Maybe MSU Isn't as Bad As I Thought? Is There Really Hope?

Note: I typed this up on Monday but apparently I neglected to click the publish button. Whoops.

A 38-17 thumping of Tulane was just what the doctor ordered. How much can really be taken from this though? Well, not much. I felt that little could be taken from the LSU disaster because they just may well be that good. In a similar manner little should probably be taken from this win because Tulane may very well be that bad. However, the weakness of the opponent has never stopped a Croom team from pulling out a defeat in the past. Saturday was finally a change though. MSU should have thumped Tulane and they did. As sad as it is to say, that isn't something we have seen in the last three years. So, have my hopes for the rest of the season skyrocketed? No, not really, but for at least a week I am happy. The Auburn game should tell us alot more.

Now I did not see the game, but a few thoughts can still be gleaned from several reports.

-Henig bounced back nicely against Tulane going 20-31 with 1 TD, 1 interception, and 223 yards along with an 18 yard rushing TD. This is quite possibly the best game of his entire career. In fact, I'll go ahead and say it was. He had a completion % of 64%. Henig has never even come close to that before, he has barely been able to crack 50%. If he plays that well the whole year, I think MSU could make it to a bowl. Unfortunately from what I have heard, this game appears to be the exception rather than the rule. Henig was still staring down receivers, he was still forcing passes and he was still sailing throws. Tulane was simply not good enough to make him pay for his mistakes. Better defenses likely will. I'm happy about his performance and certainly more optimistic than I was a week ago, but in the end I still think it will be the same old Henig most of the year. If all he needed was a confidence boost though, this game should have done the trick.

-We saw our first glimpse of Co-Eric Riley. Supposedly he had a spectacular TD catch that was overturned. I like the possibilities with this guy.

-The running game wasn't all that effective in the first half, which is concerning to me. Anthony Dixon had 131 yards and 2TD but 108 of those yards came in the second half. Apparently the OL once again looked good in pass protection but pretty poor in the run game again. Not good news. Now in the second half the run game was nearly unstoppable but it seems that that was due to Tulane getting worn down. Time of possession was 39:04 to 20:56 in MSU's favor. That is insane, a 2 to 1 advantage in TOP in nearly unheard of. Credit to the coaching staff for sticking with the run though. I thought they gave up on it far too early against LSU.

-J.D. Hamilton was replaced by 4 star freshman Derek Sherrod at the RT spot in the 3rd quarter. Whether it was because of an injury or performance I don't know. Apparently Sherrod looked very good too. It'll be interesting to see what happens, I think Hamilton is definitely the weak link, but true freshman OL generally struggle, even the outstanding ones. Even so, playing Sherrod is fine by me. Hamilton doesn't do anything for me.

-The defense was really poor in the first half. In the second half though, they absolutely dominated, not allowing Tulane a single first down. Even as bad as Tulane is, not allowing a first down for an entire half is quite impressive.

Well in the end everyone was pretty certain that MSU would be 1-1 at this point and sure enough here we are. The Tulane game gives me some hope but I need to see more than a beatdown of a C-USA bottom feeder. A dismantling of another team by MSU has been extremely rare these last 6 years though, so I'll take it where I can get it. Auburn is up next and they suddenly look beatable, maybe even by MSU. We'll see.