The CardSlayer Bowl

THE CARDSLAYER BOWL

What a finish ... both to the game and to the season!  Like all but the State fans with Coke bottle-thickness maroon lenses, I gave us little chance to win the TaxSlayer nee' Gator Bowl, especially when it became apparent that those hopeful rumors that Lamar Jackson might skip the game and declare for the NFL Draft proved to be mere wishful fantasies.  I mean ... just think about it:
  • We had lost our last game to a mediocre opponent ... our archrival to boot.  The loss not only hurt our pride; it cost us a bid to the Citrus Bowl and returned us to the Gator Bowl for the 3rd time in 8 years.  We had to be down.  Right??
  • Our head coach and many of our assistants had jilted us and would neither help prepare the team for the game nor coach them during the game.
  • We had basically "Kelly boy" temp coaches, most of whom knew they were coaching their last game at MSU.  Why would they care?  The head coach had never been a head coach in college before, and the offensive coordinator had never been more than a position coach.  The staff had about half the number of coaches they had during the regular season.
  • Our star quarterback, the focal point of our offense all season, was hurt and obviously wouldn't play.  So our starting QB was a true freshman starting his first game.
  • A number of players were hurt and would not play at all or at full strength, including our best receiver, a position of weakness all year.
  • The opponent was led by last year's Heisman Trophy winner, who although he hadn't repeated, had actually had a better season than he had last year.
  • Our defensive weakness was pass defense, and one of our best cornerbacks missed the game to deal with family issues.  And we were facing a very good passing team.
  • State had never beaten Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino when he was the head coach at Arkansas.

And just what, you ask, did the 'Dogs have on the Credits side of their ledger sheet?  Glad you asked.  The way I see it now -- and saw it then -- was as follows:
  1. We have some fierce pass rushers, who could expect to make Lamar Jackson uncomfortable in the pocket (although most opponents would rather he pass than run).
  2. Louisville had the infamous Peter Sirmons as their defensive coordinator.  We had been shocked by the hire, though certainly not by the mediocre product of the Cardinal defense he led.  We knew we could expect to move the ball and to score.
  3. Our lines, both offensive and defensive, looked superior to Louisville's (and most other teams in the country for that matter).
  4. Our guys were the ultimate underdogs, which to some State players and fans, is like throwing us in the Briarpatch.  They could come out and go through the motions ... or they could come out with a giant chip on their shoulder, something to prove, and the will to do it.  It would be decided on the field, not in the newspapers or on websites.
Once the game began to unfold it was obvious that the Bulldogs had come to play with plenty of fight in them.  It was also apparent that our line was superior to Louisville's on both sides of the ball.  It looked like we had the game in hand in the first quarter as we pushed them around.  Then came the bizarre kickoff, which gave the Cardinals the ball in great field position.  Once they got it going offensively, I thought the worm had turned and that the game was about to go their way.  But Keytaon, Aeris, Nick, and Kylin continued to run the ball effectively, and the defense eventually figured it out ... and wore Louisville down by throwing waves of fresh linemen at them.  The linebackers, especially Thompson and Green, were very effective, and the cornerbacks, beleaguered all season, held their own.  That left it to the safeties, and McLaurin with his picks and Abrams with his all-over-the-field tackling made the big plays.  

Had State not muffed a punt, fumbled after a pass completion inside the 10, dropped a long TD pass, and missed a field goal, it could've been a convincing win.  But, hey, I was convinced that we could win as long as we kept it close.  The interceptions kept us within striking distance, and it seemed like we could run whenever we really wanted/needed to.  I have to admit that I thought that we'd scored the go ahead TD too soon and had left Jackson too much time.  But McLaurin's hat trick took care of that problem.  Still ... kudos to Lamar Jackson.  What an elusive SOB!  I'm glad we don't have to see him again.  Not sure if he can pass well enough to make it in the NFL, but he can cause some defenses headaches if whoever drafts him will adapt to him instead of doing the all too typical NFL thing by trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

So hats off to the the coaches -- Knox, Elliott, English, Looney, Baker, etc.  And certainly to Keytaon ... what a cool, effective game he played and led!  And the beasts on the D -- Simmons, Sweat, Thomas, Jones, Hoyett, Brown, Harris, Spencer, Adams, Green, Thompson, Gay, Lewis, Dantzler, Cleveland, Rayford, and of course, Abrams, and McLaurin. We were reminded that it wasn't all Todd Grantham this year.  Logan Cooke again punted and kicked off effectively, despite an injury.  Kudos to the OL, who played without Martinas in the 2nd half, and to the running backs.   The receivers, bless their hearts, did enough to help us win.  And win we did.  It just looked like, to use the cliche, we wanted it more.  Why would we have ever doubted these Bulldogs?!

I'll be back in a day or two with an end of the year summary.  For now I'll close with a tribute to the Big 10 officials who called the TaxSlayer Bowl.  Were those SOB's drunk?  Hung over from the night before?  First, I give them the benefit of the doubt:  Apparently the Big 10 refs have not received the memo about the targeting rule that the rest of the country is using.  I mean the Louisville defender who finally got tossed for targeting did it 3 times before it was called ... and then by the darn replay booth, not the clowns on the field!  High marks for consistency.  And the one buffoon (presumably the back judge or side judge, but who knows?!?... odds are good that they don't!) leapt into the Guinness Book of Records with the hat trick by missing 3 calls on one play -- 1) called a guy out of bounds when he wasn't, 2) ruled a late hit out of bounds when said guy was in bounds when he was tackled, and 3) didn't call a fumble (which State recovered, of course) when the same "victim" of the wrongfully accused late hit dropped the ball in the field of play before he was knocked out of bounds.  A truly incredible feat of total and complete (and dare I say incomprehensible) ineptitude!!  Oh, my God, the poor Big 10 players ... they have that charlatan calling games for them all season!  

However, to quote the Bard, "All's well that ends well."


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