Bulldog Bits

Football

Randy Thomas, former Mississippi State All-American offensive guard who was a catalyst for the 1998 Southeastern Conference Western Division championship squad, has been selected to the 2016 SEC Legends Class, the league office announced Tuesday.

Thomas and the other 13 members of the class will be honored at the 2016 SEC Football “Weekend of Champions” Dec. 2-3 in Atlanta, Ga. The annual SEC Legends Dinner presented by AT&T will be held Dec. 2 at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta and the group will also be recognized prior to the SEC Football Championship Game, which will be held at the Georgia Dome on Dec. 3.

Thomas was a two-year starter for the Bulldogs from 1997-98. Although he didn’t start playing football until the 10th grade, he started all 24 games of his career at MSU while earning second-team All-America honors by the Sporting News and second-team All-SEC accolades by the Associated Press as a senior.

Thomas was selected in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the New York Jets, becoming the highest drafted MSU offensive lineman since 1976 at the time. Thomas played 11 NFL seasons, starting 143 games from 1999-2009 that included stints with the Jets and Washington Redskins.

Soccer

Following a dominating performance last Friday night, the Mississippi State soccer team (6-6-0, 1-4-0 SEC) eyes an upset of No. 4 South Carolina (11-0-1, 5-0-0 SEC) as the unbeaten Gamecocks visit the MSU Soccer Field for a clash tonight at 7 p.m.

The No. 4 ranking for USC is the highest for any opponent MSU has faced since No. 1 North Carolina on Sept. 12, 2004. MSU’s highest ranked win in program history came against No. 6 Florida on Oct. 24, 2003 as the Bulldogs shocked the Gators, 1-0.

“Our team has a great opportunity to face one of the best team’s in the nation,” MSU head coach Aaron Gordon said. “It’s a rare occasion you get to host an unbeaten, top-5 opponent and I think our team is excited for the opportunity they will have against South Carolina. We’ve had a great week of preparation and we can’t wait to get out on the field.”

The Bulldogs earned their first conference win last time out as MSU shutout visiting Alabama, 1-0. The victory was propelled by a Johanna Hamblett score just 36 seconds into the second half of last Friday night’s game. The win marked the first time since 2004-05 that State has defeated Alabama in back-to-back seasons.

The Gamecocks come into today’s match up riding an 11-game winning streak as South Carolina has earned an 11-0-1 mark this year. The lone draw for the Gamecocks came in its season-opener against Oklahoma, as the two squads tied 1-1 in Norman, Okla. They have been led by one of the nation’s premier scorers this season with junior Savannah McCaskill leading the South Carolina attack. The forward ranks third nationally in goals scored (11) and fourth in points per game (2.33) while leading the SEC in both categories by a wide margin.

The Gamecocks have allowed an average of 5.75 shots per game this season, while only being outshot in one contest. In their last three SEC outings, South Carolina has given up four, two and three shots respectively.

After today, MSU battles its second-ranked opponent of the weekend as the Bulldogs travel to Auburn on Sunday for a showdown against the 18th-ranked Tigers at 2 p.m.

Women’s Tennis

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – By posting two more impressive victories in qualifying play Wednesday, the Mississippi State women’s tennis duo of Jasmine Lee and Lisa Marie Rioux have advanced to the main draw at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships and will begin play in that draw today.

The senior Lee and freshman Rioux started the day by upsetting Florida’s 37th-ranked Anna Danilina and Spencer Liang 8-6 to advance to the final round of the qualifying draw. Needing one more win to advance to the main draw, the Bulldog duo battled through six ties to finally defeat Texas A&M’s Rutuja Bhosale and Rachel Pierson, also in an 8-6 decision.

The Bulldog duo, which has only been competing together for two tournaments, has started the year 6-0 together, with three top 60 national wins to their credit including an upset of the top seed in qualifying this week.

State’s All-American Lee, ranked eighth nationally, was already entered into the tournament’s main draw in singles, which also begins today. Lee was an NCAA quarterfinalist last spring and won the consolation singles title at the All-American last fall.

Live video of main draw matches at the Riviera/ITA All-American starting today will be available at FloTennis.com.