STARKVILLE — The offense consistently found itself behind the chains due to sacks and penalties. The defense could not make tackles in space or get off the field on third down.
Mississippi State plays in the Southeastern Conference; Toledo in the Mid-American Conference. But those who watched the two teams play Saturday night at Davis Wade Stadium could not be blamed for thinking the opposite. The Rockets overwhelmed the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball, beating MSU 41-17 in a game that was every bit as ugly as that score suggests.
“Tonight, it was the negative plays,” Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby said. “Being behind the chains, having issues on first and second down, putting us in really bad third-down situations. So for us, we have to start faster, and that is going to be a huge point of emphasis as we get into it this week. We did not come out and play the way we needed to play and dug ourselves a huge hole. At the end of the day, that dictated the rest of the game.”
MSU (1-2) went three and out on its first three drives and four of its first five, with those negative plays derailing each possession. On the very first play of the game, a holding call on tight end Justin Ball pushed the Bulldogs back. Shapen was sacked for a seven-yard loss on first down on MSU’s second drive, and on the Bulldogs’ third possession, an offensive pass interference penalty and a sack ultimately led to a fourth-and-23 inside MSU’s own 10-yard line.
The Bulldogs committed 10 penalties in the game, costing them 104 yards.
“(It was) frustrating to see,” Lebby said. “It’s something that we don’t want, I don’t want, we can’t have. The first two weeks, the penalty part of it had not been a huge issue. Today it was, and that cannot creep into our game. We have to be a disciplined football team, and we’ll need to clean part of it up.”
Meanwhile, quarterback Tucker Gleason and Toledo’s offense did whatever it wanted for most of the first half. Gleason entered Saturday having completed less than half of his passes through two games against Duquesne and Massachusetts, but was 23-for-28 against MSU for 285 yards and three touchdowns. Jerjuan Newton, Junior Vandeross III and the Rockets’ other receivers kept finding soft spots in the coverage and picked up one chunk play after another.
Toledo (3-0) didn’t run the ball quite as effectively as Arizona State did against the Bulldogs last week, but MSU struggled to shed blocks and win the battles in the trenches.
“We just have to execute better. That’s all it was,” linebacker Stone Blanton said. “When our number is called, we have to step up and make a play. You have to be vocal, you have to be positive, you have to push the team and push the defense. We didn’t do our jobs tonight.”
The Bulldogs trailed by just seven after the first quarter before the Rockets opened the floodgates in the second. A 24-yard completion from Gleason to Vandeross set up a 6-yard touchdown pass to Newton on the next play to double the lead. MSU managed to drive nearly the length of the field on its ensuing possession but settled for a field goal after a false start on fourth-and-goal from the 1, so the Bulldogs’ deficit remained two scores.
Toledo converted three times on third down on its next drive and paid it off on a short touchdown run by Connor Waldenzak, and eventually pushed the lead to 28-3 with a minute and change left in the first half. MSU moved the ball quickly in an attempt to cut into the margin before the break, but Shapen threw his first interception of the year on the final play of the half on a throw to the end zone.
“We’re just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Shapen said. “We’re putting ourselves in really bad positions. It’s hard to execute when it’s first-and-20 or second-and-20, and that’s how we started the game. You can’t win football games doing that. It starts with me. I have to be better. I have to get these guys going.”
After the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs in their own territory on their first drive of the second half, the Rockets needed just four plays to score again, with Newton grabbing his second touchdown catch of the night. That removed any remaining doubt about the outcome, though Shapen did throw a pair of touchdown passes in the second half with Mario Craver and Kevin Coleman on the receiving end.
Johnnie Daniels was something of an offensive bright spot, with 59 rushing yards on 10 carries. But thanks largely to five sacks, MSU averaged just 2.3 yards per rushing attempt. It was hardly an inspiring showing heading into next Saturday’s SEC opener against Florida.
“It’s about starting fast. It’s about finding ways to stay on the field offensively,” Lebby said. “And not putting the defense back out there after three three-and-outs. We hadn’t eaten up any clock, we had no game control in the first half. And that, to me, is just not being able to stay on the field.”
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