Game 1 Thoughts from an amateur

[Lord McBuckethead]

Good Outcome.
We won the opener through terrible weather delays.

Did we look good doing it, no.
Did our defense leave much to desire, yes.
Our team looks a bunch like our team last year. They just cannot stand on someone?s neck. Just another game where we took basically an entire quarter off. It will cost us one, maybe two games. Zero pass rush, but may have been the scheme trying to eliminate rush yards. Except the last 30 minutes Memphis was doing whatever they wanted.

So, game 1 down. Not much else left to say about our team. They looked haphazard the entire second half. Just A bunch of meh. Hopefully it was the defensive scheme that kept our DL and our blitzes from touching the QB. Hopefully we can get more air on punts. Hopefully we can actually kick balls out of the endzone.

1-0, is what we needed and we got it. This type of play gets us to 6-6. Maybe we can get better this week.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Look guys, we won big. We could have put up 70 if we wanted to. All of these criticisms are made only because what I am seeing doesn?t get us to where we need to be. We have to learn how to finish people off. We cannot continue only playing 2.5 quarters of games. I am glad we basically handled Memphis, but I am seeing exactly the same problems as last year, and last year was 6 games away from where we want to be.

[Lord McBuckethead]

SEC Football Final has failed showing our game highlights and have not mentioned us even in jest.

[ShotgunDawg]

It?s like some of you don?t watch other SEC games and realize everyone has flaws.

I think we?re a good team that fell asleep after a 2 hour rain delay and stepping in their throat to begin the 3rd quarter.

That wasn?t close to a 6-6 caliber team on the field tonight. Most explosive we?ve been at WR in our lifetimes, OL was good, and the defense has the right pieces.

Good game to learn from tonight though

[CadaverDawg]

I see both sides.

The guy who has watched and been a fan of Mississippi State for 35 years, understands why some are going to give you shit for criticizing a big opening game win.

But, the guy that wants to see us climb the mountain to the top of the SEC, agrees that without cleaning up things like the second half and demanding excellence even when up big, knows we'll never be more than a 6-9 win team. Some will be satisfied with that....I can live with that...but only if it's what our potential can achieve. If we could be a 10+ win team by Leach and Co demanding perfection, but are a 7 win team bc Leach allows the team to take a quarter and a half off each game...I'm not cool with that. And nobody else should be either.

1-0. Hope we play a full 4 Q's next week and get a road dub.

[ShotgunDawg]

I see both sides.

The guy who has watched and been a fan of Mississippi State for 35 years, understands why some are going to give you shit for criticizing a big opening game win.

But, the guy that wants to see us climb the mountain to the top of the SEC, agrees that without cleaning up things like the second half and demanding excellence even when up big, knows we'll never be more than a 6-9 win team. Some will be satisfied with that....I can live with that...but only if it's what our potential can achieve. If we could be a 10+ win team by Leach and Co demanding perfection, but are a 7 win team bc Leach allows the team to take a quarter and a half off each game...I'm not cool with that. And nobody else should be either.

1-0. Hope we play a full 4 Q's next week and get a road dub.

Good points

[defiantdog]

Our receivers are hitting spots and running good routes, defense ran to the ball, we actually ran the ball some. It's like y'all expect us to be Georgia without having Georgia talent. We played well, we won the game, and the other team never had a chance.

[Lord McBuckethead]

It?s like some of you don?t watch other SEC games and realize everyone has flaws.

I think we?re a good team that fell asleep after a 2 hour rain delay and stepping in their throat to begin the 3rd quarter.

That wasn?t close to a 6-6 caliber team on the field tonight. Most explosive we?ve been at WR in our lifetimes, OL was good, and the defense has the right pieces.

Good game to learn from tonight though

No doubt about it. Our OL played pretty dang good today. And when our receivers were allowed more than 2 yards down field they did really well. Jett Johnson looked good out there as well.

