On Saturday afternoon history will be made at Floyd Stadium when Mississippi State comes to face the Blue Raiders.
The Bulldogs are the first team from the Southeastern Conference to play the MTSU football team in Murfreesboro.
“I think the SEC is the best conference in America,” MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill stated in Tuesday’s press conference.
Both teams will be looking to bounce back from losses last week. MTSU fell at Troy 31-7 on Oct. 6, while the Bulldogs lost to Houston 31-24.
“We are a confident team,” Stockstill said. “We did not play well at Troy. Defensively, we played well at times. Offensively we did not. Dwight (Dasher) got a lot of the blame, which is natural at the quarterback position. There was no one on offense who played well last week. We have to get better and I have no doubt that we will correct the mistakes we made.”

The Bulldogs come into the contest ranked 10th in the nation in rushing averaging 225.83 per game. One of those reasons is senior Anthony Dixon, who only needs 49 yards to break MSU’s career rushing leader.
An example of his greatness came in last week’s loss; Dixon broke off a 50-yard touchdown run that included carrying three Houston defenders on his back for the final 20 yards. (Check out that amazing run by clicking here.)
That play was selected as the Top Play of the weekend on ESPN Sportscenter.
“It is a big issue with Mississippi State,” senior defensive tackle Brandon Perry said. “They are big on running the football and do it extremely well. Dixon will be a tough guy to stop so we will have to play assignment football.”
Last year, MTSU fell 31-22 in Starkville. In that win, the Bulldogs rushed for four touchdowns in a game for the first time since 2001. Dixon scored three times including a 62-yarder in the first quarter. He finished the day with 126 yards on the ground.
Saturday’s game will be the first one at Floyd Stadium since MTSU’s 31-14 win against Memphis on Sept. 12.
Perry is excited about being back.
“It is like going home and seeing your family. We have all our people here. It will be good to be back playing in our house because it has been awhile.”
The game was originally scheduled to be played at 3 p.m., but a week ago ESPN changed the kickoff to 11:30 p.m. due to their new television contract with the SEC. The game will be shown on ESPNU.
Stockstill hopes for a sellout, but fall break for the students takes place this weekend. The largest crowd to see the Blue Raiders at Floyd Stadium came in the last home game against Memphis (28,105). The stadium can hold 30,788.
The Blue Raiders might be without two of their wide receivers, Patrick Honeycutt and Malcolm Beyah. Stockstill said Beyah is doubtful because of injury.
Honeycutt might be a different story.
According to a Murfreesboro police report, Honeycutt and fellow teammate Nick Coleman were arrested and charged for giving alcohol to minors early Sunday morning.
The Murfreesboro police officer “responded to the dead end of Destiny Ct. for a report of a noise complaint. While in route to the call (Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office called MPD for assistance due to them hearing gun shots being fired on Destiny’s Ct.) Upon arrival I made contact with a very large party at 1402 Destiny Ct.
The report further stated, “Several subjects advised the shooter had left the scene.” Along with the homeowners, five other subjects under the age of 21 were found to have consumed alcohol at Mr. Honeycutt’s and Mr. Coleman’s home.
Both Honeycutt and Coleman are 22 years old.
Another teammate, Gorby Loreus, was one of the underage who consumed alcohol.
“I do not condone anything they did. They are good people. They were not involved with the gun shooting that was reported. It had nothing to do with anyone that was on this football team or anyone else in any other sports. So I do not want people to draw the conclusion that they are bad guys. The gun incident was somewhere else. It was not there,” Stockstill said, but continued. “What they did was wrong. They are not allowed to drink until age 21. Gorby was underage. Patrick and Nick are not allowed to furnish alcohol to someone who is not 21. They were wrong. They broke the law and will be disciplined in-house. I do not want people to draw the conclusion that something happened that did not happen. One guy got arrested for drinking under age and the other two got arrested for furnishing alcohol to minors. They are all good men and I wish we had more like them. They made a mistake and we will deal with it internally.”
Stockstill added he told the three players their punishment, but did not release it to the media during the press conference.