Off to the Races!?

 OFF TO THE RACES!?

Ant Evans and teammates celebrate hurdling the Golden Gophers!!

To the surprise and amazement of a crowd of over 48,000 mostly Gopher fans and the CBS audience the Miss. State Bulldogs raced to a 28-6 halftime lead and coasted to a 38 - 13 win over the typically middle of the Big 10+ pack Minnesota Golden Gophers. In an impressive display of what Jeff Lebby and others often describe as "complementary football," State used a combination of a balanced offense and "bend but don't break" defense that limited Minnesota's offense to 2 FG's for the game to dominate the contest. The key, in a major reversal of form in recent years, was that the Bulldogs' line on both sides of the ball owned the line of scrimmage. At least one veteran and recently SOS-leaning MSU fan asked the 'Dogs to "show him" that they can compete against Power 4 teams. He should -- and does -- consider himself shown. O, me of little faith!

Most fans of the two schools on opposite ends of the Miss. River as well as the boys in Vegas seemed to have expected a close game. The Golden Gophers are members of the highly regarded Big 10, home to the last 3 National Champions, and were coming off an 8-5 season with a bowl win and 8 straight home wins. MSU, on the other hand, had finished 5-8 last year, including a bowl loss in a game in which few people thought they deserved to play in. The Bulldogs, however, had had a modicum of success in nonconference games with other Power 4 teams under Lebby and had showcased an explosive offense led by a talented young QB. Gopher coach P.J. Fleck himself was quoted has having said last week that Miss. State was probably the fastest team Minnesota had ever played. The key question among Bulldog fans and the media, however, was whether the MSU line could play with the Golden Gopher line. That was my primary question too. It was answered emphatically in the affirmative.

Presumably you Bulldog fans watched the game intently, so I'll not rehash much. In the first half the Bulldog offense was overpowering both running and passing, scoring a TD on each of their 4 first half drives. The defense shut down the Minnesota ground game, and whether they decided the disparity in team speed rendered their long passes unlikely to succeed or their philosophy is to just conservatively chip away with higher percentage short passes, that was all they tried to do. It was, unfortunately for them, a case of bringing a knife to a gunfight. In the 3rd quarter a combination of poor field position, brought on by good punting and State's conservative minimal blitz defense which allowed the Gophers short but unproductive drives, and State's lone turnover led to Minnesota's only TD and a pause in Bulldog production. MSU restored order by unleashing Fluff Bothwell to batter the Gophers on a 10 play, 96 yd. drive that devoured 5 minutes on the clock and Minnesota's heart and soul, and culminated in The Fluffy One's 3 yd. TD rumble. That was followed by what amounted to a game-ending drive featuring reserve RB's that consumed 10 1/2 minutes but ended in frustration when a bad snap spoiled Ferrie's short FG attempt. 

Let's take a look at the positives and negatives from the game:

Negatives

• The trend of getting flagged for penalties that raised its head in the 2nd half of the ULM game continued. State committed 6 untimely penalties for 60 yds., 3 of which gave the Gophers a first down. [It almost seemed palatable, however, because it paled in comparison to Minnesota, which had twice as many penalties for about twice as many yds.]
• Kamario lost a fumble in the end zone, giving Minnesota their only TD of the day. It was a mistake on both the OL's and his part.
• The DL only got 2 sacks on the day despite 50 dropbacks. State was blitzing little, but routinely gave the QB considerable time to find a receiver. [And yet they had no TD's except on the 'Dog turnover!]
• I feel almost silly for mentioning this since our defense gave up just 6 points, but our "bend but don't break" defense hurt our offense because we allowed the Gophers to maintain possession on short passes. On a day when the offense was clicking, more possessions would have undoubtedly meant more points scored by MSU.

Positives 

• I have to begin with the 'Dog line on both sides of the ball. The OL opened holes for Fluff, K1, and their comrades to run for 252 yds. on an average of 5.5 yds./carry. This happened despite the fact that for almost the entire 4th quarter everyone watching in the stadium and on TV knew that we were just going to run it and eat up clock. The MSU OL also pass blocked well, with K1 being sacked only once. They came up huge!
• The State defensive line allowed the Gophers, who had been touted as having a pretty good running game, to gain a scant 13 net yds. rushing on an average of 13 inches per carry. They also had 4 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. 
• Let's stay with the defense since that was an overall weakness last season. The tackling by the LB's and DB's was outstanding. Minn. receivers caught passes, but for 279 yds. on 31 catches for an average of  9 yds./completion. Just 2 of the 48 attempts yielded completions of 20 yds. or more. And again, zero TD's! 
• Once again the passing game looked scary good with a 4X100m relay team of receivers led by Anthony Evans, who gained 141 yds. and scored a TD. The wealth was spread around with Ragins and Magee both having 3 catches, including TD receptions of 25 and 30 yds., respectively. Fleck was right about the speed!
• At this point I'm going to do something different and borrow the NHL tradition of naming some of my "stars of the game." I won't include Kamario since he has already become a given as a star. He was hell on the Gophers. But here are a half dozen other than K1 who caught my eye as difference-makers:

LB Tyler Lockhart - 7 tackles, 1 sack

 Safety Isaac Smith - 5 tackles, 1 pass breakup

RB Fluff Bothwell - 18 carries, 113 yds., 6.3 YPC, 2 TD's

WR Anthony Evans - 7 catches, 121 yds., long of 39 yds., 1 TD

 RG LJ Prudhomme (50) & RT Jakheem Shumpert-Perkins (55), 
the Rive Droite (Right Bank), 670 lbs. of Massive Maroon

What Now?

Next stop: Williams-Brice Stadium (which I call "the Chicken Coop") in Columbia, SC, where our Bulldogs will take on the South Carolina Gamecocks, who in 2 games this season have outscored a MAC team and an FCS team by a combined 102 - 9. Last season USC-E was highly regarded in the preseason, but with key injuries and underwhelming performances ended the year 4-8 overall, 1-7 (and in a 3 way tie with MSU and Auburn for 13th) in the SEC. Their big, athletic QB LaNorris Sellers, who had a stellar 2024 season but was injured much of last year, is back, as are some other stars. The media hasn't quite known what to make of them this season after they expected much of USC last year but were burned. Some give them a chance to end this season ranked; others expect this to be Shane Beamer's last roundup in the Land of the Poultry.

Me? The Coop can be Tiger Stadiumesque, especially at night, but Saturday's game will be played at midafternoon. The 'Cocks have crushed two patsies, but so what? State has played and thrashed a cupcake at home and a Power 5 opponent on the road. It's a key game for both teams and their coaches, both of whom began this season with some discernible warmth of their seats. Both teams have a number of ranked SEC opponents soon to follow (for the Chickens it's off to Tuscaloosa😨). I see it as another pick 'em. The two QB's have similar physical tools and styles, and both teams badly need this win. I think, as with Minnesota last weekend, it comes down to which team's lines win in the trenches. I really like most of what I've seen from our 'Dogs, but this will be a tough road game. State has historically struggled with mobile QB's. Everyone has struggled with Kamario so far. Before the season with all of the unknowns of a new cast and a freshman (though supremely talented one) QB, I gave State little chance in this game. Now? I think the Bulldogs may be the better team ... I'm just not sure the difference is enough to offset the home field advantage. Call me🐔💩, but I'm still a game away from trusting that I know what to expect from State. However, looking at it a day after thumping Minnesota and 6 days from our rendezvous at the Chicken Coop, I'm kinda like Sir Paul and his fellow Lads from Liverpool [click here https://youtu.be/mZRmUTETb6o?si=WEsLjf94CRXz2-M_ ].

Hail, State!!