I only make comments because these items are what is holding us back from getting to 10 wins. We can beat everyone on our schedule, but not if we re only playing 2.5 quarters of games. Sure today had two hours worth of delays, but this is not the first time this has transpired either. I just go into games believing that we will go 22 and a half minutes where we literally do not execute on both sides of the ball. Of course today we didn?t play tempo either.

Either way, I am happy with the win and I am damn glad the boys shut down the Memphis team after what happened last year at Memphis.

[ShotgunDawg]

No doubt about it. Our OL played pretty dang good today. And when our receivers were allowed more than 2 yards down field they did really well. Jett Johnson looked good out there as well.

I only make comments because these items are what is holding us back from getting to 10 wins. We can beat everyone on our schedule, but not if we re only playing 2.5 quarters of games. Sure today had two hours worth of delays, but this is not the first time this has transpired either. I just go into games believing that we will go 22 and a half minutes where we literally do not execute on both sides of the ball. Of course today we didn?t play tempo either.

Either way, I am happy with the win and I am damn glad the boys shut down the Memphis team after what happened last year at Memphis.

The rain delay I think caused much of that. We came out of the delay and stepped on their throat and then packed it in.

It?s not acceptable but it is understandable.

[Tater]

SEC Football Final has failed showing our game highlights and have not mentioned us even in jest.

Just mentioned the SEC has 13 Wins so far.

Does that count Vandy's two games?

[Goldendawg]

Stayed for the whole game. I think we have good depth and talent at WR. Still worried about lack of pass rush and safety play in pass game. If second string D was in on long TD run and pass play, worried about our depth. Impressed with OL and improvement of Dolla Bill. If we can do it, kick the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs! Stop the TD celebrations. Focus and play 4 quarters. Still happy with the win, but put your foot on the throat of the opposition and put them away when you can. Hail State!

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Shotgun, Memphis had the same rain delay but they came out shooting, but we didn't. You made LordMcBukethead's point. Taking time off is never acceptable.

[Todd4State]

As far as the pass rush Memphis ran a lot of quick hitches and roll out passes tonight. Those types of passes typically aren't conducive to getting sacked.

I thought we did a good job of generating pressure. I'm giving it an incomplete at this point.

[BB30]

Out of curiosity, what makes you think Leach isn't demanding excellence when up big(not being sarcastic, generally curious). Played college and professional baseball albeit a completely different sport but all of the coaches that I had "demanded" excellence regardless of the score. Didn't mean we didn't let teams slide back into a game when we were up big on occasion.

It's difficult to stay mentally focused when you're up 4-5 scores at the half, especially when you sat through a 2 or 3 hour rain delay after being jacked up to play in front of a good crowd to open the season and then come out and nobody is there, weather is nasty, you're playing exceptionally late etc.

I think one thing that helps saban and his teams come out with a killer instinct is that if you don't, you'll be replaced by someone just as talented as you. The competition in house keeps those guys going. We don't have quite that type of luxury. Our best players are as talented as some of bamas best, our depth isn't close to what bamas is.

Not making excuses for them, they shouldn't let that happen and hopefully it will improve at some point. Simply stating it's dang hard to get 18-22 year olds to do what they need to 100 percent of the time. We've seen it under jackie, Dan and now leach. If you watch just about anyone not named bama they have the same issues at some point in the season.

Look at the om game, ky game, Texas a and m, etc. there were a pile of games like ours.

[Cooterpoot]

Good Outcome.
We won the opener through terrible weather delays.

Did we look good doing it, no.
Did our defense leave much to desire, yes.
Our team looks a bunch like our team last year. They just cannot stand on someone?s neck. Just another game where we took basically an entire quarter off. It will cost us one, maybe two games. Zero pass rush, but may have been the scheme trying to eliminate rush yards. Except the last 30 minutes Memphis was doing whatever they wanted.

So, game 1 down. Not much else left to say about our team. They looked haphazard the entire second half. Just A bunch of meh. Hopefully it was the defensive scheme that kept our DL and our blitzes from touching the QB. Hopefully we can get more air on punts. Hopefully we can actually kick balls out of the endzone.

