MSU wastes little time in rolling past Memphis 49-7

Sports

September 6, 2010

Anonymous From School Reports The Star Herald Mon Sep 06, 2010, 10:13 AM CDT

STARKVILLE — Little time was wasted in Mississippi State establishing its dominance.

Two drives, in fact.

Saturday night in front of an electrified crowd of 56,032 at Scott Field, the fourth largest in school history, the Bulldogs ushered in the 2010 campaign in grand fashion by blowing past Memphis, 49-7, and spoiling the debut of Tigers coach Larry Porter.

It was MSU’s largest margin of victory since routing East Tennessee State 53-6 in October of 1998.

And as lopsided as the scoreboard was, so too were the statistics.

MSU (1-0), which returns to action here at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday against Auburn, racked up 569 yards of total offense with 372 coming through the air behind the arms of both Chris Relf and Tyler Russell. The Tigers (0-1), on the other hand, manufactured just 237 yards and were stymied throughout the night by the Bulldogs’ tenacious defense.

However, State’s first possession didn’t at all indicate what was about to unfold, as it stalled following Relf’s interception two plays in. From that point, though, Mississippi State shook off the rust, regained its composure and orchestrated back-to-back scoring drives to bolt out to a 14-0 advantage and essentially dash any upset hopes the overwhelmed Tigers might have had.

The first score was the result of a 55-yard strike from Relf to Leon Berry, his first-career touchdown, while the second came less than four minutes later when Russell made his highly-anticipated debut.

The former Meridian standout wasted little time living up to the hype coming out of high school when his first drive wearing the Maroon & White was capped with a 20-yard throw to Brandon Heavens to swell the lead to 14-0 with 6:11 left in the opening frame.

From that point, the scoring momentarily slowed. But with 2:21 left until intermission, the Bulldogs again found the end zone, this time on the ground when Vick Ballard, who grounded out a game high 60 yards on the ground, scored his first-career touchdown on a 51-yard scamper to put his team up 21-0.

Then came the third quarter, where the Bulldogs enjoyed a scoring fest, to the tune of 21 points.

Heavens, who totaled a game-high 112 receiving yards, scored his second touchdown, this time on a 27-yard pass across the middle from Russell at the 12:23 mark. Three minutes later, Ballard found pay dirt again when he powered his way up the middle from the 1 for a 35-0 lead.

Then it was Chad Bumphis' turn to get in on the scoring fun.

With 6:57 left in the third, the sophomore from Tupelo hauled in a 57-yard pass from Russell to go up 42-0. Early in the fourth, the two hooked up again, this time from 25 yards out for a 49-0 lead.

Bumphis finished with 100 receiving yards, while Russell was 13-of-16 passing for 256 yards and four touchdowns. Relf was 7 of 9 for 116 yards.

Defensively, Charles Mitchell led MSU’s assault with nine tackle, while Maurice Langston had two interceptions.

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