Mississippi State football: 5 positives from Joe Moorhead’s first season in Starkville
By Ethan Lee
The defense was astonishingly good and improved upon its weaknesses from 2017.
Somehow, some way, Bob Shoop made the Bulldogs fully capable of overcoming their weaknesses on the defensive side of the ball while also making them even better at their strengths. It’s a really good thing that the Mississippi State football team is holding onto Bob Shoop, by the way.
And while many will be quick to point out that Shoop wasn’t having to start from scratch or that he had piece the Bulldogs’ defense together, MSU’s latest defensive coordinator acted as a catalyst to make MSU even better on that side of the ball.
While the Mississippi State football team is really, really good alongside the defensive line (and a t linebacker) and has been in recent seasons, MSU has often struggled to defend the pass.
That wasn’t the case in 2018.
Mississippi State was phenomenal up front and was able to get after quarterback after quarterback in just about every game. Montez Sweat and Jeffery Simmons are both likely to be first round picks because of that.
But then also folks like Johnathan Abram and the rest of Mississippi State’s secondary thrived as well. MSU gave up just 168 passing yards per game and picked off 13 passes this past season. Cameron Dantzler, Stephen Adegoke, Abram and others all made big plays this past year. Here’s to hoping that the Bulldogs can continue to do that next year.