..It felt good to watch an MSU team that's competitive. Their players were a head taller than ours, and were probably about twice as fast. However, Dan Mullen coached his hunch-backed *** off in that game, keeping State close until the end.
Our most valuable player-Les Miles. If he had let Jordan Jefferson play pitch and catch with his WR's all day long, they'd have won by 30. However, he tried to "establish the running game"....ie, the one thing State's defense is good at defending. Les, thank you for letting us beat the point spread.
The players left it all out on the field. If there's a worry about next week's game against Georgia Tech, it's that the team was so exhausted after playing LShoe, they just don't have anything in the tank for next week's game.
Best thing about this team- they're improving every week. Mstate won against Jackson State only because they had better players. They got blown out against Auburn. However, they played tough and beat a decent Vandy team that would've bitchslapped any Croom-coached team, and just about beat an LSU team that normally works us over like Wolf Blitzer trying to play JEOPARDY! I haven't seen an MState team improve week to week like this since the early Sherrill years. Under Croom, you'd get a great effort one week, then they'd look like they'd never seen a football field before. Under Mullen, it looks like we're going from "BOOM! and 11", to a possible bowl berth.
Biggest lesson for Dan Mullen- In the big games, put the game into the hands of your best player...which in this case is Anthony Dixon. You have 4 plays to make one yard. You JAM Dixon in there with two RB's and 4 OL blocking in front of him. True, the 3rd down pass play was okay enough (the LSU D-back made an extraordinary play). However, on 4th down you win or lose with your best player. If LSU stuffs it, then only Todd4State is bitching about us not being more creative.
Our most valuable player-Les Miles. If he had let Jordan Jefferson play pitch and catch with his WR's all day long, they'd have won by 30. However, he tried to "establish the running game"....ie, the one thing State's defense is good at defending. Les, thank you for letting us beat the point spread.
The players left it all out on the field. If there's a worry about next week's game against Georgia Tech, it's that the team was so exhausted after playing LShoe, they just don't have anything in the tank for next week's game.
Best thing about this team- they're improving every week. Mstate won against Jackson State only because they had better players. They got blown out against Auburn. However, they played tough and beat a decent Vandy team that would've bitchslapped any Croom-coached team, and just about beat an LSU team that normally works us over like Wolf Blitzer trying to play JEOPARDY! I haven't seen an MState team improve week to week like this since the early Sherrill years. Under Croom, you'd get a great effort one week, then they'd look like they'd never seen a football field before. Under Mullen, it looks like we're going from "BOOM! and 11", to a possible bowl berth.
Biggest lesson for Dan Mullen- In the big games, put the game into the hands of your best player...which in this case is Anthony Dixon. You have 4 plays to make one yard. You JAM Dixon in there with two RB's and 4 OL blocking in front of him. True, the 3rd down pass play was okay enough (the LSU D-back made an extraordinary play). However, on 4th down you win or lose with your best player. If LSU stuffs it, then only Todd4State is bitching about us not being more creative.