STARKVILLE — Maybe he’d prefer to be called Professor Dan Mullen know.
Mississippi State’s third-year football coach has used this week without a game for an internal evaluation to see if his team is “tipping our hand” with its game plans in what has turned out to be a frustrating season.
To document the problems that have led to an 0-4 record in Southeastern Conference, Mullen gave a 37-minute lecture Friday morning to a Macroeconomics class about the importance of statistics.
“You all just thought we were kind of dumb jocks calling plays randomly huh?” Mullen jokingly asked the students. “Coaching isn’t as simple as it looks. I learned that the hard way coming up through the business.”
Whether intentional or not, Mullen explained to the 8 a.m. class the Bulldogs’ offensive struggles include an inconsistent running game that has led to stalled drives due to too many third-and-long situations.
“We expect to get 4 yards per rush on first down, and we consider that an efficient play,” Mullen said Friday. “Championship winning clubs get 55-percent efficiency, and those numbers aren’t there this season. That’s why we haven’t been as successful.”
MSU (3-4, 0-4 in SEC) has had more than 10 situations involving second-and-long conversions in each of its games this season. The Bulldogs lack of efficiency on first down compared to last year has put the offense behind schedule early in drives.
“You look at tape on some of the games and negative plays have been the result of a single breakdown of one position or a penalty,” Mullen said. “One of the big focuses is how to recover from that. We have not done a great job this year with that.”
That could explain the lack of production for senior tailback Vick
Ballard. The Bulldogs’ single-season touchdown record holder has had less than 70 yards in each of the past three SEC losses.
“When you’re in second-and-12 and in long yardage situations you’re not doing what you want to be doing to establish the run,” Mullen said. “If you’re going to pound away at people and get 4, 5 yards per play on the ground you can’t have negative plays.”
The lack of depth on the offensive line can be quantified in numbers. Last season, MSU had its lowest number of first downs in games against Florida and the University of Alabama at Birmingham when senior center J.C. Brignone was out with an injury.
This season, MSU had its starting offensive line for a season-opening victory at the University of Memphis. Since then, the Bulldogs have had more negative plays on first down.
“There’s still some inconsistencies for us where we have got to be better, be more efficient running the ball,” Mullen said. “We’re still not efficient running the ball, and that’s a key for us to be efficient. A lot of what that is is on the offensive line.”
A new element this season is the move to Tyler Russell at quarterback. The sophomore played every snap but one, a trick play thrown by freshman Dylan Favre, in a 14-12 loss to the University of South Carolina. Russell’s presence in the lineup means fewer designed quarterback runs and more vertical passing plays to MSU’s wide receivers.
Russell went 11-for-29 for 165 yards and two interceptions in his first college start. One of the interceptions came on the game’s final pass.
“I think I was able to sit down and look at my footwork on certain throws and that’s what I’ve been concentrating on this week,” Russell said. “It’s a frustrating thing to feel this offense is so close but those little things like my footwork is holding us back.”
Another new element is the fact Mullen is now more involved in play calling. Last week against South Carolina, Mullen made the majority of the offensive play calls on the sidelines. Offensive coordinator Les Koenning said Tuesday that Mullen made “a large majority” of the calls, which is well within his rights.
“He’s the head coach and I’m here to support him 100 percent and provide whatever I can by what I see throughout the game,” Koenning said. “If we do a great job of planning then (anybody) can call the plays. If the person calling the plays becomes an issue, you’ve got an ego problem on your staff, and that’s just not the case here with us.”
The players have described this week as a second training camp they can use to work their way back into bowl game conversations, especially with games against nationally ranked Arkansas and Alabama remaining. MSU had the most negative plays last season in losses to Arkansas and Alabama, and both teams return a majority of their defensive personnel.
“The first thing we did this week in practice was go back to day-one stuff,” MSU junior cornerback Corey Broomfield said. “We’re getting back to the fundamentals. We even went back to make sure our defensive and offensive stances were correct.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.