2021 College Football Rewind: What We Learned This Season
It's hard to believe that Mississippi State's 2021 football season has already come and gone.
The Bulldogs finished with a 7-6 record in head coach Mike Leach's second season-- a vast improvement from their 4-7 campaign in 2020. Quarterback Will Rogers broke many school records and held his own with stats that ranked among the best in the entire NCAA. His entire supporting cast-- from wide receiver Makai Polk to defensive linebacker Jett Johnson-- played their hearts out.
Now, the countdown for next season is on. Spring practice will begin in a few months, and over the summer the excitement for the 2022 season will be building. This past season will become nothing but a memory, but there are quite a few things that should be remembered in the coming years.
As we look to the future, here are a few things that the team, coaches and fans learned in the 2021 season.
Being an underdog can be fun.
Multiple times this season, the Bulldogs were viewed as the underdogs against ranked opponents-- three of those times, they won. State first knocked off the No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies on Oct. 2 in College Station. A few weeks later, No. 12 Kentucky came to town for homecoming weekend and left defeated. Lastly, the Bulldogs went to Auburn and overcame a huge deficit to beat the No. 17 Tigers. At times, Mississippi State seemed to fare better when they were expected to lose... proof that being considered the weaker team means nothing.
Never leave a game up to the refs.
One of the worst memories from the 2021 season came at the hands of an officiating crew in Memphis. MSU traveled to face the Memphis Tigers on Sept. 18 and fell victim to a handful of horrendous officiating calls. In the end, the way that those calls fell played a huge role in the Bulldogs' loss. As bad as the situation was, it was unfortunate that the team had not played well enough to be unaffected by the referees. Hopefully, the team will start throttling opponents so badly that a few bad calls won't determine the outcome of the game.
Special teams play is extremely important.
Sometimes, a team's kickers, punters and other special teams athletes are incredibly overlooked. Unfortunately, Mississippi State's special teams were always in the limelight for the worst reasons. Kickers Brandon Ruiz and Nolan McCord went a combined 14-of-25 on field goals, and many of those misses were the difference between a win and a loss. It's already evident that the Bulldogs are looking for new talent-- especially because Leach held open tryouts at one point during the season. If the teams want to truly succeed next season, then things will need to change quickly.
It's not over until time expires.
Most fans will say that there's no coming back from a deficit of at least 20 points. However, the Bulldogs did that not once, but twice this past season. The first comeback was in the first game of the season when MSU rallied from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to seal a 35-34 victory over Louisiana Tech. It was the largest comeback victory in program history...until a few months later. On Nov. 13, Mississippi State was trudging through a 25-point deficit midway through the second quarter against the Auburn Tigers. Then, a completely different team came out of the locker room for the second half and scored 33 points through the last 30 minutes of action. The 25-point comeback became the biggest in school history and made the Bulldogs bowl eligible for the 12th straight season.
No matter how you feel about the team's performance last season, Mississippi State looks to be building up to a great 2022 season.
