Hogs game planning for new record-setting air raid at Mississippi State
Mike Leach made a grand entrance no one could ignore in week one action. He coached his new Mississippi Bulldogs to a 44-34 win over defending national champion LSU, breaking the single-game SEC passing record and making a jump to No. 16 in the AP Poll.
Fellow first-year head coach, and Leach's week two opponent, Sam Pittman certainly took notice.
"Coach Leach, I mean, those guys did a great job of preparing that football team," Pittman said in his Monday afternoon press conference. "He’s been doing this a long time. I think he's really smart. If you watch, he basically, I don't know what he does, but it seemed to me like he checks the pass game like most people check the run game. He wants to find out whether you're in man, whether you're in zone, whether you're in 3, whether you're in 4, whether you're in 2 and then goes to attack and knows how to attack it."
Leach, known for running the air raid, added K.J. Costello over the offseason, a transfer quarterback from Stanford, and the former 4-star from California executed the offense well enough to earn him SEC offensive player of the week honors.
Costello threw for an SEC-record 623 passing yards against the Tigers, good for 11th best in NCAA history. He completed 36 passes on 60 attempts, both figures higher than anyone else in the conference in week one. Costello did throw two interceptions and he took five sacks, but he matched the program's single-game passing touchdowns record with five.
"Costello, he was incredible," Pittman said. "He could throw every throw, was very poised."
Costello struggled throwing to his left but hit 4 of 5 passes of 20+ yards to the right side, 4 of 6 of 10+ yards down the middle and 22 of 29 between the hash marks within five yards.
On top his own impressive numbers, Costello created some career days for his receivers and returning leading SEC rusher Kylin Hill. Leading receiver Osirus Mitchell had 183 yards and two touchdowns on just seven receptions, Hill had 158 and a score on eight catches while JaVonta Payton had 122 yards on six catches. Three more receivers also posted more than 35 yards a piece.
Despite huge passing numbers, Pittman isn't going to forget about the run game completely.
"This is a totally different football team than what we played last week, so we're obviously going to spend more time on the passing game," Pittman said. "But, with Kylin Hill, (and) they've got a really good offensive line, and I'm really impressed with this Cole Smith kid that they have at center. They can run the football. They're huge upfront. But you're going to have to stop the passing game, so we're going to spend more time on that this week."
Hill only had seven rushing attempts for 34 yards but the Razorback defense will still have to watch for him every play, creating a mismatch with Arkansas's slower linebackers. The head hog mused about the coverage options for the future NFL draft pick:
"If you’re in man coverage, most of the time your linebackers have them (RBs) man-to-man. That in itself can be a mismatch on him. If you zone cover him, you’re going to give up the short passing game and then you have to get him on the ground. That’s been very, very difficult for opponents. He can spin around, he can jump over the top of you, he can run by you, he can run through you. I just think the guy’s really a great football player."
The Razorbacks won't face a team that passes more than Mississippi State this season, so it'll be a great early test for the defense's coverage abilities–and Barry Odom's scheming abilities.
"If they catch you in man coverage, they’re going to run pick routes," Pittman said. "Against LSU, it was hard because there was nobody in the middle of the field, and they were dinking the ball down to whomever receiver coming on crossing routes, and the corner was behind because he had gotten shielded."
University of Washington head coach Chris Peterson's had Leach's number in the PAC-12 by playing three down linemen and loading up in coverage, a tactic that will still give up yards but keep the offense in front of them. Communication is going to be key, as well as sticking to the assignment.
The Hogs will return a couple secondary players, maybe more, who were unavailable week one against Georgia.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. in Starkville.