1-0, is what we needed and we got it. This type of play gets us to 6-6. Maybe we can get better this week.

What the hell game you watch? That was a solid game. We fell asleep with a big lead and still kicked their ass. We can't beat two teams on our schedule. We should have a shot vs the rest. Damn, some you piss in your own cereal just to bitch.

[IMissJack]

We better hit the portal for defense for next year. I thought the d looked great when starters were in most of the time. When we put in non starters, it was very weak. Complete off the cliff drop off. When we tried, we did whatever we wanted on offense. The first half, I?m not sure Will got touched. Receivers looked good too.

[msstate7]

Lord knows I love to be critical, but I thought we looked outstanding. What sucks though is the whole sec looks good.

De Laura looked really good at qb for Arizona today. If this was an indication of what type of year he's gonna have, we probably got our hands full next week starting a game at 10 central.

ETA... will's decision making was outstanding for the overwhelming majority of the game, but he did make a couple throws I don't want him making vs sec secondaries

[Catfish]

We looked dang good. Got the first game out of the way with a good result. They're going to watch a lot of film and correct some things. Good win.

[Jarius]

We looked pretty damn good yesterday. Carry on.

[thf24]

ETA... will's decision making was outstanding for the overwhelming majority of the game, but he did make a couple throws I don't want him making vs sec secondaries

The only thing I was extremely displeased with was the fumble on the batted swing pass and the bubble screen to Tulu right before it. Those are two pick sixes in the SEC, and the former was a horrendous playcall after they'd demonstrated an aggressive attempt to jump a flats route just one play prior.

[basedog]

The only thing I was extremely displeased with was the fumble on the batted swing pass and the bubble screen to Tulu right before it. Those are two pick sixes in the SEC, and the former was a horrendous playcall after they'd demonstrated an aggressive attempt to jump a flats route just one play prior.

Yep, playing calling wasn't smart in the red zone, yes, we scored but against fast aggressive defenses in the Sec those silly swing passes want get it. Leach's play calling in the red zone is his weakness.

[DEDawg]

Overall I give this a B+. Came out throwing haymakers and put them down 28-3 early. Receivers look excellent, Will looked above average and his arm has more pop than last year. His timing was off on that INT but he will clean that up. Biggest gripe with him was I believe 3rd quarter and it was Walley who broke free and had an easy TD and Will just overthrew him by 5 yards. Can’t miss those in SEC play, have have have to connect on the deep ball there. That 35 yards pass to Ducking for the TD could not have been thrown better, just need to get consistent.

OL looked excellent. D-Bill may have finally figured it out and could be an All SEC LT if he plays like that each game. Run game didnt have much push but that’s just the offense we run. Running it on first down is a refreshing change of pace and I hope we keep sprinkling that in. Think I saw 4 runs in a row at one point for a first down which not sure I’ve seen here since Leach showed up, was nice to see. Marks/Dillon are legit.

Defense looked great minus pass rush. Jett is playing himself into NFL territory and our secondary looked serviceable. Arnett is a really good coach we have to keep him here. Pass rush is a concern but ill wait another week before really worrying. If we look the same against AZ and get zero pressure it can cost us some games. The fact we couldn’t get home when brining all pressure wasn’t great but like i said I’ll worry about that next week.

Great start to the season with good film for us to study and clean up. Hailstate

[TrapGame]

Out of curiosity, what makes you think Leach isn't demanding excellence when up big(not being sarcastic, generally curious). Played college and professional baseball albeit a completely different sport but all of the coaches that I had "demanded" excellence regardless of the score. Didn't mean we didn't let teams slide back into a game when we were up big on occasion.

It's difficult to stay mentally focused when you're up 4-5 scores at the half, especially when you sat through a 2 or 3 hour rain delay after being jacked up to play in front of a good crowd to open the season and then come out and nobody is there, weather is nasty, you're playing exceptionally late etc.

I think one thing that helps saban and his teams come out with a killer instinct is that if you don't, you'll be replaced by someone just as talented as you. The competition in house keeps those guys going. We don't have quite that type of luxury. Our best players are as talented as some of bamas best, our depth isn't close to what bamas is.

