Mississippi State – Memphis Flyer

(AP) – Sylvester Croom and Mississippi State capped a turnaround season built on defense with one of their stingiest efforts.

Anthony Dixon scored on a 1-yard run with 1:54 remaining, Derek Pegues had two interceptions and Mississippi State kept Central Florida’s Kevin Smith from breaking the single-season rushing record in a 10-3 victory at the Liberty Bowl on Saturday.

In a game featuring anemic offenses and 17 punts, the Bulldogs (8-5) kept Central Florida (10-4) out of the end zone and held Smith to 119 yards. The junior finished 61 yards shy of Barry Sanders’ single-season record of 2,628 yards set for Oklahoma State in 1988.

It was the lowest scoring Liberty Bowl since Penn State beat Tulane 9-6 in 1979.

Dixon finished with 86 yards and won the game with a 1-yard dive after Kyle Israel threw his third interception.

The Bulldogs held the Knights to 219 yards and forced four turnovers.

It was the kind of game Croom, in his fourth season, and the Bulldogs have played all year as they resurrected a lifeless program that hadn’t won more than three games in six seasons.

As the Bulldogs did in big wins over Auburn, Kentucky, and Alabama this season, they concentrated on the running game – both on offense and defense. Smith found the going difficult in the second half and finished with an average of 3.4 yards per carry after rushing for 188.3 yards per game during the regular season.

Croom, the Southeastern Conference coach of the year, countered the Knights’ running game with Dixon, a sophomore power runner who finished with 1,066 yards. But like the rest of the Bulldogs’ offense, he wasn’t much of a factor in the first half.

Most valuable player Pegues gave Mississippi State two excellent opportunities with interceptions in the first 30 minutes, returning the ball to Central Florida’s 6 and 38. The safety’s first pick set up a 22-yard field goal by Adam Carlson in the second quarter.

The teams were tied 3-3 at halftime, mostly due to conservative play-calling and poor play from the quarterbacks.

Passes were rarely aimed more than 5 yards downfield, and when they were thrown deep they were dropped or picked off.

Neither team converted a third down in the first half (0 for 16) as Mississippi State was held to 84 total yards and Central Florida to 79.

Israel had 12 yards passing and two interceptions by halftime and Mississippi State’s Wes Carroll had 15 yards and an interception. UCF also didn’t get much help from kicker Michael Torres , who gave the Knights a 3-0 lead in the second quarter with a 45-yard field goal, but missed from 32 and 37 in the second half.

Mississippi State finished with 199 total yards and Blake McAdams tied the Liberty Bowl record with 11 for MSU. But the Bulldogs came up with just enough big plays after Keith Fitzhugh picked off Israel’s pass at Mississippi State 41 with 5:47 left.

Carroll, pulled the series before because of poor play, returned and responded with two rushes for 17 yards and two completions for 15 yards. All went were first downs and spurred a 10-play, 59-yard drive that consumed 3:53 and finally led to a touchdown.

AP – Houston Nutt wasn’t out of a job for long: He was hired as Southeastern Conference rival Mississippi’s football coach just hours after resigning at Arkansas.

Nutt agreed to a contract late Monday night, and replaces Ed Orgeron, who was fired Saturday after the Rebels lost to rival Mississippi State to finish 3-9 and winless in the SEC.

The school announced the hiring through a three-paragraph e-mail Tuesday sent out by athletic director Pete Boone. The school said a news conference will be held Wednesday in Oxford. No contract details were made available.

Ole Miss was searching for a proven winner after years of mediocrity. Nutt neatly fits the description.

He is 111-70 in 15 years as a head coach at Arkansas, Boise State and Murray State. And he’s been a winner in the SEC. The Little Rock, Ark., native rebuilt the Arkansas program, going 75-48 since his hiring in 1997 to replace Danny Ford. He was 42-38 in conference with one of his biggest wins coming last week when the Razorbacks beat then-No. 1 LSU 50-48 triple-overtime win.

While Arkansas is likely headed to the Cotton Bowl, Nutt will be going to the homes of recruits attempting to hold together the promising class Orgeron was assembling.

Nutt, 50, said Monday he left Arkansas to help mend a split among fans after off-the-field problems were compounded by a difficult season. The Razorbacks started the year ranked and were expected to contend for the SEC West title against the Tigers.

Arkansas lost its first three SEC games and dropped out of the poll in September, fueling fan discontent over last year’s transfer of quarterback Mitch Mustain and the loss of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who left for Tulsa.

A call to Nutt’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, was not immediately returned.

Nutt takes over a program that has foundered since a 10-win season in 2003 under David Cutcliffe. The Rebels won a share of the SEC West that season with Eli Manning at quarterback.

Since then Ole Miss has had four or fewer wins in four seasons. Boone fired Cutcliffe in 2004 for a lack of effort in recruiting. He had hoped Orgeron, who helped build two national title teams at USC as Pete Carroll’s recruiting coordinator, would bring the kind of energy needed to compete in the nation’s best football conference.

Orgeron finished 10-25 and was routinely the target of fan discontent.

Boone and Chancellor Robert Khayat endorsed Orgeron midway through the season, but decided to go in a new direction after the Rebels lost five of six to end the year.