Mississippi State Report Card vs. LSU
It’s time to hand out some grades for the Bulldogs in the 21-19 loss to LSU. We’ll go through offense, defense, special teams and coaching.
Offense: C
Dan Mullen had to reinvent the offense midstream in this game to get things working. The good news is that the straight up passing attack that allowed Dak Prescott to throw for 335 yards were very effective in the second half and nearly gave the Dawgs a chance to win. The bad news is that the offensive line was poor and the rushing attack was virtually non-existent. Prescott rushing for -19 yards was not even fathomable before the game. Rufus Warren struggled all night and allowed pressure at the most important position on the line.
Defense: B+
Leonard Fournette is a great football player, so having 5.7 YPC is what I’d consider a pretty good night for the defense. He did make his plays, but not enough to put the game out of reach. State’s defensive line showed up, and played really well – especially on key downs. Two of the Tigers’ touchdowns had starting field position inside the 50 yard line. That’s really hard on a defense, and considering they had to overcome that and only gave up 21 points all night I thought it was pretty good.
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- The Wednesday Wrap: Maybe Mississippi State Football Coach Zach Arnett shouldn’t do it his way
- Mississippi State football history vs. South Carolina: Records, streaks, and more
- Mississippi State football bowl projections after Bulldogs crushed by LSU
Special Teams: B-
No fumbles like in the USM game, and Westin Graves was solid again even hitting a 42 yard field goal. There was some bad field position in the 1st quarter that really cost the Bulldogs, and then the final 52 yard attempt was so far off. Both times Devon Bell kicked the ball it wasn’t even close. I know it’s a tough kick in a pressure situation but all his field goal attempts look like that. If that’s our kicking option, a hail Mary would have been better.
Coaching: B
It’s a ‘B’ because Dan Mullen gets a C for the offense and Manny Diaz gets an A for the defense. Mullen underestimated LSU’s strength on the defensive line, or overestimated ours on the OL. I’ll give him credit for the adjustments but he never really gave Dak a chance to run the ball and/or make plays with his legs. It’s like we were watching Tyler Russell. Manny Diaz did a great job I thought – he handled Fournette about as well as you can and did a good job of adjusting throughout the game.