Garrick Hodge: Moorhead claims MSU football going in ‘the right damn direction’ despite third straight loss

STARKVILLE — It had already been a difficult week for Mississippi State football coach Joe Moorhead.

The second-year coach was coming off a devastating loss to Tennessee, became the subject of speculation regarding the Rutgers coaching vacancy for the second time this month and was grilled on The Paul Finebaum Show about the very same subject on multiple occasions on Friday.

“I answered that three times on the show the other day and said it the same way three times,” Moorhead said.

Then came Saturday’s 36-13 loss to No. 2 LSU.

At one point in the second quarter, Moorhead’s Bulldogs only trailed the Tigers 9-7. Those good feelings didn’t last long. With seven minutes remaining in regulation, Tiger fans took over Davis Wade Stadium with a noticeable “L-S-U” chant after the Bulldogs committed three straight penalties en route to snapping the ball from their own 1-yard line trailing by 29.

It was a deflating moment that emphasized how much life had been sucked out of a stadium that was as raucous as ever two hours earlier.

For the first time in Moorhead’s tenure at MSU, his Bulldogs are below .500 with a 3-4 overall record (1-3 SEC).

After any crushing loss, the former Penn State offensive coordinator’s typical go-to opening line in his postgame press conference is “the biggest thumb goes back to me.” He used it after the Auburn and Tennessee losses.

Not this week.

In his opening statement Saturday, Moorhead addressed gathered reporters with as much passion as anyone had seen from him in a long time.

“Where we’re taking this team, it’s going in the right damn direction,” Moorhead said. “We played our asses off today.”

Moorhead, who said he’s stayed off social media much the last few weeks with the exception of communicating with recruits, tried to reassure fans better times are coming.

“As mad as they are, I’m twice as mad,” Moorhead said.

He was the furthest thing from dejected. On multiple occasions, he commended his team’s effort, hinting freshmen are playing in less than ideal circumstances but still conceding the result is not acceptable.

“The biggest thing with this football team that we stressed this week, last night at the hotel and this morning is that we were going to freaking fight,” Moorhead said. “No matter what the circumstance was, we were going to continue to punch and continue to scratch, claw, get off the mat, and no matter what the clock or score said, we were going to keep climbing away and keep fighting. I thought our kids did that. That was a different football team than I saw on the field against Tennessee.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a passionate rant from a Southeastern Conference coach in his second year trying to assert himself as the right leader for a program despite rocky circumstances.

In 2017, Missouri coach Barry Odom watched his team absolutely get its doors blown off by Auburn at home, 51-14. In his opening statement, Odom conceded he heard the criticism on social media, even from a local high school’s third-string left tackle. He continued to say something along the lines of he didn’t care about anyone’s opinion that wasn’t involved with the program and he was going to win at Mizzou eventually, even if results didn’t come immediately. The Tigers had just fallen to 1-3, and eventually started 1-5.

Some Missouri fans rolled their eyes then, just as a good portion of Mississippi State fans will inevitably roll their eyes at Moorhead’s remarks about how good his team’s effort was.

The black and gold Tigers backed up Odom’s words by winning their final six games in the regular season. In the next season, Missouri won eight games, and the Tigers could win eight or nine this year (although a loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday doesn’t help, yikes).

Now, a disclaimer: MSU isn’t going to run the table in the last five games. Nonetheless, it’s worth keeping an eye on how hard the players play for their coach who’s taking some (mostly well-deserved) criticism.

“We’re building something special here,” Moorhead said near the end of his press conference. “I can promise you that. You can put that on me.”

Just like Odom, this time next year we’ll likely be able to pinpoint if Moorhead’s passionate rant was the forecasting of a ship righted or just empty promises from a coach looking to salvage support.

Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.