Look past last season. Look past the fact that Mississippi State (2-4, 0-4) lost its Homecoming game to Conference USA opponent Alabama-Birmingham last year. Instead look to this season, and one of the other C-USA teams the Bulldogs will face for this year’s Homecoming.
That has been the message of head coach Sylvester Croom all week as his team prepares to take on the Houston Cougars (3-3, 2-2).
“We do know about it [Homecoming record], and we want to go out and win a game for the fans, for ourselves and to continue working toward a bowl game,” senior linebacker Quinton Culberson said.
If MSU is to improve its win-loss record this weekend, it will take some major adjustments and tweaks to the offense. Lack of production has stymied the Bulldog offense all season. In total offense, MSU ranks last in the Southeastern Conference and 110th in the NCAA with an average of 273.33 yards per game.
With an offensive juggernaut like Houston coming to town, the MSU offense will undoubtedly have to manufacture points. The Cougars are manifesting 473.8 yards per game in total offense.
“In order for us to have a chance to win this football game we have to play better offensively because we are playing an outstanding Houston offense,” Croom said. “Our coaching staff will have a good plan, but we are going to have to do a great job of keeping them out of the end zone because they are a very good offense. They are even more explosive than Florida if that can be imagined, and they will be a tough task for our defense.”
To seamlessly take advantage of their athleticism and create more of a propensity of pressuring opposing quarterbacks, the Cougar defense converted from a prototypical 4-3 package to a new 3-4 scheme.
While their offense tends to overshadow the accolades of the defense, it is a component not to be overlooked or underestimated. Although the Cougars are ranked 80th in the NCAA in total defense, giving up 408.2 yards per game, it is an area of concern for the Bulldogs.
“They have got three big down linemen, and their four linebackers are very agile. They primarily use the linemen, but they move those linebackers to where they seem like defensive ends-giving you a 4-3 look,” Croom depicted. “It can get confusing, and that’s why we have come up with a way to get everybody on the same page as far as treating everyone equally.”
A staple of hard-nosed attacks this season for MSU has come from the likes of its defensive unit. Coming into Saturday’s contest, this year State’s defense is currently ranked 49th in the NCAA, only allowing 355.0 yards per game-a far cry from that of last season’s squad.
While most teams might be overly concerned about facing such a potent offense, the Bulldog defense will be afforded a luxury not often presented to opponents on the gridiron.
“We’ve played a lot of teams with spread offenses,” Culberson said. “We weren’t too good at it at first, but we’re getting better. We know the schemes that they’re trying to run, and we’re going to play a lot harder on defense.”
With this weekend’s contest being Homecoming, fan support is always expected to be tremendous from Bulldog faculty, fans and alumni. According to junior quarterback Omarr Conner, that’s what this weekend is all about.
“A lot of alumni will be here, a lot of people visiting their old school. We’ve got to go out there and give them something to be proud of and get a win,” he said.
Non-Conference Domination
Mississippi State started the year off with a bang by defeating Murray State 38-6 and then later defeating Tulane 21-14 two weeks later. This continues the Bulldogs’ long history of non-conference annihilation, as State has posted a 41-13-1 record against non-conference opposition since 1989.
Norwood approaching history
MSU senior tailback Jerious Norwood is approaching the top of the career rushing list, one of State’s longest held records, spanning nearly 30 years. With his 111 yards in the Florida contest, he now stands fourth on the list with 2,510 yards. With wins more important to him than stats, Norwood is presently only 311 yards away from breaking the record.
Coaching Ties
MSU defensive line coach, Brick Haley, once served on the Houston staff as coach of the outside linebackers in 1997.
State offensive line coach, J.B. Grimes, once served on the same Texas A&M staff with Houston inside linebackers and special teams coach Alan Weddell. Both served together from 1998-2002.