Bulldogs Forge Biggest Comeback In School History, Show Value of Playing Together

Mississippi State's comeback was impressive, but the Bulldogs can't put themselves in a position like the one they were in at the top of the fourth quarter moving forward.

This one didn't go the way many of us expected it to as Mississippi State entered the locker room at halftime with a score of 21-14, trailing 34-14 early in the fourth quarter before forging the largest comeback in school history to slide past LA Tech.

The Bulldogs showed fight and the ability to pick themselves up and rebound, but for the better part of the game outside of the fourth quarter, they also showed an overall performance that cannot repeat itself if this team is to be consistently competitive against even tougher competition down the line.

A great part of that boils down to consistently executing and playing a full 60 minutes, something the Bulldogs had some issues with on Saturday.

Head coach Mike Leach, no stranger to orchestrating comebacks, said that he told his team in the fourth quarter that it had essentially "tried every way known to man to lose it, just for fun, let’s try something different."

He also said that he'd told them to go ahead and make it look like Wednesday's practice, because at that point, there wasn't anything to lose.

"Just do your job, do it as fast as you can and off we went," Leach said. "Sometimes you think there’s some anxiety going into a game, me in particular, but our coaching staff, we didn’t have them ready to play, not very well. We certainly missed a lot because the middle of that game is about as bad as you can play on all sides of the ball."

Leach said that at one point it looked like players on each side of the ball were having a contest as to who could perform the most poorly.

"I've been in these deals where one side plays pathetic, the other side plays really good. I’ve never been in one that’s as clearly defined as this where all three played simultaneously bad," Leach said. Almost like having a contest, ‘who can play the worst?’ And it was fiercely competitive."

But, with just as much ferocity, all sides suddenly improved.

"Then, all three rise from the ashes together. It was definitely some kind of team-wide mentality thing."

Leach said that "we've got to go back and coach better," noting that he saw players giving up and quitting during the game.

"That’s why I think it’s coaching. We’ve got to encourage, but also have to strike the fear of God in them," Leach said. "If you quit the football game, you better learn how to sell Big Gulps or figure out how to do the backstroke up and down the field because that’s what you’re going to be doing."

Despite some of the shortcomings and mistakes, there's still a lot to be said about coming back from such a large deficit in what looked like an impossible situation.

"It was a great win," Leach said. "We did have contributions on offense, defense and special teams to win that game. The thing is we squandered an awful lot, and we did it early and we did it in a bad fashion."

Among the bright spots was quarterback Will Rogers, who seemed to be trying to do too much at certain points in the game, but settled in and helped get the job done. 

Rogers completed 39-of-47 passes for 370 yards with three touchdowns and one interception -- a costly pick-6 in the third quarter. But it shows in the numbers the way he was able to come back, as he was good for all 11 of his final passing attempts, which rounded out with 15-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Jaden Walley to get the win.

Leach praised Rogers for certain aspects of his game, the way he got better, also talking about the help the signal-caller had around him as the Bulldogs resiliently marched down the field and put up three touchdowns in roughly 10 minutes.

"Will settled in and did his job," Leach said. "I’ve tried to show what a hotshot, big arm, extra-clever quarterback I am, I’m just gonna put my guys in the right place and throw the ball where my eyes tell me. Simultaneously, the receivers went where they were supposed to, and the offensive line blocked. There was more to it than just him, but I think he was a significant part of it. As bad as he played at times, he didn’t really flinch. The composure to do that was pretty good."

Another good moment, the turning point in which really allowed the Bulldogs to launch the whole comeback to begin with, was a 70-yard kickoff return from Tulu Griffin. Leach describes that success as a unit-wide deal.

"There were some great blocks on that," Leach said. "Great blocks to the point I’m curious who missed their block. As it’s going down the field, I saw a number of great blocks. But Tulu’s not going any further than he did earlier in the game, if we don’t block. I didn’t see any of their guys out of position. It looked to me like we executed the return real well. A lot of unsung heroes on that."

The Bulldogs will look to record their second win of the season -- and hopefully in better fashion -- when they play North Carolina State (1-0) on Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. CT in Davis Wade Stadium.

The goal moving forward? Make things look like the thrilling fourth quarter we watched this weekend and show consistency in every phase of the game.

“The end is how good you can be if you play together,” Leach said. “We rose up on offense, defense, and special teams to win that game.”