LSU Game Cancellation – Does this help MSU?
As you probably know by now, LSU’s season opening game against McNeese State last Saturday was cancelled due to lightning in the Baton Rouge area. The game was halted at the 10 minute mark of the first quarter and could not be restarted due to the weather. Each team ran one offensive series prior to the weather delay.
The big question for Mississippi State fans is – does this help or hurt the Bulldogs chances against the Tigers this Saturday? Let’s take a look at the situation.
First of all, LSU will essentially be playing their first game of the season against Mississippi State. This means the Tigers won’t have the benefit of having a game under their belt as MSU does. Season opening games are notorious for mistakes and poor execution. This is why major schools typically schedule a home opener against a weaker opponent to start the season. It serves as an opportunity to work out some of the kinks prior to taking on more serious competition.
There is no substitute for actual game experience, especially for younger players who may be playing in or starting their first collegiate game. LSU had quarterback issues last year, but the Tigers have high hopes for Brandon Harris as their starter this year. Obviously the LSU coaching staff would have preferred to get Harris, as well as the rest of the team (especially the defense under a new coordinator), plenty of reps against a team like McNeese prior to playing an SEC road game. They won’t get that luxury this year. This would appear to be somewhat of an advantage for Mississippi State, who did get actual game reps for their players.
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There’s also the issue of game film. Coaches use film to evaluate player performances, issue player grades, and help correct player errors in practice the following week. LSU won’t have the opportunity to do that this week with their team. But the lack of game film cuts both ways. While LSU won’t be able to evaluate its player performances last week, Mississippi State won’t have the luxury of LSU game film either. LSU has a new defensive coordinator, Kevin Steele, and he obviously will use different schemes and has different tendencies than his predecessor, John Chavis. So from a preparation standpoint, this is like playing a second opening game for Mississippi State, because the Bulldogs will have nothing to evaluate this year’s LSU team with.
On the other hand, LSU does have film of MSU’s game against Southern Mississippi. And although the conventional wisdom is that MSU used a very vanilla game plan against the Eagles in an attempt not to tip their hand too much, the Tigers still have a complete 2015 MSU game to evaluate, something the Bulldogs don’t have for the 2015 Tigers.
Here’s what Les Miles said about it:
"We would have liked to prepared best for Mississippi State having a first game under our belt before we played in Starkville. That’s why we waited as long as we could…We have to accomplish our same goals without this game. The preparation will have to be a little better. Either way, play or not, we will be prepared to play our next opponent."
So who has the advantage? I’d give a slight edge to Mississippi State, simply because there’s no substitute for actually playing a real game against live competition. But LSU may have a few surprises for MSU that otherwise might have been revealed to the Bulldog coaching staff, had they had film from the McNeese State game to analyze.