What to know about Mississippi State's unbelievably bad offense vs. Kentucky

Dan Bernstein

What to know about Mississippi State's unbelievably bad offense vs. Kentucky image

Everything Mississippi State fans thought they could count on in the Mike Leach era after upsetting LSU to start the 2020 season crumbled on Saturday against Kentucky.

What had been a dominant Air Raid offense against the Tigers became abysmal against the Wildcats in a 24-2 loss.

Mississippi State managed to lose despite doing a pretty good job keeping Kentucky from moving the ball. The effort didn't matter because of the historically bad play of quarterbacks K.J. Costello and Will Rogers, and a game plan that did not adapt at all.

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Leach has never had a team score so few points in his offense-centric coaching career.

"We're going to have to check our group and see who really wants to play here," Leach told reporters after the game.

Here are some stats to help put the performance into perspective:

34:49

Mississippi State had the ball for the majority of the contest, making its inability to cross the goal line that much more frustrating. In addition to holding possession for almost 10 more minutes than Kentucky, the Bulldogs ran 84 plays to Kentucky's 53.

All of that possession led to very little forward progress, however. Mississippi State gained 295 yards for an average of just 3.5 yards per play.

70

Mississippi State threw 70 passes. Costello accounted for 55 of those throws while Rogers chipped in the other 15.

6

Mississippi State threw six interceptions, including a pick-six. Costello, the starter, made four of those mistakes. Rogers gifted the other two to the Wildcats.

0

Mississippi State did not throw a touchdown pass. It came close, at least: Costello threw two of his four interceptions in the red zone. Rogers threw another pick in the red zone in the fourth quarter.

Perhaps the frustration of not finding the end zone got to Leach, because he called for his offense to force the ball forward down by 22 points with less than a minute left. The final throw of the game, of course, was an interception.

Dan Bernstein