Dixon, Mississippi State upend No. 14 Kentucky

NCAA Football Betting Lines

10/27/2007 - Lexington, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Dixon ran for a touchdown and caught another, leading Mississippi State to a surprising 31-14 victory over 14th- ranked Kentucky.

Dixon galloped for 75 yards and caught a short touchdown pass for the Bulldogs (5-4, 2-3 SEC), who entered play Saturday on a two-game slide following a 38-13 pounding at the hands of West Virginia.

Wesley Carroll managed the game at quarterback, completing 17-of-28 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Eight different Bulldog receivers hauled in passes with Christian Ducre leading the way with five catches for 30 yards. Ducre also ran for a team-high 119 yards in the victory.

The running back's 34-yard TD scamper with 8:15 left in the fourth gave the Bulldogs a 31-14 lead.

Andre' Woodson threw for 230 yards on 24-of-42 passing with two touchdowns and three interceptions for Kentucky, which has dropped three of four since a 5-0 start. Its only win in that time was a triple overtime victory over then-No.1 LSU.

Steve Johnson caught a pair of touchdown passes for the Wildcats (6-3, 2-3) in defeat.

The Bulldogs took their opening drive 70 yards for an early touchdown. Carroll's 15-yard toss to Eric Butler was one of three third-down conversions on the 14-play march that ended with Carroll's 11-yard scoring strike to Jason Husband.

Kentucky answered right back with the ball in the hands of its star quarterback Woodson. After three consecutive Derrick Locke runs and an incompletion, Woodson threw a 31-yard pass to Dicky Lyons down to the Mississippi State 30-yard line. Woodson finished off the touchdown march with an 18-yard completion to Johnson.

Mississippi State continued its offensive onslaught on the next series, marching 80 yards for another score. The methodical drive included several key pass plays, including a 12-yard strike to Eric Hoskins, putting the football at the Wildcats 24-yard line. The Bulldogs punched it into the end zone via the air attack from in close, as Carroll lobbed a one-yard touchdown to Dixon.

The Wildcats marched towards a tie late in the half, a drive aided by a questionable personal foul penalty as Woodson lunged for a first down near the right sideline. However, Lones Seiber misfired wide right from 34 yards away to keep the deficit at 14-7.

Kentucky then coughed up the opening kickoff of the second half, and not even halfway through the third quarter, coughed the ball up again.

Alfonso Smith fumbled the kickoff and the Bulldogs recovered at the Wildcats 32-yard line. Ducre scampered for 11 yards and Carroll found Aubrey Bell for 12 yards to set up Adam Carlson's 31-yard field goal.

Woodson and his offense went three and out on the next series, and a punt miscue again gave Mississippi State excellent field position. Tim Masthay fumbled off a high long snap and K.J. Wright fell on the football at the Wildcats 26-yard line.

Carroll found a wide open Hubbard in the middle of the field for 22 yards on 3rd-and-11, and several plays later, Dixon ran off right tackle and jumped into the end zone from one yard away for the 24-7 advantage.

Desperate for a spark, the Wildcats forced the issue on 4th-and-8 from the Bulldogs 37-yard line, and Woodson tossed a pass that Johnson plucked out of midair for an acrobatic scoring strike and a 24-14 game.

The Wildcats turned the ball over on three of their next five drives, with one punt and the other ending on downs.

Game Notes

Kentucky had outscored its opponents 181-97 in the second half this season...Kentucky still leads the all-time series 20-15...The Bulldogs exacted revenge for last season's 34-31 setback to the Wildcats...Mississippi State rushed for only 45 yards in last week's loss, but scampered for 200 yards in this victory...Mississippi State has next weekend off before hosting Alabama on November 10...Kentucky also has a week off before traveling to Nashville to play Vanderbilt.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.