STARKVILLE
Raise you hand if you saw this coming.
Two games into the 2016 football season, it’s still hard to know what to make of the Mississippi State football team. For now, the Bulldogs reside in that murky zone between awful and awesome.
Most likely, Bulldog fans are fine with that uncertainty.
On Saturday evening at Davis Wade Stadium, MSU stomped big holes in South Carolina in its Southeastern Conference opener, slobber-knockering the Gamecocks from the start, rolling to a 24-0 halftime lead and turning in a workmanlike second half to secure a 27-14 win.
The game plan seemed to be this: You know all that stuff we did really bad last week in that 21-20 loss to South Alabama? Well, we’re going to do all that stuff good — really good, as it turned out, especially in the first half.
How good were the Bulldogs against the Gamecocks?
A few numbers tell the story:
MSU rolled up 485 yards against what figures to be a decent South Carolina defense. It ran for 290 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and added another 195 and three touchdowns in the passing game.
By now, you’re probably wondering how a team can look so bad against an inferior opponent one week and look like world-beaters the next.
A lot of it had to do with intensity and focus. MSU players received an earful about their listless, uninspired effort against South Alabama, so they came into the South Carolina game with something to prove.
So, too, did quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, who started against South Alabama, but was pulled after two possessions when the Bulldogs failed to manage a first down. Fitzgerald was 0 for 3 passing and ran for 11 yards on two runs and disappeared into the anonymity of the Bulldog sideline.
It was a stunning disappointment for Bulldog fans, who had assumed Fitzgerald would be the natural replacement for the dearly departed Dak Prescott. Suddenly, the Bulldogs had serious quarterback issues, and anyone familiar with Dan Mullen’s offense knows the whole offense is built around the guy taking snaps. No game-managers need apply. Bulldog quarterbacks are expected to run and throw. It’s their show.
Fitzgerald didn’t seem ready, which was bad, bad news.
So there was nothing that transpired Saturday more encouraging to MSU fans than the play of Fitzgerald, who came out smoking in the first series and was about as good as could be expected for a quarterback seeing his first extensive playing time.
Fitzgerald accounted for 373 of MSU’s 487 yards. His 195 rushing yards was the most for a Bulldog quarterback in the Mullen era. He was steady in the passing game, too, going 19 of 29 for 178 yards and two scores.
While MSU fans had to be relieved to watch Fitzgerald’s effort, they had to be awed by the Bulldogs’ defense, which was a terror.
The return of 320-pound nose tackle Nick James and the remarkable debut of freshman end Jeffrey Simmons, a former standout at Noxubee County High School, along with the continued brilliance of A.J. Jefferson gives MSU as nasty and deep an interior defensive line you’ll see on any day but Sundays.
Playing about a third of the snaps in the first, Simmons had six tackles, including one-and-a-half tackles for loss, forced a fumble and a quarterback pressure.
MSU dominated the line of scrimmage for most of the game, piling up 11 tackles for loss, four sacks, and stuffing the Gamecocks’ running game to the tune of 34 yards on 31 rushing attempts.
There is a danger of making too much of MSU’s impressive rebound because South Carolina has issues, so beating the Gamecocks isn’t likely to send the Bulldogs hurdling up the rankings.
But the mood and outlook today is far brighter than it was this time last week.
Last week, we asked the question: How bad are the Bulldogs?
This week, we ask how good they can be.
MSU fans will take it.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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