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Well it wasn't pretty at times, but Mississippi State managed to win by 29 points and get the starters out before the fourth quarter. The backups continued to struggle as a whole, and I thought Dan Mullen was going to pop a blood vessel after Damian Williams fumbled and UT Martin scored a touchdown. On the bright side, Dak Prescott was able to pad some stats both passing and running the football before he came out. Here were are first thoughts after watching the game:
1. Brent Musberger?? Whaaaaattt? Who knew he would be calling a game between Mississippi State and UT Martin in early November. It didn't take him long before he had his weekly mess up. Apparently UT Martin is the Jayhawks now. I thought Musberger was always calling the biggest game every week, but games like these are the ones he should be calling most of the time anyway. Geez.
2. Why would we not wear the 100-year commemorative uni's that we've been wearing all year? The players like them, the fans like them, and they're flat out better than the ones from last year. Come on man; don't change uniforms when the team is undefeated in them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
3. I just don't think this team can get pumped up very easy to play inferior opponents. We've seen it against South Alabama, UAB, Arkansas, and now UT Martin. The beginning of these games have all been sluggish. Today the defense couldn't get off the field in the first quarter, and the offensive line wasn't blocking very well. The backups really looked sloppy the first few drives they were in, but Ashton Shumpert and Damian Williams did have a couple of nice touchdowns. UT Martin came out today and played with aggression, and MSU looked like they would rather be somewhere else. Thankfully we were able to make it through the night without any injuries, and that was really the most important thing.
4. It was nice to see Brandon Holloway and Ashton Shumpert break off a couple of long touchdown runs. I think we should continue to find ways to get the ball in Holloway's hands. He's the fastest player on the team and is a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. Shumpert hasn't gotten to play much this season, but he's the future at running back. I thought he looked physical running the ball tonight and had better vision than he usually does. He may get a couple of carries at Alabama next week when Josh Robinson needs a rest.
5. Ahhhhh thank goodness this game is finally over. Now we can look ahead to what will be the biggest game in the history of Mississippi State football. I hope the team shows up prepared. Based off how they played this week, I'm pretty sure they already spent most of this week preparing for the Tide anyway. Now let's sit back and watch Bama play LSU tonight and hope somehow that game can go into about six overtimes.