Peeps, Saturday night’s win over LSU was epic. It was the biggest margin of victory for State in the series. The Dogs absolute mauled the Bengal Tigers and made an emphatic statement about their intentions in the SEC. Now it’s time to ask what we learned. Here’s what I saw:
Defense
1. State’s D put in another absolutely dominant performance against LSU. The numbers alone are impressive. The Dogs held LSU to just 270 yards of total offense with 133 rushing and 137 passing. State amassed 4 TFLs, 2 sacks, and 6 QB hurries.
2. The Dogs’ front seven absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage. LSU RB Derrius Guice was held to just 76 yards on 15 carries. The reason is he had nowhere to run. State was constantly knocking the LSU OL backward and blowing up his run lanes. Then when LSU was in predictable passing situations, they turned up the jets and raced to QB Danny Etling. He was harassed all night long.
3. There’s a reason State’s secondary looks so much better this year and it starts on the DL. With the way they’re getting to the QB, our DBs aren’t being asked to cover forever. It makes a huge difference. But I don’t want to slight our DBs, they’ve made a big improvement themselves this season. Lashard Durr is a legit SEC CB. And I really like the potential of Cam Dantzler. Jamal Peters is starting to come on, too.
4. We are scary deep, especially up front. Corey Thomas was out with injury and we didn’t miss him a bit. Braxton Hoyette stepped up and had a huge game. “Next man up” is alive and well on D. We’re rotating almost an entire two deep with no dropoff in performance. SEC offenses can officially start having nightmares about our D.
5. Jeffery Simmons is a grown man. He might be the best DL in college football bar none. His motor is incredible, especially for a guy that big. We haven’t heard HC Dan Mullen use the term “relentless effort” in a while, but Simmons is the personification of that mantra. He just never quits or runs out of gas. He’ll blow up the OL, then chase down the RB from behind. And when it’s 3rd and long…well, let’s just say I feel sorry for the guys trying to block him.
6. Mark McLaurin has become the stud we all thought he could be. He led the team in tackles and was all over the field.
7. Brandon Bryant has rediscovered the form he showed two seasons ago. He once again looks incredibly fast and flies to the ball. I can’t wait until he finally picks one off.
8. Honestly, I could spend the rest of the column talking about individual performances. Suffice to say, this unit’s turnaround is nothing short of miraculous. They embody the mantra of DC Todd Grantham: Fast, Physical, Aggressive.
Special Teams:
1. Special teams was a huge reason for the W. They did everything right, zero mistakes. Nice to see.
2. Logan Cooke is as good as they come. He only punted 3 times, but he averaged 46.0 YPP. And his kickoffs were absolute boomers. All but two were touchbacks and both of those had so much hang time the LSU returner didn’t even sniff the 25. Poor decision by their guy to attempt to try a return, but that’s what a lead and Cooke do to teams. They make them press and try to make something happen, which plays right into our hands.
3. I can’t say enough about Jace Christmann on Saturday night. He was spectacular. He nailed all 4 of his PAT attempts and was 3/3 in the FG department. But most importantly, he hit the long 45 yard attempt. I was in the stadium, and believe me when I say, that was arguably the loudest cheer of the night. DWS went nuts. It completely shifted the momentum of the game. Here was my text message to a few of my buddies, verbatim: “WE MADE A LONG FG? WE MADE A LONG FG!!!!”
Offense:
1. Offense continued to churn out yards and points. The Dogs tallied 465 total yards, 180 in the air and 285 on the ground. State averaged 5.9 yards per rush and had the ball a whopping 35:55. The really incredible part is the Dogs had 7 straight scoring possessions.
2. State ran 71 offensive plays on Saturday night, rushing the ball 48 times and throwing it 23 times. That works out to a 68/32 run/pass ratio. Exactly how WMD likes it!
3. The Dogs’ OL dominated the vaunted LSU DL and repeatedly won the line of scrimmage. We were knocking them off the ball and creating big holes all night. It was a beautiful sight. If we can stay healthy up front, we’re going to be a hard offense to stop.
