In the days since MSU’s 31-22 win over Middle Tennessee State on Homecoming, much has been said about head coach Sylvester Croom’s decision to burn the redshirt year of true freshman wide receiver/defensive back Arceto Clark. The majority of people I’ve talked to about it count the decision as another in a long line of gaffs during Croom’s tenure. I happen to disagree with the opinion that Croom made a horrible decision.
First of all, for those unfamiliar with the situation, Mississippi State’s offense is bad. Heading into Saturday’s game, State was 118th nationally in scoring offense. That’s out of 120 schools. Offensive woes are a big reason MSU is 3-5 and a long shot to become bowl eligible despite having the 73rd-ranked schedule strength in the nation according to the Sagarin ratings.
Clark is a true freshman who, until Saturday, was redshirted this year. He entered the game against MTSU and carried the ball once for two yards, ending his redshirt eligibility.
Croom showed Saturday that, despite evidence to the contrary, he’s not completely bullheaded and unwilling to change. The announcement last week that he was adding some new things to the playbook and planned to utilize a new player made a lot of waves because Croom has a well-established reputation for resisting change. In fact, as recently as the press conference after an embarrassing Oct. 18 loss to Tennessee, Croom flatly denied any plans for change, saying the team would “continue to get better at the things we do.”
What changed? Is it possible that Croom finally felt his proverbial seat start to warm up? Many people have speculated that a loss to MTSU would have been the final straw in Croom’s career. Perhaps he knew going in that his job was on the line. I don’t claim to know.
One of his comments after the game Saturday seems to support that conclusion: “Guys, I’m not worried about what’s happening four years from now. I’m going to let somebody else worry about that if that needs to be. I’m worried about winning a game today.”
Now, whether or not he meant that he doesn’t expect to be here in four years, the fact is that he thought Clark could help win not just this ballgame, but the four games left on the schedule.
The four remaining games on the schedule seem to be forgotten by the people calling this decision an awful call. When you look at it as if a year of Clark’s eligibility was wasted for a scant two yards, of course it looks like a stupid decision. However, there’s a lot of football to be played, and MSU is fighting hard to become bowl eligible. The six-win mark is a big line in college football that often decides whether a season is a success or failure. Putting the best athletes available on the field is the only way, at this point, that MSU can hope to achieve that goal.
Another difference you might have noticed in how Croom called Saturday’s game came late in the second quarter.
With less than two minutes remaining in the half, Mississippi State called two timeouts to ensure that it got the ball back with time to mount an offensive drive. The clock management at the end of the first half is something many people, including myself, have faulted Croom for this season. On multiple occasions, State has seemed satisfied to let the clock expire instead of trying to score to end the half. This weekend, Croom seemed to make a conscious effort to change that attitude. I commend the coach on doing whatever he can to win games, and hope that he does what it takes to win (at least) three more.
Croom has made plenty of poor decisions in his colorful five-year tenure, there’s no doubting that. Anti-Croom vocalists have plenty of instances to cite in the case against Croom, but this just isn’t one of them.
Brandon Wright is the sports editor of The Reflector. He can be reached at
[email protected].