STARKVILLE — Coaches love tell anybody who will listen, specifically their own players, that the tape doesn’t lie.
For several decades, college football coaches and players spend hours staring at game film to prepare themselves for what they’ll see in the upcoming Saturday on the playing field. The difference in the modern era, it’s nearly impossible to not find game tape immediately of an opponent from any game in any situation.
In fact, the football video staff at Mississippi State University has said Bulldogs fourth-year head coach Dan Mullen is handed a copy of a DVD of the game that was just played so he can watch the film on the plane ride home from a road game.
So the debate inside coaches’ offices isn’t what we can find before the game but what can we hold back and not show on game day for a future highlighted opponent?
This weekend the question exists as MSU tries to figure what to hold back the complexities of its game plan for the season opener against Jackson State (6 p.m., Fox Sports South) for Auburn in a Southeastern Conference opener on national television the next week.
It’s normally the biggest mystery of an opening weekend contest in college football because teams have new coaches, new starting players and maybe a new philosophical system on either side of the ball.
“We have that conversation all the time,” Mullen said Monday. “I think the biggest thing and I know this sounds like coach talk, but early in the season the most important thing is to focus on yourself. If you play a clean game (with) no penalties, no turnovers, you have a chance to be successful.”
MSU has won 11 straight nonconference games and have 12 total starters returning this season under the tutelage of the same coordinators on both sides of the ball.
“I can’t wait to get out there for the game situation, let our guys go play, let them show what they can do and go perform,” Mullen said. “A lot of young guys want to show everybody what they can do, and there’s a lot of older guys that have put in a lot of work that want to go out and reap the rewards of all their hard work over the last eight months.”
The Bulldogs opponent next week, Auburn, is coming off a disappointing 8-5 campaign, has new coordinators on both sides of the ball but has only lost to MSU one time since 2001.
One obvious benefit for MSU is Auburn will likely have to show their new pro-style offense with the quarterback under center much more often as directed by new offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler as they travel to Atlanta this weekend to play No. 14 Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in the Georgia Dome.
“It’s a great opening game for the coaches, players and fans because it’s a challenge for us as embark on this season and try to really figure out where we are as a football team,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said Wednesday during the SEC football teleconference. “We’ll use this opening game as a gauge and measuring stick to see where do we go from here.”
During the 59-14 victory at the University of Memphis last season, the Bulldogs ran a fake punt pass where MSU punter Baker Swendenburg acted like he was attempting a basketball jump shot that was completed to LaDarius Perkins but weren’t able to get the first down.
“I went on the field knowing that was the play call and thinking ‘okay we’re actually going to do this and I guess it worked because if Perk could’ve broken that one shoestring tackle, he probably goes for 30-40 yards,” Swedenburg said. “There was some shock instantly to realizing that we were showing this fake early in the year.”
Mullen talked at length about the double reverse pass play that opened his head coaching career in a 45-7 against Jackson State in 2009 as an intentional idea that was grown months before the snap from scrimmage.
“Four years ago we ran a double-reverse pass on the first play but I wanted to make sure we put a stamp on what the future was going to be,” Mullen said with a smile. “Now I’m kind of here to stay so I haven’t thought about it like that.”
The debate among coaches is a team wants to prepare its team as much as possible in front of the nervous energy of a sellout crowd in the opener of what will be a long college football season. However, from a logic standpoint, it may not make as much sense to pull out any new wrinkles to your team’s personality for a new season if you’re confident a win can come with a basic, vanilla game plan.
“One side says ‘hey, show them everything so they are preparing for it and we can counter attack’,” Mullen said. “Then some will say we hold it and surprise them, but when you surprise somebody then you mess them up, which messes you all up too.”
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