Mike Leach on Mississippi State's offensive issues: 'I thought they were more physical'

Mississippi State coach Mike Leach was not happy with the performance from his offense Saturday against Alabama, and he let everyone know it in his postgame press conference.

The Bulldogs were held scoreless until the last play of the game, when running back JoQuavious Marks scored a 1-yard touchdown as time expired. Those offensive woes resulted the Crimson Tide jumping out to a 24-0 lead by halftime on their way to securing the 30-6 victory, Mississippi State’s second straight loss.

Asked what went wrong, Leach summed it up with a simple but firm answer.

“They were more physical,” he said. “They used their hands better than we did. They shoved us around. The first half, we just took it. The second half, we battled back a little, but it was kind of disjointed and feeble.”

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The Bulldogs totaled just 140 yards of offense in the first half, including -11 yards rushing in the second. Saturday also marked the third time this season they were held under 250 yards passing, as they finished with 231 air yards on 60 attempts. They also gave up four sacks and committed a turnover.

Leach described his team as being “scared and timid” to face Alabama in the early going, saying that even after they woke up in the second half, the damage was already done.

“They were kind of giving it to us and then after a while, they kind of shut that down,” the coach said. “They’re a good team obviously. You have everything, you just have to go out and execute. We didn’t execute. I mean, you start out the game and you’ve got 60 minutes. Then say you spend 30 of it trying to reconcile, ‘They have a red jersey that says Alabama, so we’re gonna go ahead and be scared and timid and not use our hands and get shoved around.’

“Then, you have another half to try to win a game that you’re already behind in. You still haven’t fully reconciled that but battle a little bit. Then you have a bunch of other stuff that multiplies on it. Some you’re doing and some others.”

At the end of the day, Mike Leach knows Mississippi State has only itself to blame for its poor play Saturday. After at one point being 5-1 and No. 16 in the AP poll, the Bulldogs fell out of this week’s rankings.

They’ll hope to find answers as they return home for their bye week before hosting Auburn in Week 10.