The Mississippi State football program needs a new direction. MSU is on the verge of yet another losing season. Barring a massive upset in Tuscaloosa over current No. 1 Alabama, ending a nine game losing streak against Arkansas, and retaining the Egg Bowl for the first time since 1999, State will miss the postseason for the seventh time since 2001.
Five years ago, head coach Sylvester Croom inherited one of the most difficult coaching jobs in the nation. The program was on NCAA probation. Fan interest in the program was at an all-time low. MSU lacked SEC caliber talent at many starting positions. MSU surrendered 42 points per SEC game in Jackie Sherrill’s last year. In Croom’s first year, State improved to only giving up 25 points per game, and they have improved each year. The offensive production is obviously the problem.
The play calling has been questionable. MSU’s first touchdown against Kentucky was from a 29-yard pass. The Bulldogs did not test the Wildcat’s deep pass defense again.
Cries in the student section have grown louder in recent weeks to move the program in a different direction. The offense ranks 115th in scoring. The defense has not saved the team as it did last season. Coach Croom has often said in his press conferences that the team is just not executing or that the Bulldogs win if MSU had made a single one of 10 or 15 plays. Croom is right.
While on paper the team is better than the early 2000s Bulldogs, Croom cannot get MSU to make any of those plays, and the Bulldogs again find themselves cellar dwellers. Croom’s ball control offense has failed. The Bulldogs do not get enough first downs or hold possession long enough to make up for the lack of a big play threat.
Croom has collected nine SEC wins in five years. This year is being reported as a down year for the SEC, and MSU has only mustered a win over an overrated Vanderbilt team.
Remember last season how the Bulldogs were annihilated at home by Louisiana State and at West Virginia. South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas each completely dominated MSU for a half. The eight-win season masked the fact that the team was again not SEC level.
State fans will remember the late ’90s when Sherrill put together four straight winning seasons. State fans will remember coming so close to being crowned SEC champions in 1998 when State led the eventual National Champion Volunteers 14-10 midway through the fourth quarter before two quick touchdown passes from Tee Martin stole a 24-14 win. Bulldog fans will remember the 1999 season when MSU built an 8-0 record and finished with the best national ranking of a team from Mississippi in a generation.
Sherill’s late ’90s success was once in a generation. Last season was only MSU’s 15th eight-win season in its 100 year football history. The Bulldogs’ two 10-win seasons are the fewest in the SEC West.
In 2004, Croom had tremendous obstacles to overcome to succeed at MSU. The losses are piling up and the Bulldogs are toying again with mediocrity. It is hard to be a successful football coach in Starkville, but it is possible and MSU must not accept this mediocrity.
Paul Kimbrough is a senior majoring in biological sciences. He can be reached at [email protected].