A solid rushing attack is any defense’s nightmare. Having the same player run by you, through you and over you play after play is simply degrading. However, it is even more difficult for a defense when a team has two running backs with big play capability.
Mississippi State has that luxury in senior Vick Ballard and sophomore Ladarius Perkins. Although Ballard gets most of the carries for the Dogs, Perkins is beginning to see more action as he continues to produce.
On the season, Ballard has 417 yards on 58 carries while Perkins has 157 yards on 30 rushes. However, Saturday night’s game saw a more even ground game between the senior/sophomore duo. Ballard finished the night with 71 yards on 17 touches and Perkins ended with 51 yards on 12 carries. Head coach Dan Mullen said he was trying to mix up who was running the ball in Saturday’s game.
“I like to have the balance between the two, and Perkins was running the ball pretty well tonight,” Mullen said. “There’s sometimes questions after the game of whether we were not trying to get it to Perkins or if we were trying to get it more to Ballard; I just like to be balanced, and we happened to be balanced tonight.”
The Bulldogs stayed on Ballard for the first half of the game, but Perkins received the majority of the carries in the second half when Ballard began to struggle. Perkins also caught the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime.
After the game Ballard could not cease saying how happy he was for Perkins.
“We needed to keep fresh legs on the field. Perkins made me so happy (Saturday) because I wasn’t playing my best game, so he would come and fill in,” Ballard said. “Whenever one of my teammates does something good, I’m happy for them because they’re playing hard, so I have to step up to their level.”
Perkins shares this same attitude about the rushing game and said it meant a lot that Ballard was so supportive of him.
“He and I were talking a lot on the sidelines, and he said everyone needed to pick it up; toward the end, we picked it up and got the win,” Perkins said. “You get tired out there with the offense running that fast paced, so I’ll be happy to come in and give him a breather at any time.”
When Ballard needs a break, the offense does not skip a beat with Perkins in there.
Last year Ballard averaged 80.7 rushing yards per game while Perkins averaged 43.5 rush yards a game. There are plenty more 100 yard rushing games ahead for the Dogs if these two continue dominating the ground game.