Mike Leach's first season as Mississippi State's head football coach was expected to be entertaining and has delivered in that area.
It just hasn't been very successful.
After opening with a national headline-grabbing 44-34 victory over reigning national champion LSU in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogs have since lost seven of eight games entering Saturday's regular-season finale against visiting Missouri. The lone triumph during this skid was a 24-17 escape of Vanderbilt, which went 0-9 this season but outgained the Bulldogs 478-204.
While other Southeastern Conference coaches have routinely discussed the challenges of playing amid the coronavirus pandemic in a balanced sort of way, Leach has been a bit more edgy.
"It's just the stop and start and just the incessant change and adjustment," Leach said this week of his first season on a Zoom call with reporters. "You guys are dealing with it yourself. I mean, I see y'all sitting in these rooms, and some of you look a little more cheerful than others. Some try to look cheerful, but you're kind of gloomy because you're stuck in there. We're sitting here doing this and pretending it's just like a regular press conference.
"Any time you get committees involved in something, it's going to be convoluted and twisted up. Then the politicians are trying to beat their chests and maximize on this at every step. In the end, together with all the commotion and clutter, we've created one of the most joyless seasons on earth. Hopefully, we have the presence of mind to not repeat it this way again. Other than that, it's been great."
Leach arrived at the Starkville airport in early January to the ecstatic ringing of cowbells, but his honeymoon ended for many with an April Fools' evening tweet that read, "After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf." The scarf was actually a noose, and multiple Bulldogs players elected to transfer despite Leach's apology for not meaning any offense by the image.
This season's struggles have included two games - a 24-2 loss at Kentucky and a 41-0 loss at Alabama - in which Leach's pass-happy offense failed to score. He also couldn't deliver a third straight Egg Bowl win for the Bulldogs, as they fell 31-24 to Ole Miss on Nov. 28.
Mississippi State's 2-7 record is reflective of its struggles nearly two decades ago, when the end of the Jackie Sherrill era and the start of the Sylvester Croom era yielded a 17-52 mark from 2001-06. A win Saturday wouldn't reverse this season's disappointment, but it might allow Leach to crack a rare smile this year.
"It would mean a lot to us all to get a win," Leach said. "With the disruptions of this guy's in and this guy's out. Well, maybe he's in. No, he's not. Oh, well. 'Hey, look, he can play, but he didn't do anything all week.' Now we discover that we have him on Thursday.
"For us, I think that it's constant improvement meets finishing the deal and having success together. We've been on the threshold of that against some really good teams for the last several weeks."
Pasquali's Pix
Oregon at USC: The Trojans have three comeback wins in the final two minutes for the first time since 1969. The Ducks could be Pac-12 champions with a 4-2 record. Trojans 29, Ducks 28.
Northwestern vs. Ohio State: It's understandable why Vanderbilt officials want new coach Clark Lea to have a "Pat Fitzgerald-type effect" on the Commodores given that Fitzgerald is 105-80 in 15 seasons at Northwestern. That does, however, include an 0-7 mark against Ohio State. Buckeyes 41, Wildcats 17.
Texas A&M at Tennessee: In a stat that bodes well for the near future of Aggies football, 89% of their rushing yards and 96% of their receiving yards this season have come from freshmen and sophomores. Aggies 27, Volunteers 10.
Oklahoma vs. Iowa State: No program has dominated its Power Five conference more in the past two decades than the Sooners, as every freshman class from 1999 to 2018 has won at least two league championships. Sooners 34, Cyclones 31.
Ole Miss at LSU: Lane Kiffin's first year in Oxford could yield the program's first four-game winning streak against SEC opposition since 2008. Rebels 34, Tigers 27.
Missouri at Mississippi State: This is just the second meeting between these two since Missouri joined the SEC and the first in Starkville. Tigers 27, Bulldogs 24.
Clemson vs. Notre Dame: Clemson or Florida State has played in the past eight Atlantic Coast Conference title games against eight different opponents - the seven different Coastal Division champions from 2013-19 and the Fighting Irish this season. Tigers 31, Irish 24.
Alabama vs. Florida: The Crimson Tide made SEC history this season by hanging 50 or more points on five league opponents. There is no reason to think another such outburst isn't in store Saturday night. Tide 51, Gators 24.
Winners - 11
Cleats tossed - 6
Pasquali is 189-63 overall (75.0%) this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.