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Mississippi State football offensive film study: Bulldogs find life vs. South Carolina

By Andrew Miller

Sep 23, 2023; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs quarterback Will Rogers (2) passes against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the second quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2023; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs quarterback Will Rogers (2) passes against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the second quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mississippi State football took a tough loss on the road to South Carolina. But the offense seemed to figure some things out. What changed for the Bulldog offense?

Mississippi State football’s trip to South Carolina went quite a bit differently that many of us anticipated. The Bulldogs losing the game wasn’t particularly surprising. Most of us assumed State would lose on the road to the Gamecocks, especially after such an embarrassing loss to LSU.

But I don’t think anyone expected a shootout to occur between a pair of teams that had struggled offensively leading into the game. Vegas oddsmakers had the points total set at 46.5 for this game. State and Carolina went over that total by about 20 points, as the Gamecocks won 37-30.

It’s hard to find many positives for MSU at this point in the season.

The defense, clearly, has fallen off considerably, and this was a game they really needed to find a way to win for the season to turn around. With that being said, if you were to look for positives, you can find them from the offense.

Mississippi State football might be finding a groove on offense

The Bulldogs finished with 519 yards of total offense and scored 30 points in a SEC road game for the first time since 2021. One week after the worst game of his career against LSU, Will Rogers turned around and produced one of his best. The Bulldog signal-caller went 30/48 for a career-high 487 yards and a touchdown, and he showed off the ability to connect on shots downfield, which isn’t something we’ve regularly seen from him throughout his career.

It wasn’t all positive offensively.

The run game failed to materialize against a South Carolina defense that has been poor in run defense. The offensive line continued to struggle, and State had two costly turnovers (regardless of how you feel about their legitimacy) that were ultimately the difference in the game.

Still is was a step in the right direction for the MSU offense. Let’s take a look at what went right on that side of the ball.

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