(); : Antwoine You could be forgiven if you passed through the tiny town of Itta Bena, Miss., without even knowing you were there. Rice had nine catches for 155 yards, including a memorable 64-yard touchdown catch-and-run on the last play of the second half, and by chance, Niners coach Bill Walsh happened to be watching from a hotel across the state in New Orleans the night before San Francisco was set to play the Saints. "When we first started that offense and at the time we were going three times a day;they didn't have the rules like they've got the rules now the practices were so long and so intense that it was the first time I ever had total body cramps, because of just being exhausted running that offense. Mississippi State --> Tennessee Malik Sanders: Defensive Back: Mississippi State Brandon Pierre: Linebacker: Ole Miss Taures Payne: Defensive End: Houston Jacob Free: Quarterback: Troy Lavante Epson Jr. Added Rice: "That was going to be the speed of play during the actual football game, so you had to condition yourself a certain way, and we did that during training camp. This article about a sports team in Mississippi is a stub. "That was the first time I ever in my life had complete, total body cramps," Totten said of training camp before the '84 season. I always had that doubt that, 'Maybe I won't get picked.' "They just dropped eight, and that was something that we weren't accustomed to. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. In that game, Rice caught 17 passes for 294 yards, breaking the single-game receiving record he'd set the season before against Southern. Williams, Ty'Jarian Offensive Guard: Florida Atlantic Monterio Hunt: Wide Receiver: Rutgers Jerrick Reed II: Defensive Back: New Mexico Devonte Lloyd 1984-85 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils Women's Roster and Stats Previous Season Next Season Record: 9-18 ( SWAC WBB ) Coach: Jessie Harris Mississippi Valley State (Women's) School History Roster & Stats Polls, Schedule & Results An ad blocker has likely prevented this video content from loading. Do you have a blog? View Full Bio, Javier 1 in Division I-AA and averaging 64 points a game, fell behind by 28-7, but scored 21 straight points in the third quarter and early in the fourth on quick drives. Without question, winning the SWAC was Valley's goal that season. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. (And if you can't), then you take a three-point stance and say, 'Our Father, who art in heaven .'". The game wasn't without its share of controversy, as Cooley, to this day, accuses Tech of sending a scout posing as a newspaper reporter to watch Mississippi Valley's preparations, and there's a thought by Valley fans that the referees allowed Tech to play too physically on defense, making it tough for Totten's receivers to get open. Football Mississippi Valley State entered the game ranked fifth in the nation thanks to its high-octane offense. You have to develop that chemistry, and I think with Willie Totten, I knew exactly what he was thinking at all times, when he was going to release the football, when I had one-on-one coverage, I knew he was coming my direction.". Other times, Cooley would call for a triple-stack, with one guy in the slot, occasionally putting someone in the backfield with Totten. In what was known then as Division I-AA, the Valley's Cinderella season didn't end with a celebration, such as BYU's at the I-A level. 2023 Football Roster - Mississippi Valley State University Athletics Mississippi Valley State University Athletics THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS Main Navigation Menu Sports Delta Devils Baseball Basketball Cross Country Football Tennis Track and Field Devilettes Basketball Cross Country Soccer Softball Tennis Similarly, legendary Alcorn State coach Marino "The Godfather" Casem knew better than to underestimate what his former pupil Cooley was Casem's defensive coordinator in the early '70s was doing at Mississippi Valley. Lacy, Clarence So Coach Cooley really got people looking but never got the credit for being inventive or courageous enough to run that kind of offense.". 2021 Mississippi Valley State Football Schedule | FBSchedules.com Mississippi Valley State Football Schedule OVERALL 4-7 SWAC 3-5 STREAK W2 By purchasing tickets using the. Through seven games of the '84 season, Rice wasn't just the best player on the field, but perhaps the best receiver in football, his name suddenly being thrown into conversations about more prominent wideouts like Al Toon, Eddie Brown and Jessie Hester. His NCAA record for total career touchdown receptions stood until October 7, 2006, when University of New Hampshire wide receiver David Ball, recorded his 51st career receiving touchdown.[16]. "It doesn't bother me at all," Cooley says, "simply because I'm a person who did what I did, I appreciate the Lord giving me the intelligence to do it, and we did great things with it. Now 75, he's just happy to have had the opportunity to be along for the ride as the Delta Devils brought a little excitement and a lot of attention to Itta Bena. King but is mostly the type of one-stoplight burg that doesn't beg to be noticed. