Saturday, October 16, 2010

Mississippi State Upsets No. 22 Florida, 10-7

Mississippi State ran early, ran late and ended up running out of the Swamp with a signature win for second-year coach Dan Mullen.
Vick Ballard ran for 98 yards, Chris Relf added 82 and a touchdown on the ground and the Bulldogs upset No. 22 Florida 10-7 on Saturday night.
Mississippi State (5-2, 2-2 SEC) controlled the clock, dictated the tempo and kept Florida's mostly inept offense on the sideline.
The Gators (4-3, 2-3) lost consecutive home games for the first time since 2003 and dropped three in a row for the first time since the Steve Spurrier era. Yep, coach Urban Meyer has accomplished something that even former coach Ron Zook never did.
The Bulldogs, whose victory over Florida in 2004 led to Zook's firing, won in Gainesville for the first time since 1965. They snapped a 16-game losing streak at the Swamp and left 90,000-plus wondering what happened to a program that won two of the last four national championships.
"We're not very good right now," Meyer said.
Florida had a final drive to tie or take the lead, but Chas Henry missed a 42-yard field goal with 4 seconds remaining. The Gators started at the 4-yard line with 2 minutes remaining and converted a fourth-down play to keep the drive alive.
But John Brantley threw a pass out of bounds to avoid a sack on third down, leaving the Gators with little chance but to try the field goal - a long shot for a punter who is handling field goals because of a back injury to place-kicker Caleb Sturgis.
Henry's kick missed way right, setting off a raucous celebration on Mississippi State's sideline. Players and coaches stayed on the field to sing the fight song with helmets and hands toward the sky.

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