Joe Moorhead fired up for Florida week coming off loss to Kentucky: 'One game will not define this damn team'
Coming off a tough loss on the road to Kentucky, Joe Moorhead quickly finds himself entering a critical week of preparation with Dan Mullen returning to town with his Florida team. To keep his seat cool in Starkville, Moorhead needs to win this game, otherwise, there could be hell to pay from the Hail State fanbase.
During his Monday afternoon media availability, Moorhead seemed to be fully aware of the situation after his team fell 28-7 in Lexington. The loss puts his team in a hole in the SEC West and with the former coach returning to town, the sense of urgency to get back on the right track will be elevated this week in Starkville.
Moorhead came out during his opening statements and delivered the most passionate speech of his early tenure at Mississippi State.
“I’m ultimately responsible for elevating the expectation level amongst our players, amongst our program and amongst our fans by using the term ‘championship standard.’ And I’m fine with that. I’m not going to apologize, I’m not going to backtrack and I’m not going to waffle for one second or one minute,” Moorhead said during his opening remarks. “I know realistically it wasn’t going to happen overnight but our coaching staff didn’t become dumb overnight and our players didn’t become bad overnight. This is the same team that one the first three games and went on the road and beat a Kansas State team in a Power 5 non-conference game, that hadn’t happened in over 30 years.”
If that wasn’t fiery enough, Moorhead then took things up a notch.
“One loss will not define a season and one loss will not define this team. I promise you this, this team is working tirelessly to get this friggin’ thing right. Hopefully everyone understands that the standard is the standard, we are not going to change anything in our approach and one game will not define this damn team and we are going to get this thing back right,” he said.
“There are no players of the week or helmet stickers when we lose a game.”
While Moorhead makes a good point, one loss doesn’t define a season at college football’s highest level, adding another loss to this particular opponent likely will end the hopes of Hail State in a hurry. Win big over Florida and Mullen and Mississippi State will be back on track with all their goals in front of them. On the other hand, suffering a defeat at home to Mullen and there’s no telling what Moorhead will have to come out saying this time next week.
This is the Moorhead I like to see. He is finally letting his anger come out from the players taking advantage of his niceness. He is honest and real. I like it. Hopefully, this loss won’t define the season and the team can come back stronger than before. Hail State.
Things could have gone differently if it wasn’t raining the way it was on Saturday. Having to deal with being tired in the second half with Snell coming full steam on top of being slick from the rain didn’t help at all. Obviously, throwing or catching a football in the rain isn’t the best situation to be in either. Thankfully, we had gone up enough scores to be able to abandon the pass.
I think MSU is still going to make some noise in the West. You all are still in for a very good season and I will keep rooting for you all.
Everyone needs to stop bragging about beating an awful Kansas State team.
Yeah, because it is super easy to go on the road and beat a Bill Snyder coached squad and win by three touchdowns.
West Virginia only scored 4 more points then we did against K-State, and they were at home.
Yeah but by that logic Florida is better than miss st. We lost 21 to 16 (19 that kick was good lol) I know the score was 27 to 16 but Kentucky scored and scored on the last play of the game. Still 21 point loss vs a 11 point loss. Then factor into account we played without our two best defenders. The game could of been even closer. Now, that dosnt mean we wont go to starkville and lose by 3 touchdowns lol. My point is, teams matchup differently.
Scooped*
South Dakota should have beaten them. This year, yes it is super easy to beat an awful Kansas State team.
West Virginia beat K State worse than they beat Tennessee. Let that sink in. K State is a bad team this season.
Good lord – did you really just say that????
Good stuff. Hail State.
I went into that game thinking rain was the worst thing possible for us. Mississippi State should have had all the advantages Kentucky actually realized and even more in the rain. Let’s please stop acting like conditions hurt an MSU team with a run-first quarterback and a pair of talented running backs anymore than they made it harder on UK’s defense as well. I’ve read ten articles now that have alluded to the “conditions”. Conditions were perfect for what their gameplan SHOULD HAVE been.
It seemed like State was always in a 2nd or 3rd and long situation. There were many times we would have had a first down if it wasn’t for the left tackle getting offsides. Martinez Rankin’s loss at LT was felt Saturday night. The worse part is that we have no one who is able to step up and play better than him.
After reading this article, I now believe losing to Kentucky is the best thing to happen to us. I think the players bought the press and this was a wakeup call. As much as I can’t stand Bama, that is the championship standard. The players that got penalties would have been met by a very public butt chewing by Saban and the lineman that got multiple infraction would be replaced by the punter if need be.
On a personal note, get rid of that stupid basketball thing on the sidelines
I am true Bulldog…..
Some players need discipline there were costly penalties that hurt the team
Adjustments needed to be made on both offense and defense when there was no sign of productivity on offense and missed tackles on defense.
That’s why Nick Saben is Nick he’s going to make adjustments regardless of what others think, we would rather lose a game than change the personnel on both sides of the ball.
Undisciplined players are not championship standards
Do I believe this team is capable of winning out? yes, but it’s going to take making some unusual changes, adjustments and rotation of players to get there on both sides of the ball.
Mississpi State is a solid team. They just ran into a buzzsaw Saturday. UK with a chip on their shoulder, Miss State got shook, UK had one of the louder crowds they’ve had…
I saw Miss State -7, at home, coming off a loss…took that all day. If Miss State comes out and wins by 21 I wouldn’t be shocked. Have a feeling Florida’s run defense is going to take it in the teeth.
Also remember, Miss State still got a lot of pressure on UK and UK has a better O line, and is a harder read on defense with the fastest QB in the conference working with an excellent run game.