Peter
Hockaday
(20-16)
. % , ^nnp 4 m
Adam
Jude
(21-15)
mmL -.mm
Hank
Hager
(19-17)
Jesse
Thomas
(19-17)
:W
Mindi
Rice
(22-14)
Michael
Kleckner
(16-20)
the editor-in-chief and one designer) choose teams against the Las Vegas spread, meaning that if the picker
(pat team would have to beat the spread — win by more points than the spread — for the picker to ‘win’ the pick.
(Spread in parentheses next to favored team)
Washington
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
use
Arizona St.
California
California
Ohio State
Ohio State
Texas Tech
Texas
Oregon Oregon Oregon
Oregon State (IS) @ Stanford
Stanford
Stanford
Stanford
Arizona State <® USC (14)
use USC
Stanford
Arizona St. Arizona St.
Arizona
Arizona <® California (16.5)
California California California
Ohio State (9) @ Illinois
Ohio State Ohio State Ohio State
Texas (5.5)<@ Texas lech
Texas Tech ^ Texas Tech ; S S Texas Tech Texas Tech
llinois
Washington Washington
Stanford
California
Ohio State
Texas
Mississippi State coach won’t resign post
Jim Mashek
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
BILOXI, Miss. — The losses are
mounting, and the critics are grow
ing, but Mississippi State coach Jack
ie Sherrill said Tuesday his resolve is
as strong as it’s ever been in his 36
year career.
Sherrill, 58, addressed his job secu
rity during his usual Tuesday after
noon press conference at the Bryan
Building on the MSU campus. He also
was given a vote of confidence by
State’s longtime athletics director, Lar
ry Templeton.
Templeton and former MSU presi
dent Donald Zacharias brought Sher
rill to Mississippi State after the 1990
football season. Sherrill has the longest
tenure of any coach in the Southeast
ern Conference.
Sherrill’s squad faces Tennessee on
Saturday at MSlFs Scott Field, the
first meeting between the schools
since the 1998 SEC championship
game in Atlanta. This game, however,
is being played under much different
circumstances.
Tennessee, a familiar team in the
Top 10, is 5-4 overall and 2-3 in SEC
play. State, which finished in the fi
nal Associated Press poll in both the
1999 and 2000 seasons, has become
the last-place team in the SEC West.
The Bulldogs have lost 13 of their last
15 SEC games, as well as 14 of their
last 20 overall. They’re also facing
NCAA scrutiny, for the first time
since the squad was hit with light
sanctions in 1996.
State (3-6 overall, 0-5 in the SEC)
has been outscored 180-71 in league
games this season.
But Sherrill sees brighter times
ahead for the Bulldogs, with him on the
sideline'toboot.
“You can go either one of two ways,”
Sherrill said. “It can either wear you
down, or you can become more excit
ed about it. I’m the kind of guy that
when the daylight goes out, 111 turn the
lights on to make sure we keep playing
until I win.”
The Bulldogs had won just three
SEC games in the previous four sea
sons before Sherrill’s arrival in 1991.
State went 7-5 and played in bowl
games in each of his first two seasons,
and posted an 8-4 record in 1994. After
two lean years, State went 7-4 in 1997,
but did not play in a bowl game, fol
lowed by the ‘98 squad that represent
ed the SEC West in the league champi
onship game.
State lost that game to eventual na
tional champion Tennessee.
In 1999, Sherrill led MSU to its first
10-win season since World War II, and
the Bulldogs won their first bowl game
since 1980. The next year, State
knocked off nationally-ranked Florida
and Auburn in successive weeks be
fore slumping late in the season. State
finished 8-4 after outlasting Texas
A&M 43-41 in the Independence Bowl.
Since then, the Bulldogs have gone
due south, but Templeton seems con
vinced Sherrill is the man to lead State
back to prosperity.
“We always evaluate our coaches af
ter the season,” Templeton told The
Associated Press on Tuesday. “I don’t
have any reason to believe we should
be thinking about changing coaches. ”
Sherrill’s record at State is 73-62-2,
including a 42-49-1 mark in the SEC.
“Jackie Sherrill didn’t become the
winningest coach in Mississippi State
history without knowing what to do to
fix it,” Templeton said. “He has our
support that we’re going to get it fixed.”
Support from influential State alum
ni, including the Bulldog Club, might
be another story. Sherrill has three
years left on his contract and is one of
the lowest-paid coaches in the SEC.
Including perks, Sherrill’s annual con
tract is worth about $700,000.
It’s been a disastrous 2002 season
for the Bulldogs, as starting quarter
back Kevin Fant was suspended by the
NCAA for State’s opening game at Ore
gon. Freshman tailback Nick Turner, a
key part of a celebrated recruiting
class, was arrested last month for pos
session of counterfeit money, and
NCAA investigators have interviewed
MSU athletes on the Starkville campus
on at least two separate occasions
since August.
© 2002, The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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