STARKVILLE — Mike Leach is one of few people with experience beating the No. 1 team in the country.
In 2008, Leach led Texas Tech to a 39-33 win over top-ranked Texas (the same score, incidentally, as Mississippi State’s overtime win against Auburn on Saturday).
Now, with No. 1 Georgia (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) visiting Starkville at 6 p.m. Saturday, Leach at least knows the general blueprint for dethroning college football’s best.
“Don’t get too caught up in it,” he said Monday. “Just focus on what you do.”
It’s one thing to preach that message and another thing to make sure players believe it.
Leach has found that out before with this batch of Bulldogs, saying after Mississippi State’s 30-6 loss Oct. 15 at Kentucky that the coaches’ message wasn’t taken to heart.
The new directive against the defending national champion will be a little different.
“Just worry about what you do,” Leach said. “Just worry about your job. Be the best football player you can be.”
That formula worked like a charm when the sixth-ranked Red Raiders lashed the Longhorns in Lubbock nearly 15 years ago. Texas Tech went into that game at 8-0; MSU is 6-3 (3-3 in SEC play) through its first nine games this season.
Mississippi State has been unbeatable at home this year, but Georgia is a cut above any of MSU’s opponents so far.
The red-and-black Bulldogs are coming off a 27-13 win over previously unbeaten Tennessee in which Georgia mostly stifled perhaps the nation’s best offense.
UGA brings to Starkville a defense that lost five first-round NFL draft picks but has remained ferocious, ranked in the top 11 in FBS against the run and against the pass in terms of yards per attempt.
“They’re a real talented group, and they’re aggressive,” Leach said. “I think that’d be the best way to summarize it. They’re not complicated.”
Neither is Leach’s Air Raid offense, which relies on the replication of fairly simple concepts.
For decades, Leach has had success in his unique scheme, but it can be ugly when it doesn’t work.
Such was the case for most of Saturday night against Auburn, when the Bulldogs went cold for two and a half quarters.
MSU woke up in time to avoid a loss after blowing a 24-3 lead.
Overcoming that kind of disadvantage might be doable against one team from the Peach State — the Atlanta Falcons, namely — but Mississippi State can’t get behind early if it hopes to upset Georgia.
Not only does UGA possess a staid defense but a talented offense. Tight end Brock Bowers is 6-foot-4 but runs like a wide receiver, and Georgia has tons of other weapons as well.
Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV has thrown 11 touchdown passes to only three interceptions and sports a completion percentage of 67.6 percent.
“I think he’s improved,” Leach said of Bennett. “I think he’s kind of a tough, gritty guy, and I think he does a good job leading that unit and inspiring that unit.”
Georgia has shown no signs of slowing down since beating Alabama for last year’s national title.
But Leach said if Mississippi State wants a shot to storm the field in Starkville, how UGA plays Saturday won’t matter.
“The other guy’s going to do whatever he does,” Leach said. “You don’t necessarily have control over that, but you do have control over yourself. You want to control all the variables you can, and if you can, put yourself in the best position to win.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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