Game MVPs: Mississippi State vs UMass

Offensively Miss. St had a coming out party. True it was against UMass. but even at that, they gave Florida all they wanted at The Swamp. Florida won that game, at HOME, 24-7 pulling away some LATE. We had season highs in rushing and passing. Yes we gave up yards also but neither yards rushing or yards passing were as much as we have in games past. Is that a good thing, NO. WE have opportunities to improve on both sides of the ball.

So my offensive MVP goes to Fred Ross who had 8 catches for 126 yards (both season highs) and two touchdowns. Also with that Nick Fitzgerald was 26 of 39 for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns. I think you have to also credit who gave him the time to pass, the offensive line. Personally I think that group has the furthest to go in improving their total game. But we do need to credit them for what they did help accomplish this past Saturday.

Defensively, we had something that has been lacking. We came up with 3 interceptions and ran one in for a pick-6. It’s been a while since we did that and we need a lot more of it. WE need a defense that scores regularly. We had interceptions by Johnathan Calvin, Jamoral Graham and Kivon Coman. Maybe the biggest game defensively goes to safety Brandon Bryant who had 5 unassisted and 4 assisted tackles. He is really beginning to pick up his game and be the player we need him to be. It seems to me that we have different players developing and stepping up at different times. We need a “TEAM DEFENSE”. Hopefully we are going there.

Rising Star MVP to me is between two players. Ashton Shumpert had 12 rushes for 68 yards and defensively Johnathan Calvin had 9 total tackles (2 unassisted). This is a young team learning to play together. Get behind them support them and be out in FORCE when Auburn comes calling.