Mississippi State Report Card vs. UMass

If you just looked at the statistics without watching the game you’d probably give State an ‘A’. They racked up 591 yards, scored 47 points (one TD was a pick-six, however) and Nick Fitzgerald accounted for over 400 total yards. Pretty impressive.<p class=. . . OFFENSE . B-

C+. This one’s kind of weird because at halftime when we’re all fuming mad about MSU’s play I thought the defense played pretty well, then when MSU took control of the game I thought they were mediocre. <p>All they really gave up in the first half was an 83 yard TD run and one drive mid-way through the 2nd quarter. The rest of the time it was three and outs. In the 2nd half they gave up a lot of yardage and let UMass get back into the game.</p><p>They did, however, get three turnovers. One was a pick-six. </p>. . . DEFENSE

Westin Graves is a really good kicker, he just choked against South Alabama. It sucked that happened but he’s been really good the last year and a half.<p>Special teams are like officials. If we don’t notice them they did a good job. I’m okay with not getting any big returns so long as there aren’t any big mistakes. This game was pretty ho-hum. </p>. . . SPECIAL TEAMS . B

C. This was an unusual game. I felt there were some poor play calls but not that many. In games like this against non-conference teams it’s really up to the leaders of the team to get everyone motivated, so I’m not going to say it’s the coaches fault things were so sloppy at times.<p>There are some personnel decisions I disagree with on offense and defense, but whatever. The real measure of this coaching staff with come over the next two weeks. The game against Auburn at Davis Wade on October 8th is HUGE. It’s another “must win” for MSU’s bowl chances, and the Dawgs have two weeks to prepare. They need to come out a lot sharper than they were in this game. </p>. . . COACHING