Mississippi State Defeats Vanderbilt 17-14
The Bulldog defense held Vanderbilt to just 107 yards of offense and only 1-of-9 on third down conversions on their way to a 17-14 victory over the 13th ranked Commodores.
Here are some post-game quotes, followed by some post-game linkage.
Coach Croom on the team:
We are not the same team we were at the beginning of the season, and they are not the same people they were at the beginning of the season. As happy I am about the win, I am more proud that they have been through the fire and came out better men. We’ll enjoy this for 24 hours and go back to work and get ready for the next one.”
On creating the turnovers:
“That is something we discussed in the off week because we hadn’t been getting turnovers. I went back and pulled some clips from the Central Florida game and we were not playing defense. Even at the Auburn game we weren’t playing defense like we did most of last season and it was because we were not running towards the football. I showed them the clips and they saw the evidence and this is a visual generation. No matter how much you talk about, it they have to see it. Today they did exactly as they were coached to do.”
On Tyson Lee’s mobility playing a factor:
“It was big because it helped us convert third downs. I think we were 9 of 18 on third downs and his (Tyson) ability to move created that. Really, that is where college football is headed because you either have to have a dominating offensive line in pass protection or your quarterback has to create something for you.”
And now for some linkage.
Here is the official release from MSU Athletics on the game, as well as PDF files of stats and post-game quotes.
ESPN has a good wrap-up of the game, including a short video of the touchdowns by both teams.
Kyle Veazey has some post-game quotes that weren’t included in the official release, including this little gem from Croom:
That’s who we are. We’re going to be an ‘I’ football team. That’s what we’re going to do. We’ll mix some other stuff in there and we’ve got some of that east-west kind of things in there that Ducre was running, the three-wides and all that stuff, but hey, that’s my fault, we were doing too much of that stuff. We’re going to line up in the I and run right at people. If we can’t win doing that, we’re not going to win.
Kyle also writes about the team rediscovering themselves during the off week and returning to being a “hit ‘em in the mouth kind of football team“.
The Clarion-Ledger’s Rusty Hampton also chimes in on why Vandy lost this game:
…and instead of concentrating completely on playing Mississippi State, the Commodores spent the week trying to recover from last Saturday’s upset win over Auburn while ignoring all the hoopla surrounding their chances of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 1982.
The Tennesseean has a post-game wrap-up from the Vandy perspective.
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