STARKVILLE — Whether it was right, left, or up the middle, the Mississippi State football team ran past an overmatched University of Mississippi defense.
MSU’s game plan wasn’t complicated. Coach Dan Mullen wanted to force the Southeastern Conference’s worst run defense to stop the Bulldogs’ ground game before they would adjust.
That adjustment was never necessary.
Senior Chris Relf started at quarterback and instantly gave the running game a spark with direct snap draw plays and option carries.
In his last game at Davis Wade Stadium, Relf gained 119 yards, including 70 rushing.
MSU’s first two calls were quarterback draws up the middle that resulted in 30 yards and back-to-back first downs by Relf.
“Those were some really good plays we went to over and over throughout,” MSU offensive coordinator Les Koenning said. “There was sometimes he bailed us out of some long yardage situations and kept the football. That’s all you can ask.”
MSU next went to senior tailback Vick Ballard. The senior tailback had 23 carries for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns. With the exception of a special performance against the University of Tennessee at Martin, Ballard said Saturday night was the most effective he has felt since a 41-34 loss to Auburn on Sept. 10.
“I was very proud of Vick, and he set a big goal tonight thanks to the rest of his teammates, and what’s great about him is he is the first to understand that,” Koenning said. ”
Ballard, who was honored in the fourth quarter for surpassing the 1,000-yard barrier this season, is tied for second all-time in career rushing touchdowns (27). He also is sixth all-time in career scoring (176 points). With his ninth-career 100-yard rushing game, Ballard has 1,009 yards this season, which puts the Gulf Coast Community College transfer 10th all-time on the school’s single-season list.
“Coming into the game, I knew I had 135 yards to get to 1,000, but I didn’t think about it once when I was in the game,” Ballard said. “If you think about it, you’re not going to be as good as you can be.”
Sophomore LaDarius Perkins complemented Ballard and provided a speed option out of the backfield. He finished with a season-high 102 all-purpose yards, including 64 rushing.
“Coaches kept talking to me about how this was a championship game, and I knew I had to play well to bring the Egg Bowl trophy to Starkville,” Perkins said. “Last year (when Perkins had 238 total yards against Ole Miss) I was involved on more sweeps, but this was just basic runs.”
Entering the game, Ole Miss was last in the league in run defense (222.9 yards per game). MSU eclipsed that mark with nearly 20 minutes remaining in the game.
“When you turn on the tape, the film doesn’t lie, and we felt like we had a good idea of what it would take to beat their defense,” Koenning said. “What I saw tonight is on every big run we blocked them nearly perfectly, and that was such a big key to dominate up front.”
MSU rushed for only 81 yards last week in a 44-17 to the University of Arkansas. It marked only the fifth time under Mullen (fourth this season) that the Bulldogs were held under the century mark in that category.
“We ran the ball so much tonight because we thought the only way they’d get back in the game was we would make a mistake,” Mullen said. “We wanted to pound our guys and win that battle at the line of scrimmage. Obviously we did.”
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