Mississippi State Football Aims to Bounce Back: What Will it Take?
By Avery Cobb
If there is one positive in the Mississippi State Football (2-1) schedule this season, it’s the Bowling Green Falcons (1-2) coming to the big house this weekend. Sure, the Bulldogs lost to those pesky Tigers last Saturday, but that was last week, this is now.
Awaiting the Bulldogs is a team that is no stranger to adversity. The Falcons quarterback, Matt McDonald has been tested against teams like Marshall, Eastern Kentucky, and UCLA. Despite their record, McDonald has managed to toss ten touchdowns and rush for one. Not bad. Their most recent game, and sole victory, came against Marshall. This was a high-scoring shootout with a team that just knocked off a maligned Notre Dame program the week before.
This is why we love college football. Any given Saturday anything can happen. It just so happens the Bulldogs played their worst football this season against a team we (probably) overlooked. So, what’s it going to take to bounce back?
First, let’s address what went wrong last week. There’s no good place to start but to lay it out in one phrase: the Bulldogs were inconsistent. Whether it was the woeful play calling on third downs, dropped passes, or special teams – they just couldn’t seem to make the game come any easier.
It would be easy to say that this is an endemic result of playing in Death Valley. For the most part, you would be right. However, it is time that we as fans take a good hard look at our expectations and remember to be patient. It seems to be a Bulldog family tradition to over-hype ourselves within the first three games of a season.
That being said, it will not, and should not take anything special to bounce back. The things that went wrong last week are things that can be improved week to week. The Falcon’s defense has been bleeding points, at home and on the road. They have allowed 135 points thus far; that’s an average of 45 points a game. It would behoove Mississippi State to take advantage of this matchup.
If ever there was a time for Leach to open up his index-card-sized playbook and rebuild some lost swagger, it’s this weekend. Despite Rogers’ woeful performance against the Tigers last weekend, expect to see Leach let those reigns remain in his gunslinger’s hands. While the run game has been much improved from past seasons and is a nice tool to have, this is the Air Raid. The Bulldogs need to retain that identity. Too many times there were no answers for the Louisiana State defense, so much of the game was put on the shoulders of Dillon Johnson and Jo’quavious Marks. As you can see, both points of attack suffered as a result.
Air. It. Out. This week. Rara, Ducking, Harvey, Williams, et al., these receivers should have the ball hit their hands so much this Saturday that they beg to stop scoring. Let’s be clear bouncing back does not just mean winning this weekend. It means dominating on the home turf. There needs to be nothing left in doubt after the game is called.
Prediction: Wrap it in Maroon and White, 10-49