Don't It Feel Good To Be Back

It was far from an ideal start for Mississippi State on Saturday. Their first possession began with a fumble by Christian Ducre on an option play, eventually recovered by Mississippi State. This was followed by a 2 yard run setting up 3rd and 8 and obviously Wesley Carroll's first pass of the day. If you may remember, this would have been the record tying attempt, but unfortunately for Carroll and MSU, it was not to be. His first pass of the day was picked off and set up Alabama in Bulldog territory. Like I said not an ideal start.

Mississippi State would hold Alabama to a field goal and thus the tone was set for much of the first half. The offense looked out of sync, even for a MSU offense. Carroll looked flustered early and the Oline was letting Alabama through too easily. The defense was bending, but would never break, allowing three drives that ended in field goals. Staring at a 9-0 deficit, Carroll and the offense got on track and were able to drive 52 yards for a field goal to make it 9-3 with 4 minutes left in the half. Alabama got the ball back and promptly drove 78 yard down to the Bulldog 2 with around a minute left. Momentum was all on Alabama's side, quite frankly they had been dominating the first half, but you felt if MSU could get a goal line stand and hold for the 12-3 deficit, the game would still be in reach. A TD would have been devastating. The Tide attempted 2 runs up the middle and were rewarded with 0 yards. It was eerily reminiscent of the goal line stand just a year ago at Alabama. Reminiscent and yet oh so much better, because on 3rd down, everything changed:






Listen to that. That is six years of frustration being released at once, from a school record crowd of 51,688. From all the reports I have heard it is pretty much unanimous, that was the loudest Scott Field has ever been. You could feel the stadium shaking.

You will be hard pressed to find a single play that turns around a game in the way that school record, 103 yard int. return by Anthony Johnson did in that game. A momentum shift that massive, a 10 point swing in a single play, cannot even be described. One play changed the entire game. One play may very well have changed the fortunes of the entire program. What's that? I'm getting a little crazy now? Maybe so, but I don't care.

The second half was the polar opposite of the first. MSU was utterly dominant. Alabama fans would like you to believe that their team gave the game away on that Anthony Johnson pick 6. Alabama fans are also by and large delusional fools. Make no mistake Mississippi State whipped them in that second half. The defense shut them down, allowing only 3 points. The offense while not spectacular, stood up when it mattered most. With 6:38 to go in the game, up 17-12 the offense needed to get a few first downs and eat up the clock. That is exactly what happened, taking 6:00 off the clock in an 11 play 38 yard drive.

That of course left Alabama 38 seconds to put something together, but Titus Brown would have none of it:



And so they've just beaten Alabama for the second year in a row. Alabama hasn't scored an offensive TD on Mississippi State in 3 years. 3 years!!!! Let that sink in. Most importantly though, with 2 games to go, Coach Croom has this team bowl eligible at 6-4. Astounding. Outstanding job coach. Outstanding job team. My apologies for all the crap I've given you. All I wanted was for you to show me some wins, and you have. Congratulations, to you and congratulations to this team. They deserve it, the fans deserve it...this is how football season is supposed to feel.

If I get a chance to watch the game I'll put up some thoughts on who stood out. I'll dive into the first game of the basketball season before Thursday as well.