Moorhead Looks at Matchup with No. 7 Auburn

The Bulldogs will face their first ranked test this season as MSU travels to No. 7 Auburn this weekend.

Moorhead Looks at Matchup with No. 7 Auburn

September 23, 2019 | Football

Watch Moorhead Monday Press Conference MSU Game Notes Auburn Game Notes

by Brandon Langlois, Associate Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – After opening Southeastern Conference play with a 28-13 victory over Kentucky, Mississippi State head football coach Joe Moorhead took the podium Monday to preview the Bulldogs' upcoming road showdown at No. 7 Auburn.

The Bulldogs hit the road for the first time since the season opener on Aug. 31, as State travels to Jordan-Hare Stadium to face the Tigers on Saturday.

The game is set to kick off at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised by ESPN. Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Todd Blackledge (analyst) and Holly Rowe (sideline) will have the call.

Last season, a near-unstoppable rushing attack and a record-setting performance by Nick Fitzgerald led the Bulldogs to a 23-9 win over No. 8 Auburn in Davis Wade Stadium.

Junior running back Kylin Hill, the SEC's leading rusher through four weeks this season, grounded out 126 yards in last year's game against Auburn. Hill is the only player in the nation with four 100-yard rushing games to start the season and the first player in MSU history to accomplish the feat.

"Kylin has done an unbelievable job with his preparation heading into the season both mentally and physically," Moorhead said Monday. "I think it's as much mental as it is physical, where he can wear you down with his style of running, but a lot of that is the will to, rather than the skill to. I think he and the offensive linemen and tight ends, in terms of run-blocking for him, exhibit a lot of that so far."

Below are quotes from Moorhead's Monday press conference:

Opening Statement
JM: "Good afternoon. I hope everyone is having a great day.

"Recapping Kentucky, I thought it was a great SEC home win over a talented, physical and well-coached team. To get to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the SEC, I am really proud of our players and coaches. I thought we needed to play with poise, with passion and precision for four quarters, and have a finishers mentality, so it was great to see us be able to close the game out on the last drive. I knew we were going to need to fight, scratch and claw, and find a way to get it done, and we did. There were plenty of positives, but a lot of room to improve. I really love our leadership, our chemistry and our culture right now.

"From a performance indicator standpoint; we won the explosive play battle, 15-14, lost the turnover battle, 1-2, won third-down conversion percentage, which I thought that was a huge statistic in the game, 60 percent for us to eight percent for them. [Our] Defense did a great job of holding them to 1-for-12 [on third down]. Red zone touchdowns, we were 3-for-4 to 1-for-4 [for Kentucky], and I did think that the one that we missed was the turning point in the game. We were in the 3-by-1 bunch set and had [Lee] Witherspoon running up the shoot kind of uncovered, and there were just a couple things from the lineman and Lee was a little confused on the play, but that would have taken [the score] to 28-3 with a lot of football game left. Anyway, I thought we really gave them a chance to get back in [the game] there, so I thought we needed to convert that one to kind of put away [the game]. Drive start battle, we lost minus-26 to minus-27, and then penalties was a push.

"Our players of the week, on offense were co-players of the week, Kylin Hill and Garrett Shrader. Our Scout Team Player of the Week [on offense] was Vincent Taylor. On defense, our player of the week was Erroll Thompson. The Scout Team Players of the Week [on defense] were Jack Harris and Jaylon Reed. For special teams, it was Tucker Day [as the player of the week] and Scout of the Week was Shawn Preston Jr. Our Student-Athletes of the Week were Fletcher Adams and Cordavien Suggs.

"Just a couple of notes and odds and ends from Bill [Martin], SEC Freshman of the Week was Garrett Shrader. The first true freshman quarterback to win the honor in school history, the first Mississippi State player overall to win the award since 2016 and first Mississippi State offensive player since 2010 to receive the award. Kylin Hill continues to lead the SEC in rushing and is the only FBS running back with four, 100-yard rushing games to begin the year. He is the first in school history to achieve the feat.

"From an injury standpoint: we anticipate Nick Gibson back to practice on Tuesday, Stephen Guidry back to practice on Tuesday, Tommy Stevens to practice in some capacity on Tuesday and Lee Witherspoon to practice on Tuesday. On defense, Marcus Murphy will return at some point this week with a lower body and Tyler Williams at some point this week with a lower body.

"Moving on to Auburn, our first true road game of the year, in a primetime ESPN game against the seventh-ranked team in the country. Obviously, everyone knowns the head coach, Gus Malzahn. He is 57-27 at Auburn, 66-30 in his career. He was the 2013 National Coach of the Year. An interesting stat, he has won or played for a conference championship in seven of his 13 seasons as a head coach. He is 42-10 at home in his career as a head coach.

