State, JSU, Ole Miss have
work to do

By By Stan Torgerson / Columnist
Sept. 2, 2002
It is always difficult for me to write about Mississippi State because their fans refuse to conceed that since it has been 19 years since I called my last Ole Miss football game, I might be objective.
They seem to be in sympathy with that caricture of a bedraggled Confederate soldier holding the stars and bars and saying, "Forget hell!"
But I have made as many trips to Starkville in recent years as I have to Ole Miss and I'm claiming the right to a few impartial observations about the Mississippi State-Orgeon game after watching every minute of it, beginning to end.
Let's start with young quarterback Kyle York, who at the last minute was pressed into duty after Kevin Fant ran into problems with the NCAA.
No one should point a finger at that kid when discussing the loss. He was impressive. He kept his cool, never showed one minute of stage fright or fear, even though his physical well being was in jeopardy time after time as the Bulldog offensive line broke down and failed to protect him. If you want a yardstick to measure the MSU front's performance look no farther than the total of only 31 yards rushing in 24 tries. No Bulldog back gained more than 11 yards total. Oregon gained 205.
York showed enormous potential and the day will come when he makes a name for himself as a quarterback of great skills.
But the breakdown that was most obvious was on the defensive side. I don't remember ever seeing a Joe Lee Dunn defense outplayed that badly. When you consider the Ducks had the ball almost 11 minutes longer than did State (35:25 to 24:35) it tells you the defense was simply at the mercy of Oregon's offense.
The most obvious difference was speed. Bulldog defenders looked ponderous and slow against the speed and quickness of their opponent. Muscle and size is one thing. But speed still wins football games and it did last Saturday.
We'll grant the intangibles. The trip was long and arduous. There was an emotional letdown over the unexpected loss of Fant, their leader. Oregon was the No. 2 team in the country last year and will be one of the best this year. All those issues were certainly a factor. But not THE factor that cost the Bulldogs the game.
Jackie Sherrill has a lot of work to do to get his team up and ready for the stretch that starts Sept. 19 and has his Bulldogs facing Auburn, LSU and South Carolina over three consecutive weeks.
One thing MSU did win was the battle of the uniforms. Those Oregon costumes, yes I said costumes and I meant costumes, will win the Ugly Award for this or any other year. Mississippi State's white jerseys and maroon numbers were really classy by comparison.
Unfortunately it was a football game rather than a fashion show and no points were given for appearance.
As for the Ole Miss vs. Louisiana-Monroe game, it is likely a number of Rebel fans went for that 33 1/2 point spread and lost their money. They learned the hard way, that Eli Manning cannot walk across a lake but needs a boat like everyone else.
As good as he is, and there is no question that he is among the country's best, he will have a few bad days to go along with his many good ones and Saturday was a bad day. A win is a win but with Memphis and Texas Tech next up, both thirsting to beat the Rebels and apparently strong enough to do it if Ole Miss doesn't upgrade Saturday's performance, there's work to be done at Oxford.
Which takes us to Southern Mississippi and Jackson State, proof again that a good big man can beat a good little man.
The level of play from I-A to I-AA teams is more than a small step. It is a giant leap. It is not merely physical. It is attiutude toward the game, preparation and planning.
When Jackson State had its kicking game woes last year, they averaged only 18 yards per punt, you would have thought that aspect of the game would have been high on this season's object lesson list. Apparently it wasn't. JSU's five punts against the Golden Eagles averaged only 22.8 yards each. They had two punts blocked, the punter was tackled two other times before he could get the punt away, one of those following a bad snap. Southern earned 28 points just out of those four miscues.
The kicking game wasn't the only difference, of course. Southern's defense sacked the Tigers talented quarterback, Robert Kent, six times for 44 yards. Kent tried 15 rushes and lost a net of five yards as a result. That is domination of the highest order.
Was it coaching? Who knows? But we do know this. Running and passing are the fun parts of the game of football for the players but their kicking teams can and do win or lose the games and they were a factor Saturday as USM rolled over their guests from Jackson.
Like Jackie Sherrill at Mississippi State and David Cutcliffe at Ole Miss, Jackson State coach Robert Hughes has work to do back at the drawing board.
Next week it's Memphis for the Rebels, North Carolina A&T hosts the Tigers and Illinois visits the Golden Eagles. After a week off, MSU plays host to Jacksonville State.
We still have a long way to go and a lot to learn about ourselves.