Previously on Bulldog Nation
Before we get into Week Two and the Bulldog preview of Arizona, let’s take a brief look back at last weekend.
Mississippi State opened the 2023 season in good fashion with a win over Southeastern Louisiana 48-7. In the preseason, curiosity circled, primarily around this new offense. In the second half, there was no question, the Bulldogs were killing it on both sides of the ball. But there is still that specter of the first half to deal with. It must have caused some concern, hitting the halftime tunnel after a long scoring drive by SLU and a sluggish start for the offense.
Quarterback Will Rogers and head coach Zach Arnett put it in perspective. “Mistakes are going to happen.” Rogers said, “The more you can minimize those, the better you will get week to week.”
At the half, Arnett was particularly despondent over a 79-yard scoring drive by SLU. But by Monday, after seeing the game video, Arnett was a bit more philosophical. “We’ve got to be mature enough,” he said at his weekly press conference. “We’ve got to be enough of a competitor to watch with a critical eye and know that everything on tape is now there for the opponent to study and ways to exploit your weaknesses, flaws in our schemes, techniques. We need to get them corrected in a hurry. The competition level takes a big jump and it starts this weekend.”
Arnett then channeled his best Jerry Reed and said, “We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there.”
So, anticipation (anxiety) returns this weekend. Fans should try to get used to it because it only gets tougher as the schedule unfolds.
Scouting the Wildcats
This year’s Arizona is a different team than the one State walloped 39-17 in Tucson last year. Some of the players are the same, only their experience and talent have improved. That being said, the Wildcats have not beaten an SEC opponent since 1976. This century, they are 0-3. However, over-confidence could be the death knell for the Dawgs. It’s probably best for them to disregard that noise.
This is their last year to be in the Pac-12 before joining the Big 12 in 2024. That should not have any bearing on the game, but it’s worth mentioning.
Vegas oddsmakers have the Bulldogs as a nine-point favorite. The spread opened at 13 but dropped four points within a day. Perhaps there was a flurry of Wildcat betting? Whatever the case, the MSU coaches are taking them seriously.
What better perspective on an opponent’s offense is there, than the State defensive coordinator, Matt Brock? He expects it to be a much tougher competition this week.
“I think the flavor of the offense is similar.” Brock said, “But they’ve gotten a lot better, upfront and running back. I think all three running backs are tremendous players…like carbon copies of each other,” he said earlier this week. “Quarterback is dynamic. And their skill positions, their slot and they’ve got big guys outside. You don’t put up over 500 yards of offense on 40 plays. They probably should have scored 50-some. They’re a very good offensive football team.” Brock was referring to the Wildcats’ win over Northern Arizona in their opener last week. They won the contest handily 38-3. Holding NAU to only three points is evidence that the Wildcat defense came to play as well.
A Leach Connection
Yes, there is a connection to the late MSU head coach, Mike Leach. The Wildcats’ quarterback was recruited by the Pirate and played at Washington State. As quarterbacks go, he was a pretty good judge.
Quarterback Jayden De Laura, returns with some evident improvement. In last week’s game against NAU, he went 18 of 24, for 285 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Those passes went to eight different receivers. Their 186-yard rushing effort went to five different running backs as well.
Arnett is impressed with the offense and De Laura. “They have a phenomenal scheme offensively. Very mobile and agile quarterback,” he said. “The sacks he gets out of when you feel you have him bottled up with pressure. He flushes and finds his way out of there. He has one of the quickest releases. Very talented.”
The Dawg Gameplan
Mississippi State currently leads the SEC in rushing. The offense racked up 298 yards on the ground against SLU to get that distinction. This signifies that AirRaid, as we knew it, is gone. Some remnants remain, but new offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay modified it to fit into a more balanced pro-style attack. Considering that Rogers put up 227 yards passing, you get the idea. This is a very balanced offense, although skewing toward the running game.
That rushing yardage is due, in a very large part, to Woody Marks. He put up 127 of the 298. One can expect him to continue frustrating linebackers as well as picking up their blitzes. Marks also tied with Creed Whittemore leading the team in receptions with four for 59 yards each. However, State is deep in running backs, so there might be a breakout appearance by one or more of them.
There are potential fireworks Tulu Griffin and Zavion Thomas yet to be redeemed. Griffin missed the first half of last Saturday’s game due to an injury. However, he returned in the second half to get four receptions and 33 yards. This will be Thomas’ first game of the season. He suffered an ankle injury in practice and had to sit out the SLU game. They are also quite deep at receiver, so expect action from Whittemore and Jaden Walley, who caught a touchdown last week.
Looking for Mr. Wright
Dawg fans were pleasantly surprised last week with the performance of Mike Wright. Barbay has thrown him into a pseudo-wildcat offense, a complete departure from AirRaid. The Vandy transfer successfully ran five times for 95 yards in the opener. It was the wrinkle all Bulldog fans were looking forward to. It did not disappoint.
The Wildcat play put Rogers split wide left and Wright in the shotgun. Could Wright actually put one up for the starting quarterback? “Yeah, I got it,” Rogers said with a smirk. “I could do that if I wanted to.”
Even Barbay joked about it. “Will has a go route,” Barbay laughed. “I just don’t know if we are going to call a go route to throw to him.” It’s doubtful he would tell the media whether that is a true possibility or not. Stealth is the better part of a gameplan.
As for Wright, the video of last week’s game has been seen by Arizona and future opponents as well. There may be some other trickery Barbay has in stock for him this Saturday.
Just Being Defensive
The defense needs to continue what they did in the second half of last week’s game. The shining star of the D was Bookie Watson. He led the team with eight tackles to lead the team (three solo), and 1.5 sacks. He registered his 250th career tackle and tied for third in SEC sacks.
His running mate Jett Johnson is the other middle linebacker. He came in with three solo tackles out of six, and one sack. And, Johnson came in third in tackles just behind De’Monte Russell. The defensive end came in with two solo tackles out of seven.
As far as Arizona is concerned, Brock said to expect offensive complexity. “They do so many different formations and they hide things well,” Brock said. “You can’t sit there and make the perfect call every time. You got to let your guys go play. Get them lined up and let them cut it loose.”
The secondary had the most rebuilding to do over last year. But, how is this game going to be for them? Barbay continued, “They’re coming along, but they’re going to have to take great strides this week,” Barbay said. “We’ll have a totally different test. No disrespect to Southeastern. It only gets harder from here. We have to make sure they’re playing to their ability and growing, as does everybody on our defense.”
One Game at a Time
For Arnett, the team will be concentrating on Arizona and only Arizona. The looming third game with LSU is probably on the minds of all Bulldog fans. But the team needs to get to 2-0 in order to build more momentum going into that game. The team cannot be looking ahead.
Losing focus on the game at hand is like that missed pass because the receiver heard footsteps. It’s disappointing, but avoidable.
The other thing is complacency. Arnett is the furthest thing from complacent. He’s always looking for ways to improve and that’s a good thing for the Dawgs. He says it best. “If you don’t get better from Week 1 to Week 2, you’re not winning a lot of football games,” Arnett said. “If you don’t win a lot of football games, we all know what the consequence of that is. So, we better get better.”
Photo courtesy: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