Not making excuses for them, they shouldn't let that happen and hopefully it will improve at some point. Simply stating it's dang hard to get 18-22 year olds to do what they need to 100 percent of the time. We've seen it under jackie, Dan and now leach. If you watch just about anyone not named bama they have the same issues at some point in the season.

Look at the om game, ky game, Texas a and m, etc. there were a pile of games like ours.

Excellent post.

And folks need to remember that teams usually improve from week one to week two. Leach and Arnett are going to chew some ass about taking a quarter off. But, this weather delay may just have helped us with the Arizona game.

[Homedawg]

Shotgun, Memphis had the same rain delay but they came out shooting, but we didn't. You made LordMcBukethead's point. Taking time off is never acceptable.

What? We killed them out of the delay. It was the third q from about the 7 min mark where we stunk.

[Dawgology]

Y?all are insane. We looked good early but got tired in our 6 playing at midnight up 24 points hahah. I?ll give them a pass on that. It was laaaaate I was having trouble staying awake just laying on my couch watching it. Offense was scoring late with backups and defense was still getting some pressure while playing at about 75% late.

[MetEdDawg]

There's some damned revisionist history going on here folks.

It was 35-3 when we started coasting and it was 7-0 at the rain delay. And Memphis sure as hell didn't come out after the rain delay firing. After the rain delay, we scored to make it 14-0. Then Memphis went punt, FG, punt, punt to get us to the end of the first half and had 15 total yards in doing that. Then to open the 2nd half they went punt and punt.

So 5 of their 6 drives after the rain delay ended in punts and the one scoring drive they accumulated a total of 4 yards on after the Rogers pick.

So let's not freaking act like we didn't dominate that ass. We let backups start playing considerably more 2nd half and they didn't play well. It happens. We can be upset about that. But our 1st team other than a few errors completely dominated Memphis.

Some of y'all need to chill out.

[ShotgunDawg]

Shotgun, Memphis had the same rain delay but they came out shooting, but we didn't. You made LordMcBukethead's point. Taking time off is never acceptable.

We dominated after the rain delay until we thought the game was over, which is was, and the relaxed.

[Tater]

There's some damned revisionist history going on here folks.

It was 35-3 when we started coasting and it was 7-0 at the rain delay. And Memphis sure as hell didn't come out after the rain delay firing. After the rain delay, we scored to make it 14-0. Then Memphis went punt, FG, punt, punt to get us to the end of the first half and had 15 total yards in doing that. Then to open the 2nd half they went punt and punt.

So 5 of their 6 drives after the rain delay ended in punts and the one scoring drive they accumulated a total of 4 yards on after the Rogers pick.

So let's not freaking act like we didn't dominate that ass. We let backups start playing considerably more 2nd half and they didn't play well. It happens. We can be upset about that. But our 1st team other than a few errors completely dominated Memphis.

Some of y'all need to chill out.

The 35-3 portion of the game felt like watching our 2014 game against USM, minus will's one misread. The rest of the game felt like Geoff Collins 1Amazing / 1Bad schtick against 2014 UAB.

This team gives off a lot of 2014 vibes to me, (lots of seniors everywhere. a returning QB with dark horse heisman hopes that is fully the leader of this team, a tough sec schedule, but a west that has no clear #2)

[R2Dawg]

The 35-3 portion of the game felt like watching our 2014 game against USM, minus will's one misread. The rest of the game felt like Geoff Collins 1Amazing / 1Bad schtick against 2014 UAB.

This team gives off a lot of 2014 vibes to me, (lots of seniors everywhere. a returning QB with dark horse heisman hopes that is fully the leader of this team, a tough sec schedule, but a west that has no clear #2)

Agree with that. At 35-3, we seemed to take foot off gas. We got to not do that but we are just human.

[Tater]

Agree with that. At 35-3, we seemed to take foot off gas. We got to not do that but we are just human.

