TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — You don’t have to be a total genius to figure this out, but trying to compare Alabama and Mississippi State is a fool’s errand.
Saturday’s 41-0 decision in favor of the No. 2 team in the nation spells everything out.
The Crimson Tide look every bit like a championship-caliber team, boasting an offense both capable of stretching the field with a vertical passing game and gaining hard-earned yards between the tackles. Mac Jones would probably win the Heisman Trophy if the season ended today, although his wide receiver DeVonta Smith was the star of the night, tying Amari Cooper’s Alabama career receiving touchdown record (31) after hauling in four touchdown passes. The Crimson Tide defense has looked susceptible at times in 2020 but certainly not on Saturday against Mike Leach’s air raid offense.
Which brings us to Mississippi State.
Leach was held scoreless for the first time in his nearly two decades as a head coach, and has now set a career low in points scored twice in the first year of his MSU tenure.
“I thought we played hard,” Leach said. “I thought we played sloppy and dumb at times.”
The good news is Leach has a proven track record of success at both Texas Tech and Washington State after enduring a difficult first two years. So maybe, brighter days are ahead in Starkville once he goes through a few recruiting classes.
The bad news is, Leach’s debut season is shaping up to be a dysfunctional mess, especially on offense.
After shocking the nation by scoring 44 points against defending national champion LSU, the Bulldogs haven’t even scored 44 combined points in four straight defeats, only amassing 30 in losses to Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama and Texas A&M.
Nobody was expecting Leach’s team to march into Tuscaloosa and take down the powerhouse Crimson Tide, but coming off a bye, fans were hoping to see any kind of progress. Instead, what they saw was an anemic offense that didn’t pick up a first down until 9:30 remaining in the second quarter and failed to reach at least 300 total yards of offense for the third consecutive contest. Of course, a myriad of players entering the transfer portal this week didn’t help much in this capacity, nor did Leach’s admission that he’d expect more to follow before the year is out.
In the latest chapter of offensive inefficiency, K.J. Costello earned another start at quarterback and was unproductive, as the offense went three and out in all five of his series. Unfortunately, Costello took a knee to the head that made anyone watching feel queasy, thrusting true freshman signal caller Will Rogers into mop-up duty for the third consecutive week.
Rogers occasionally delivered a spark, leading Leach to praise his signal caller in certain moments considering he “should have just gone to his senior prom.” Nevertheless, Rogers looked every bit like a wide-eyed quarterback. Rogers threw a red zone interception that might as well have been highway robbery after Dylan Moses stole a pass from the arms of Osirus Mitchell, then later threw a pick-six late in the contest.
“In the end, I think the reps and experience are going to pay off,” Leach said of his young players.
Assuming Costello’s injury is not serious, Leach may be best served starting Rogers for the rest of the season to both give the freshman game reps and to find out if he could be a focal point of the offense for years to come.
A 1-0 start has turned into 1-4, but perhaps a cure-all-ails potion is coming in the form of a lifeless Vanderbilt team to Davis Wade Stadium next week. If MSU can’t find a way to pull out a victory there, oh boy.
As the first-year coach said it himself, his team has miles to go before it’s capable of staying in a contest with a team like the Crimson Tide.
“Alabama is a team that has been put together over a decade … We’re a program trying to get there,” Leach said.
If Saturday is any indication, it’s going to take a while.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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