ESPN2 To Telecast Bulldog Spring Football Finale
"This is unprecedented in the history of Mississippi State University,"Director of Athletics Larry Templeton said. "To have national televisionexposure from our campus at this time of the year is a tremendous benefit toour athletic program and for our football team. We have had a greatrelationship with ESPN through the years, and we look forward to havingESPN2 back on our campus."
Mississippi State is one of only two schools to have its final springscrimmage or game televised by ESPN2. South Carolina's intra-squad contestwill be aired the following Saturday, April 16.
On the practice field Tuesday, head football coach Sylvester Croom sawimprovement from his troops from its practice just 24 hours earlier, even ifthat gain took little effort.
"We were better, but anything would have been better than yesterday," Croomsaid. "I thought the defense had a good day."
Specifically, the Bulldog head coach called out sophomore defensive tackleCorey Clark (Taylorsville, Miss.) for his recent work.
"He was good yesterday and today," Croom said of the 6-1, 310-pounder. "Hehas the ability to make a difference for us, and if he continues at thisrate, he gives us three defensive tackles in there."
Once again, however, State's offense did not match the defense's production,in Croom's estimation.
"We stunk in the red zone offense," Croom said. "We had too many turnoversand too many drops. (Senior center) Chris McNeil is about it on offenseright now. We'll just continue to work at it.
"We've got to change the roller coaster mentality we have," Croomcontinued, "but that's been the history of the program around here recently.We'll have two good practices and then a bad one. We have to get betterevery day. Right now, we're not mature enough as a program to do that."
The Bulldog offense worked Tuesday without Jerious Norwood (Brandon, Miss.),who was forced to the locker room just into the workout with a tighthamstring. Offensive tackle Johnny Wadley (Hernando, Miss.) and widereceiver Joey Sanders (Macon, Miss.) suffered a dislocated shoulder andbruised chest, respectively, and sat out the final half of Tuesday'spractice.