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FANT NEARS TOP OF PASS LISTS AS CAREER CLOSES
Mississippi State senior Kevin Fant (Moss Point, Miss.) completed
9-of-19 passes for 90 yards against Arkansas in Week 11. Earlier this
year at Houston, he completed 24-of-42 passes (.571) for 360 yards and
three touchdowns. His completions, attempts, and yards were all career
highs. It was the fifth time in his career that he had thrown for three TDs
in one game. Against UH, he became the first MSU QB to throw for
more than 300 yards in four career games.
FANT IS 2ND ALL-TIME IN COMPLETIONS AND PASSING YARDS, 3RD IN TDS
His nine completions against Arkansas give him 447 for his career,
second on school's all-time passing list. Wayne Madkin leads that list
with 462 connections. With his passing yardage against the Razorbacks,
he now has 5,540 yards, the second-most ever on the school's yardage
list. He trails only
Wayne Madkin
(6,336; 1998-2001)
on the all-time chart.
He is third all-time at
the school in touch-
downs with 33.
Wayne Madkin
stands second (34;
1998-01). The 36
touchdowns Fant is
responsible for in his
career is sixth all-time at State, surpassing Rockey Felker (35; 1972-74).
Jackie Parker (39; 1952-53) ranks fifth. His 79 yards of total offense vs.
Arkansas have him fifth all-time with 5,340 yards for his career. Derrick
Taite (1993-96) is fourth with 5,405 yards. In addition, his current com-
pletion percentage (.533) would rank fourth on the all-time MSU list; his
current interception percentage (.0501) would rate eighth.
FANT REACHES SINGLE-SEASON TOP 5 IN TDS, COMPLETIONS & YARDAGE
With his 14 passing touchdowns this year, Fant already has made
State's single-season passing TDs list. Those 14 scoring aerials pass
Tony Shell (13; 1988) and tie Derrick Taite (14; 1994) for third in a single
campaign at the school. Fant's completions (172), attempts (323) and
yardage (2,060) already rank second, second and fourth, respectively on
the school's single-season passing charts.
MAWHINNEY NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SEC
Like Smith, senior inside linebacker T.J. Mawhinney (Madisonville,
La.) was named second-team, all-Southeastern Conference in a presea-
son vote of the league's media representatives. Mawhinney was credited
with nine tackles against Arkansas before being sidelined with a knee
injury. It was just the seventh time in 15 games (dating back to `02) that
he had not made at least 10 hits in a game. He had registered double-
digit tackle games in each of the first four `03 contests. Mawhinney had
15 tackles, including one tackle for loss (minus 1 yard), and caused one
fumble in the season opener vs. Oregon. The tackle total matched his
career high, a 15-tackle effort at Alabama in 2001.
MAWHINNEY NAMED TO BUTKUS AWARD WATCH LIST
Named to the initial watch list for the 2003 Butkus Award,
Mawhinney has finished second on the team in tackles for two straight
MSU IN THE SEC/NCAA STATS
(2003
PER
-
GAME AVERAGES
)
T
EAM
C
ATEGORY
R
ANK
(A
VG
./P
CT
./R
ATIO
)
Total Offense...................................................................................12th (332.4 ypg) [93]
Rushing Offense.......................................................................12th (120.3 ypg) [91]
Passing Offense ..........................................................................6th (212.1 ypg) [68]
Passing Eff. Offense....................................................................12th (107.3 rtg.) [95]
Total Defense ...............................................................................12th (483.9 ypg) [114]
Rushing Defense ...................................................................12th (198.5 ypg) [100]
Passing Defense.....................................................................11th (285.4 ypg) [111]
Passing Eff. Defense .................................................................12th (161.0 rtg.) [115]
Scoring Offense ...............................................................................11th (20.5 ppg) [90]
Scoring Defense............................................................................12th (40.0 ppg) [117]
Punting .......................................................................................11th (33.7 net avg.) [93]
Third Down Conversions ............................................................................12th (33.1%)
Fourth Down Conversions .........................................................................12th (37.5%)
Kickoff Returns.....................................................................................3rd (23.6 ypr) [15]
Punt Returns .........................................................................................7th (11.4 ypr) [33]
First Downs......................................................................................................12th (189 fd)
Penalties ......................................................................................................12th (75.0 ypg)
Turnover Margin.......................................................................12th (-1.91 tmpg) [117]
Time of Possession.........................................................................................11th (28:19)
Red Zone Offense...........................................................................................2nd (90.0%)
Red Zone Defense.........................................................................................10th (85.5%)
I
NDIVIDUAL
C
ATEGORY
R
ANK
(A
VG
./P
CT
.)
Rushing
Nick Turner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7th (59.1 ypg) [94]
Passing Average
Kevin Fant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7th (187.3 ypg)
Total Offense
Kevin Fant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10th (174.4 ypg) [71]
Receptions
Justin Jenkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd (5.45 rpg) [45]
Receiving Yardage
Justin Jenkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd (79.2 ypg) [43]
All-Purpose Yardage
Nick Turner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2nd (143.6 ypg) [18]
Kickoff Returns
Nick Turner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st (24.2 ypr) [34]
Fred Reid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4th (23.3 ypr) [51]
Punt Returns
Nick Turner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4th (11.6 ypr) [28]
Field Goals
Brent Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6th (0.73 fgpg) [t79]
Field Goal Percentage
Brent Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2nd (80.0%)
NCAA rankings
shown in brackets
TD S
TREAKIN
'...
· Kevin Fant set a new school record with
seven straight games with at least one
touchdown pass this season, a string that
ended at Auburn in Game 7...The streak
started with last season's final game at
Mississippi...The old record of six games
was held by three players - Rockey Felker,
Don Smith and Derrick Taite.
