Anthony Dixon ran for a school-record 252 yards as Mississippi State outlasted Kentucky 31-24 in a back-and-forth battle Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium. The win was State's third in a row away from home.

With the victory, MSU improved to 4-5 overall, 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky's setback dropped the Wildcats to 4-4, 1-4.

Dixon really could not be stopped all night. The senior averaged 7.6 yards per carry, scoring two touchdowns, en route to his career- and school-best performance from scrimmage. His effort supplemented an impressive offensive effort from State overall, as the Bulldogs racked up a season-high 493 yards of total offense on the night - 348 on the ground.

State broke scoring ice just over 10 minutes into the contest. A Kentucky turnover gave State the ball at its own 37 and the Bulldogs drove 48 yards on six plays to set up a 33-yard field goal from Derek DePasquale. MSU led 3-0 with 4:23 to go in the first period.

The Wildcats answered quickly on the ensuing drive. After a big kickoff return, UK marched 59 yards on just seven plays for the first touchdown of the evening. Derrrick Locke, who manufactured 38 of the drive's yards, capped it with a 10-yard dash into the end zone.

MSU had a chance to put more points on the board on their next possession and it looked as if they would. After a UK personal foul penalty on the kickoff gave MSU excellent field position, a big run by quarterback Tyson Lee and two consecutive runs by Dixon got the Bulldogs to the UK 10 in a hurry. Three plays later, State faced a fourth-and-goal from the UK 2 and decided to go for the score. However, Lee's pass attempt was picked off in the end zone by Wildcat Sam Maxwell.

A Mississippi State miscue set up the next score of the game. With 9:21 to go in the second quarter, Lee was intercepted again, this time by Randell Burden who returned the ball to the Bulldog 41. From there, UK drove to the end zone in eight plays, the drive concluding on an 11-yard rush by quarterback Morgan Newton. UK led 14-3 with 5:16 to go before the intermission.

But the Bulldogs provided a big answer on their next drive. With Chris Relf in at quarterback for the first time on the night, Relf rushed on the first two plays, the second of which was a 52-yard jaunt down to the UK 2. That setup a 1-yard dive by Dixon and, in the blink of an eye, State trimmed the Wildcat lead to 14-10 with 3:43 to go in the half.

Kentucky used good defense, clock management and a nice special teams play to create one more score just before halftime. After stopping State deep in its own territory to force a punt, the always-dangerous Randall Cobb returned MSU's punt 46 yards to the Bulldog 26. After a Newton rush added six yards, Lones Seiber nailed a 38-yard field goal to hand the Wildcats a 17-10 advantage going into the locker room.

The second half would open very positively for Mississippi State when the Kats coughed up the football at their own 47-yard line. The Bulldogs capitalized by driving for a game-tying touchdown in six plays. Dixon picked up most of the yardage on the drive, but Christian Ducre topped it off with a 2-yard scoring run.

UK came right back at State, however, with another impressive drive, marching 65 yards on eight plays to take a 24-17 lead with 7:49 to go in the third period. An MSU pass interference call on the drive and solid rushing by Cobb led to his 3-yard scoring rush.

However, it didn't take long for the Bulldogs to post their answer to that score to tie things up once again. On just the second play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive, a Lee play fake to Dixon set up a beautiful 67-yard bomb from the MSU signal caller to O'Neal Wilder. Score: 24-24 with 6:56 left in the third.

Kentucky's next drive would stall and that would give State the opportunity to take its first second-half lead, which the Bulldogs would do. MSU mounted a lengthy 87-yard drive, spurred by a 47-yard rumble from Dixon as well as his 3-yard run to put the Bulldogs ahead 31-24 with just under a minute to go in the third quarter. A 28-yard pass from Lee to Dcure set up the score.

Amazingly, no scoring would occur in the fourth quarter.

Possibly the key series of in the game would come next. UK drove inside the MSU 5 where it held a first-and-goal. But the Wildcats coul not punch the ball in and a Jamar Chaney interception of Newton prevented Kentucky from adding any points to the scoreboard.

While State did not generate any points on the next possession, it did eat nearly five minutes off the clock - a very important length of time when it occured.

After State was forced to punt, the Wildcats got one more chance late, converting three straight third downs to move inside the MSU 25 with less than two minutes to play. But the Bulldogs held strong, forcing a fourth-and-5 from the 16 which UK could not convert. State knelt on the ball to run out the clock and secure the win from that point.

The Bulldogs will now enjoy their first and only off week of the 2009 season next week before returning home to host the highly-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, Nov. 14. The game's kickoff time is expected to be announced Monday.