Arkansas having a rollicking good time at home | Arkansassports360.com
No question Arkansas - defensively and offensively - has a comfort zone at home that it so far hasn't taken to the road. LSU, on the other hand, seems to be as happy and as confident away from Tiger Stadium as playing before the Baton Rouge crazies.
What happens, though, when the Hogs kick it off for the national TV cameras this Saturday in Little Rock? The tailgating crowd won't have had nearly a full day to warm up for the game. The team will rise in the morning and bus in the stadium a few hours earlier than they have the past two weeks. It seems Arkansas' players get more juiced sitting around waiting for a night game than they do stepping out of the sack and going to play.
Will everything we've seen the past two weeks suddenly disappear because (1) the game is at mid-day; (2) it's in Little Rock rather than Fayetteville, which has never been a problem before, mind you; (3) Mississippi State is a lot better team defensively than the past four opponents?
MSU's charge on Saturday: Slow down Arkansas' prolific passing game | Clarion Ledger
Senior Arkansas receivers Jarius Wright, Joe Adams and Greg Childs have combined for 6,995 career receiving yards. Junior Cobi Hamilton, a Little Rock native, has 1,382 yards and is at his best at War Memorial Stadium.
The Bulldog defenders and and Razorback receivers are quite familiar with each other. It's a matchup that even the Hogs have been looking forward to this season.
Broomfield, fellow junior Johnthan Banks and senior safeties Charles Mitchell and Wade Bonner are well-known in the Arkansas locker room.
USA Today: Salaries on the rise for college coaches | Clarion Ledger
Mississippi State's Dan Mullen got an even bigger raise, $1 million, the second-largest among major-college football coaches, lifting his salary to $2.5 million.
So, at a time of tightening budgets, how does a public employee get a 50-percent raise of nearly $1 million after one year on the job?
"It's all market-driven," Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin says. "When we hired Dan, we paid him $600,000 less than our previous coach ... with the understanding that you know when you do that, you're saving money today but if he's successful you're going to catch him up to where the market is."
Wilson nominated for walk on honor | Columbus Dispatch
Mississippi State linebacker Brandon Wilson was nominated Tuesday for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is presented annually to nation's most outstanding walk-on.
Wilson is tied for second on the team with 81 tackles and one and a half tackles for loss and a fumbled recovery.
Discussion: Wednesday Prediction Thread - MSU vs. Arkansas | Sixpackspeak
Renardo Sidney is key to Mississippi State success | ESPN.com (Andy Katz)
Sidney didn't make the Bulldogs' trip to Europe in August, choosing instead to spend the summer working out with former NBA coach and player John Lucas. Lucas specializes in taking on dysfunctional cases and rehabbing them, whether it's from substance abuse, behavioral problems or simply getting into optimum conditioning.
Sidney's problems have been many. He didn't play as a freshman as the NCAA investigated his housing situation in Los Angeles when he moved from Mississippi to Southern California. He once committed to USC. He was essentially spurned by UCLA because he was deemed too high a risk. Stansbury jumped at the chance to get Sidney on the rebound when the USC situation imploded on him. And because of his size and strength -- he's listed at 6-foot-10 and 270 pounds -- Sidney is deemed too much of a potential talent to dismiss.