STARKVILLE — With a sense of relief, Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen used three words to sum up his team’s performance on Homecoming Saturday night.
“It’s a win,” Mullen said.
MSU used big plays to dominate an overmatched University of Tennessee-Martin 55-17 at Davis Wade Stadium.
MSU’s 11th-straight non-conference victory marks the longest streak since an 11-game run from 1989-91.
“Here it is November and we have a winning record,” Mullen said. “It’s a good direction and where we want our program to be.”
For the first time during this season, MSU put points on the scoreboard with the first possession on a 5-yard touchdown run by tailback Vick Ballard. The previous opening drives for MSU this season had resulted in seven straight punts and a fumble last week at the University of Kentucky.
Ballard also took the first drive of the second half into the end zone on a 54-yard run. The score was Ballard’s 26th career rushing touchdown, putting him one behind Michael Davis for second on the school’s all-time list. Ballard, who already holds MSU’s single-season rushing touchdown record, had 102 yards on 11 carries.
“It was a sense of relief to find the end zone tonight,” Ballard said. “The second run made me feel a whole lot better because I hadn’t broken a long one in quite a while.”
MSU gained the momentum after Tennessee-Martin junior kicker Cody Sandlin missed a 33-yard field goal after the Skyhawks (5-4) went on a 71-yard opening drive that gashed the defense on outside runs. Sandlin, UTM’s leading scorer on the season, was 11-for-13 on the season before that kick.
“We were outmanned, but I was proud of our guys’ ability to stand against a team like this and execute at times,” UT-Martin coach Jason Simpson said.
In his first opportunity to touch the football, junior Johnthan Banks took back a punt 65 yards for his first special teams touchdown of his college career.
The former East Webster High School standout made two defenders miss before going untouched down the far sideline. It was fourth career touchdown for Banks. The other three have been interception returns.
Banks joins Oregon State’s Jordan Poyer as the only Football Bowl Subdivision players with a punt and interception for touchdowns this season.
“You could see it set up there and there was some great blocking on that return,” said Mullen, who also coaches the special teams. “If he could get that first move, I thought we had the middle of the field blocked out and wide open.”
MSU (5-4) found a third way to score in the opening quarter, as starting quarterback Tyler Russell hit junior receiver Chad Bumphis for a 78-yard touchdown pitch-and-catch. The scoring play was the second longest of the season.
Russell began the game 7-for-9 for 163 yards and a touchdown. He added just 20 more yards the rest of the night.
“Early on I had a lot of confidence to hit anybody,” Russell said. “When the second half came, stuff just wasn’t falling for me and I couldn’t turn around the momentum.”
With seven minutes left in the first half, Mullen handed the offense to senior Chris Relf. The first drive for the Gator Bowl’s MVP resulted in a 27-yard touchdown pass to Arceto Clark. Clark, a junior from Tupelo, went up into double coverage and ripped the football away from a defensive back. The touchdown that gave MSU a 28-3 advantage at halftime intermission, and was the first for Clark since the season opener at the University of Memphis.
Relf found Clark (four catches, 96 yards) again on a 19-yard touchdown reception.
MSU scored touchdowns on the only two drives Relf participated in behind center. He passed Omarr Conner for eighth in school history in career passing yards with 3,098. He also tied Tony Shell (1988-90) for fifth all-time in passing touchdowns with 25.
“We were fortunate Chris came in tonight and played awesome when we had the opportunity,” Russell said. “He was really efficient and played great leading the team down the field.”
MSU will play host to the University of Alabama, which lost to No. 1 LSU 9-6 in overtime Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Bulldogs have won only four of the 19 matchups against the Crimson Tide in Starkville.
“I have a good idea what Alabama is going to want to do and what their game plan will be about against us,” Mullen said with a wink as he left the podium.
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