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Rice was named to every 1984 College Football All-America Team, including the Associated Press squad, and finished ninth in Heisman Trophy balloting. "It was a lot of fun because it was to the point where I wondered what they were going to play against the offense," Cooley said. "No one was doing the no-huddle I think the only ones doing that was Portland State with Mouse Davis and Neil Lomax," Totten said. "I knew then, if we could play against Jackson State, with one of the greatest coaches I've ever coached against (W.C. Gorden), who won eight SWAC championships in the '80s if we could score that easily on Jackson, then everyone else was going to be soup. All rights reserved. "Now you look at it, and everybody is running the spread, everybody is running the no-huddle, even in the NFL," added Totten. Brunson. The selection was a dream come true for Rice, long before he turned out to be a dream come true for the Niners. He didn't mind working, and Totten didn't mind either. Defense never was MSVU's strong suit, for all the points it scored, so the Braves jumped out to a 28-7 halftime lead. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Against Prairie View A&M, the floodgates opened for everyone, with Totten throwing for 599 yards and eight touchdowns, as Rice caught 10 passes for 198 yards and another five scores. The 1984 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils team represented the Mississippi Valley State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1984 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Davis, Chris Cooley and them started that at Mississippi Valley State.' All rights reserved. ); : vs. Bethune-Cookman. So my offensive mind grew tremendously simply because I took a lot of pride in doing what I was doing.". We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Regular Season. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Do you have a sports website? He made his announcement via Twitter. Use of this website (including any and all parts and components) constitutes your acceptance of these. When we used to travel on the bus, we'd stop at the roadside park and when we'd get off the bus, we'd be throwing the ball to each other. Of course, in order to outwork the other team, that meant Mississippi Valley State had to be in better shape. "I believe everything starts with hard work, the time that you put in, the chemistry is going to develop if you're around that person and you work hard," Rice said. "They did a little bit of that back then, but they didn't take it to the extreme like we did. Jerry Rice and Deacon Jones, considered two of the greatest American football players of all time, spent their college days playing . I remember us watching a game I was a Steelers fan, and I think he was a Steelers fan at the time and watching Lynn Swann, watching John Stallworth, and I don't think he ever dreamed that he would be with those guys, and talked about in the same breath as those guys.". THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS, Copyright 2023 Mississippi Valley State University. "We didn't worry about all the attention that was coming," Rice told FOX Sports of the '84 MVSU team, which went 9-2 and averaged 640 yards and nearly 61 points per game in the regular season. Fortunately for Rice, that playoff loss was really the beginning, and that game, more than anything, put him on the San Francisco 49ers' radar. Nicknamed "Gunslinger" in the early '80s by legendary sportswriter Roscoe Nance because of the JCPenney cowboy hat that was permanently fixed atop his head, Cooley developed the early renderings of what would become his "Satellite Express" offense during his days as a defensive coach, using plays he assembled when he ran the scout team at Tennessee State. ", The defeat was even tougher on Rice, who finished the 1984 season with 112 catches for 1,845 yards and 27 touchdowns. Roster includes most starters and key reserves. "Just a kid from Hawaii," Claytor wrote, "with that being said I'm locked in." Success was predictably hard to come by early on, as Cooley's players struggled to adjust to such a radical shift in the team's offensive approach and the Delta Devils went 4-4-1 in Cooley's first year. ", Said Totten, who went on to a CFL career and played briefly in the NFL as a replacement player for the 1987 Bills: "We'd sit around the dorm laughing, talking about it getting to the NFL, playing in the NFL but I don't think he ever dreamed he'd be the best receiver to ever play the game. Schedule [ edit] [1] Roster [ edit] References [ edit] ^ College Football @ Sports-Reference.com. "Every year that I spent at Mississippi Valley State was special to me, but I think that '84 showed that we had come together as a team and we felt really comfortable with Archie and what he was trying to do as a football team on the field," Rice said. Football Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils Men's, More 1984-85 Mississippi Valley State (Men's) Pages, College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. -- Thirty years ago, Mississippi Valley State was at the center of college football. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? You want me to use your people?' Find out more. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Magee, Gregory Kendall, Von This page is not available in other languages. It would certainly be easy to attribute those gaudy stats to the style of offense Cooley was running, and you wouldn't be out of line in doing so. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. We were just trying to do what this crazy coach came up with, execute it and make it work.". Los Angeles, California: Junipero Serra HS: Portland State All rights reserved. Join our linker program. But there was also something to be said for the connection between Rice who'd picked up the nickname "World" for his ability to catch anything near him and Totten, a bond that was formed on the football field but stretched far beyond it. For Cooley, though, the lack of recognition isn't an issue. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Do you have a blog? You've got 50 points, why don't you lay off me?'"
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