Bulldogs Focusing On Doing The Little Things Right
October 21, 2021 | Football, Joel Coleman
MSU prepares for Vanderbilt, ready to put last week in the past.
STARKVILLE – LaQuinston Sharp, what's the vibe around the Mississippi State team this week? What must be improved heading into this coming weekend's game at Vanderbilt?
"Focus on the little things," the MSU center said after practice earlier this week. "Do all the little things right."
It was those pesky, miniscule things that the Bulldogs feel cost them in last Saturday's loss to Alabama. Eyes in the wrong place here. A missed assignment there.
"It was just small, little mistakes, it was nothing major," State safety Collin Duncan said.
The errors added up. It all led to a frustrating MSU loss. What it also did though was seemingly light another fire under these Bulldogs who have shown many signs of growth already this season. This week, State has its sights set on proving last week was simply a bump in the road – a small bit of turbulence for a program that's still gaining altitude.
"We know we're better than what we put out on the table [against Alabama]," Duncan said. "Alabama has a great offense. They've got explosive weapons. But I think everyone in this program and everyone on this defense knows that we're better than what we put on the table. For someone to come to our house and put 49 points on the table, that's a big shot in the gut. It's hard to swallow, but we play in the SEC. If you dwell on one game, going into the next week, you might get beat again."
So Mississippi State has moved on, making sure the little things are getting fixed. That goes for Duncan and the State defense. It goes for the offense as well.
The Bulldogs didn't find the end zone last week. The diagnosis for the offensive issues according to head coach Mike Leach was communication problems and players trying to do too much.
Receiver Austin Williams said he's confident the Bulldogs can fix the former. As for the latter, it's one of those little things MSU is seeking to master.
"It's a fine line you have to walk," Williams said. "I think the quote is, you want to play one step away from being out of control. You just have to push yourself to your maximum limit, but you have to know you can't score 21 points on one play."
It's a bit ironic. The more a football player tries to do, sometimes it equates to him accomplishing less.
Perhaps that explains much of what happened at Davis Wade Stadium last Saturday. A Bulldog team seeking to put another exclamation point on how much it has improved, hindered itself a bit by trying too hard.
Nonetheless, one tough Saturday doesn't take away how much MSU is getting better on both sides of the ball. The Bulldogs are one of only two teams in the country to beat two different opponents currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. It's a testament to a group that remains loaded with potential.
"I feel like just how hard we work in practice and the attention to detail we have in practice, it's hard not to get better," Duncan said. "Especially when you have someone like [defensive coordinator Zach Arnett] and the staff he has on defense. I feel like the same thing for the offense. We have a great leader in [quarterback] Will Rogers and Coach Leach is on him a lot. Then there's all the receivers and all the [offensive] linemen. With how hard we work in practice and how hard we push each other, most of the times we don't even need the coaches out there because we're chewing out each other to make sure that we're all getting better."
Saturday at Vanderbilt is a chance to reset and demonstrate once again – as they've done already this year at times – that these Bulldogs are on an upward trajectory. Last week was last week. What's done is done. The little things are getting corrected. Now, it's time to take those fixes into a new game and a new opportunity.
"I think the big thing is the 24-hour rule," Williams said. "Like after [the win over Texas A&M two weeks ago], it was a great win. Enjoy the win. But after 24 hours is over with, it was on to Alabama. Then Alabama, it was a bad loss, [but] after 24 hours, you've got to move on. This is a new week. We go to Vanderbilt. It's a chance to redeem ourselves and get back on track."
