Mississippi State Bulldogs may need to clean up discontented ones, says Mike Leach after the loss

Mississippi state coach Mike Leach said he needed to evaluate the squad and potentially “clean up” some players who didn’t fit into the plan after Saturday’s 2:24 loss in Kentucky.

The Bulldogs, which opened the season with a 44:34 win at defending champion LSU and an SEC record of 623 yards, failed on the offensive and scored six interceptions against Kentucky. The US state of Mississippi has lost its second game in a row after its home defeat to Arkansas last week (21-14), which sparked a 20-game streak with the SEC.

“We have to check a part of our group and find out who really wants to play here,” said Leach after the defeat in Kentucky, “because if we are dissatisfied we have to remove a few of them.”

The State of Mississippi beat Kentucky 296-157 and held the ball for nearly 35 minutes. Kentucky had an 8-yard interception return for a touchdown, going just 22 yards and 2 yards on two other scoring drives. Quarterback KJ Costello, who shone in the opener, threw four interceptions before being replaced by newcomer Will Rogers, who was intercepted twice.

“We didn’t play together at all,” said Leach. “You can really say anything. We have to find a way to fix that. Your three guys up front can consistently beat our five. Our receivers didn’t catch the ball consistently. … We flipped the ball, which was a byproduct of the eyes of the quarterback who weren’t in the right place. “

When asked if Costello, a graduate transfer from Stanford, would stay the starter of the Mississippi state, Leach said, “We need to go back and take a look and see.”

Leach also pointed to poor offensive play, penalties, and lost passports as problems plaguing the Mississippi State’s offense against Kentucky. He said the Bulldogs had practiced well but failed to translate their performance into the game, and noted that the problems of offense were “unit-wide”.

“We’re not training very well offensive at the moment,” said Leach. “We need to train better. If you watch this game, almost every problem we have is self-inflating. With a lot of respect for Kentucky, but one self-inflicted wound after another. I’ve been in many games I don’t know how many balls we dropped but I lost the count. “

The state of Mississippi returns home next week and faces Texas A&M No. 21.

“We have to become a better offense,” said Leach. “We have a new system, we have some youth and inexperience, and we just have to stick together and train our way through the system.”