A year that began with so much promise for Mississippi State has a sour taste to it in 2018 under first-year head coach Joe Moorhead.
The Bulldogs have spent most of the season in the top 25 but they haven't been where many projected them preseason as one of the teams contending for the Southeastern Conference Western Division. At 6-4 and 2-4 in SEC play, the best MSU can do this year is a .500 conference record and a nine-win season. Moorhead said that he understands why fans would consider the current year a disappointing one.
"I know there was an elevated expectation level for a myriad of reasons, but we're battling to get to where we've never been since 1941," Moorhead said. "I understand the disappointment, but reality is reality. There's really not a barometer for what it takes to win an SEC Championship in Starkville."
Moorhead was hired as one of the top offensive coordinators in the country, leading Penn State to record numbers in his two years on James Franklin's staff. In Starkville and the SEC, things have been much tougher, however.
The Bulldogs are currently 10th in the SEC in scoring offense (26.2), eighth in total offense (392.9) and 13th in passing offense (180.8). The one constant for the Bulldogs has been rushing the football as they average 212 yards per contest. Even in the rushing attack there are frustrations. Kylin Hill and Aeris Williams have averaged over six yards a carry on the season but quarterback Nick Fitzgerald has twice as many carries.
The passing attack has been the biggest issue for Moorhead. Fitzgerald was hopeful to complete 65 percent of his passes this season but the senior has completed 51 percent and thrown for 1,377 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
"The thing that has been the most different from the offensive stand point is the things that we're asking in the pass game," Moorhead said. "We've done a good job in the run game but the passing game is the biggest area of transition."
The four losses haven't hurt Bulldog fans as much as how the Bulldogs have lost those games. State averaged over 50 points a game in the firs three contests against Stephen F. Austin, Kansas State and Louisiana. They followed that up by scoring a total of 13 points against Kentucky and Florida. On the road at LSU, the Bulldogs had just three points against LSU and at Alabama last week State was held scoreless for the first time since 2008.
Add in the fact that MSU is producing one of the most dominant defensive seasons in the history of the program with several high draft possibilities and it continues frustrations among those in maroon and white.
At Monday's press conference, Moorhead touched on what he considered goals and expectations for his program.
"Goals are what you aspire to as a team and expectations are levied based on a confluence of circumstances," Moorhead said. "Our ceiling for success is winning the SEC, getting in the playoff and competing for a championship. Our floor is six wins and qualifying for a bowl game. We didn't achieve the former, we've already achieved the latter."
The Bulldogs still have a chance to right some wrongs here at the end. Arkansas, 2-8, is up next followed by a five-win Ole Miss team who has been beaten down defensively this season.
Moorhead noted of the pride that the veterans on the team have and the big senior class will get a chance to go out as winners on Saturday at 11 a.m. against the Razorbacks.
"We'll honor a group of 20 seniors, including 15 redshirt seniors who have embraced our coaching staff and left a tremendous legacy," Moorhead said. "The senior class has won 30 games and will have gone to a bowl game every year they've played and are all on track to graduate. The goal is to send them out with their third nine-win season in their career."
