As the campus buzzed with enthusiasm and excitement over Super Bulldog Weekend, the Mississippi State offense didn’t.
State’s defensive line simply dominated the line of scrimmage Saturday evening in the Maroon and White Game. The D-line’s performance, starring senior Ronald Fields, was worth every bit of the $5 that MSU fans paid to enter the gates of Scott Field.
An estimated 16,000 saw State’s offensive line get run over play after play.
“I’d say that is the group that was the most productive and probably has the most effective players and playmakers,” said defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson. “The defensive line probably has the best depth on the team.”
With three sacks, five tackles and four tackles for loss, Fields led the wrecking crew that forced three interceptions, made 12 sacks and allowed only 46 rushing yards and 117 yards through the air.
And head coach Sylvester Croom noticed.
“Ronald Fields is the most glaring person on our defense,” Croom said. “When he is on the attack, I think a lot of people are going to have problems with him.”
Fields is the lone senior on a young but talented defensive line.
“(Fields) knows he has to have a leadership role,” sophomore defensive end Deljuan Robinson said. “He’s setting the tone for the rest of the D-linemen. He’s our leader up front. When we see him going hard every day, we try to go hard every day.”
The perplexing question of the intrasquad spring scrimmage: Was the offense so bad that it made the defense look good? Or was the defense so good that it made the offense look bad?
Sophomore quarterback Omarr Conner has set the bar very high for any challengers come this August. The Macon native completed four of eight passes for 42 yards but threw an interception. Conner did prove one thing: his feet can be an essential weapon for State’s offense.
“In this offense you have to be a mobile quarterback,” said offensive coordinator Woody McCorvey.
He continued: “You go back to the days of Steve Young, and (Donovan) McNabb that have been really good in this offense-most of them have shown a lot of mobility. When things break down, which they do many did many times and usually do with a new offensive scheme, you want a guy that can move around, but can still be able to look up the field.”
Third-string walk-on quarterback Brett Wilcutt completed only two passes, but Brandon Wright caught one of those for a 37-yard touchdown. Second-string quarterback Aries Nelson went one of four and had one interception.
The first and second-string running backs faced the same kind of pressure from that powerful front seven. Even the second string defense rolled over the first string offensive line in time to take down the running back just as he received the handoff.
Jerious Norwood was the only Bulldog running back with more than six rushing yards. Norwood rushed seven times for 27 yards, which included a 24-yard touchdown run.
Always optimistic, Croom said that he was pleased with the efforts of his team.
“We lined up pretty well,” Croom said about the Bulldogs formations. “I thought our first teams on both sides of the ball did pretty well. Overall I thought that we didn’t do dumb things and we are better. How good we are I still don’t know yet, but were going in the right direction.”