We stepped on the throat when needed to and kept them from ever being within two scores. That last TD felt so ****ing good.

[Catfish]

We stepped on the throat when needed to and kept them from ever being within two scores. That last TD felt so ****ing good.

Agreed, Robinson made a good catch.

[WhiskeyPirate]

Overall I give this a B+. Came out throwing haymakers and put them down 28-3 early. Receivers look excellent, Will looked above average and his arm has more pop than last year. His timing was off on that INT but he will clean that up. Biggest gripe with him was I believe 3rd quarter and it was Walley who broke free and had an easy TD and Will just overthrew him by 5 yards. Can’t miss those in SEC play, have have have to connect on the deep ball there. That 35 yards pass to Ducking for the TD could not have been thrown better, just need to get consistent.

OL looked excellent. D-Bill may have finally figured it out and could be an All SEC LT if he plays like that each game. Run game didnt have much push but that’s just the offense we run. Running it on first down is a refreshing change of pace and I hope we keep sprinkling that in. Think I saw 4 runs in a row at one point for a first down which not sure I’ve seen here since Leach showed up, was nice to see. Marks/Dillon are legit.

Defense looked great minus pass rush. Jett is playing himself into NFL territory and our secondary looked serviceable. Arnett is a really good coach we have to keep him here. Pass rush is a concern but ill wait another week before really worrying. If we look the same against AZ and get zero pressure it can cost us some games. The fact we couldn’t get home when brining all pressure wasn’t great but like i said I’ll worry about that next week.

Great start to the season with good film for us to study and clean up. Hailstate

Agree with about all of that. I knew Jett was pretty good, but I was a little surprised how darn good he is last night. He will get a shot at the nfl if he keeps playing like that. Very smart player..knows where the ball is going before the play develops. He’s also a punishing tackler.

[MBDawg601]

Am I missing something? People act like Memphis is a pushover.

They have been getting increasingly better over the past 4-5 years. I'll take a 26 point win any day. Without the delay, I am quite sure we destroy them 63-3 or something similar, but let's not act like this is Utah state or Sam Houston. Memphis is much improved from the Memphis State days.

[Commercecomet24]

What? We killed them out of the delay. It was the third q from about the 7 min mark where we stunk.

This. I wonder if some people actually watched the game. We dominated for the first 2.5 quarters and then lost some focus but to our credit we answers every time they scored in the second half.

[Lord McBuckethead]

The last TD is exactly what I expected when the other coach called a damn timeout. That was ridiculous of them.

[thf24]

Am I missing something? People act like Memphis is a pushover.

They have been getting increasingly better over the past 4-5 years. I'll take a 26 point win any day. Without the delay, I am quite sure we destroy them 63-3 or something similar, but let's not act like this is Utah state or Sam Houston. Memphis is much improved from the Memphis State days.

They've slid back a little the past two years since their peak under Norvell, but they're still sneaky talented and always show up ready to fight. They're definitely better than the Troy or Miami Ohio teams OM and UK struggled with yesterday.

[TrapGame]

They've slid back a little the past two years since their peak under Norvell, but they're still sneaky talented and always show up ready to fight. They're definitely better than the Troy or Miami Ohio teams OM and UK struggled with yesterday.

Memphis is also better than San Diego State. Watching the AZ/SDS game this morning and SDS's defense was bad. Way too many missed tackles and not a lot of push from their front. Even with that they got a couple of turnovers. SDS's QB missed wide open receivers that Will won't.

[WhiskeyPirate]

Usually a big difference between MAC teams...which always play the big boys tough early in the season and the Sun Belt teams IMO....

[Commercecomet24]

Memphis is also better than San Diego State. Watching the AZ/SDS game this morning and SDS's defense was bad. Way too many missed tackles and not a lot of push from their front. Even with that they got a couple of turnovers. SDS's QB missed wide open receivers that Will won't.

Yeah I watched it too and it was a battle of 2 really mediocre(at best) teams. Not much team speed for either one but az does have a legit qb in De Laura, not much else though.

