The Quad: The Quad Countdown: No. 49 Mississippi State

nytimes.com     Jul 11, 2008            

Tags: football, mississippi state After three difficult years, Sylvester Croom got several celebratory Gatorade showers in 2007 while leading Mississippi State to a bowl game. (Jim Lytle/Associated Press) Quick facts: It took Mississippi State Coach Sylvester Croom three years – three long, arduous years – to lead the Bulldogs back into bowl play, rarified air for a program that had been down. When Croom took the M.S.U. job in 2004, he inherited a program crippled under the weight of multiple N.C.A.A. sanctions and its own futility: nine wins over his first three years and 17 for the program as a whole over the previous six. Despite recent history, Croom and Mississippi State busted out in 2007, upsetting Auburn and Alabama and beating rival Mississippi in the Egg Bowl en route to an 8-5 season. It is a validation of his hard... [read full story]                    


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