Mississippi State announced today that 2012 spring football practices will begin March 22. Coach Dan Mullen and this year's team will participate in 15 practices spread over a month's worth of Tuesday's, Thursday's and Saturday's. This, of course, will all be leading up to the Maroon-White game to be held as a part of Super Bulldog Weekend on April 21st at 5p.m. The game will be followed up by Sugarland in concert. For Whom the Cowbell Tolls has learned that Mississippi State scratched a previously planned duet between Sugarland and Dan Mullen of the hit Sugarland song "Stay." Rumors are that the planned performance was cancelled just after Fletcher Cox declared for the NFL draft. (all the previous in italics is not real you guys)

Here's the detailed practice schedule.

2012 MISSISSIPPI STATE SPRING FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Weekday practices will start around 4:30 with weekend practices kicking off 'round brunch.

Thursday, March 22
Saturday, March 24
Tuesday, March 27
Thursday, March 29
Saturday, March 31
Tuesday, April 3
Thursday, April 5
Tuesday, April 10
Thursday, April 12
Friday, April 13
Tuesday, April 17
Thursday, April 19
Friday, April 20
Saturday, April 21 - Maroon-White Spring Game - 5 p.m.

Digging on cfbstats.com yesterday I stumbled across this stat, which I thought was neat/random/probably pointless. Of plays from scrimmage for SEC teams in 2011, only Trent Richardson had more plays of 50+ yards than State senior RB Vick Ballard. Richardson finished with 5, while Ballard (and Florida Gator Andre Dubose) finished with 4.

Now that I think back over the entire season, I do remember Ballard breaking off those runs. Picking through miniscule stats? Sure, but it's still neat to me. Especially when you consider the big play threats of the SEC such as Joe Adams, Alshon Jeffery, and many more. Here's the full list.

Mississippi State junior cornerback Johnthan Banks has decided not to enter the NFL Draft and return to Mississippi State for his senior season. Teammate Fletcher Cox announced earlier today that he will enter the draft after receiving a second-round rating from the NFL Draft Advisory Board. Banks (and Josh Boyd) received a fourth-round rating.

"I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders by making this announcement," Banks said. "I'm coming back to Mississippi State to continue my development as a player and a person. I've always wanted to play football here and I love the university, my coaches and teammates.

Banks was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award this year and will surely be a front runner for the award in his senior season.

Reports are out that Mississippi State Junior DT Fletcher Cox will forego his senior season in Maroon and White and enter the NFL Draft. This according to a New York Times article by Pete Thamel.

"God works in many ways," Cox said in a telephone interview. "He answered my prayer and I knew deep down in my heart it was time for me to go."

Cox played both defensive tackle and defensive end at Mississippi State, but said he expected to be evaluated as a tackle by N.F.L. teams. The ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay currently has Cox ranked as the 20th best player in the draft and the second best defensive tackle available behind Penn State's Devon Still.

He received a second-round draft grade by the NFL's Draft Advisory Committee.

Cox will definitely be missed on the State defensive line. He was the only Bulldog selected as first-team all SEC and was named player of the week numerous times.

Johnthan Banks Still Undecided

Mississippi State could also lose standout cornerback Johnthan Banks to the NFL draft. He led State in interceptions this year with 5. He is not projected as high in the draft as Cox.

Despite multiple miscues and turnovers on offense, State rode the running of Bowl MVP Vick Ballard and his 180-yd, two 50+ yard TD runs to fuel a 23-17 victory against Wake Forest in the Music City Bowl.

State's defense turned in another solid showing, as Josh Boyd and Fletcher Cox were in the backfield almost every play.

It wasn't the prettiest game by any means, but a win is a win, and for the second straight season the Bulldogs will go into the next season on a winning streak.

With the conclusion of the year, guys like Chris Relf, James Carmon and Charles Mitchell have played their final game in maroon and white. On behalf of Bulldawg nation let me say thank you guys for everything you've done for this team and this university.

And to Fletcher Cox, thanks for blocking all those punts and leading this defense. I think it's safe to say after the bowl game he had, our friend Mr. Cox has played his final game in maroon.

