The Mississippi State Bulldogs looked clean for the most part last Saturday vs. the Memphis Tigers, but there were some holes that needed to be patched. So, what could Mike Leach change this Saturday vs. the Arizona Wildcats? Here are three things that I think Mike Leach should have focused on during practice this week.
1. Encourage Will Rogers to check down his wide receivers.
Will Rogers looked much better at checking down his wide receivers than last season, but there were still a few plays where he already had his mind made up before the play started. If Rogers can adjust whenever the hot route isn’t open, he will turn into an elite quarterback. That being said, many of our plays in our playbook require Will Rogers to be quick on his draw. I think our offensive line will allow Rogers to sit in the pocket and decide what route is the best to hit.
2. Stamina.
This game starts at 10:00 p.m. CT. Our boys are not used to playing that late. I’m not sure what practice looked like this week, but if I were Mike Leach, I would have started practice a bit later than usual.
The defense in particular looked tired last week late in the second half. I understand it can be hard to recover from a two-hour rain delay, but they started to look lazy. If they’re lazy this Saturday, that might change the outcome of the game.
3. Do not give up the big play.
Speaking of our defense getting lazy, we can’t give up the big play on Saturday night. Zach Arnett’s defense is good at getting the opposing offense off the field, but late in the second half last week our defense started to give Memphis opportunities for big chunks of yardage. Arnett’s practice this week should have been centered around a quarterback that can create big plays with his arm… That shouldn’t be that difficult to practice against whenever you have Mike Leach calling the plays on the other side.