"Kenny Dillingham is their quarterbacks coach [and offensive coordinator]. They run a spread, up-tempo scheme with multiple personnel groupings, formations and motions. They are averaging 33 [points] per game with 424 yards of total offense: 259 [yards] rushing, which is first in the SEC, and 164 [yards] passing. Bo Nix, a true freshman quarterback that I did recruit a bit coming out [of high school when I was] at Penn State, has passed for 645 [yards] and five touchdowns. A true dual-threat quarterback: talented runner and thrower. Obviously, his dad played quarterback at Auburn. He has done a real nice job as a true freshman, so far. I saw the game-winning touchdown pass against [Oregon] in the waning seconds of the game. I thought that showed a lot of poise and a lot of competitiveness. I think he has done a really nice job. JaTarvious Whitlow is the tailback. He has 408 yards [rushing], which is second in the conference behind Kylin [Hill], with four touchdowns. He has excellent speed and vision. Then, Eli Stove has 150 yards [receiving] and two touchdowns. A good route runner. They show a lot of speed at the skill positions.

"Kevin Steele is the defensive coordinator and is one of the best in the country. [They run a] Base four-down, with 1- and 2-high zones and man coverages. They are giving up a paltry 15.8 points per game this year, allowing only 89 yards rushing per game, which is second in the SEC. I think they have one of the most talented and productive defensive fronts in the country, led by Derrick Brown, who has eight tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble and three deflected passes. He was second-team All-SEC last year and is just strong, physical and explosive, and is an excellent football player. K.J. Britt, the linebacker, has 21 tackles with seven coming versus Texas A&M. An active linebacker and is creating tackles for loss in his first year as a starter. Then, Jeremiah Dinson, has 21 tackles, one sack and one interception this year. An aggressive safety that does a really nice job playing the run and the pass.

"Larry Porter is their special teams coordinator. They are really fundamentally sound, using speed and physicality on their schemes. On kickoffs, they are 82 percent touchbacks. [They average] 16.1 [yards] on punt returns. They are 5-for-6 on field goals [this season]. Christian Tutt is the punt returner, with 10 [returns] for [an average of] 16 [yards per return]. Noah Igbinoghene returns kicks and has two returns for [an average of] 25 yards, and also had a [return] touchdown in 2018. He is also a track athlete for them. Then, Jamien Sherwood, is a core special teams player. He is physical and fast, and he kind of gets their return game going and does a nice job.

"Obviously, they have a signature win over Oregon to start the season and then a huge SEC win over Texas A&M this past week. It is going to be a huge challenge for us. Again, we are going to need a great week of practice. It will come down to our preparation, our effort and how well we execute. We are very excited, our kids are excited for it and we can't wait to get out there. It will be my first time to the stadium. We are pumped up and going to go get after it."

Q: What is the challenge in facing a freshman quarterback after just four weeks?
JM: "Four weeks is a good amount [of film]. I think, having recruited him and having tracked his high school career and now seeing what he has done so far. I think he and Garrett [Shrader] both have some of that 'it factor' and are a little more mature beyond their years. Bo was coached by his dad in high school and his dad was a great quarterback at Auburn. Bo kind of has some of that savvy that you don't always see in a true freshman. Part of it is his talent and the ability to beat you with his arm and his legs, and some is the experience beyond his years, is the other thing. [He is] Very competitive and if you watched the end of that Oregon game, he was cool as the other side of the pillow. He was unflappable."

Q: Is there a certain point in the week where you decided on who will be your starter at quarterback?
JM: "I am not trying to be evasive with this answer, but it is a fluid situation. I mentioned last week that [Tommy Stevens] was better at that point than he was the week before, but what I didn't clarify, was that it was a different mechanism. It was still an upper-body injury, but it was a little different than what he had the week before. As the week went on, he just wasn't able to go. We are anticipating him coming back to practice on Tuesday and we just have to see where it goes. If Tommy is not able to go, then Garrett [Shrader] will be the starter."

Q: What is Auburn doing differently offensively this year than they did last year with Bo Nix at quarterback?
JM: "I think the foundation of the scheme is the same. They are going to formation you or motion you. They are going to have some plays where they sugar huddle and run a play, with a lot of those being trick plays. Or, they get to the line really fast and try to create eye violations with max [protection] and shots down the field. The think where Bo is a little bit different than [Jared] Stidham, is that Bo is a little more of a threat with his legs. Stidham could do it, but he was more of a traditional pocket-style passer, which is why he is playing in the NFL now. I think Bo poses more of a threat with his feet. So, you are seeing a little more of that in the run game."

