At least you can say that the team did not stop fighting, but not matter how many yards you run or throw, no matter how many touchdowns you score, you just can't win if you turn the ball over 4 times to a team like Georgia Tech. Oh yeah, Tyson Lee threw an INT late in the 4th, but it was already over by then.
There were a few positives to take away from tonight's game. I can't wait to see what Chad Bumphis does for this team over the next 3-4 years. He made plays tonight when it looked like they were dead. Leon Berry was also able to finally return a kick-off for a touchdown without any flags littering the field behind him.
The defense stepped up and made Tech throw the ball more. Too bad our free safety is only 5' 10" and was matched up against Lurch. Kyle Love was a man on a mission tonight, as was Pernell McPhee. I just think we are 2 DBs shy of a truly great offense. If only we had 1 more year with Derek Pegues.
So anyway, the moral of the last two weeks is you can't win if you are going to turn the ball over. If we can get better discipline on offense, stop making those mistakes, we could be a great football team.
Now, lets see what everyone else has to say...The Morning After.
First up, some video. Here is Dan Mullen at his post-game presser:
Next, here are some post-game comments from QB Tyson Lee and WRs Leon Berry and Chad Bumphis:
The Links
On the links, Chris Low of ESPN says that even thought Dan Mullen has turned the offense around, the defense has to be a disappointment so far this season. Think about that for a second. When was the last time that the offense and special teams were the highlight of a football team at Mississippi State?
The Quotes
Dan Mullen on...
Ball Control
"It was a poor job by us for not emphasizing it more in practice, not making sure we’re stripping the guys enough during practice as they are running plays. Even in walk thrus we are doing a poor job in not making sure that ball control is taking care of in every play."
On Dixon's fumbles
"He’s a senior and he’ll battle back from that. We’re going to coach that hard this week, not that we don’t every week. Obviously I haven’t done a good enough job of coaching and we are going to get after that. Anthony is going to come back and respond. It’s something that he will do as a senior. He’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do since I’ve been here, so I have no doubt that Anthony is going to practice hard this week and respond to that. "
Chad Bumphis on his impressive performance
"Coach put us in the right position to win. We were running corner routes and [Georgia Tech] would start to jump it, so once I broke back to the middle of the field nobody was there."
Jamar Chaney on preparing for Houston next week
"We just have to go out there, put it together and come out hungry against Houston. We want to win every game, not just play close. We go out there to win the game and that’s we’re going to do next week. We’ll forget about this loss and try to bring back a winning streak."
Anthony Dixon on his two fumbles
"One of them I tried to go left and I tried to open it up. When I did I swung my arm up and [Georgia Tech defenders] caught me from the back. The second one I was going to the hole and I made a cut, and my arm dropped a bit. I should’ve had two hands on it. I just got to squeeze tighter and go back to the basics."
That about does it for this edition of The Morning After. I may post more links later today if I see anything of interest. Other than that, we will start working towards next week's match up with Houston.