Saturday Scrimmage Sees Solid Effort From All Three Phases
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Head football coach Dan Mullen put his team through its second full-scale scrimmage here on Saturday, and the Bulldogs continued to show improvement in offense, defense and special teams.
“We executed some things offensively today,” Mullen said as the offense enjoyed Gatorade while the defense ran post-practice sprints as a result of the day’s final score. “The offense won today, but both sides played hard.”
The first offense got off to a slow start as the scrimmage began with open field work, going three-and-out on its first possession, and ending with a Chris White interception of Tyson Lee on the second drive. The second unit, however, sustained drives on its first two possessions and ? after a 42-yard strike from Chris Relf to Tay Bowser ? put up the first score of the day with Patrick Hanrahan’s four-yard plunge.
Roles reversed quickly for the first and second units as Lee led the first team on a 40-yard scoring drive capped with an Anthony Dixon 13-yard touchdown. After Relf was intercepted by Cameron Lawrence on the next possession, Lee again marched the starters down the field and scored on a seven-yard keeper. The second offense then turned to the running game and rushed nine times on an 11-play scoring drive which saw Sylvester Hemphill score from one yard out.
After a third-down situational period, the first unit took over at its 2 yardline and put together the drive of the day. Lee completed a 23-yard pass to Leon Berry to move the offense out of the shadows of its goalpost, and 15 plays later Dixon found Nelson Hurst in the back of the endzone for a one-yard score.
“We had a great 98-yard drive there by the offense,” Mullen said. “But that type of thing should never happen to our defense.”
The scrimmage ended with redzone work and a field goal period. Placekickers Sean Brauchle and Derek DePasquale showed great range, making kicks from 37, 42 and 50 yards. Brauchle boomed a 57-yarder to close the period.
The Bulldogs will be off the remainder of the weekend and return to the practice fields on Tuesday afternoon as they begin week-long preparations for next Saturday’s Maroon-White Game.
SCORING
White 41 INT return
Hanrahan 4 rush (Brauchle PAT)
Dixon 13 rush (Brauchle PAT)
Lee 7 rush (Brauchle PAT)
Hemphill 1 rush (Brauchle PAT)
Hurst 1 pass from Dixon
Watson 6 INT return
Brauchle 32 FG
Roberts 24 pass from Relf
Lee 7 rush
Hemphill 1 rush
Dixon 1 rush
STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hanrahan 16-77 TD, Dixon 14-63 2TD, Relf 12-58, Lee 12-43 2TD, Hemphill 17-40 2TD.
PASSING: Lee 11-25-1-113; Relf 6-17-2-127 TD; Dixon 1-1-0-1 TD.
RECEIVING: Berry 4-50, Wilder 3-35, Robinson 3-21, Dixon 2-13, Bailey 1-8, Roberts 2-31 TD, Bowser 1-42, Cook 1-40, Hurst 1-1 TD.
INTERCEPTIONS: White, Watson, C. Lawrence.