Playing Like The Pirate
January 02, 2023 | Football, Joel Coleman
Mike Leach’s presence was found all throughout MSU’s ReliaQuest Bowl win.
TAMPA, Fla. – Coincidence. It's defined as a remarkable concurrence of events without an apparent causal connection.
Put another way, some stroke of luck just so happens to make the proverbial stars align in some unbelievable way.
Well, here's the thing about coincidences. To embrace them is to accept randomness. It's to believe plain old chance is as big of a deciding factor in our circumstances as anything.
Maybe that's the prevailing thought for some when life's fortunate moments occur. As for Monday's ReliaQuest Bowl though, you'll probably be hard-pressed to find anyone in Maroon and White willing to stake any claim in coincidences.
Get coincidence all the way out of here. It had to be a Pirate looking down.
By now you know No. 22 Mississippi State topped Illinois 19-10. Less than a month after the passing of Mike Leach, his Bulldogs took the field and honored him in victorious fashion.
MSU winning alone would've been a fitting Leach tribute. However, on this day, it was as though the victor's spoils were uniquely positioned to where they could only be discovered by marching along a treacherous treasure path that Leach himself had uniquely prepared this team to navigate. (Not to mention it all happened in the one stadium with an actual pirate ship.)
"I think we did exactly what has been preached for the last three years in this program by Coach Leach," State's new head coach, Zach Arnett, said postgame. "Next play mentality. Never look at the scoreboard. Just work as hard as you can on every individual play and things will take care of themselves
"Obviously Coach Leach has been leading this program for three years, and he was out there leading us today."
He sure was.
Leach was surely right there on the sideline late in the second quarter when the State offense was trying to get going. MSU had turned the football over on back-to-back series. Illinois had claimed a 7-0 lead.
You can be certain in the minds of some Bulldogs in that moment, Leach was as present as ever.
"Play the next play. Do your job over and over and over again."
State stayed in the fight with one of its most important drives of the season. Massimo Biscardi put the Dawgs on the board just before halftime with a 38-yard field goal.
It was a swing of the leg, but it might as well have been a swinging of the sword signifying Leach's guys weren't going away.
Anyone expecting them to would've been foolish anyway. Of all of Leach's lessons, perhaps none were taught as much as toughness. There was no way this State team in this game would cower down.
The Leach way is aggression. It's attack, attack, attack. So, to no one's surprise, his guys followed his lead back to a tie game.
Early fourth quarter. Down 10-3. 4th and 2. Eight yards away from the end zone.
Field goal? No way.
Instead, the Dawgs went gutsy and quarterback Will Rogers fired a touchdown strike to receiver Justin Robinson who just got his toe down in the back of the end zone. Just like that, it was all tied up.
14:54 was left on the game clock following Robinson's score. A casual onlooker might've said it was anybody's game.
These were two strong football teams, both vying for a ninth win. The Bulldogs and Illini had gone blow for blow all day long. It was nail-biting time.
Through it all, a confident feel permeated the State sideline – a sideline that had a maroon flag bearing Leach's name waving high above the bench as well as coaches and staffers wearing shirts honoring MSU's fallen leader.
The Dawgs seemed convinced they'd find a way. Lo and behold, they did.
With 1:50 remaining, MSU got the football back at its own 21. Powered by the legs of Simeon Price, Mississippi State drove all the way inside the 10-yard line. With four seconds remaining, Biscardi nailed a go-ahead 27-yard field goal.
A celebration ensued, but the game wasn't over yet. It never is, not until…
"The clock says zero, zero, zero."
Just as Leach always demanded, the Bulldogs played until time ran completely out. Marcus Banks put an end to a wild, last-gasp Illinois lateral attempt by grabbing the football and returning it 60 yards for a touchdown as the clock expired.
Game over. Sword swung.
"We all just pulled together," Rogers said. "We realized we were playing for a bigger purpose."
As the confetti rained down on the Bulldogs, tears were rolling down many cheeks. Those tears said what words can't fully express.
A month ago, no one saw any of this coming. Recent days have reminded of the preciousness of time and how nothing in this life is guaranteed, yet Monday offered comfort by illustrating how those near and dear to us live on forever in the lives they touch.
And every now and then, they'll even give us a wink via pirate ships and 4th-and-2s.
Coincidence? Not a chance.
