STARKVILLE — Twenty three times, the Mississippi State football team has thrown on third down just to produce an incompletion. Through five games, MSU has failed to convert on third down 34 times.
It is a microcosm of MSU’s reality: when it needs an efficient passing game, it has been unable to produce one.
There are more numbers to describe MSU’s passing inefficiencies — 13th in the Southeastern Conference in quarterback rating (127.74) and last in completion percentage (48.3) — but with 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s (ESPN2) game against Auburn coming up, those are not MSU’s concerns. Its focus is all on the fix.
“At the end of the day, it’s about us as coaches making sure we put together a good game plan that puts the kids in a good position to be successful, that we practice it well throughout the week with great physicality and improved precision, and when we make the good calls we have to execute them,” head coach Joe Moorhead said. “It’s how we can improve our execution going forward.”
When Moorhead says execution, he means it across the board, in all facets of the passing attack. The last two games suggest this is not an easy fix in that it’s not one solo problem to address.
Of the 31 incompletions from the losses to Kentucky and Florida, only eight can be attributed solely to quarterback Nick Fitzgerald’s accuracy — and even some of those can be attributed to miscommunications with wide receivers. Five can be credited to pressure in some way — not including the nine sacks — in addition to six drops, two batted down at the line of scrimmage and two throwaways.
Both Moorhead and offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Luke Getsy agree Fitzgerald’s decision-making is not MSU’s problem. The issue is more widespread, a product of failing to get all 11 players executing at the same time. Getsy has an idea on how to bring those pieces together more often.
“It’s the same thing: to keep it simple, because that’s what we need to do,” Getsy said. “We have to do a better job putting our players in a better position, that’s part A, part B is we got to protect, part C is Nick making sure he knows where the ball goes and part D is we got to catch the ball when it’s thrown to us. We have to keep it simple and make it about us.
“We have to learn how to execute in those stressful situations and when we do, I think it’s going to be really good.”
Getsy believes the way to improving the execution is simplicity.
“It’s more about the focus,” Getsy said. “When you start thinking about 25 different things, you’re not going to get anything accomplished. We have to make sure we execute when the opportunities are there, and we’re not talking about making miraculous plays, we’re talking about making the plays that are presented to you. We have to do that better.”
The simplicity means something different for players. For coaches, it means being simple in the things they teach and the things they emphasize with players; for players, it means the simplifying of what they’re given to run.
“I think it’s not adding a bunch of stuff in for this week, doing what we do and trying to perfect the plays we have, not trying to add too much, not trying to overcomplicate reads,” Fitzgerald said. “Trying to stick with the basic Day One, Day Two, Day Three installment and go with that.
“Yes, we do have wrinkles in and we do have a plan to go out there and attack their weaknesses, but simplifying it doesn’t mean we’re going to line up and run straight at them. It means we’re going to use plays we’ve practiced over and over again, the ones we’re good at and we have reps at, the ones we’re going to be able to run in a consistent and precise manner.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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