STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen wasn’t about to let the scoreboard cloud his anger toward his team’s play in the first half Saturday against the University of Tennessee-Martin.
In a first 30 minutes that saw nearly 300 yards of offense for MSU, Mullen viewed it in a completely different light, and he couldn’t have been more irritated when his team took a 28-3 lead at halftime.
“We had two three-and-out drives in the first half offensively and you just can’t do that if you’re going to be a winning football team,” Mullen said. “Add in the silly penalties we had early on and it doesn’t matter who you are playing. You’re not doing well.”
Mullen used the “embarrassing” when describing his team’s performance at halftime in a radio interview with Learfield Sports sideline reporter John Correro and apologized to the announced crowd of 55,096 at Davis Wade Stadium.
“I wasn’t really happy with how we were playing and we were sloppy in pregame which translated to the game,” Mullen said. “That’s on me and my coaching staff to not get that corrected before the start of the game.”
MSU’s 28 points in the first half points were the most since the win against the University of Michigan in the 2011 Gator Bowl, and the most at home since last season’s blowout victory against Alcorn State.
On top of scoring on the opening drive for the first time this season, the Bulldogs’ 21 first-quarter points were the most in the first stanza since the team scored 23 at Houston on Oct. 9, 2010.
In its past two contests, MSU has outscored its opponents 49-9 in the first half.
“We came out kind of slow and sluggish, but then we picked it up, and if we want to have a chance to win next week (against Alabama) we have to play a whole lot better early,” MSU senior tailback Vick Ballard said. “They are a way better team than UT-Martin.”
Mullen was less than pleased with the effort his defense, despite allowing just three points at halftime. The defense also allowed 145 rushing yards on 25 carries. Entering the game, opponents had gained just an average of 147.8 rushing yards per contest.
“We were giving up yard after yard after yard after yard on defense and we didn’t adjust or make plays,” Mullen said. “We weren’t clean in anything offense, defense, or special teams as I would want to be at all.”
An outsized Tennessee-Martin (5-4) gashed MSU up the middle for 269 rushing yards.
MSU defensive coordinator Chris Wilson echoed Mullen’s comments and said the defensive issues would be handled this week as the team prepared for Alabama.
“Not only did we not play a lot of guys, but we didn’t play well with our first-team guys,” Wilson said. “As an overall group, you can’t give up that many yards rushing.”
The coaches and players attempted to downplay the early sloppiness as a product of playing a lower division opponent that has never beaten a Football Bowl Subdivision school.
“We try to get the guys to watch the tape objectively and tell them this is a good football team,” Wilson said. “I don’t want to take anything away from UT-Martin, but I’m not pleased at the lack of standard we played with tonight at all.”
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