Mississippi State HC Zach Arnett Wants To Keep Them Physical
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - Obviously gotten that question quite a bit
00:04 over the last eight months.
00:06 I hope it's a continuation of the identity
00:08 that Mississippi State's always had as a football program.
00:10 Tough, hard-nosed, discipline, right?
00:13 I mean, it's been acknowledged for a long time
00:16 in this league, right?
00:17 When you line up against Mississippi State, right?
00:20 You better pack your lunchbox and hard hat
00:22 'cause it's gonna be a physical game, right?
00:24 - Pack the lunchbox. - That's what Mike Leach wanted.
00:26 And when I first interviewed with him
00:28 and talked to him about what he thinks
00:32 are the important things about developing
00:34 a winning football program, right?
00:36 It's not talking about scheme.
00:38 It's all about the effort with which you play with,
00:40 the physicality and the tenacity.
00:43 I'd simply put, being the most excited, passionate team
00:46 who lines up on a field excited to play the game.
00:48 All right, and that's kind of been
00:49 Mississippi State's identity forever.
00:51 I mean, that's who we are at Mississippi State.
00:53 - Joe, you must love this guy.
00:56 I mean, you talk about hitting all the key talking points
01:00 for Gopher to two, the encyclopedia of college football.
01:03 I mean, lunch pail, hard hat.
01:05 I mean, this guy threw all the buzzwords your way.
01:09 - Trigger words. - I mean, you gotta be buying.
01:11 You gotta be buying what Arnett is selling
01:14 down in Starkville.
01:16 - Well, from an intensity perspective,
01:18 I think he's the right coach.
01:19 The one concern about Zach Arnett
01:21 is that now a defensive coordinator,
01:23 full season to obviously take on that responsibility,
01:27 the recruiting.
01:28 We've seen defensive coordinators
01:30 that get head coaching jobs sort of struggle, right?
01:33 Pat Narduzzi did not have immediate success with Pittsburgh.
01:37 It was growing pain.
01:39 So same thing with Zach Arnett.
01:41 I will say Will Rogers is a great benefit
01:44 to have as a starting quarterback.
01:46 He's an experienced kid,
01:47 but are they gonna run the football a little bit more?
01:50 Are they gonna keep it as wide open as they had with Leach?
01:53 And let's not forget, Mike Leach
01:55 was one of the best offensive minds in the game of football.
01:58 I mean, there's gonna be a drop off
02:00 in terms of the play calling without a doubt.
02:03 So I would say sell or take a wait and see approach
02:06 to see how this team maybe plays in the month of September.
02:09 - And I think it's a very tough win total
02:13 for Mississippi State.
02:15 As you see, we're gonna put up right now.
02:17 It's a very tough number at six and a half.
02:20 We kind of went over the schedule last night.
02:22 You know, I think it's a good number.
02:25 It's probably not one I can play Joe,
02:26 'cause I can see seven and five, I can see five and seven.
02:29 I don't really know what to think.
02:31 As much as you listen to that guy talk and I'm like,
02:34 all right, these kids are probably gonna run
02:36 through a wall for this guy.
02:37 I still don't know.
02:39 And you know how much time has passed?
02:41 It's been eight months and they lost their head coach.
02:44 I just, you know, running those emotions
02:47 through an entire season, Joe,
02:49 I think is gonna be very tough for that ball club.
02:52 - Yeah, and think about they won the ball game
02:54 and covered in dramatic fashion, right?
02:57 So that's typically with the short window,
03:00 that's where you get the emotion carry over.
03:03 When there's a long layoff, now it's the long layoff
03:06 and you have to do things maybe a little bit differently.
03:09 Not even so much for the kids.
03:11 I'm more concerned about the head coach, Zack Arnett.
03:13 He's one of the young, he is the youngest head coach
03:16 in the SEC, so he's taking on new things.
03:19 And it's more, he has to see how it goes out.
03:21 There's gonna be growing pains.
03:23 And with that, the defense might tell off a little bit.
03:26 You know what?
03:27 They might be an over team, even with the new rules,
03:30 because the defense might not be as aggressive
03:33 as they were last year.
03:34 (upbeat music)
03:37 (bell ringing)