2005 Mississippi State

3–⁠8 (1–⁠7 Southeastern Conference), coached by Sylvester Croom. Share

Schedule and results

Biggest winBeat Murray State 38–⁠6Sep 3
By 32 points, its widest win.

Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.

Date	Opponent	Result
Sep 3	vsMurray State	W 38–⁠6	71%
Sep 10	atAuburn	L 0–⁠28	16%
Sep 17	vsTulane	W 21–⁠14	42%
Sep 24	vs7Georgia	L 10–⁠23	24%
Oct 1	vs4LSU	L 7–⁠37	28%
Oct 8	at13Florida	L 9–⁠35	18%
Oct 22	vsHouston	L 16–⁠28	50%
Oct 29	atKentucky	L 7–⁠13	48%
Nov 5	vs4Alabama	L 0–⁠17	19%
Nov 19	atArkansas	L 10–⁠44	22%
Nov 26	vsOle Miss	W 35–⁠14	45%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Ole Miss 35–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 11th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 112th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

Record: 3–⁠8
Conference: 1–⁠7 tied for 11th in Southeastern Conference
AP final: Unranked
Points: 153–⁠259
Coach: Sylvester Croom
Elo: 1363 −39 this season
SP+ rating: -7.0 No. 87 of 118; offense No. 100, defense No. 45
SRS: −10.8 No. 98 of 119 in Division I-A
Recruiting class: No. 28

Offensive coordinator: Woody McCorvey
Defensive coordinator: Ellis Johnson
Offense: West Coast

How good, play by play

Offense107th of 119
Defense74th of 119

	EPA per play	Success	Explosiveness	FBS rank
Offense		-0.03	30%	1.14	107th of 119
Defense		0.09	39%	1.09	74th of 119

How these are measured

Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season.

Drives and havoc

	Points per trip inside the 40	Average start	Havoc
Offense		0.0	own 29	3% allowed
Defense		-0.5	own 31	5% caused

A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. From CollegeFootballData.com.

Top recruits in the 2005 class

Derek Pegues CB	★★★★★	No. 35
Louis Ellis DT	★★★★	No. 123
Calvin Wilson OT	★★★★	No. 123
Craig Jenkins OG	★★★	No. 829
Tray Rutland DUAL	★★★	No. 829

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2005 class by position

	Signed	Stars	Rating
Quarterbacks	1	3.0	0.811
Running backs	1	2.0	0.722
Receivers	3	2.3	0.767
Offensive line	6	2.8	0.804
Defensive line	2	3.0	0.822
Linebackers	1	2.0	0.767
Defensive backs	1	5.0	0.985
Athletes and specialists	1	2.0	0.722
Whole class	16	2.7	0.798

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

Drafted in 2006

The 2006 draft

Rd 3

Jerious Norwood RB

Atlanta Falcons

All-SEC

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

Willie EvansDEAP-1; Coaches-1

Second team

Jerious NorwoodRBAP-2; Coaches-2

From Wikipedia’s 2005 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2005 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page

Team	Conf.	Overall	AP final
LSU	7–⁠1	11–⁠2	6
Auburn	7–⁠1	9–⁠3	14
Alabama	6–⁠2	10–⁠2	8
Georgia	6–⁠2	10–⁠3	10
Florida	5–⁠3	9–⁠3	12
South Carolina	5–⁠3	7–⁠5
Vanderbilt	3–⁠5	5–⁠6
Tennessee	3–⁠5	5–⁠6
Arkansas	2–⁠6	4–⁠7
Kentucky	2–⁠6	3–⁠8
Mississippi State	1–⁠7	3–⁠8
Ole Miss	1–⁠7	3–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.