TAMPA, Fla. — Will Rogers expected a “butt-chewing” as he walked toward Mike Leach on the sideline after the Mississippi State quarterback committed a crucial fumble against Ole Miss in the Nov. 24 Egg Bowl rivalry game.
But instead of the tongue-lashing Rogers anticipated, his head coach offered words of encouragement.
“Nothing that has happened now matters,” Leach reminded the junior signal-caller. “The only thing that matters is the next play. When we get the ball, if we need to go score to win, you’re going to do it.”
Rogers recalled Leach’s words Monday, more than a month later, with his coach mentor no longer there to deliver them.
In Monday’s ReliaQuest Bowl at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, there was a Leach-shaped hole on the Bulldogs’ east sideline and in the hearts of Mississippi State players, coaches and fans.
Rogers couldn’t rely on his late head coach for a pick-me-up. New coach Zach Arnett couldn’t turn to Leach for advice. And the world mourned the wit and dry humor that were lost when Leach died Dec. 12 at age 61 in a Jackson hospital.
It was surreal, the whole scene. There was the pregame moment of silence with Leach’s name and face plastered on the big screens behind both end zones. The Famous Maroon Band spelling out “LEACH” on the field while the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme played. The pirate flag emblazoned on the Bulldogs’ helmets.
And the big wooden pirate ship, whose presence seemed cruel in the absence of the man who’d want nothing more than to explore it, where a framed photo of Leach sat flanked by flowers.
“To be able to come out here and play a game without him, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t tough,” Rogers said.
Tough as it was, it couldn’t stop the Bulldogs from posting a 19-10 win over Illinois in Tampa. In fact, the loss of Leach served as a motivating factor; prior to the game, MSU players and coach Zach Arnett pledged to play as hard as they could in Leach’s honor.
It was far from perfect Monday, but it was enough.
A field goal with four seconds to go put Mississippi State in the lead, and a scoop-and-score touchdown on the final snap added to that advantage.
Linebacker Jett Johnson called the Bulldogs’ victory “a great win for Coach Leach” — even if a trick play where Rogers hauled in a toss from wide receiver Jaden Walley was involved.
“He would have been very happy,” Johnson promised. “He would have been shocked that Will Rogers caught a pass. He’d be swinging his sword for sure.”
Arnett, who was officially hired Dec. 15 as the Bulldogs’ next head coach, said Leach would have been “pretty mad at” him for poor clock management toward the end of his first game in charge.
The former MSU defensive coordinator said he will cherish the document Leach handed him — as Leach did with every coach on his staff — containing the longtime Texas Tech and Washington State coach’s wisdom.
Only some of it, anyway.
The rest was shared over drinks, on the practice field, on the sideline or wherever else Leach and the man who had to replace him happened to be together.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate and lucky to get to learn under him these last three years,” Arnett said. “I did not realize how much wisdom I would get the opportunity to soak in.”
From the start Monday, the Bulldogs did their best to pay Leach back for all he gave them.
On the game’s first play, MSU lined up in a formation dubbed “Big Gulp” by Leach while at Washington State. The Bulldogs intentionally took a delay of game penalty to honor the coach, and Illinois declined it.
And Leach’s impact was felt all the way through the game and will be for a long time to come.
There was Rogers, waving around a flag reading “MIKE” — with the I replaced by a cowbell — after the game.
There was assistant coach Jason Washington, who got engaged postgame to a woman he admitted he only met because of Leach.
And there was kicker Massimo Biscardi, who was pretty sure what Leach’s response would have been if Biscardi had missed the winning field goal rather than making it: “I don’t understand, because it’s not that hard. If I had any eligibility left, I probably would go out there and kick it myself.”
“If he did it, he probably could,” Biscardi said. “He probably could.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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