STARKVILLE — Gabe Myles’ return was not a quiet one — not that anyone expected it would be.
“Gabe ain’t shut up since he’s been back,” said his fellow wide receiver Donald Gray said.
After missing Mississippi State’s last three football games with a foot injury, Myles, a Starkville native, made his return Saturday with one 20-yard catch. That catch produced yet another red zone trip as MSU (4-2) beat BYU (1-6) 35-10, but it’s likely Myles’ return meant more to the wide receiving corps than any singular catch.
“His voice is what we need,” Gray said. “He’s got a soothing voice; me, I’m the get mad, mean one. I think people respond to (Myles) more than mine.”
The three games gone from Myles’ senior season, he admits, were tough to swallow. Now that he’s on the other side, he can see some benefit.
“It’s helped me become a better leader on the team and cherish the moments I’m out on the field,” Myles said.
Eiland settles in
It’s one thing for a freshman to work his way through preseason practice knowing well he is likely to be the starter: such was the case for right tackle Stewart Reese. It’s an entirely different beast to be a freshman thrown into a game with a second’s notice, and that was the unenviable task for Greg Eiland.
Two weeks ago at Auburn, Eiland was thrown into the game at left tackle after starter Martinas Rankin went down with an ankle injury. His first start, Saturday against BYU, was a much smoother voyage through a game. Mullen credited a lot of it to the simple fact of being at home, but the time in between the two games was certainly of use.
“He wasn’t one of those guys that got a lot of rest during the bye week, he got every rep,” Mullen said. “Both him and Stewart I thought managed the game pretty well today.”
For the ones behind him, Eiland’s improvement from his first action, excluding garbage time, to his first start was obvious.
“Whenever their number was called, they stepped up big,” MSU quarterback Nick Fitzgerald said.
Eiland was part of a unit that paved the way for 306 rushing yards on 5.8 yards per carry. MSU could see more of him in that spot: Mullen said he likely won’t know until late next week if Rankin will be available for next week’s home game against Kentucky. He said the same for defensive tackle Cory Thomas; Myles and linebacker Traver Jung were two players who returned from injuries.
Time spares no man
MSU ended the first half with 21 points on the board and 45 plays already in the books for a total of 302 yards. So when the same offense sputtered to a punt, interception and lost fumble on consecutive possessions in the third quarter, there was no panic.
The damage had already been done.
“If we were looking at play discrepancy, they had 84 plays when we only had 46,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “It is tough to play defense when you are out there quite a bit. It is tough to play defense when you are out there quite a bit.”
Mullen added, “They looked kindly on us with the temperature today. I don’t think it was this warm in Provo. We wanted to wear them out, get the tempo going and run the ball offensively, which certainly helped.”
No revenge here
If the Bulldogs were a vengeful bunch in the rematch with BYU after last year’s overtime loss, it certainly did not acknowledge it fact afterward.
“I don’t look at it as like a revenge game, I look at it as a game where we can come back home, get on our grind and get back to Mississippi State football, show everyone that we can win games,” Fitzgerald said.
Myles added, “A win just feels good. That was our main focus.”
Milestone for Mullen
The win was Mullen’s 65th win as MSU’s coach, tying him with Allyn McKeen for second-most wins as the helm of the MSU program. His next win will move him into sole possession of second and just nine wins behind Jackie Sherrill for most in school history.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson
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