BULLDOGS:Players grapple with the fragility of last year’s success
STARKVILLE – It’s starting to sink in for Mississippi State’s players: They’re not as good as they thought they were.
All offseason long, coach Sylvester Croom tried to pound that message into their heads. Not to say he didn’t believe the Bulldogs could be a good team this year, but that they caught some big breaks en route to an 8-5 finish and a Liberty Bowl win in 2007.
“I tried to get that explained to the guys, but obviously I didn’t. I think some of them thought it was because we were so great,” Croom said at Tuesday’s weekly press conference. “I think some of our guys did not realize – and I kept explaining this all offseason – that we had to have our intangibles. Because the difference between us last year and the year before was very minute. Very minute.”
So MSU now finds itself in a big hole – 1-3 overall, 0-1 in SEC play with a trip to defending national champion and No. 5-ranked LSU on Saturday.
Consider some of the good fortune MSU enjoyed last season:
– Only one key player, cornerback Anthony Johnson, missed significant playing time with injury. The quarterback position was in flux for a while due to injuries, but a freshman, Wesley Carroll, wound up being a capable fill-in.
djournal.com
9/24/08
