MSU’s 2-Star Offensive Line Dominated LSU’s 4-Star Defensive Line
Sep 20, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs running back Josh Robinson (13) runs as LSU Tigers safety Ronald Martin (26) pursues during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium. Mississippi State defeated LSU 34-29. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Recruiting is a big part of the narrative of every college football program in the country. The players you bring in shape the football team you put on the field (obviously). From a fan perspective, it’s nearly impossible to gauge a prospect’s intangibles like character, leadership or drive while they play high school ball unless you know them personally. So we go by stars given out by recruiting services.
Most of the time stars = wins. You get the most talent and you win the most games. LSU is the prime example of this – they are in the top 10 nearly every year and they win 10 games nearly every year.
Mississippi State has not fared as well neither on the recruiting trails or on the field over the last decade or so. While MSU’s roster isn’t chopped liver, they haven’t been able to stock the team with a bunch of four and five stars like Les Miles has.
So when MSU dominates LSU in the trenches like they did on Saturday night, it is pretty shocking. The most surprising thing was State’s O-line vs. LSU’s D-line because of the supposed talent gap. State’s D-line has several four and five star players so that wasn’t as surprising – but the Bulldogs offensive lineman had little to no fan fare coming in while the Tigers defensive lineman had plenty.
MSU’s offensive line recruiting stars according to 247:
LT – Blaine Clausell: 2-star
LG – Justin Malone: 3-star
C – Dillon Day: 2-star
RG – Ben Beckwith: unrated (walk-on)
RT – Justin Senior: 2-star
That’s one 3-star, three 2-stars and an unrated prospect. In total, it’s nine stars for an average of 1.8 – which is hard to do considering you get two stars just for being rated. I guess we could call Beckwith a 1-star and make the average two but it’s not really accurate because Ben was so off the radar.
LSU’s offensive line recruiting stars according to 247:
DE – Danielle Hunter: 4-star
DT – Quentin Thomas: 3-star
DT – Christian LaCouture: 4-star
DE – Jermouria Rasco: 4-star
That’s three 4-stars and one 3-star. In total, it’s 15 stars for an average of 3.75.
LSU had almost two full stars worth of talent on MSU in this matchup, yet the Bulldogs clearly dominated the entire game.
Coming in LSU was only allowing 111 YPG on the ground, but MSU torched them for 302.
It was a great performance by the big Dawgs up front. They all deserve a game ball – and they are proving John Hevesy to be a great O-line coach.