The month or so leading up to and including the game against Texas A&M was a long and brutal stretch for Mississippi State, a span of 5 games against 5 opponents who either are or were ranked in the top 16 nationally.

The 4 games prior to Saturday night proved to be especially costly, as the Bulldogs dropped 3 to Kentucky, Florida and LSU. What really makes those losses even tougher to swallow is that the Bulldogs could have (and arguably should have) won those, weeks in which the vaunted defense played at a championship level but failed to get any support from the offense.

The culprit? No one single play, call, player or coach was directly responsible. But if you had to point to a common denominator, it was the play from their QB Nick Fitzgerald.

Look, I have a ton of respect for Fitzgerald as a player and what he’s been able to accomplish as the starting QB. He’ll go down as one of the best QBs in program history, and for the time being at least, he’ll be immortalized in SEC lore as the all-time leading rusher among QBs. But no one, even the most ardent Fitzgerald supporter, can deny his performances during that span was abysmal.

In those 4 games leading up to A&M, Fitzgerald completed 44% of his passes for 371 yards with 0 TDs and 6 INTs. Worse, against the Wildcats and Gators he combined for just 52 rushing yards on 36 carries.

His play seemed to hit rock bottom last week in Baton Rouge, as he completed just 8 of 24 attempts for just 59 yards with 0 TDs and 4 INTs. Sure, he ran for 131 yards that night, but for a team with the talent that Mississippi State has to produce just 3 points, you had to wonder how much longer could the senior QB keep his job.

Leading up to A&M, the calls for Fitzgerald’s job were relentless. Everyone, myself included, was convinced it was time to do what was best for the team and not the player and bench Fitzgerald to try and salvage what was left of the season. Fans, boosters, administrators, journalists, analysts, pundits and everyone in between had lost complete and total faith in the fifth-year senior.

He was finished, a relic of the past. There were a lot of good times, but it was time to move on.

The easiest thing would have been for HC Joe Moorhead to listen to everyone and bench Fitzgerald. He was well justified to make such a move and it also would have helped calm down a fan base rapidly losing patience in their first-year coach.

Moorhead, though, was one person who hadn’t lost faith in Fitzgerald. He still thought he could help Fitzgerald turn things around and that he still gave his team the best opportunity to win. Outside pressure be damned, he was going to stick by Fitzgerald.

That faith was rewarded Saturday night, as Fitzgerald came through with arguably his best game of the season. He wound up completing 14-of-22 passes for 241 yards (63%) with 2 TDs and 0 INTs. For the third consecutive week he also led the team in rushing, as he ran for 88 yards and 2 TDs on 16 carries.

Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

More important was how he carried himself. He had his swagger back. He looked confident in the pocket, in the huddle and on the sidelines. He did a better job going through progressions and showed more patience in allowing his receivers to get open. He showed more discipline in staying in the pocket to attempt a pass than to quickly tuck it and run when he saw that his primary target was covered. He showed the same velocity he’s always shown, but was better with his ball placement. Don’t get me wrong, he still missed badly on a couple of deep balls, but he’s never going to be Aaron Rodgers. More important, he didn’t let the misses change his attitude or game plan.

Normally, when Fitzgerald misses on a couple of targets in a row, he’ll clam up and play more conservatively to try and limit future mistakes, normally in the form of tucking it to run. Against A&M he didn’t let the misses affect him, instead he kept standing tall and taking shots downfield, and finally started finding the success that has been so elusive the past few weeks.

All in all, it was a damn fine performance. It was the kind of performance that makes you wonder what this season could’ve been like had he played all season like he did on Saturday night. It was the kind of performance the Bulldogs will need if they’re going to finish the season on a good note. They still have 4 regular season games left, and they should be heavily favored in 3 of them.

Give Moorhead credit for his conviction to remain faithful to his embattled senior QB. Believe me, that’s something players and recruits notice. Every coach tells players and recruits alike that he has their back and he won’t give up on them, but more often than not, it’s lip service provided by just another salesman. Sometimes, though, you run into a coach that proves he’ll stick by his players even when the whole world is against them.

Looks like Moorhead is one of those coaches.