Defense has defined Zach Arnett throughout his playing and coaching career.
So, it only seemed fitting that defense was the cornerstone of Arnett's first career win as Mississippi State's head coach in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Monday.
"I'm very proud of the way the defense played," Arnett said. "They competed all day long. They gave up some yards at times and let them flip the field but didn't surrender points. I'm very proud of the players in this program. They certainly earned this one."
The 22nd-ranked Bulldogs limited a usually potent Illinois rushing attack to just 22 yards on the ground in a 19-10 victory. It was the only time the Ilini have been held under 100 yards rushing all season.
"The coaches challenged us all week because Illinois obviously has a great rushing attack and we knew that coming in," said linebacker Jett Johnson. "It was going to be a lot like the Kentucky game and we could either repeat that or bow our necks, improve and learn from that and we did today."
MSU totaled 10 tackles for loss and recorded a school bowl-record seven sacks, which were also a season-high. In fact, all seven sacks were made by different players – Johnson, Nathaniel Watson, De'Monte Russell, Sherman Timbs, Jaden Crumedy, Cameron Young and Randy Charlton.
"It was the same mindset we had going into the Egg Bowl – attack, attack, attack," Charlton said. "Even when you're tired, stay out there and attack some more. We had a lot of reasons to win this game and do what we did today and I think that showed."
Johnson led the way with 12 total tackles and Timbs tallied a pair of stops behind the line of scrimmage to top the team in that category. Johnson and Watson finished the season as the top two tacklers in the Southeastern Conference with 115 and 113 stops respectively.
After taking a 13-10 lead with two seconds remaining in the game, the Bulldogs' defense closed things out with an exclamation point when Illinois attempted a series of laterals in a last-ditch effort. Marcus Banks made sure that attempt backfired as he cutoff the fifth Ilini lateral and raced 60 yards up the sideline for a touchdown of his own.
"We knew that they were going to try to toss the ball at the end of the game," Banks said. "So I just wanted to keep everything in front of me and end the game right there. The ball came my way and I made the play and upped the score a little bit."
Arnett had been the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator for the past three seasons prior to being promoted to head coach after the passing of Mike Leach in on Dec. 12. With so many additional duties, Arnett asked linebackers coach Matt Brock to call the defensive plays during the ReliaQuest Bowl and he simply signaled those plays in from the sideline.
"I just found myself getting pulled in so many different directions with signing day and all the other responsibilities of a head coach," Arnett said. "I certainly can't take credit for something I really wasn't a part of, unless you guys think the signals came in pretty nice…I'm incredibly happy with the defensive assistants. They got our guys prepared to play."
State finished the season with a 9-4 record, just the ninth time in school history the Bulldogs have earned nine or more victories. Arnett wants to carry the positive energy of such a successful year into his first offseason as head coach.
"As a coach, it's incredibly gratifying to see them leave the field as winners," Arnett said. "You've got seniors who are no longer with your program and it's great to send them on their way into the next phase of life as victors and you hope to build momentum going into the offseason program with all the returners."
