MSU aims to 'stack success' against La. Tech
STARKVILLE – No. 21 Mississippi State is a few horrid offensive possessions and one trick play away from being undefeated at Davis Wade Stadium. The lone loss came to Florida, 13-6, over a month ago.
The Bulldogs (5-3, 2-3 SEC) can improve to 5-1 at home with a win over Louisiana Tech (6-2, 4-1 C-USA) on Saturday. They’ve beaten two ranked opponents in their last two tries inside the friendly confines of DWS.
Louisiana Tech isn’t ranked, but head coach Joe Moorhead isn’t overlooking the visiting version of the Bulldogs. He said he has the utmost respect for head coach Skip Holtz for what he’s done this season.
Holtz’s team took LSU into the fourth quarter in Death Valley earlier this year. The Tigers only held a 24-21 lead early in the final period before ultimately winning 38-21. As always, though, Moorhead said his Dogs will compete against their own standard – not against the opponent.
“Consistent habits will yield consistent results,” Moorhead said. “We need to have a great week of practice, play with tremendous effort and execute our scheme with precision, one rep at a time for four quarters, and if that occurs, the score will take care of itself.”
Moorhead’s offense hasn’t scored 30 or more points since Sept. 15. Conference play hasn’t been kind to MSU. The Bulldogs dropped their first two SEC games and three of their first four.
They’ve rebounded with bounceback wins twice, and now they have a chance to win consecutive games for the first time since they started the year 3-0.
“We are very excited about this opportunity and fired up about where we are, coming off of a huge win at home,” Moorhead said. “It provides some great momentum into the tail end of the season.” Senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald looks to keep it rolling heading into his final four regular season games as Mississippi State’s starter. He potentially jump-started a resurgence with his outing against Texas A&M when he revived his passing acumen.
Fitzgerald went 14-of-22 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. He added 88 yards on the ground, 76 of which came on a game-clinching touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Moorhead said it was Fitzgerald’s best game of the season.
“One big thing is you want to stack success on top of each other,” Fitzgerald said. “If you had a good game last week, obviously it’s a new week and a new defense and you have to go make plays, but you want to stack the successes.”
Fitzgerald said he wants to show tangible signs of improvement every week, which is the opposite of what he did in the middle part of the season. Over a five-game stretch from the win over Louisiana on Sept. 15 to the loss to LSU on Oct. 20, Fitzgerald’s passing output decreased every week.
He threw two touchdowns during that span, both of which came against the Ragin Cajuns. He went four games without a TD pass and was intercepted off six times in that stretch.
Then, he shocked the Aggies and probably most of the State fans with his comfort throwing the ball. If Mississippi State is to finish the season the way it wants to, Fitzgerald maintain consistency.
He said he’s poised to do so after stepping back and changing the way he approaches each game. He said during his struggles, he over-analyzed defenses and didn’t trust himself to make the right reads which led him to work the wrong side of the field far too often.
“Really it just comes down to trusting my gut and trusting how well quarterbacks coach (Andrew) Breiner and coach Moorhead have prepared us throughout the week,” Fitzgerald said.