4. QB Nick Fitzgerald continued to play really well. He completed 15/23 passes for 180 yards and 2 TDs. He had a completion percentage of 65.2% and a QBR of 81.9. Fitz added another 88 yards and 2 TDs on 14 carries. Just another 4 TD night for Fitz. Even Dak didn’t make 4 TD games look so easy.
5. RB Aeris Williams has turned it up a notch and completely transformed our offense. We’ve been almost unstoppable ever since he took over as the feature back midway through last season. I have no idea why Mullen thought Brandon Holloway should be carrying the ball 15 times a game over the A-Train. But I won’t get into that rant.
The A-Train shouldered the load against LSU with 23 carries for 146 yards. He averaged 5.3 yards per rush. It’s a shame we never got him into the endzone.
6. Let me talk about the TD to Keith Mixon in the 3rd quarter. Not long into our first possession of the half I noticed that all 11 of LSU’s players on D were within 10 yards of the LOS. They were cheating up hard to stop the run. Around the 10-12 minute mark of the quarter I turned to my dad and the people sitting around me and said: “We’re going to burn them deep at some point. Look at their D. All 11 guys are within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. They’re selling out to stop the run.”
Five minutes later, Fitz play fake, Mixon WIDE OPEN…TOUCHDOWN!!!! Our run game created a huge play in the passing game. We had hurt them so badly on the ground they were totally focused on stopping the run and completely lost focus on the passing game. Cue Fitz’s big arm, a great play fake, and Mixon’s crazy speed.
7. WRs get a special mention. They weren’t super involved in the passing game with us throwing it just 23 times and several of those going to our RBs and TEs. But believe me, they were critical on Saturday night. They blocked their butts off in the run game. You don’t rush for 285 yards and average nearly 6 YPR if you’re WRs aren’t doing their jobs blocking downfield. It’s not glamorous, but it’s crucial. Most WRs hate blocking and just don’t do it or do it half-heartedly. Our guys went at it hard for a full 4 quarters. Hats off to them. That kind of unselfish play really helps define a team.
8. Just like on D, so many offensive players I could single out, but I’ll refrain. Love seeing such a total team effort.
Coaching/Intangibles:
1. MSU HC Dan Mullen had his best game maybe ever at State on Saturday night. The game plan was lights out. His playcalling was on point. We managed our personnel and the clock well. If he keeps coaching like this, I’m expecting big things from the team this season.
2. Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham is the SEC Coach of the Year. Hands down, not even close. This D looks as dominant as I’ve ever seen us have. It’s big, fast, physical and scary deep. The mentality has done a complete 180 in just one offseason. The way the guys have bought in is a testament to Grantham’s coaching.
LSU tried using lots of motion on Saturday night to confuse our D. Outside of a couple of plays, notably in the first half on the TD run, we had no missed assignments. These guys were incredibly well prepared and knew exactly what LSU was doing.
3. We’ve got some real leaders emerging on this team. And best of all, most of them are our best players. Jeffery Simmons, Fitz, Donald Gray, and Dez Harris immediately spring to mind. When you get that, you have a chance to be a really good team.
4. Special shoutout to our Strength & Conditioning coach. We haven’t had a single cramp through three games. But what impressed me is the way we physically pounded and wore down an LSU team that is renowned for their physicality and ability to wear down other teams. We were the biggest bully (pun intended) on the field Saturday night. We pass the eye test when compared to an elite SEC team like LSU.
WMD’s Final Thoughts:
I’m still a little surprised at how easily we demolished LSU. I thought we could win, probably even would win. But I always figured it for a close game that went down to the wire. Of all the possible outcomes, I’d have never bet on us completely thrashing LSU. It was so much fun to watch, though. Especially as their fans began to clear out midway through the 3rd quarter and early 4th.
We’ve got a shot to have a special season. The next big test is this coming Saturday between the hedges at UGA. If we come out of Athens with a win, get ready for a monster season. There isn’t a team outside of Alabama I don’t like our chances of beating. We’ve got all the ingredients, especially if a big WR like Jesse Jackson, Jamal Couch, or Reggie Todd step up and become a weapon for us. Get ready for a wild ride, peeps.
In Mullen We Trust and Hail State,
WMD
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