BULLDOGS:After fiasco against Auburn, Bulldogs are seeking spark
STARKVILLE – Sylvester Croom wants to simplify.
For the third straight week, the Mississippi State coach watched an opposing defense do something he didn’t see coming.
In this case, Auburn bunched up its defense to stop the run, forming a kind of pyramid with its linebackers and safeties, and its speed allowed it to still cover the outside lanes in a 3-2 win.
“We watched at least two years of film on their defensive scheme and what they did in the previous game, and they played us totally different,” Croom said at Tuesday’s press conference. “The approach that we’re really going to take, the things that we do best, we’re going to do those and our quarterback’s going to have to adjust to the coverage.
“We’re not going to try to game plan for people anymore.”
Croom was probably blowing a little smoke there, but he said he’s committed to sticking to his team’s strengths regardless of how the opposition lines up.
This week, MSU (1-2) is game planning – or not – for Georgia Tech (2-1), which plays a four-man front and will probably crowd the box and utilize its speed, much like Auburn did.
Croom said he regrets not sticking with the short passing game he’d planned against Auburn. The Bulldogs didn’t complete one slant pattern.
djournal.com
9/17/08
