Mississippi State football: This is Leach's offense, love it or leave it
Mike Leach will always be Mike Leach. That will stay true until the day he dies.
The Mississippi State head coach has his plan for a football game. That’s fine. It has brought him a lot of success at both Texas Tech and Washington State, two of the hardest places to win in the Power Five.
So when a Bulldogs quarterback throws for 440 yards on on 45-of-61 passing for three touchdowns and no interceptions but MSU still loses its biggest rivalry game, it is a pill fans have to take.
Yet you have to wonder why Mississippi State didn’t try to run the ball to offset the pressure on Will Rogers on Saturday in the Egg Bowl against Mississippi. Ten total rushes between your two running backs is not even trying to establish a solid running game. And that came against one of the worst rush defenses in the nation (the Rebels are worst in the SEC at 220 yards allowed per game).
Dillon Johnson got 6 carries. Jo’Quavious Marks had 4. That was it. We know running isn’t a strength for Mississippi State, but the team could have at least given it a chance.
Instead, the outcome of the game depended on the young Rogers who, for the second straight week, performed well. He took care of the ball, didn’t make any mistakes, but … well, you have to wonder how much more effective he would be if he had a running game.
No longer would opposing defensive lines pin their ears back. Linebackers would have to think about cheating toward the line of scrimmage in case of a draw or rush. This would open the field.
But this is a Leach offense and this is Leach. I have spent time with the man. I like the man. He is a smart offensive-minded coach who has revolutionized the game of football for several programs. To ask him to change would be inane. It won’t happen. To ask him to focus on the run, which he has done in a few games in the past, would go against his strategy.
Maybe running more would be the best thing for now, but he is thinking of the future, of next season when some more pieces are in place.
So this is what Mississippi State is going to be right now. The Bulldogs are going to live and die by the arm of the quarterback.
When Leach gets the right player in there, if it is Rogers or not, SEC defensive coordinators are going to spend weeks trying to come up with a solution to MSU’s offense. It just isn’t happening this year.
Give Leach time, though, and things will be much different. They have to be.
I must rebut this feature. In the Air Raid offense, several passing plays are basically running plays. The old power sweep and power off tackle plays with pulling linemen won’t work any more with 300 pound defensive linemen that run 4.8 40’s. The flat and swing passes are the new sweep and quick pitch plays. And, then the jet sweep from the shotgun counts as a pass because the ball is lateraled forward instead of handed off. Change those to running plays, and MSU ran the ball quite a bit.
Agreed.
Thank you. We need to view the short passes just beyond the line as runs. Then you will see it’s an evenly called game. In addition to your list, every 4 yard pass in the middle of the field just beyond the line between linebackers is a run. You have to think this way if you are going to understand the offense or else you are just going to complain.
Using a traditional running game against the 3 man front would have shortened the game. Throwing the ball short against 8 doesn’t equate to a running game and doesn’t make the defense adjust. Most coaches attack the other teams weakness but Leach just focuses on what he thinks is his strenght.
You are grading an architecture assignment with engineer rules.
Irenaus,
darthA is not only a troll, but also an idiot. 90% of his comments on boards not Alabama are troll comments.
I disagree, darth is one of the better posters on this site. Definitely not a troll. IMO.
What about his comment is incorrect?
You have the complete right to disagree, but it doesn’t mean you are correct. He loves coming on to other boards and snipe a troll-like comment with no merit to back it up; that makes him a troll, regardless of whether or not he makes a sensible comment on his own bama boards.
It’s correct based off of a philosophy that Leach doesn’t use. That’s why I wrote “architecture rules vs. engineering rules”. If Mullen was still the coach I would agree with him/her. Instead, Leach uses the short pass to pull linebackers and safeties up. This opens the deep crosses and sidelines.
He mentioned shortening the game. If the receivers catch the short passes the game clock continues to run, but Leach doesn’t necessarily want to shorten the game. He wants the defense to get gassed by always running everywhere. Many of the linebackers matched up on crossing routes aren’t training to run all day.
Darth’s last line is correct. Leach makes defenses play to his strengths. The problem is Leach’s team was recruited to play to Moorhead’s strengths. The recruits are coming. This is why the freshmen and new guys are showing out on the offensive side (Walley, Rogers, Marks, Johnson, etc…).
I notice in your follow-up comments you didn’t answer his question about what was wrong with his analysis? I’ve long ago come to the conclusion a lot of the people on this site don’t have a clue about football. If I remember right you were one of the defenders of Moorehead. “architecture vs engineering?” An architect is an engineer, just with a style flair. Most architects majored in math. Good coaches do what their players do best with a tilt toward what the other team allows. I’ll quote Saban when Tua got hurt, “we’ll go home and figure out what our remaining players do best and go from there.” He didn’t mention a thing about doing what his system demanded, regardless of his players. I used to think more highly of Leach. Who keeps hiring these idiots? Cohen. MSU won’t be any good until MSU hires an AD who understands football. So far it’s been like the secretarial pool voted who to hire. Now you can criticize me for recognizing the deficiencies of Moorhead and Leach, but that doesn’t change the facts and I will be validated in time. In the meantime, tell the man what was wrong with his statement.
After the anemic offenses coached by Moorhead and the slow start this season, the air raid is finally a breath of fresh air. Leach’s system will rarely, if ever, beat a team like this year’s Alabama if MSU has to rely on the good-not-great level of talent that usually says yes to Starkville, but I like where things are going. Whatever the pirate is serving, I’ll have some more, please.
Agreed.
Definitely agreed. I’ve seen the team play harder in the last two games than they did under two years of Moorhead.