Further analysis of the bowl game as well as a season review coming in the following days here on the blog.

Click here for extra celebration of the bowl victory.

And for all of you Bulldogs in Nashville, go show the town how Maroon gets down.

#HailState

Now that Santa has come down our chimneys and our stomachs are stuffed to the brim with turkey and sweets, it's time to move on to the next exciting part of the Bulldog holiday: the Music City Bowl. But with the game just a day away, what do we really know about our opponent, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons? Not much right now, but fortunately, our friends at Blogger So Dear, the SBNation Wake Forest Blog, are here to help us out by answering some questions on the Deacs.

Q1: Mississippi State and Wake Forest have never faced off on the gridiron. Give our readers some basic info that would be good to know about the team.

BSD: First off, it's important to know about Jim Grobe. The Head Coach of the Demon Deacons is a hard-nosed, grind-it-out guy who focuses on ball control and playing mistake-free football. In the past, that was defined by an opportunistic defense that would give up a ton of yards, but few scores and come up with a big play to flip the field and get the offense rolling.

These days, with special teams down, and the weapons that Wake Forest has offensively, the Deacs' identity is as a high-octane football team led by star quarterback Tanner Price and All-ACC WR Chris Givens.

Continue reading this post »

This morning the SEC released its long anticipated 2012 football schedule. Many wondered how the league would balance its schedule with two new teams entering the mix this season, and we all found out today that 2012, if nothing else, should prove quite interesting.

For State, saying our 2012 schedule will be "a tale of 2 seasons" rings entirely true. State's first 7 games will feature teams such as Troy, South Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. The last 5 games? @Alabama, Texas A&M, @LSU, Arkansas, and Ole Miss. With LSU and Bama both expected in the top 3 again next year, State may have to win a good many of its first 7 games to improve our bowl stature in 2012.

The Good: State will be replacing a lot of key faces on both sides of the ball in 2012, and it may take a few games for new units and players to gel. Preliminarily I would expect State to be favored in our first 7 games, with most of them being games where young players have room to make mistakes while learning systems and getting the feel for SEC football. The toughest games before late October that State has are at home (Auburn, Tennessee) and both of those teams will have young squads too. 7-0 is a possibility, but it will be greatly needed headed into murderer's row in late October.

The Bad: That last 5 games. Staring at that last home stretch of the schedule for next season is like like staring st a running ban saw knowing you're about to run into it. Pre-preseason prognostications have LSU and Bama back in the top 3, and Arkansas shouldn't be a slouch as well. Throw on top of that a new conference opponent looking to make a good first impression and a rival who has you at home under a new fired up coach, and we could be in for a long 5 games. Although State will have A&M at home and Ole Miss is facing the same tough scheduling we are, playing those last 5 games in that order in a part of the season when injuries begin to mount seems to be quite daunting.

In summary, State's schedule should like every other year have its highs and it's lows. With some talented players back and some good, young talent coming off of redshirts, I think State could easily navigate this schedule to a 9 win season. However, if things are bad in November or if we slip up in a game or two early on in the year, it could be a long season.

As for "fairness", I don't think State has more of a gripe than anyone else. We all knew the first year or two of scheduling with 14 teams would be interesting. Everyone outside of ageorgia has to play at least 3 tough games and all in all it should be a very interesting year in the "new" SEC. Here's to hoping we can come out of this new 14 team pile next year close to thentopnwhen December rolls around.

#HailState

On the next-to-last edition of the year for the FWtCT's Radio Show, we handed out "The Cristies", awards given to various individuals, teams and even writers associated with Mississippi State. Tune in to hear Bob and I hand out the awards, as well as discuss other worthy recipients as we look back at the year that was in Mississippi State sports in 2011.

Check the show out in the jazzy little Christmas-themed player below, or here, or check us out in the lineup at Bulldog Sports Radio on your iPhone or Android device.

Look for more info to go up on the site next week as we prepare for the Music City Bowl against Wake Forest.

Merry Christmas, and as always, #HailState