Which Nick Fitzgerald will show up for Mississippi State football against Alabama?

If the Mississippi State football team wants to pull off the upset over Alabama, the Bulldogs will need the Nick Fitzgerald of the last two weeks to show up.

The first 7 weeks of the 2018 Mississippi State football season were a roller coaster of emotions that left many fans extremely dissatisfied when the ride came to an end. The Bulldogs were 4-3 overall and just 1-3 in SEC play. All three losses were the result of some of the worst offensive play Bulldog fans had seen since the Sylvester Croom days.

But when Texas A&M came to Starkville on the last Saturday in October, the Mississippi State football offense seemed to find its way. And the biggest change in the offense’s performance was in the play of Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald.

For the season, Nick Fitzgerald has struggled. During the 2018 Mississippi State football season, he has only completed 51% of his passes with 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. If the Bulldogs wanted to salvage their season, they needed more from their senior leader.

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And all Nick Fitzgerald has done over the last two games is deliver and then some. In the two games the Mississippi State football team has played against the Texas A&M Aggies and Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Fitzgerald has completed 31 of 50 attempts (62%), thrown for 484 yards, and six touchdown passes with no interceptions.

Now the obvious response to this would be the competition level Nick Fitzgerald was facing was less severe than what he had gone up against in previous games of 2018. But upon further examination, there might be more to the story.

As I chronicled earlier during the 2018 football season, it took around six games for the Penn State football team, and more specifically Trace McSorely, to adapt to Joe Moorhead’s offense in 2016. The Texas A&M game was game number 8 for the Mississippi State football team in Joe Moorhead’s offense, but it was only game 7 for Nick Fitzgerald due to his suspension to start the season. It’s possible the Joe Moorhead offense is finally clicking with Nick Fitzgerald.

Whether or not the improvement in play from Nick Fitzgerald is due to easier competition or a better understanding of the offense will be determined this Saturday when Fitzgerald faces his greatest challenge of the season. If the Bulldogs want to have any chance to beat Alabama, they’ll need the improved play of the past two weeks to be a result of a better understanding of the offense, and not just a matter of playing softer competition.