It is a rare occurrence for Mississippi State football head coach Sylvester Croom to watch his team muster a meager offensive performance and still be content.But that was the case on Saturday following the annual Maroon-White Spring Game at Davis Wade Stadium.
Both the Maroon and White teams remained scoreless after four quarters of play, which caused an impromptu overtime period to be played. The White squad stalled on its first possession of overtime, but the Maroon team capitalized on its opportunity.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Relf lofted a pass to the left side of the end zone where Co-Eric Riley leaped into the air and hauled in the game-winning 25-yard touchdown to give the Maroon team the 6-0 win.
“I just had to go up there and make a play,” Riley said.
Riley’s catch was his lone one on the day for a pair of offenses, which seemed to have their struggles throughout the game.
But Croom isn’t going to let Saturday skew his perception of the offense.
“I’m not judging on anything based on today, because it’s not a true picture of where we are,” he said. “My idea of how we finish spring is based on the way we finished out the past two weeks. I think that had to do with how the players did today because they know the way I look at it.”
The only areas Croom noted some concern in were in turnovers, which included a total of five interceptions and a fumble, and penalties.
“We had too many turnovers and too many penalties on first down, and that’s something that was consistent in our other scrimmages and something we have to get straightened out,” he said. “That’s the one negative thing I saw from our scrimmages and saw out there today. The main thing we need to worry about is not hurting ourselves.”
Croom got another chance to see how his quarterbacks are shaping up by putting them in the game-type atmosphere of Saturday’s scrimmage.
Sophomore Wes Carroll, who was 2-for-6 and passed for 16 yards and threw an interception in limited minutes on Saturday for the Maroon team, will enter the season as the starter, but junior transfer walk-on Tyson Lee and Relf have been vying for the back-up role this spring.
Relf threw the lone touchdown pass of the game and was 2-for-13 for 76 yards and an interception.
Lee, who Croom said will be upgraded from walk-on status and will be put on scholarship, had slightly better numbers, completing 12 of his 21 pass attempts for 127 yards and also threw an interception.
“The big question mark was who the back-up was going to be,” offensive coordinator Woody McCorvey said. “This spring and today, Tyson Lee showed us what he can do. He can make a lot of things happen, especially being a mobile-type guy, keeping the play alive and making things happen.”
Carroll, Relf, Lee and junior quarterback Robert Ambers each threw passes that were pick-pocketed by the Maroon and White defenses.
While there was only one touchdown scored in the game, that could be credited to a solid defensive effort. Sophomore linebacker K.J. Wright led the charge in the secondary for the Maroon team with two interceptions, and another sophomore linebacker, Mark Lynn, also had two interceptions for the White team.
On the front line, senior defensive lineman Cortez McCraney wreaked havoc. He disrupted the offensive front and got to the quarterback for three sacks in the game. McCraney also led his team with six tackles.