That was deflating.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs realized that winning a road game at Kansas State really didn’t give them a good sense of how prepared they would be for their first SEC road game of the season.
By Matt Zemek
MSU was not playing a heavyweight. It was not going into Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge or College Station or Auburn or Athens. MSU was visiting Lexington to play the Kentucky Wildcats. No, a cakewalk was not expected. Kentucky went into the The Swamp and convincingly defeated Florida in Gainesville. Kentucky had announced itself as a team to be taken seriously. Mississippi State definitely figured to take several punches and get immersed in a game which was going to be competitive for at least 40 minutes if not 60.
Yet, there was also a sense that with Nick Fitzgerald, MSU had a quarterback who could make improvisational plays when the pocket broke down. With Joe Moorhead, MSU had a coach who could make halftime adjustments to counteract Mark Stoops’ Kentucky defense. The Wildcats’ offense is not a particularly potent one, so as long as Mississippi State’s offense played moderately well, this game figured to be well within reach in the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs had the more proven offensive players to bring home a win.
That’s not what happened. Not even close.
Kentucky’s defensive front destroyed Mississippi State’s offensive line. The Wildcats sometimes punched Bulldog linemen in the mouth. Sometimes they breezed around MSU offensive linemen on the edge, rushing the passer without any real resistance. The playmaking ability of Fitzgerald was smothered because he very rarely had any time to react or process plays. How can one read a defense when under a constant state of siege?
Mississippi State learned a lot about its offense. None of it was good. Now comes Florida and a reunion with a familiar face, Dan Mullen.
1 – SELF-SCOUT
This is such an underrated part of “intimate” athletic competitions in which one athlete or team knows very well what an opposing coach does.
What does Nick Fitzgerald know about how Dan Mullen tried to coach him? How should this translate to the way Mississippi State anticipates Florida’s defensive game plan? What do other Mississippi State players know about their tendencies or weaknesses, so that they can communicate to Moorhead and other MSU coaches how Florida is likely to play them?
Knowing how your familiar opponent is likely to play you enables you to make adjustments the opponent isn’t anticipating. Let’s see what MSU does in this highly intriguing chess match.
2 – THE PLAN THAT FITZ
The plan that fits is a plan which protects Fitz. Nick Fitzgerald needs better pass protection, but up against a Florida defense which is playing well and terrorized Tennessee, that might not be easy to establish in a straight-up context. Joe Moorhead needs to go to the toolbox to see which approaches might improve the offense and slow down the opposing pass rush. Maybe it is a screen game. Maybe a lot more moving pockets are in order. Find ways to put Fitzgerald in better situations.
3 – GIVEAWAYS
Tennessee hand-delivered points to Florida. If MSU can merely avoid those negative blow-ups, that alone will help the Bulldogs on Saturday.
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