STARKVILLE — The Mid-South and the Magnolia State have intersected in college football many times.
Often it’s been Ole Miss and Memphis who have played 61 times, but Mississippi State and Memphis have gone at it 45 times and will again at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
Usually it’s worked out for the Bulldogs, but it did not last year.
Mississippi State had some nice wins as the 2021 season progressed, at Texas A&M and at Auburn to name a couple, but MSU coach Mike Leach railed about the inexperience of last year’s team early in the season.
It showed for stretches of play, but sometimes, like against Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs would break out of the funk.
They were not able to overcome mistakes against Memphis — one of them a low snap that led to a bad play on fourth-and-goal from the 2 early in the third quarter — and lost 31-29.
Coaches love to talk about new teams, new seasons and the insignificance of history.
So maybe a questionable official’s judgment that allowed a Memphis punt return touchdown of 94 yards with roughly 5 minutes remaining to stand will have no bearing on the Bulldogs’ frame of mind in their season opener.
Players can get motivated in whatever way works for them, says Leach, but anger and a chip on the shoulder is not his cup of tea.
“If they want to draw from some chip thing go ahead, but it better be making them better. I’m not a big bulletin-board guy,” he said.
Regardless of frame of mind, what Leach hopes shows up in a positive way is his team’s experience.
A year ago in this game he spoke of “one dumb, glaring mistake after the next” in his postgame address to media.
In theory, eight returning starters on each side of the ball should help the Bulldogs avoid a similar fate.
From a two-point loss, they won’t have to eliminate too many mistakes to swing the game.
The Bulldogs committed nine penalties last year against Memphis.
The defense held Memphis to two touchdowns, but the Tigers scored two non-offensive touchdowns with a 49-yard fumble return in addition to the punt return.
Some mistakes that bothered Leach last year don’t always show up in the stats.
Will Rogers completed 50 of 67 attempts in the game. That’s 74.6 percent.
He threw two touchdown passes without an interception, but the failed fourth-and-goal registers as only an incompletion, one of few.
But it burns.
While the Bulldogs are more experienced, so are the Tigers.
Memphis QB Seth Henigan was a freshman playing in his third game.
He passed for 3,322 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions on the season.
So Henigan picked up a trick or two as he progressed. It’s a plus for the Bulldogs that eight starters return on defense, but it’s eight guys Henigan has been able to watch on film for a year.
The Bulldogs picked him off and held him to fewer than 160 passing yards.
They should not expect to see the same player.
His targets are not inspiring but are themselves experienced.
“Experience helps, but you’ve got to utilize it. We’ve had good practices,” Leach said. “We’ve got to mirror what we do on Tuesdays and Wednesday when we do it right, and then I think we’ve got to go out and play well. That’s the biggest thing, not get too sidetracked with anything they’re doing, have a really hard focus on us and what we’re doing.”
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