What we learned: Mississippi State vs. Alabama edition
Simply put, we learned that Mississippi State finished the month of September with a 2-3 record. Most fans figured, and rightfully so, that if the Bulldogs were to have a solid-to-good season, they had to enter at October with a 3-2 mark. But here we are.
Saturday night was strange in some ways but then the final result was such a familiar one in the Alabama series. In the first half, State showed glimpses of good play on both sides of the ball. Then it all came to a crashing halt in the final minute of the first half.
Quite frankly, we won’t learn much next weekend either when the Bulldogs host Western Michigan. Then there’s the open date after that out-of-conference matchup. With a 2-3 record, we are learning that starting with the Arkansas game, it will be a do-or-die situation from here on out with this staff.
Offense
Unlike the LSU disaster, we learned that this offense can make plays and produce successful drives. Unfortunately, we learned that those times are far and few between. On the touchdown drive that ended with Mike Wright’s rushing touchdown, offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay called a perfect drive and it was executed to perfection.
But there’s other drives where you wonder what the heck is going on. I do like Barbay’s system and there are plays to be made in it, especially with his creativity in the red zone. But you must have the players to run it and not turn the ball over.
We learned again that Jo’quavious Marks is a warrior for this offense. His burst and vision has steadily improved this year and fingers crossed that he stays healthy the rest of the year. We also learned that Marks has at least one catch in 41 straight games, the fifth-longest active streak in the FBS ranks.
Also at running back, we learned that Jeffery Pittman has steadily improved and he had his second touchdown catch of the year on Saturday. And I hope we learn that Seth Davis will get more touches in his freshman campaign. His redshirt possibilities are off the table now so get the youngster more touches.
We learned that after being banged up since camp, receiver Justin Robinson had to be sidelined against Alabama and did not play due to a thigh contusion. In his absence, State’s opening play featured two tight ends with Ryland Goede and Malik Ellis.
Up front, we learned that the offensive line played a bit better. They were solid in run blocking for the most part and more times than not, they gave Will Rogers time to throw the ball. We also saw a couple of changes late in the game with Albert Reese at first-team left guard and Kwatrivious Johnson at right tackle. Basically, they are still searching for their best five in the trenches and this late in the season, that is a concern.
We also learned that Rogers’ struggles continued on Saturday as he threw a career-high three interceptions. He did throw the first touchdown pass against Alabama since the 2014 meeting (what a stat huh?). But hopefully in the future, we learn that Wright gets more of an opportunity than just getting a package here or there. Initially, my biggest issue of playing Wright more was turnovers. But if your starting quarterback is also turning the ball over, well, that goes out the window.
Defense
We learned that Mississippi State did make some changes to the defense against Alabama and it looked solid in the beginning. But eventually, the run defense did not hold up and once again, the opposing quarterback had rare incompletions against the secondary.
We learned that State started the game with a 2-4-5 look, starting four linebackers in J.P. Purvis, John Lewis, Bookie Watson and Jett Johnson. We learned that Johnson tied his career-high with 14 tackles for the second straight week. Watson also finished with double digit tackles (12) for the 13th time in his career.
Thankfully, we learned that freshman defensive end Donterry Russell is finally healthy and that could be a key moving forward. Despite his age and as we saw last year in practice, he has the best speed off the edge of anyone on the roster. He responded Saturday with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks (first career sack in the first quarter).
Also up front, we learned that Donterry’s brother – De’Monte Russell – is still suffering from an injury suffered against LSU and he did not play Saturday. We will see if that changes next Saturday but either way, I expect the younger Russell to earn more and more reps moving forward.
We didn’t learn much from the secondary. DeCarlos Nicholson started again opposite of Decamerion Richardson while Esaias Furdge also rotated in at corner. I may be wrong but it appears to me that the safeties are doing a decent job so far while the same can not be said for the corners in pass defense.
The end result was not pretty although State’s offense handed Alabama 14 of the 40 total points. We will see if Matt Brock has any other changes when the Bulldogs face Western Michigan but with injuries piling up, there’s not many other options to put on the field unless some true freshmen are ready. That being said, I would like to see freshman corner Brice Pollock get more experience because he will be needed in the future.
Special teams
We learned that this group remained steady against Alabama and State’s special teams remains the best aspect of the team. Freshman punter Keelann Crimmins averaged 45 yards on three punts and tied his career high with a 54 yard punt. So we are learning that the Australia native is improving.
We learned that freshman kicker Kyle Ferrie was perfect again, making his lone field goal attempt and both of his extra point attempts.
We also learned that returners Tulu Griffin and Zavion Thomas are still dangerous with the ball in their hands. On kickoffs, they combined for five returns for 110 yards.
The post What we learned: Mississippi State vs. Alabama edition appeared first on On3.
