How’s that for the start to Mike Leach’s SEC career? The former Washington State head football coach shocked the masses earlier this year when he opted to leave the Pacific Northwest for Starkville.
Taking on the defending champion LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge in their season opener on Saturday, no one really gave the Bulldogs much of a chance in this one.
A transfer from Stanford, K.J. Costello was getting the start under center for Mississippi State. As for Leach, the idea of bringing his Air Raid offense to the SEC seemed questionable, at best.
If what we saw from Leach and Co. on Saturday is any indication, those who pushed back against him joining the SEC will be quiet for some time now.
Mississippi State took out LSU by the score of 44-34. It’s a game that saw Costello complete 36-of-60 passes for 623 yards with five touchdowns. Those are not typos. Those numbers actually exist. The 623 passing yards represent the most for a quarterback in single-game SEC history. Think about that for a second. This also included star running back Kylin Hill making plays in the passing game.
Following Mississippi State’s huge upset win, those watching the game had pretty much all of the same reactions.