[Tuck4Bama]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Three seasons and one month into Sylvester Croom's Mississippi State coaching tenure, the Bulldogs no longer find themselves outmanned by their SEC brethren on a weekly basis.

The Bulldogs showed again Saturday they won't be pushed around or buried at the scrimmage line as they often have been in recent years.
But girth plus muscle doesn't necessarily equal victory.

You have to play smart, too.

South Carolina showed that in a 38-21 victory over the Bulldogs on a sun-splashed day at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Afterward, Croom was disappointed, bordering on angry.

"We missed a great opportunity out there, today," Croom said. "You can't let opportunities like that slip away."

Croom got diplomacy out of the way quickly, congratulating South Carolina on the victory. And then he began a lengthy laundry list of ways the Bulldogs contributed to their own demise.

"Too many penalties," he said.

Nine for 87 yards, to be exact.

"Too many missed tackles," Croom lamented.

Missed opportunity gnaws at Croom, improving Dogs

[legbah]

I have seen many different kinds of coaches react differently to losses. But the one that has the most positive effect is the one that takes responsibility for the losses and gives the credit for the victories to the team. A blocked punt with 5 minutes left in the third quarter gave momentum to the Gamecocks and buried MSU. The question is how many years of dismal offense and shotty special teams play are we going to put up with before we fire Croom and regain our dignity with a coach that is qualified to lead a SEC team?