[HeCannotGo]

Shotgun, Memphis had the same rain delay but they came out shooting, but we didn't. You made LordMcBukethead's point. Taking time off is never acceptable.

We handled the rain delay much better than Memphis.

First five drives for Memphis after the delay: 4 punts and a FG (only because we gave them great field position after a pick).

First five drives for us after the delay: 3 touchdowns, a pick, and a few plays that ended the first half. We also had a TD on our first drive in the second half.

Yes, we went to sleep for awhile in from mid-third to mid-fourth quarter, but we definitely "came out shooting" after the delay more so than Memphis.

Edited to add: I see that others made this same point first. Apologies for piling on and not reading all responses before posting mine.

[CadaverDawg]

Just watched the first half again, and my goodness, if you didn't watch another play of this game you would be wooly as hell. The only blemish in the first half was Will's bad interception. That's it. We totally dominated that first half. If we can start putting together 4 quarters of that first half, we will be absolute hell to deal with.

[WhiskeyPirate]

That first half pick by Will was a timing route that Walley quit on for some reason. If he had run the route it would have been a completion not a pick.

[Commercecomet24]

That first half pick by Will was a timing route that Walley quit on for some reason. If he had run the route it would have been a completion not a pick.

This. Leach said so after the game said wr didn't finish the route.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Breaking down the game by possession

1st possession:

First, we took the ball out the gate because we were there to prove a point. The point being, if the refs didn?t screw us last year we win that running away.

First drive, felt like we mixed runs and passes really well. RaRa had a great first series. I think he had the first catch of the game, an 8 yard strike in a sit down route. His second route was a great adjustment on a ball that he was juggling. Not a clean catch, but he concentrated to secure, and then put a heck of a move to get to the endzone. OL play was alright, they gave Rogers time, but didn?t get much push in the run game.

The run game was effective, but it seemed like Narks refuses to bounce it outside or to show some patience on the holes to develop. I would like to see him be a little bit more patient and shifty.

1st possession, exactly what you would like to see. Very business like.

[Lord McBuckethead]

1st defensive series: gave up one first down, reacted well on the next two plays. Third down, got a tackle for a loss against the QB in a good adjustment by 22 and Bookie Watson.

Solid work on defense. The domination still intact.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Second Possession:
Good run to get it going. Dylan Johnson just gets yards.
Walley had a solid catch up the middle, 1st down.
Tulu Griffin made a solid catch, although you could not see it on the TV. WTF is up with the camera operators?
Will throws one away.
Will has one tipped at the line, on a check down.
Solid mesh concept over the middle for 20 yards to Tulu.
Lightning delay. We would have scored in three plays more.

Now we wait for 2hr 20min.

[BeardoMSU]

Just watched the first half again, and my goodness, if you didn't watch another play of this game you would be wooly as hell. The only blemish in the first half was Will's bad interception. That's it. We totally dominated that first half. If we can start putting together 4 quarters of that first half, we will be absolute hell to deal with.

Definitely

[Lord McBuckethead]

Play resumes. MSU 1st and 10

Dillion Johnson 5 yard carry.
Dillion Johnson swing pass, third and short.
Seems to be a lot of side to side action.
Run up the middle DJ, 1st down.
Johnson runs for 10 yards. Good blocking by Ducking.
Walley 20 yarder over the middle.
Marks up the middle for next to nothing.
We make a substitution, allowing the entire Memphis front to sub.
Doesn?t matter, Walley wide open over the middle. 10 yards TD.

[MoreCowbell]

Lord knows I love to be critical, but I thought we looked outstanding. What sucks though is the whole sec looks good.

De Laura looked really good at qb for Arizona today. If this was an indication of what type of year he's gonna have, we probably got our hands full next week starting a game at 10 central.

ETA... will's decision making was outstanding for the overwhelming majority of the game, but he did make a couple throws I don't want him making vs sec secondaries

Agreed. Thought we looked great but so does pretty much every other SEC team. We are probably a top 20 team but with our schedule wont get there.