Q: Looking at the Kentucky film, what did you see from Garrett Shrader that was good and what do you want to see him continue to progress on?
JM: "The ball that he threw to Osirus [Mitchell] that was intercepted was the right read, it was just a little high. He was 13-of-16 in the first half and ended up 17-of-22. The decision making in the red zone, where we talk about 'avoid the sack and preserve the field goal.' That right there was sure points. That would be the biggest thing, but his ability to make plays by design or improvisation is probably the biggest thing that has stuck out. The great ones who can extend plays with their feet and make something when something is not necessarily there. Some of the ones where he scrambled and run or scrambled and found Malik [Dear] and checked it down, I thought that showed a lot of patience and poise for a young guy.

"In my mind, I don't view him [as a freshman]. I know he is a freshman, but his approach and his experience belies that fact. I think he plays a little more mature than most true freshmen."

Q: Last season, this game was your most successful rushing the ball. What did you see that enabled you to do that last year and do you see anything from the film this year that you might be able to capitalize on in the running game?
JM: "I am just as nervous going into this one as I was last year. I just see a big, strong, physical, athletic front seven. You have to find ways to run the ball on them successfully and we were very fortunate to be able to do that [last year]. Between, Nick [Fitzgerald], who was close to 200 yards...and then Aries [Williams] and Kylin both combined for somewhere in the 150 [yard] range. We were fortunate to be able to do some things to keep them off balanced with maybe a little more misdirection than we have normally done. You are not just going to line up and run the ball downhill at these guys. It doesn't work that way. We are going to have to find creative ways to create space and angles."

Q: It is your first true road game, how confident are you that this team can be better on the road this year than they were last year?
JM: "I don't want to say the process, but going on the road, rather it is a bus or a plane, and staying in a hotel and all of those things are the same. I think the challenge [this week] is that you have a lot more younger guys playing their first pronounced role in a road game this year. We had a meeting with the captains and the leadership council last night and sought their advice on some of the things that I or we - the guys who haven't played there - need to be prepared for. I think that will be the challenge in this game. The veteran guys have been there and know what to do, and our coaching staff has been environments such as these, but it will be the guys that maybe haven't had that true road game in this type of environment."

Q: There were a number of missed tackles last week, how does the coaching staff work on that in practice when there isn't a lot of tackling in practice during the week?
JM: "A lot of it is fundamentals and technique. We do tackling circuit during the week, which may not be necessarily taking guys to the ground, but it is working on the fundamentals and technique of it. A lot of it is pad level, knowing rather you are running inside our or outside in and playing low. Those are things that you have to handle. In individual periods during practice and when you are going thud, you are not bringing the guy to the ground, but you have to be in position where you would get the guy down. You don't want to be on the edges. We want to make sure we are doing a better job.

"The one third down that they converted: one, the guy could have been sacked, we had some someone free to the quarterback, then Brian [Cole II] had Lynn [Bowden Jr.] wrapped up well short of the sticks. Sometimes you have to give credit to the other guy. He is a pretty elusive, physical guy and I thought Lynn played a great game. They had big backs that run well, certainly [Asim Rose] did some things, but, certainly, we have to tackle a little better."

Q: The passing attempts for Garrett in the second half went down, was that by design?
JM: "I don't know what the time of possession was, but it wasn't a concerted effort to throw it less, as much as I thought we were having success running it. The game situation at the end dictated it. I don't think we had any three-and-outs [in the second half], which was good. We were able to flip the field position. It is just how the game played out. It wasn't like we said, 'hey, we have to throw less.' When you are completing almost 80 percent of your passes. I think the way Kylin was running, how we were blocking on the offensive line, and also game situation kind of dictated the run-pass ratio in the second half."

Q: You mentioned Garrett's success when the play breaks down, how much of that can be credited to the wide receivers being active in those plays, as well?
JM: "That's something we worked on during camp. You really don't get to it much during the season. We have scramble drill rules, so when the quarterback flushes out one way, where you are on the field horizontally, there's a certain thing that receivers are supposed to do based on where the scramble is and based on what their route is. A lot of guys follow those rules, and as he flushed, they were where they needed to be, and he was able to find somebody."

Q: It appears that Kylin [Hill] gets stronger as the game goes on this year. What has led to that this year?
JM: "Yes, I think [strength and conditioning] coach Cory [Bichey] and his staff have done a really nice job. I have mentioned [athletic trainer] Thomas Callans and Pamela [Bartz], our nutritionist, and I think our guys, as that game wore on and we needed to finish, we were in really good physical shape and played well. Kylin has done an unbelievable job with his preparation heading into the season both mentally and physically. I think it's as much mental as it is physical, where he can wear you down with his style of running, but a lot of that is the will to, rather than the skill to. I think he and the offensive linemen and tight ends, in terms of run-blocking for him, exhibit a lot of that so far. Also, having a quarterback, as you saw on the last drive, be a part of the run game takes a little bit of the stress off of him, as well."

