By Tanner Marler
STARKVILLE, Miss. – When Jeff Lebby was hired at Mississippi State, one of the key points of emphasis was to revitalize an offense that was as near as to being dead the year prior.
Cue recruiting season, where former Bulldog and current wide receiver’s coach Chad Bumphis put together one of the best young receiving corps in the country. Lebby brought in a transfer quarterback in Blake Shapen who had shown big time arm talent when healthy. Fall camp came and went, and a buzz surrounded the Mississippi State football program in anticipation of its new head honcho, much like it had done each of the numerous times before that.
Lebby and the Bulldogs went on to thrash FCS opponent Eastern Kentucky in the home opener 56-7. After the game, Lebby said that despite the welcomed production to the offensive scheme, there were still points that had to be cleaned up before this week’s matchup with Arizona State.
“There’s plenty of things that we have to clean up offensively,” said Lebby. “Whether you look at it and it’s the fourth down non-conversion and the detail we played with there, whether it was some of the penalties where we have opportunities for chunk plays and it just made the drives harder…I think defensively, if you look at it, we did some great things. At times, (Eastern Kentucky) had drives going and we found ways to get off the field.”
Enter the next foe – Arizona State. ASU hung 48 points on Wyoming in its home opener, and now the Bulldogs will travel the long distance to Tempe, Arizona, for a 9:30 p.m. CT kickoff. For MSU, the biggest question mark is still the offensive and defensive lines. Despite Mississippi State having a total of two sacks as a team against the Colonels, the only Bulldog to register a solo sack was Kalvin Dinkins, who was injured just a few plays later.
On the offensive side, MSU was able to pile up the rush yards on the stat sheet, but the team’s leading rushers were quarterback Blake Shapen (7/44/1) and wide receiver Creed Whittemore (1/41/1). MSU’s two headed approach to the running back room with Keyvone Lee and Davon Booth only yielded 79 combined rushing yards on the day. Against other power conference schools, the offensive line will need to show up on the stat sheet more often than that to keep defenses honest.
One of the biggest weapons for Mississippi State this past weekend, though, was Louisville transfer wide out Kevin Coleman. Coleman returned five punts for a total of 117 yards and gave Mississippi State an average starting field position of about the midfield mark. In a press conference on Monday, Coleman said that he hopes teams don’t get scared of putting the ball in his hands.
“I would hope (other teams) keep kicking it to me,” said Coleman. “It’s a big conference, I would hope they don’t get scared, but eventually they will.”
With Mississippi State being picked at or nearly at the bottom of the pile of SEC teams by nearly every outlet’s expert, any step forward is one in the right direction for MSU. With the Lebby offense shining in week one, the expectations are now set at score and score often. However, there has yet to be a real barometer for MSU. With the way ASU’s offense produced in week one, this could be the first test for a defense still plagued with question marks. First year defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler’s side of the ball has a lot to prove, and that process starts this week. Isaac Smith is currently the SEC’s leading tackler after week one, and if another Bulldog can join those ranks this week, Davis-Wade Stadium will be buzzing come week three when the Bulldogs host Toledo.
