OPINION: Mike Leach’s bandwagon might need to allow reentry after Mississippi State's showing in Georgia
It wasn’t that long ago that Mississippi State athletics rolled out the marketing video with head coach Mike Leach on his bandwagon asking if anyone wanted to jump onboard. That bandwagon has gotten awfully empty the last few weeks as offensive struggles have mounted and the losses piled up. But I’ve got a feeling, after Saturday night in Georgia, more than a few folks are checking their stubs to see if reentry to the wagon is allowed.
Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. It’s dangerous to make assumptions based on 60 minutes of football. See the genesis of the aforementioned marketing video – Mississippi State at LSU from back in September – for proof.
Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s go ahead and make an assumption based on 60 minutes of football anyway shall we? Even in a loss at Georgia, Leach is back in business at Mississippi State. And anyone that was ready to write him off six games into his tenure might at the very least be wise to provide a little more patience to the pirate.
That’s not to say Mississippi State has arrived. That’s not even to say the Bulldogs are in a great spot over this season’s final three games. But Saturday night, narrowly losing 31-24 in Athens, was a marathon in confirming the things Leach preaches. He needs guys that buy in. Repetition breeds consistency and consistency breeds success. And, yeah, some guys just need to continue to grow up.
On the ‘buy in’ part: everyone knows by now MSU had only 49 scholarship guys make the trip to Georgia. Yes, several that didn’t go, couldn’t due to COVID-19 protocols. But you know who else wasn’t there? The guys that didn’t want to be there. The players that either didn’t live up to Leach’s standards or wanted to move on and play elsewhere or didn’t want to be a part of this team for whatever the reason.
That’s not a knock on those guys. Everyone has to choose their own path in life. But one of the most distracting things in all of sports is to have a teammate that’s not all in – someone who’s griping or selfish or has their mind somewhere else. You can’t count on those guys to have their head in the game play after play. Sure looked like to me that the boys playing on Saturday in Athens were playing for the ‘Mississippi State’ on the front of the jersey and not the name above the number on the back.
Cliches are cliches for a reason. They’re often true. The first step for these Bulldogs to get back on track was simply for everyone to pull in the same direction. Mission accomplished on that front.
If that wasn’t promising enough, low and behold, Mississippi State was moving the football. MSU had 358 yards of offense. That’s not an earth-shattering number by any means, but it’s more than State had put up in any of the prior four games. Here’s the best part of that moving forward for the Bulldogs. Most all of State’s offensive woes this year have come because the team seemingly couldn’t figure out how to attack zone defense. Teams have rushed three and dropped eight into pass coverage for weeks now and time and time again, MSU has seemed lost. The offensive line hasn’t blocked. The receivers haven’t done their part. No matter the quarterback, questionable decisions have been made. Yet here was Mississippi State on Saturday, facing mostly zone defense ran by a team with much more talent than most of State’s other opponents this year, and MSU marched down the field on multiple occasions. Improvement? You bet.
It’s almost like young players in a new scheme start to grow up and develop and perform better. Remember, these guys didn’t have spring football. Some of them didn’t even get a full preseason because of positive COVID-19 tests or contact tracing issues. There have been multiple speed bumps on the runway for Leach to get his air raid offense off the ground, but given time, there State was on Saturday looking good against one of the country’s top defensive units.
Who’d have imagined that? Who could have ever thought that quarterback Will Rogers, who was a senior in high school last year at this time and was making just his second career start, might need a minute to adjust to the SEC? Color me shocked that running back Dillon Johnson and receiver Jaden Walley and (fill in the blank with the first-or-second-year player of your choice) might get better and better as time goes on, the game slows down for them and they become more comfortable. Sure appeared Saturday like the pups are growing up in a hurry.
I’m not trying to insinuate all is now well for Leach and Mississippi State. Further growing pains are surely ahead. The Bulldogs must continue to develop. And as always for most any coach, Leach’s future in Starkville will be ultimately determined by how well he recruits and then gets those players acclimated to his style.
But if you were one of the many ready to write off Leach because of a few bad games, Saturday should’ve given you some reason for pause. Because if 49 scholarship Bulldogs – many incredibly young and inexperienced – can go to Georgia and do what MSU’s bunch did on Saturday night, well a Leach team with its feet fully under it might just be able to punch with anyone week after week. The Georgia game wasn’t some sloppy turnoverfest where MSU was just lucky to be in the game. No, this bunch matched Georgia blow for blow.
Don’t forget, Leach is one of the winningest active college football coaches in the country. The games full of struggle prior to Saturday for MSU were Leach outliers, not norms. The best indicator of the future is the past and Leach’s past screams that he’s going to be successful in Starkville.
So if you left the wagon, feel free to get back on. Contrary to popular belief, the wheels haven’t fallen off just yet after all. Saturday, at the very least, gave a glimmer of hope that they’ll soon be rolling along again.
Joel Coleman is the publisher/editor of Sports Illustrated’s Cowbell Corner and this column is Coleman’s opinion alone. It is not necessarily the opinion of any other person affiliated with Sports Illustrated/Maven. To follow along on Cowbell Corner and comment on articles and participate in the community, simply sign up, get a username and chime in with your thoughts and questions. Also, be sure to follow Cowbell Corner on Twitter (@SIBulldogs) by clicking here, and like it on Facebook by clicking here. Thank you for coming to Cowbell Corner for coverage of Mississippi State sports.
