MSU News & Notes | Monday, October 1, 2012

Well, we made it through last week despite the lack of MSU football, and we are finally back into the comfortable familiarity of a game week [collective sigh of relief]. This week the Bulldogs get set to travel to Lexington, Kentucky to take on the Wildcats of Kentucky. UK, despite not having the best of seasons thus far, gave a really good South Carolina team all they wanted for one half last Saturday, before the Gamecocks pulled away 38-17. State will look to avoid the trap much like South Carolina did as they move further into the season. Let's take a look at a few news and notes to start your morning off, shall we?

• The South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 38-17 last weekend, although for a half of play it was much closer than the final score would indicate. Kentucky completely outplayed the Gamecocks in the first half, but slowly began to deteriorate late in the first and that poor play continued into the second half, where South Carolina regained control. The good news out of that game is that it was a wake up call, not only for South Carolina, but for Mississippi State as well, as the dogs now see that they will have to play a solid game if they want to escape Lexington undefeated as they went in.
• The week 6 college football polls have been released, without much movement for the Bulldogs in the off week. State rose one spot in the AP Poll to #20, while they stayed put in the USA Today Poll at #19. Alabama remained at #1 in both polls.
• With the injury to Kentucky starting QB Maxwell Smith in last Saturday's South Carolina game, it appears State could have to prepare gameplans for both he and Freshman Jalen Whitlow. Smith is more of a passer, while Whitlow is more of a runner, so State will have to essentially prepare for polar opposites.
• By the way, I would highly suggest you bookmark A Sea of Blue for this week as we prepare for Kentucky. Glenn and company do an outstanding job over there, and I would definitely suggest you go over and check out their work there. We will feature some of their material here, but you'll want to jump over to their site as well (although I'll tell you they're more into basketball than football).
• The Mississippi State Diamond Dogs released their full 2013 schedule on Saturday. The slate features a school record 37 home games in 2013, a point that could be key to a College World Series run for a team that is certainly talented enough to do it. The non-conference schedule features a rematch with Samford, the team that put State out of the 2012 Tallahassee Regional, as well as matchups with Purdue and perennial west coast success story Fresno State. The conference home slate will see LSU, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, and South Carolina all have to travel to Starkville.
• The best sports GIFs of the week.

That's it for today folks, have as good of a Monday as you can!

BONUS BECAUSE MONDAY SUCKS VIDEO:

Cortez, The Killer (Live In Central Park) (via davematthewsbandVEVO)