The dark clouds surrounding the Mississippi State program before Saturday, parted briefly as the Bulldogs showed some fight for their future against Texas. Yes, they lost the contest 35-13, but the score does not indicate how they took it to the Longhorns. Miss State was a 37.5 underdog going into the contest. They were only down 14-6 until the final play of the third quarter. There was a positive attitude and an aggressive attitude at play during the game. It was evident on both sides of the ball.
It started from the initial kickoff, as the Dawgs received the first one, and even the coaching decisions were not intimidated by the No. 1 status of Texas.
A Different Gameplan
Bulldog head coach Jeff Lebby, showed a planning side, not seen before this season. The idea was to keep the Longhorns off the field as much as possible. In the first half, it worked like a charm, Lebby even abandoned the breakneck speed, typical of his offense. On the fourth play of the game, only two minutes in, it was fourth and one on their own 34. Coaching 101 would say punt this early in the game or risk the opponent gaining momentum with a turnover-on-downs. Lebby went for it with his running back Davon Booth gaining eight yards and a first down.
The remainder of the series did not gain any points for the Bulldogs, and they eventually turned it over on downs. However, they had eaten up nearly half of the first quarter with 7:56 left, and the ball on the Texas 28. That was as effective as a punt, but with Texas off the field for a big chunk of the game. In the first half, four of MSU’s drives lasted more than three minutes and went at least seven plays.
Sure, it would have been great to have points, but remember, Texas was supposed to swallow them whole, by nearly 38 points. The Bulldogs had played the Longhorns on Dawg terms, not the other way around. This might be effective in battling the gloom and doom forecast for the remainder of their SEC season.
Emergence of MVB
The former starting quarterback Blake Shapen, was out due to season-ending shoulder surgery. He suffered the injury in MSU’s loss to Florida the week before. There will be more on Shapen future in another article.
Shapen’s replacement in the Florida game was true freshman Michael Van Buren Jr. The Texas game was his first start for the Bulldogs, after coming to Starkville as a 4-star recruit and Under Armour All-American Game MVP. In the Gator game, he took his first drive on a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive, but it was too late to save the day. However, Van Buren turned some heads.
In front of 100,000 screaming Texas fans, he took the field for that first drive with all the confidence of a veteran. He had a few unnecessary mistakes, like three delay-of-game penalties and six sacks. But, nerves didn’t seem to be the issue. It could have been the noise, or trying to get audibles communicated to his offense. Those may sound like excuses, but the fans were stoked by what they saw. There was an outpouring on social media, even providing Van Buren with his handle, MVB.
On X, formerly Twitter, here are several comments. Will Sullivan said, “MVB is legit. Excited to see the next 3-4 years of him.” Tru Maroon Nation offered, “What a drive from Michael Van Buren. Kid has something.” And, Dawg on the Bayou stated an obvious truth. “MVB is gonna be a good one. Just gonna have to endure the freshman bumps and bruises this year.” Won’t they all!
A Much to Do About Defense
State’s defense has suffered the slings and arrows of much criticism up to this point. Perhaps, it’s been warranted, as they gave up an average of 31 points per game. But Texas was the toughest opponent they faced in five games, and the State defense played perhaps its best game of the season.
The Bulldogs forced two turnovers, held Texas to 10 rushing yards in the first half, and even had a pair of sacks, and seven tackles-for-loss (TFL). They had no sacks in either of their two previous games, against much lesser opponents. Also, their leading tackler, Isaac Smith, didn’t play, along with four members of the secondary. It’s something to build on, especially if the Dawgs get healthy.
Building on the Future
This type of strategy and spirited playing may not be enough to resurrect this season. That’s especially true considering that Georgia, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, and Ole Miss remain in the SEC games of the future. Five of those six teams are in at the top 25. But, the big steer was ridden hard, not quite corralled, but at least they knew they were in a fight. But in his postgame press conference, Lebby will have none of what some called a win of the spirit.
“The moral victory part of it will not creep into our building whatsoever,” Lebby said. “I thought we won at the line of scrimmage. I thought we won on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football early on in the game. We needed to finish drives offensively and score touchdowns . . . to me, that’s the difference in the game.”
As far as the game plan going in, a question about Lebby’s idea of game control was asked. “That was the intention, to be able to chew up a ton of the clock, have some ball control to be able to help our defense, take some pressure off of Mike,” Lebby said. “But those drives have to finish with points, and, again, you got a chance for this to be a little bit different.”
The Bulldogs have a week off to lick their wounds, then it’s off to Athens, GA to take on the other Dawgs in this conference. In his postgame presser, Van Buren felt just OK about the day but had the future in mind. “I feel like we played kind of well today,” Van Buren said. “Just build on top of it, that’s really it.”
