Halftime thoughts as Mississippi State football is routing Eastern Kentucky

Mississippi State holds a 35-7 halftime lead over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in their 2024 season-opener. Here are some takeaways from the first half...

Kevin Coleman is absolutely electric

So far the MVP of the game is unquestionably WR Kevin Coleman. The speedster has two catches for 38 yards and a TD. But he's been even better in the return game. Coleman has returned five punts for 117 yards, and it's honestly surprising he hasn't yet taken one to the house. He's been electric in the open field. It seems like he'll get a few more chances today, so we'll see if he runs one back.

The Bulldog defense was winning on key downs...before the last drive

Mississippi State's defense was largely an unknown going into the season. Through the first half, they're playing pretty well. For much of the first half, they were doing a great job on key downs, forcing stops on short 3rd downs to get off the field. That changed on EKU's final drive, when the Colonels went 3-3 on 3rd down, including a 3rd down score to get on the board. Hopefully that drive was just a mulligan.

Explosive plays galore

The hallmark of the Jeff Lebby offense is explosive plays. That was made clear almost immediately, as Blake Shapen hit Jordan Mosely for a 65 yard TD on just the third play of the game. So far the Bulldogs have four plays of at least 20 yards, all going for scores. Obviously they're going up against a weak and far less talented defense, but seeing as how the Bulldog offense failed to hit big plays against anyone a year ago, it's lovely to see.

There's a lot of sloppiness to get cleaned up

The one real complaint so far has been the overall sloppiness from the Bulldogs, particularly on offense. They've fumbled the ball three times and have been incredibly fortunate to have recovered them all. Obviously the downpour in Starkville during the first half contributes to that, but State's been loose with the ball regardless. There's been a few untimely penalties that have negated huge plays as well. Look, it's the first game, and weather played an impact, but that needs to get cleaned up in the locker room.