The Bulldogs are licking their wounds after their first loss of the season to Arizona State last weekend. Briefly, recapping that game for MSU, both sides of the ball were represented in two different ways, between the first and second halves. In the first one, offense and defense seemed completely lost, the defense giving up 23 points and 208 yards on the ground. The offense went three-and-out multiple times, and could only muster three points before the half. The second half saw a different team altogether. The offense almost pulled off the biggest comeback in program history, scoring 23 unanswered points, the defense held ASU to three points. Bulldog fans should expect that team to show up this weekend as State hopes to go 2-1 against Toledo.
Toledo will be MSU’s third non-conference game in head coach Jeff Lebby’s first turn as a head coach.
Who are the Rockets?
The Toledo Rockets are in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and have a storied program that goes back to 1917. Last season they were the MAC Western Division Champions. This is not Eastern Kentucky, and they should not be taken for granted.
At his Monday press conference, Lebby was clear about this point. “I talk about making sure we know exactly who we are playing and understanding Toledo has a long history of playing good football, winning football,” Lebby said. “They’re a program that is incredibly established and a group that whether it was at Illinois last year, where they ended up getting beat by two, or two years ago, they go to Notre Dame and they lose by two – they have been in complete fist fights with Power Four football teams. This will be nothing new for their football program.” This will be their first trip to Starkville, and their first time playing State.
As a quick note about the MAC so far this year, they cannot be disregarded. This past weekend, Bowling Green came within a touchdown of beating number eight Penn State, and Northern Illinois beat number five Notre Dame.
Toledo’s 2024 So Far
This season, the Rockets are 2-0, winning their opener against Duquesne 49-10. In last week’s game, they beat a Bulldog future, and final non-conference opponent, UMass 38-23. They played both opponents in their home stadium, the Glass Bowl, a stadium built in 1937, an homage to the region’s glass industry.
In their win against the Minutemen, Toledo’s offense didn’t perform exceptionally well. Quarterback Tucker Gleason only completed eight of 23 pass attempts, but got three touchdowns out of the effort. The running backs contributed as well. Willie Shaw III rushed for one touchdown and Jacquez Stuart returned a kickoff 98 yards for another. They added a field goal to get their 38 points. The offense was particularly skewed toward passing as Gleason threw for 175 yards, while they ran for 83.
Interestingly enough, UMass outpaced the Rockets offensively, passing for 259 yards, and running for 125. Toledo’s defense somehow kept its opponent out of the endzone. Head coach Jason Candle offered an opinion on this following the game in his media availability. “A couple of explosive plays on our behalf, a kick return, lack of conversions on third down and that’s going to create a low number of plays,” Candle said. “The most overrated statistic in all of football shows up in time of possession. You score 38 points and I think there’s a lot of plays that we left out there that we could do a better job of. I think the thing that sticks out the most is the third down conversions.”
Bulldogs’ Run Game – Both Sides
In the Arizona State game, it was evident that State’s approach to the run game needed attention on both sides of the ball. The Sun Devils racked up 346 yards on the ground leading to 21 points just in the first half. One player, Cam Skattebo, managed to run for 262 yards alone.
On the offensive side, Mississippi State came out on the negative side of running in the first half with minus 13 yards on the ground in the first. For the entire game, the Dawgs only had 24 yards on the ground, while passing for 268.
While he did not suggest how they intend to fix the issue, Lebby did say in his weekly press conference that they understand the reasons. Offensively, he pointed out it’s not one single point of failure. “You look at the running backs, the offensive line, the decision making from a quarterback standpoint, when he should pull the ball or when he should hand the ball, how we’re blocking the perimeter, so the totality of it is what will give us a chance to be better in the run game,” Lebby said. “Just way too many inconsistencies. All day long in the run game, we had the right people, but fundamentally we did not play clean.”
Defensively, he did point to a single point of failure. “It’s one story, and it’s tackling,” Lebby said. “Twenty-five missed tackles, over 250 yards after contact. I think that was the frustrating part for our guys is that when they watched the tape, there were plenty of times where we were in position, and we got to get the guy on the ground.”
Perhaps this would be a good week to address these issues before the start of a daunting SEC schedule.
Getting Back the Mojo
Losing is always a hard thing from which to snap back, especially in the mental game. However, the way the Dawgs came from behind, almost pulling off the biggest comeback in school history, must have some bearing in approaching this week.
As he said in his press conference following the first practice following that loss, Lebby thinks the players learned something while in Arizona. “Our guys have answered the right way,” Lebby said. “They had great attitudes and energy in the building this morning. I think they were wondering how the building was going to be today. As they got off the practice field today, I think they got a great sense of understanding, we’ve got to find ways to get better. We’ve got to execute cleaner. But the people that are leading them aren’t going to be different people because of an outcome on Saturday.”
