The Mississippi State University football team remembers the legacy of Jack Cristil while preparing to maintain its winning streak in the upcoming matchup with the University of South Alabama Jaguars.
MSU Head Coach Dan Mullen sent condolences to Cristil’s family .
“Let me start with sending our condolences out to Jack Cristil’s family. I know that’s a huge loss for everybody at Mississippi State with its history and all that he had done,” Mullen said.
Mullen acknowledged Cristil symbolized MSU football off the field to many fans.
“He called 636 games. That’s an awful long time,” Mullen said.
With South Alabama conquering Kent State with a 23-13 final score, Mullen said the Jaguars will serve as a seasoned team to compete against.
“It’s a real challenge for us this week playing South Alabama. They had a big road win to start the season against Kent (State) this past week,” Mullen said.
The South Alabama Jaguars have several senior starters on both offense and defense, creating a team with a foundation of experienced players.
“You look at their two-deep on offense and defense; they have 16 senior starters on offense and defense. That has to be one of the most veteran teams in the country with guys that have played a lot of football,” Mullen said.  
With South Alabama and UAB having similar offenses, the Bulldogs anticipate a challenge. Assistant coach and defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said the Bulldogs expect a big task in containing the Jaguar offense.
“It is a very similar offense as UAB. They’ve been in the system longer than UAB, and we expect to be challenged,” Collins said.
The Bulldogs entered the UAB game anticipating fast receivers and spent 75 percent of the game stopping the run.
“Seventy-five percent of our time we spent defending the run, and going into the game we wanted to stop the run and we did that,” Collins said.
The Bulldogs had 11 tackles for loss and two sacks. Preston Smith, the 6’6, 270-pound defensive lineman, carried out an elegant single-handed interception returned for a touchdown.
“The funny thing is that defense we hadn’t called in about 8 months. Preston knew exactly what to do and played his progression and made a ridiculous John Banks interception,” Collins said.
Jaguar quarterback Brandon Bridge, arriving at South Alabama via Alcorn State, is viewed as a prepared quarterback by Dan Mullen as well as defensive back Jay Hughes. 
“I know they have a good quarterback. (He is a) tall guy who likes to run, and he can get the ball there,” Hughes said.
The Bulldogs will enter the matchup with South Alabama with a 2-0 record. Valued linebacker Richie Brown said his fellow teammates are upset with the amount of passing yards allowed against UAB.
“We’re pretty angry about the passing yards. We have to make sure we shut them down completely. That’s our goal,” Brown said.
The Bulldogs will travel to Ladd-Peebles stadium in Mobile, Alabama. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.