Leach's offense doomed by self-inflicted mistakes

FAYETTEVILLE — While Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach gave Arkansas its due Saturday night, it was the clear the man known as "The Pirate" feels like his team left plenty of bounty on the field.

Arkansas upset No. 16 Mississippi State 21-14 at Davis Wade Stadium, just a week after the Bulldogs had rolled up 632 yards total offense while taking down defending national champion LSU 44-34.

“I thought that Arkansas came here with the determination to take this game away from us and they did,” Leach said.

Mississippi State had 400 yards total offense agains Arkansas, but the Razorbacks intercepted three passes, recovered a muffed punt and denied the Bulldogs on fourth down in the red zone twice in the fourth quarter.

“I thought a lot of our wounds were self inflicted,” Leach said. “I thought one after the next we had self-inflicted wounds. I thought…there are a lot of things. You know you preach all week the urgency and all that stuff. I didn’t think we had the edge this week and that has got to be maintained.”

Arkansas (1-1) had lost 20 straight SEC games and 10 straight overall games before snapping both of those streaks in first-year coach Sam Pitman’s second game.

“We have to be full throttle and can’t make judgments about games and opponents,” Leach said. “I felt like we did some of that. I felt like as coaches that we tried, but we didn’t get the message across.”

Leading 21-14, Arkansas held Mississippi State twice in the fourth quarter after the Bulldogs had reached the red zone.

“I wish I would have kicked it both times, in hindsight,” Leach said of the fourth downs. “I wish I would have kicked it. We had some success running it against them and it wasn’t terribly imposing. We knew they were going to try and pinch. I felt like we could move them but on those last two I was wrong.”

Arkansas defensive coordinator and former Missouri head coach Barry Odom dropped eight in coverage while playing zone most of the night.

“They gave us a bunch of different looks, stuff like that,"  Leach said.  "I think it wasn't as much Arkansas as it was us. I want to give them all the credit in the world. I thought they played harder than we did. I also thought they played one play after another better than we did. I thought a lot of our issues were self inflicted, and that starts with me."

Stanford graduate transfer quarterback K.J. Costello was 43-of-59 passing for 313 yards with a touchdown pass and the three interceptions.

The 43 completions were a school record a week after he broke the SEC record with 623 passing yards at LSU.

Unlike the big plays Costello had against LSU, only eight of his 22 passes in the first half went farther than six yards.

“They’ve done that on film and we thought there was a pretty good chance they would do that,” Leach said of Arkansas’ coverage. “You just have to put the ball in play.”

Costello’s biggest mistake started the scoring when Greg Brooks intercepted him and returned it 69 yards for a first quarter touchdown.

“They can all play coverage and rush three (defenders) a lot,” Costello said. “They play drop bait, which is fine. (We can) play catch in front, run the ball, and run it well. (We can) be super efficient.

“I think there were a couple drives, one in particular, it was a 16-play drive (in the third quarter) and the defense played us well all the way down the field. That's what you have to do when you are in that situation. I think throughout the game we strung together five or six drives that way. Obviously, we did not do that (well). I will be watching the tape tonight to see what I need to do to help this team win."

MSU All-SEC tailback Kylin Hill was limited to one carry before exiting with an injury and was replaced by a trio of freshmen in Jo’quavious Marks, Dillon Johnson and Jaden Walley, who muffed the late punt.

“I know he went down early,” Costello said. “I'd say both those backs (Marks and Johnson) got at least 40 to 50 reps apiece. That's incredible tape to learn from. They'll be watching that, if not tonight then early tomorrow morning. I will be watching that as well. I'm going to focus on my job and what I can do.

"There’s a lot on the tape to learn from. I'm eager to go check it out and see what's up.”