Q: Does the way that Garrett has been playing help you manage Tommy's injury, especially with the bye week coming up?
JM: "I think it is contingent upon where Tommy is at and how healthy he is and what we need the quarterback position to do to win this game and be 1-0 this week. As always, we want to do what's best for the team first but also be mindful of the individual, as well. We'll do that this case."

Q: What has led to Tucker Day being the weapon he has been as the punter this season?
JM: "I think I mentioned that postgame with Neil Price. We signed Corliss [Waitman] and he was expected to come in as a graduate transfer and challenge Tucker for the job. [Tucker] didn't cower and he didn't jump in a [transfer] portal. He bowed his back, and his spring performance was as good as he's done, and he just carried that into fall camp. I give him a lot of credit for being the guy that was willing to compete. He earned a job and he's kicking very well. I am happy for him."

Q: What is your philosophy when you get the ball with a lead late in the game as a play caller?
JM: "You are talking about four-minute offense? At Penn State...I can go back to the Ohio State game in 2017 that we lost, and I didn't think I did a great job there with our four-minute calls. I have mentioned that I did think I got a little conservative [in that game]. One thing that we talked about there and now here, is when you get into the four-minute drive, maintaining the integrity of your offensive identity, where we know we can lean on our run and do so at any point, but you still want to have that ability that if they are putting more in the box than you can block, to get out a quick game or throw something. [You still] want to maintain that aggressive nature of what you do. That is hopefully something I have improved on and is showing up this year in the games we have needed to close out."

Q: Kylin Hill has had a larger workload early this season. Do you think he can continue to shoulder that work load?
JM: "I do. As I mentioned [earlier], how he has prepared and historically backs in this offense have [averaged] about 200 [carries per season]. I think Chase Edmonds at one point at Fordham had over 300 carries. I would have loved to have had the tailback have this many carries last years, but what we were doing and how we were successful, and as I have mentioned before, needing to utilize the quarterback as a number in the run game, that took some of the carries out of the tailbacks workload. Now that we are throwing it better, we are seeing more advantageous numbers and are able to get more of those carries that went to the quarterback [last year] to the tailback. To answer your questions, yes, I believe he can continue to carry this workload because of how he has approached it and how he is taking care of himself."

Q: Is that the balance you want to see in the offense?
JM: "Just in the run game? Yes, ideally, I want the starting tailback to have between 20-30 touches a game, whether that be carries or catches. I think the quarterback should have 10 designed runs and more than that by improvisation. It goes back to the efficiency and explosiveness of the passing game. It fell off a little bit two games ago, but we are throwing the ball a lot better now than we had at any point last year."

Q: Is Keytaon Thompson back practicing yet?
JM: "He is still working to get back to full strength. He will be practicing, but he is still not 100 percent yet."

Q: Kylin has had success with the counter play this season. How much of that is by design and how much is his ability to just bounce the play outside?
JM: "There are some split zone play and power oriented plays, and then...you are trying to find ways to get speed in space. For as much as Kentucky was restricting the interior gaps, the touchdown that he scored on the ole leap there, was a read on the play-side, inside linebacker. It could have been a quarterback pull or a handoff based on whether that guy got sealed or not. The tackle did a good job sealing him off and we got a great block on the perimeter by the slot, pinning the nickel back, and Farrod [Green] did a great job chasing it down and [Kylin] dove in. Any time we are able to complement our interior runs with one on the perimeter it helps balance us out a little bit."

Q: How do you think the offensive line did against Kentucky?
JM: "If you can run for 250 [yards] against a team that you didn't have 60 [rushing yards against] the year before. I think we only [gave up] two sacks, I think it was a very good performance by the offensive line and tight ends."

Q: How would you grade the blocking by your wide receivers?
JM: "Coach [Michael] Johnson does a great job emphasizing that it is not just what you doing when the ball is thrown your way, it is what you do when you are away from the ball. We talk about wide receiver blocking and guys going down field and turning short runs into long runs and long runs into touchdowns. I know that Deddrick [Thomas] and the other guys take a great amount of pride in being a part of that. Those guys are doing a really nice job. They may not be the target of a pass, but they understand that when we can get Kylin or one of our other guys in space, if they do a good job finishing plays it can really be explosive."

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