Over the past few weeks, Mississippi State has not lived up to the defensive reputation they’ve had for so many years.
The Bulldogs allowed 431 yards of offense in the overtime win over Arizona despite creating five turnovers, and they were torched through the air by LSU allowing 530 yards of offense in a 41-14 loss to the Tigers. Those defensive struggles continued Saturday, as South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler picked apart the MSU defense for 288 yards and three touchdowns on 18/20 passing while the Gamecocks rushed for 144 yards on the ground.
“They’ve got some good players, obviously. Some great coaches,” linebacker Jett Johnson said of South Carolina. “They hit some explosive plays on us. We’ve got to obviously eliminate those and play harder. Just do our job. Some of it was unforced errors by us and they just made good plays.”
Graduate linebacker Jett Johnson leads the SEC with 45 tackles through four games, but more importantly, Johnson is a leader in the locker room, and the biggest thing he’s focused on going forward is getting the Bulldogs back to that hardnosed defensive identity.
“We pride ourselves on being a defensive school. A hardnosed defense,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to get back to that identity, through the air in the run game alike.”
The run defense is a surprise for a Bulldog defense that has been stout during Zach Arnett’s tenure as defensive coordinator. South Carolina ranked last in the SEC with 53.0 rushing yards per game entering the week, but the Bulldogs were straight pummeled at the line of scrimmage and allowed the Gamecocks to rush for their season high.
“I guess it's just not sound tackling by us,” Johnson said. “Maybe not being as aggressive as players and getting downhill as well. That’s something we pride ourselves on is stopping the run, so obviously we’ve got to get better at that.”
Spencer Rattler also picked the Mississippi State defense apart, completing 18/20 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns. The SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week led the Gamecocks to 98-yard and 99-yard touchdown drives to start the game.
“That’s inexcusable,” Johnson said. “To just drive the length of the field like that, there’s really no excuse.”
Rattler hit Xavier Legette for a 76-yard touchdown on a slant route on their first drive and led a 16-play, 7:15 drive on their second. The Bulldogs nearly had a pair of stops, but linebacker Bookie Watson committed a pair of penalties to extend the drive. He sacked Rattler on a 3rd down near midfield but would be flagged for a horse collar tackle, and later near the red zone he jumped offsides on 4th and 4.
“That stuff is just so fast that you don’t even realize it. He knows better,” Johnson said. “It’s just the next play mentality. We’ve got to get a stop. He’ll probably never do that again, knock on wood. He’s typically not a repeat offender. We just can’t shoot ourselves in the foot, especially against an explosive offense.”
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