Three good stats and three bad stats from Mississippi State's win over Southern Miss

Here are three stats that should give hope and three stats that should be a cause for (at least a little bit of) concern:

3 Good Stats

188

That’s the total number of rushing yards Mississippi State had against Southern Miss.

The Bulldogs’ rushing attack was expected to be the offense’s strength and, at least Saturday, it lived up to that expectation.

Mississippi State’s offense was at its best, most effective self when it ran the ball. An opening drive touchdown was setup by three run plays and all three touchdowns scored in the second half came on running plays.

Perhaps more importantly is the 4.6 yards per rush Mississippi State had. Davon Booth averaged 4.9 ypc and Fluff Bothwell averaged 4.8 ypc. In a game where three yards and a cloud of dust is a valid offensive strategy, the Bulldogs could do a lot worse.

2.9

That’s the yards per rush Southern Miss had against the Bulldogs’ in Saturday’s game.

A year ago, in a shocking 41-17 loss to Toledo, the Bulldogs gave up 3.8 yards per carry. In a game against a similar opponent, that stat was nearly a full yard less, which is a great improvement. (For the record, Toledo seems to be the better comparison in terms of conferences.)

That’s a great improvement for a Mississippi State defense that was one of the worst run defenses in FBS last season. The big test, though, will come next week against an Arizona State team that averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

85

That’s the combined amount of yards Kyle Ferrie’s field goals traveled. One of those was a 55-yard field goal to salvage a first quarter drive and put the Bulldogs ahead 10-3. Later in the second quarter, his 30-yard field goal gave Mississippi State the lead headed into halftime.

3 Bad Stats

14/119

That is the total number of penalties called against Mississippi State and the number of yards it cost them.

You don’t even need to be a sports fan, let alone football fan, to know if 18 percent of your actions result in a penalty, your odds for winning go way down.

Against better competition, like next week against Arizona State, that amount of self-inflicted wounds will be catastrophic.

4

That’s how many tackles for a loss Southern Miss’s defense recorded in its season-opening loss.

We’ll dive further into the offensive line play in a later article, but if Southern Miss can spend that much time in the Bulldogs’ backfield, how much time will a team like Georgia or Texas spend back there?

1

That’s how many turnovers Mississippi State committed.

No, it’s not a mistake this is included amongst the bad stats. Frankly, if Mississippi State has just one turnover against one of its SEC opponents – or fewer – it wouldn’t be a shock if the Bulldogs win that game.

What lands this stat here is how the turnover, an interception, happened. I’ll never state a quarterback missed a wide open receiver unless its so obvious a blind person should’ve seen it. So, what I’ll say is if a Southern Miss defender is making plays like the one Michael Montgomery made to pick off a Shapen pass intended for Seydou Traore, more caution may be in order in future games.