MEMPHIS - It wasn't pretty by any means. But then again, Mississippi State wasn't looking for style points.
And not many of the other kind of points for that matter, either.
In front of a record crowd of 63,816 on Saturday afternoon, Anthony Dixon scored from the 1 with 1:54 left to give the Bulldogs a 10-3 victory.
It was the lone offensive highlight of the day for either team.
MEMPHIS - With 12:31 left in the fourth quarter, Michael Torres missed a 37-yard field goal to the left that would have given Central Florida a 6-3 advantage.
However, the score remains 3-3.
It was the second miss of the day for the UCF placekicker. In the second quarter, he misfired on a 32-yard field goal to the right. Entering the game, he had made 16-straight kicks and was 19 of 21 overall.
I guess he picked a bad day to be off his game. Hey, that's baseball!
MEMPHIS - Today's attendance is 63,816, a Liberty Bowl record. The previous mark was the 1991 showdown between Air Force and Mississippi State, where 61,497 fans entere the turnstiles.
MEMPHIS - Sorry, the internet has been down for nearly two quarters, but we're now up and running.
And with 53 seconds to play in the third quarter, it's 3-3.
MEMPHIS - Finally, points are on the board.
With 11:49 remaining in the first half, Michael Torres drained a 45-yard field goal to give Central Florida a 3-0 lead.
The Knights opened their drive at the MSU 46 and moved to the 28 in four plays before stalling out on an incomplete pass by Kyle Israel on fourth-and-7.
MEMPHIS - Pundits predicted a high-scoring affair in the Liberty Bowl.
But after one quarter, neither Central Florida or Mississippi State have come close to scoring.
MEMPHIS - Five plays and punt.
That describes the opening drives for both Mississippi State and Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl.
Each team collected one first down, but that's it. Let's see if they can do better on their second possessions.
MEMPHIS - No. No. Elvis is not in the building. But the Missisippi State and Central Florida players have arrived.
Hope you are ready for some football, because fans here at the 49th annual Liberty Bowl certainly are. For further proof, just look at the ticket sales.
Bowl officials are expecting a crowd in excess of 62,000, which would be a record. Ironically, the 1991 matchup between Air Force and Mississippi State is the highest attended - 61,497. For this game, the MSU ticket office processed 33,800 ticket orders.
As for uniforms, the Bulldogs are in all maroon, while the Knights are in white pants and gold jerseys. And if Elvis were here, he'd be in all black I'm sure.
Anyway, here's what you should expect today . . .
* UCF junior running back Kevin Smith is just 180 yards shy of Barry Sanders' single-season rushing mark of 2,628.
* MSU sophomore running back Anthony Dixon needs 20 yards to reach 1,000 on the year. Only six backs in school history have accomplished the feat. Jerious Norwood of the Atlanta Falcons was the most recent in 2004.
* While most of the attention has been centered on the running backs, the game may come down to the play of the quarterbacks, Wesley Carroll for MSU and Kyle Israel.
* MSU and UCF have one commont opponent in UAB. The Bulldogs topped the Blazers 30-13 in Starkville, while the Knights rolled to a 45-31 win in Birmingham.
