Mississippi State Loses, Defense Shines

Well, it was another loss for the Mississippi State football team to start the season, and end August on a bad note.  An August the Bulldogs were pumped about.  Before the season started with a 15-0 loss to South Carolina, 3rd year head coach Sylvester Croom told me that this was the best team he’s seen on the field in his time in Starkville. 

And if Croom was speaking of his defense, he was most certainly right.  What a shut-down, in your face performance by the Bully D.  But offensively, once again, I saw the same anemic productivity on the field against the Gamecock defense that became common last year.  There was one big difference, though.  It was new starting QB Mike Henig scrambling around, getting no protection from the offensive line, and throwing off target time and time again.  That was, until his injury. 

It was a quiet injury for us on the sideline.  No one really saw Henig go down, it just sort of happened.  All we knew from down there was that Tray Rutland was now in the game.  Everyone suspected that Croom just put him in to throw a long ball at the end of the 1st half.  And throw the long ball he did, and he did it well.  But the pass right in (and out of) the hands of Keon Humphries pretty muched summed up the Bulldogs’ night offensively.

And poor Henig.  Talk about a leader for this team and a big blow on and off the field.  You could feel the energy drain from the Bulldog sideline as the youngster returned from the locker room at the beginning of the second half, arm in sling, and tears in his eyes.  I watched him as he went one by one, to his closest offensive teammates, informing them of his bad news, that he would be out 6-8 weeks with a broken collarbone.  Never have I seen so much emotion go through a young athlete’s mind as I did with Mike that night.  But the young leader fought through, and even worked up enough courage to try and rally the crowd with his other arm and get the Bulldogs back in the game.  But alas, it was not enough. 

One bright spot was the play of last year’s Dandy Dozen phenom from Terry High School, running back Anthony Dixon.  The young Dixon showed quickness, versatility, and endurance in his first SEC appearance.  So much so, the coaches were ready to give him the starting nod against Auburn.  He was exactly what running backs coach Shane Beamer told me he was looking for in Jerious Norwood’s replacement.  Until he got hurt in practice with a broken finger.

So, it makes you wonder after a while how much more these Bulldogs can go through this season.  One thing’s for sure though, these trials and tribulations will definitely show everyone of what this team is made.