Mississippi State coach Mike Leach stated he will need to examine the roster and potentially “purge” some players who dont fit with the strategy after Saturdays 24-2 loss at Kentucky.
The Bulldogs, who opened the season with a 44-34 win at defending national champ LSU and an SEC-record 623 passing lawns, failed to score on offense and had six interceptions versus Kentucky. Mississippi State dropped its 2nd successive video game after recentlys 21-14 home loss to Arkansas, which snapped a 20-game SEC losing streak.
” Were going to have to inspect a few of our group and determine who truly wishes to play here,” Leach said after the Kentucky loss, “since any malcontents, were going to need to purge a couple of those.”
2 RelatedMississippi State outgained Kentucky 296-157 and held the ball for almost 35 minutes. Kentucky had an 8-yard interception return for a touchdown and went only 22 backyards and 2 lawns on two other scoring drives. Quarterback K.J. Costello, who shined in the opener, threw four interceptions before being replaced by freshman Will Rogers, who twice was intercepted.
” We didnt play together at all,” Leach stated. “You can truly state all things. … We turned the ball over, which was a byproduct of the quarterbacks eyes not being in the best place.”
Asked if Costello, a graduate transfer from Stanford, would remain Mississippi States starter, Leach said, “Well need to go back and see and take an appearance.”
Mississippi State coach Mike Leach enjoys his Bulldogs in action versus the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday. AP Photo/Bryan WoolstonLeach also pointed to bad offensive-line play, penalties and dropped passes as concerns that pestered Mississippi States offense against Kentucky.
” Offensively, were not training effectively right now,” Leach said. “We have to coach much better. If you look at this video game, almost every problem that we have was self-inflicted. With a lot of respect to Kentucky, however one self-inflicted wound after the next. Ive remained in plenty video games where we didnt drop any balls. I dont understand the number of balls we dropped however I lost count.”.
Mississippi State returns home next week to deal with No. 21 Texas A&M.
” Weve got to end up being a much better offense,” Leach said. “Weve got a new system, weve got some youth and lack of experience, and weve just got to stick and coach our method through it.”.
2 RelatedMississippi State outgained Kentucky 296-157 and held the ball for almost 35 minutes.” We didnt play together at all,” Leach said. Mississippi State coach Mike Leach sees his Bulldogs in action versus the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday. AP Photo/Bryan WoolstonLeach also pointed to bad offensive-line play, penalties and dropped passes as issues that plagued Mississippi States offense against Kentucky.” Offensively, were not training extremely well right now,” Leach stated.
