Defense saves the day for Mississippi State as offensive woes continue in win over Vanderbilt

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach watched on in the second half of Saturday's game against Vanderbilt as his team repeatedly spun its wheels. From the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the fourth, Leach's Bulldogs had seven drives. All seven ended in punts.

Yes, on this day, Mississippi State's defense created five key turnovers to save the Bulldogs and ultimately give them a 24-17 win over the Commodores. But in the aftermath, much of the talk revolved around how MSU's offense continues to look lifeless.

"I have a lot of respect for Vanderbilt," Leach said. "They really didn't do anything...They pressured us some and basically watched us take turns screwing up, playing timid and sitting on the sideline with blank, wide-eyed faces. And I'm getting sick and tired of that."

MSU mustered only 204 yards against Vanderbilt. It was the fourth straight game in which the Bulldogs have put up less than 300 yards of total offense and third-straight affair with under 217 yards.

Making matters worse for State, this latest poor offensive showing came against a team that entered Saturday next-to-last in the Southeastern Conference in total defense, and 97th in the country in that category.

The good news for MSU? Unlike in the four previous games, the Bulldogs found a way to win. That path was paved by the State defense. MSU forced five turnovers and also stopped Vanderbilt on downs early in the second quarter.

Collin Duncan, Erroll Thompson and Marquis Spencer all had interceptions for the Bulldogs. Esaias Furdge and Tyrus Wheat both recovered fumbles. Two of State's touchdowns came as a result of turnovers. The Bulldogs certainly needed both with the offense sputtering.

MSU did have a few moments of success offensively. True freshman quarterback Will Rogers made his first career start and completed 35 of his 46 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown. Malik Heath had 79 yards receiving. Dillon Johnson and Jo'quavious Marks both scored Bulldog touchdowns on the ground, the latter of which put the game away for MSU with 2:43 remaining. None of that did much to calm the uncertainty surrounding how to get State's offense back up and going.

"Well there's a certain amount of trial and error," Leach said of correcting things. "You start out by trying to be really nice – do I think I can, kind of a training wheels approach. Which we're definitely in the training wheels stage. Suffice it to say, it's going to get a little more aggressive than that."

Time will tell if Leach can give the Bulldogs an offensive jolt to help matters ahead of next week's game against Auburn.

"The biggest thing we have to do is play well," Leach said. "My opinion on our team is going to be based on how well we play within what we're capable of at this point. I'm not going to be very tolerant of falling short of that. We have to play better and we have to coach better to make that happen. That's where it starts."

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