The Answer Was 6

 THE ANSWER WAS 6

How many times had we shot?

In the Clint Eastwood movie that introduced his iconic character of "Dirty Harry," there was a memorable scene that played out at the beginning and again at the end of the movie https://youtu.be/8Xjr2hnOHiM?si=dh6F_2JN1LdPy5Oa&t=95 . In both situations Harry posed to his antagonist the fateful question of whether he had fired all 6 shots from his .44 Magnum or only 5. That in a manner of speaking is the question that Miss. State faced when they, despite a 5 - 7 season that seemed to have been trending steadily downward at the end, considered whether to accept the generous offer by the kind people with the Duke's Mayo Bowl to play an 8 - 4 Wake Forest team on national TV. Had we emptied the magazine before facing a dangerous foe, or did we have another bullet left? The upside for the 'Dogs, of course, included more practice and game experience for a gifted young QB and other young players, as well as a chance for a bowl win (Mayo, Pop-Tarts, Idaho Famous Potato, Snoop Dogg, etc. ... who cares?!?) that would leave a good taste in the mouth of players, recruits, and fans. The downside included long term injury to one or more key players and an embarrassing loss in a bowl with a funny name on national TV. [Although both looked quite probable at several points during the game, utter disaster appears to have been averted on both counts. 😥]

Finally ... mercifully ... the 2025 Miss. State football season has ended. It was a year that began with low expectations, as most of the pundits in the preseason put State's over/under on wins at 3. A surprisingly good 4 - 1 start that included an upset of then-12th ranked Arizona State lifted MSU fans' spirits and expectations. Why, only 2 SEC wins would have us in a bowl game! A couple of close home losses to the SEC's two ranked UT's made us believe we were this close to turning the corner. Perhaps we were; but if so, we just kept turning and ended the season headed in an all too familiar direction with only 1 SEC win, that over an 0-for-the-SEC Arkansas team, followed by home thrashings at the hands of the best SEC teams, Georgia and TSUN, with an absolute beatdown at a good, but not great Mizzou team sandwiched in between. But wait!  The glut of bowls, opt outs, and the cluster[bleep] that is the transfer portal left a few bowls begging for somebody ... anybody ... regardless of record to receive bowl invitation. What had seemed a cruel joke on State fans -- a bowl game -- suddenly became a reality, as the mayonnaise folks in Charlotte were desperate enough to invite a 5 - 7 Bulldog team that finished tied for 15th in the SEC. 

As crazy as it now sounds, the bowl bid (circumstances be damned!) suddenly seemed to lift the team's, coaches', and State fans' view of the season. "Maybe we were okay after all?!" And even crazier, the oddsmakers and sport gurus installed State as a 3 1/2 point favorite over an 8 - 4 Wake Forest team. Either the SEC mystique carries all the way to the bottom of the league or the boys in Vegas spotted a good haul of suckers in the Magnolia State who really wanted to believe a fairy tale?! True, Wake lost to some mediocre teams in the middling ACC, but they won 4 conference games and 8 altogether. The Bulldogs were sinking like a stone during their last 7 games. How could anyone really have expected MSU to win other than they just wanted them to?!? Alas, as we said above, we were out of bullets.

So What Happened?

Let's get the scant good news out of the way first:

1. The Miss. State kickers had a good night. Ferrie was 4 for 4 on FG's, including a 50 yarder, and Pulliam punted for a 46 yd. average while allowing only 1 return for just 4 yds.
2. In his MSU farewell Brenen Thompson had 4 receptions for 106 yds. and returned a punt for 44 yds. Obviously we'll miss him. 

