Mike Wright fascinated Mississippi State football fans in win over Southeastern Louisiana

When the Mississippi State Bulldogs needed a spark of energy on offense, Mike Wright came through for the Mississippi State football team.

As the 2023 Mississippi State football season got started, the Bulldogs were able to win big over the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. And in that win, MSU football fans were very interested in seeing the Bulldogs’ backup quarterback get out onto the field.

Despite the fact that Will Rogers was effective in that he completed 69 percent of his passes and averaged 9.2 adjusted yards per attempt (his career average is just 6.9 adjusted yards per attempt) and threw a couple of touchdown passes, there are a number of Mississippi State fans who want to see what Mike Wright is capable of.

And this sort of situation isn’t anything new at all.

Mississippi State football fans are often interested in seeing what the Bulldogs’ backup quarterback is capable of. When Tyson Lee played, people were interested in Chris Relf. When Chris Relf played, folks wanted to see what Tyler Russell could do. Tyler Russell played and then MSU fans wanted to see Dak Prescott.

Will Rogers himself has benefitted from this situation. When KJ Costello was struggling back in 2020, MSU fans wanted to see what a young Rogers could do given his familiarity with Mike Leach’s famed Air Raid offense.

And Rogers demonstrated that he can thrive in that system.

He’s thrown for well over 10,000 yards during his career. And while Rogers actually did well through most of Saturday, that hasn’t stopped MSU fans from being intrigued by what Wright is capable of.

Mississippi State football fans fascinated by Mike Wright and his remarkable speed

Matt was far from being alone in this.

It’s been a little bit since MSU fans have seen their favorite team’s starting quarterback run the ball a bit and so some of them are nostalgic for having a dual threat guy running around. And with how Wright was able to provide a spark on offense, that was exciting for folks on Saturday.

All of that said, it’s not yet clear how effective of a passer Wright is right now. During his time at Vanderbilt, Wright completed 55.3 percent of his 333 passing attempts for 2,067 yards and 21 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. His adjusted passing yards per attempt average was 7.0.

While there’s a chance that Wright could create problems for opposing defenses, there’s no guarantee that he’d be the best fit for running this offense. It’s still a little too early to tell.

Still, it’s worth noting that it was fun to see a guy run the ball just 5 times and gain an incredible 95 yards in the process. Wright is quick. And there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll continue to see him utilized in this offense.