Mississippi State Sports Blog

I didn’t make it over to Starkville for the game last night, so these observations are coming just from what I saw on TV and what I have read in the hours since the game on various boards.

I don’t think there were really any suprises in this game. Both teams came in with highly-touted defense and unproven offense. I think there was a question about the South Carolina D since they replaced just about everyone from last year, but those questions were soon put to rest. Our defense kept pressure on the QB all night, allowing only 1 touchdown off a “trick” play in the 4th quarter.

The State offense showed some signs of life. Anthony Dixon is a hoss and will be a great asset for us over the next 3-4 years. Brandon Thornton also had a few great runs, although he clearly doesn’t have the mass and power of Dixon to push through blocked lanes in the line. The offensive line was clearly the biggest question mark for our team going into the game, especially after Coach Croom shuffled everyone around a few weeks ago. I think the question was answered pretty well last night, and that answer was not good. The USC D was very aggressive all night long and the O-line just didn’t get the job done on most of the plays.

Henig going out just before the half may have hurt the team as well. He was touted all summer long as the leader of the team and the glue that was pulling everyone together. Rutland showed signs of brilliance. He is definitely an athletic QB, able to scramble out of the pocket when all other options are closed. He has a great arm that is very capable of throwing the long ball if it were only more accurate. This was painfully obvious in the third quarter when Omarr Conner broke to the inside on his long route and Rutland, rolling out of the pocket, threw to the outside and right into the arms of a defender.

The play calling seemed like the same ‘ol story. Run, Run, Throw, Punt. We put together a few nice drives, but then would do stupid stuff like attempting a reverse on 2-and-1, only to lose 7 yards and then try to run up the middle or off-tackle on 3-and-8. Even the announcers noticed that we were running on every first down. All summer long we heard about this great corp of receivers that we had and how they were going to help us spread the field and pull defenders out of the box, lightening the load on our O-line. At the end of the night, we used only 3 receivers for a total of 82 yards, with only 1 pass to Eric Butler for a 20 yard gain.

Where is this “West Coast Offense”? Where are the long passing routes and the receiving corp? Where are the saftey dumps to the tight end? Yes, losing Henig does change the game plan, but Rutland clearly has an arm. If we run the ball all night and then try to throw once or twice every other series, the defense is just gonna keep coming because they know the O-line is worn down.

To sum it up:

• Defense is still stellar.
• Culberson is the man.
• Dixon is a hoss.
• Our play calling sucks.
• Our o-line isn’t much better.

Hey! Look! Here comes Auburn!

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 5:31 am and is filed under Coach Croom, Football, Mississippi State, News, Sylvester Croom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.