STARKVILLE — As Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead exited the field at Neyland Stadium Saturday, he shared a quick embrace with his daughter, Kyra.
Jeers and taunts from orange and white-clad Tennessee sympathizers rained down on the pair as the two headed for the tunnel.
Kyra, a first-year student at MSU, had been brought to tears after the Bulldogs fell to the Volunteers in a game oddsmakers predicted her father’s squad to win by a touchdown.
“You hear a few fans as she’s walking out of the stadium telling her that her dad sucks,” Moorhead said. “And you know, they were right. On this day, I did suck. But that’s part of it.”
The anecdote, which Moorhead recounted Monday, capped off an impassioned and emotional plea by the second-year head coach to the MSU fanbase, asking it to stick with him and his program through a middling start.
“Nothing means more to me than to bring a consistently successful, championship-level program to Mississippi State,” Moorhead said, choking up with each word. “Every waking moment not spent with my family is utilized in an effort to make it happen, and that’s what makes losing games so difficult.”
Following the loss on Rocky Top, the Bulldogs sit at 3-3 and 1-2 in SEC play. More troubling, it has been MSU’s anemic offense — the supposed centerpiece to a Moorhead-led team — that has caused many of the issues.
An offensive ace at Penn State, Moorhead’s unit currently ranks No. 82 in scoring offense and No. 94 in total offense nationally. Further, poor quarterback play has marred a strong start by junior running back Kylin Hill, who sits second in the SEC in rushing with 609 yards on the year.
Monday, Moorhead addressed the issue by making a switch under center from Penn State transfer Tommy Stevens to freshman Garrett Shrader.
The move caps off a disappointing and disheartening start, and perhaps end, to Stevens’ time in Starkville. A Moorhead disciple in Happy Valley, he won the starting job out of fall camp over junior incumbent Keytaon Thompson.
Entering the season, it was Stevens’ comprehensive understanding of the playbook — one that was gained in his two years under Moorhead’s tutelage at Penn State — that gave him the edge. But in the time since winning the job, a slew of injuries have forced Stevens out of three games and to miss a home matchup against Kentucky entirely.
“Yeah, it stinks,” Moorhead said of Stevens’ situation.
In his place, Shrader has offered a glimpse at what the future may hold in Starkville. A four-star recruit out of Charlotte Christian School, he has long been pinned as “Moorhead’s guy” — a narrative that persisted Monday.
“I’ve kind of had it in my head for the past three years that he’s going to be a guy that whatever program he goes to he was going to lead them to great things,” Moorhead said of Shrader. “And I think from the time he stepped on the field to the helicopter run, to everything that he does on a daily basis to be competitive and in his preparation and, quite frankly, his performance has earned the respect of his teammates.”
Beyond the quarterbacking issues, MSU’s preparedness against Tennessee and No. 11 Auburn have brought further scrutiny on Moorhead’s coaching capacities this season.
While the Bulldogs were far from favored on The Plains three weeks ago, they were throttled by the highly-ranked Tigers — falling behind 21-0 just over six minutes into the game.
With a bye week in tow, Moorhead vowed to be better heading into a road trip to Tennessee this past week. That said, MSU was thoroughly handled by a team that hadn’t won against a Power Five opponent this season and lost its home opener to Georgia State.
“It takes time to build special things,” Moorhead said. “And it was obviously not apparent with our performance on the field this week and against Auburn, but the long term thing, I couldn’t be more excited, and I know for a fact as I stand here that it can and it will and it is going to happen.”
Past three weeks aside, there’s legitimate reason to question where the program is headed under Moorhead’s direction.
Through parts of two seasons, the Bulldogs are 11-8 under his watch. More pressing, MSU is 2-5 on the road in that span and finished last year 8-5 with a loss to Iowa in the Outback Bowl all while boasting the nation’s No. 1 total defense.
Admittedly a people-pleaser, Moorhead has become wholly cognizant of the outside noise and harping critics that have grown louder with each succeeding loss — defeats that manifested themselves in the head coach’s heart-felt address to the media Monday. And while the losses have visibly begun to weigh on him, he remains steadfast in his belief he can build a winner in Starkville.
“This game, and coaching in the SEC for about a year and a half now, has been a humbling experience,” Moorhead said. “I don’t think you get to this point where I am without a certain level of success and a certain level of confidence, but this game and the SEC, it has a way of keeping you honest.”
“I’m not a Bible-thumper by any means, but I am a man of God,” he continued. “And I do believe I was led to this path at Mississippi State to achieve great things, and I remain steadfast in my belief that we are going to do it.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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