Homecoming weekend represents an important mark for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. It’s the midpoint of their season, and the Bulldogs are looking to put the past behind them.
“The first half of the season is over,” head coach Sylvester Croom said. “It didn’t go as well as we hoped, but it is in the past now.”
Mississippi State’s alumni, friends and family will gather this weekend as the Bulldogs face Division 1-AA Jacksonville State Gamecocks. The Gamecocks will come into Davis Wade Stadium looking to take advantage of the Bulldog’s quarterback complications with their sound defensive game.
“The strength of their football team is the defense,” Croom said. “They’ve got two excellent [defensive] players on their football team who are transfers from Auburn.”
Receiving core more productive
The Bulldogs offense gained over 250 yards last week against West Virginia, the second time this season they have topped the 250 mark.
The Bulldog offense hasn’t produced this amount of offense since the 2004 season.
Wide receiver Tony Burk played a major role in last week’s game by catching four passes for 118 yards.
Burk is the go-to guy for the Bulldogs’ quarterbacks. He averages 26.4 yards per completion for the season and leads in total receiving yards with 370 yards.
“Part of our offense is being able to move ‘the guy’ around at different spots,” Croom said. “That way he (Burks) is the primary guy on pretty much every pattern.”
Offensive line must hold own
The offensive line is under more pressure than ever with the Bulldogs lacking the needed depth at the quarterback position.
Bulldog quarterbacks have been sacked 22 times this season.
The offensive line will try to keep the sacks at a minimum by protecting quarterback Mike Henig at all cost.
“The offensive line has got to protect him (Henig),” Croom said. “He has to get the ball out fast.”
Gamecocks search for shutout
The Gamecocks are planning to ruin the Homecoming weekend for the Bulldogs. Jacksonville State is coming off its third win this season and has let it be known that they expect to win this weekend as well.
“We keep hearing that they feel very good coming into this game and shutting our offense down,” Croom said. “That is the rumor on the streets, so we have a great challenge there. We’ll see if our offense will step up and accept that challenge.”
In the only other meeting of these two schools, the Bulldogs toppled the Gamecocks with a 51-13 victory in 2002.
With the hopes of history repeating itself in that respect, the Bulldogs will be trying to win a Homecoming game for the fist time since 2003.
Overall, the Bulldogs have won more than 65 percent of their Homecoming games since the event began in 1937.
“The expectations are high for Homecoming,” Burk said. “We plan on putting on a good show for the home crowd.”