Entering his first Egg Bowl: Joe Moorhead previews Ole Miss, states importance of handling emotions
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Joe Moorhead’s first season in Starkville may not have gone as well as many Hail State fans had hoped entering the season but Mississippi State is still playing for a chance to win eight games during the regular season and earn the most important win in the state for 2018 come Thursday.
That game is, of course, the Egg Bowl in Oxford against an Ole Miss team that’s dropped four consecutive games — all in conference play. The matchup will be Moorhead’s first Egg Bowl as the leader of the Mississippi State program.
How long did it take for the Hail State faithful to notify Moorhead of the importance of this game? According to the coach, he was informed the moment he stepped off the plane after being hired.
“Yeah when I got off the plane and started shaking hands and signing autographs, just walking around the fence, there were a few people that relayed the importance of the game with me,” Moorhead said during his Monday press conference. “So that happened pretty quick.”
The Mississippi State coach was also asked about how Nick Fitzgerald handles this game after getting injured last season in the Egg Bowl.
“For him, you can’t really afford for it to be too high or too low at the quarterback position,” the MSU coach said. “There are some other spots where you can play with a little more emotion and harness it the right way but certainly the mental and physical challenges of playing that position and preparation of what goes into it on every snap, he can’t be sky high and be worrying about things that can’t be important… he’s got to be focused on the task at hand.”
What concerns him about AJ Brown?
“The better question is what doesn’t concern me… That’s a big guy now,” Moorhead said. “To be able to run the way he does, make plays after the catch and get open, there’s a reason he’s one of the top receivers in the country and he’ll be drafted high.”
On the injury front, Moorhead noted Kylin Hill and Jaquarius Landrews are day-to-day with both improving heading into the Egg Bowl.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