   

   Brenen hauls in another bomb

   
   
3. The 'Dogs didn't turn the ball over.  
4. The 2025 Bulldogs are at last out of chances to break our hearts.

To use Lebby's terminology, there were "a ton" of negatives, but let's just hit the lowlights:

1. The Bulldogs looked to be poorly conditioned and/or hydrated, as countless players went down and limped off with cramps, beginning early in the game.
2. The so-called special teams allowed a 100 yd. kickoff return for a TD to put us in an early hole that we never dug out of.
3. The OL removed any doubt that the problem with our passing game was that Shapen wasn't mobile enough and/or held the ball too long by allowing the Demon Deacons to sack our 2 freshman QB's, Taylor and Kromenhoek, both big, strong, fast, runners, 5 times for losses of 22 yds. They had countless pressures as well, which limited their accuracy.
4. The ineffectiveness of the OL also limited the State RB's to 46 yds. on 19 carries, an avg. of  2.4 YPC. All too often the back were hit before they reached the line of scrimmage. They were particularly limited on possession plays, and MSU converted only 3 of 14 third downs.
5. The defense, not to be underdone, had just 1 sack and allowed Wake to amass 451 yds. of total offense. 

   

   Apologies to Steely Dan, but they called us "Deacon Blue" too.

   
   
6. With no pressure the nomadic Deacon QB, Robby Ashford, who was playing for his 4th school primarily because of his inadequacy as a passer, completed 61% of his passes for 301 yds. and 3 TD's against MSU's porous secondary.
7. In summary, despite a number of opt-outs, Wake Forest was bigger, stronger, faster, tougher, and just plain better than Miss. State.

So Now ...?

Obviously significant changes are badly needed. Here are some immediate, desperate ones:

• The 'Dogs need a massive infusion of talent on the line on both sides of the ball, in both quality and quantity. For at least the last 2 years neither the OL nor DL has been competitive in the SEC.
• In addition to the line, there are other recruiting needs, e.g., at least one more SEC quality receiver with Thompson having exhausted his eligibility, a dependable backup QB since Kromenhoek has hit the portal, a capable cornerback so that the obvious answer for our opponents isn't "just thrown it where Kelley Jones ain't!", and a tight end or two (preferably one who doesn't watch so many NFL highlights that he thinks it's de rigueur to cost his team 15 yds. for showing his derriere by throwing the ball or jumping in the stands after a rare TD).
• Kamario has shown that he's not Superman and certainly not Dak of 2014 - 2015 as a passer. He may not even be Relf of 2010 - 2011. He's a big, athletic guy with a strong arm, but the SEC isn't MHSAA Class 3A. We're hoping Taylor becomes Dak II, but after 2 games of FBS football as a a true freshman he has shown that he's an excellent runner and erratic passer (especially with defenders swarming all over him), who despite the raw talent can't win by himself. That shouldn't be a shock nor necessarily cause for alarm ... it's just a reality for any player. And barring a miraculous haul of talented offensive linemen in the portal, Kamario is likely to take the same beating Shapen did. We can only hope that a younger 6'4", 230 lb. body can withstand it better than an older 6'1", 210 lb. one did.  

  

  Kamario under siege

  
  
• The coaching staff needs an upgrade. That means better recruiters and better tacticians. Some changes have been made, but whether those are significant improvements won't be known until next fall. Whether the head coach can turn things around is a critical -- and pressing -- question. It is both ineffective and embarrassing for an institution to become a "graveyard of coaches," but at some point recruiting and fan support (more entangled than ever in the NIL era) can suffer long term damage if a coach is proven to be simply the wrong guy at the wrong time. Who wants to play for or pay the ever-increasing "dues" to watch a demonstrated loser? 

As we look ahead to next season, barring all of Indiana's roster transferring to MSU, it's hard to work up a Lebbyesque "ton of" excitement and enthusiasm. We'll have a talented young QB to build around, but without a line that can protect him and open holes for the running backs who complement him, how far can he carry us? And as we saw in the Mayo Bowl, he could be risking life and limb.

The one known at this time is the schedule for 2026. The SEC is going to 9 conference games, but in the past 3 seasons we haven't beaten one of the SEC foes on next season's schedule. We'll face at least 7 teams that were nationally ranked at some point this past season, and two who were in the CFP. It does appear that the schedule will be a little easier than it was the past 2 seasons, but I'll be shocked if we're favored in any of our SEC games. I think we all know that if we don't improve enough to spring some upsets, in the words of the late Mississippi native Sam Cooke, A Change Is Gonna Come . Stay tuned. Until next season ...

Hail, State!