Facing off against Mississippi State in the Skip Holtz era has not been the most enjoyable experience for Tech fans. In fact, each matchup since Holtz took over in 2013 has ended worse than the previous. In 2015, a Jeff Driskel led Tech team turned a 14-0 early lead into a 45-20 loss. The 2017 meeting in Ruston ended with a final score of 57-21 in favor of Mississippi State. Then, somehow almost topping the 3rd and 93 embarrassment, Tech traveled back to Starkville the next year and found a way to lose 45-3.

But those three losses came against two different Mississippi State coaches: Dan Mullen and Joe Moorhead. And when Tech opens their season this Saturday, they’ll be facing a third new head coach for Mississippi State, Mike Leach.

And if there’s anything the world knows about Mike Leach it’s that he loves to pass. He sees the run game like the world sees mosquitos, completely annoying and unnecessary. When taking over Washington State in 2012, the Cougars immediately jumped up the passing rankings to finish ninth in college football. And in the next six years that followed, Mike Leach’s Washington State team led the nation in passing four times.

So it’s surprising that on the surface, Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State had eerily similar 2020 seasons. Both teams of Bulldogs regressed from their 2019 campaigns primarily due to lackluster offenses. But while we’ve seen a fair number of underperforming offenses with Skip Holtz, Mike Leach hasn’t seen an offense this poor since that 2012 season when he took over in Pullman, Washington.

Though the lack of offensive production wasn’t for a lack of trying through the passing game:

While Tech featured an offense that leaned pass-heavy, Mississippi State dwarfed those numbers by attempting a pass on nearly 3 out of every 4 offensive plays.

But remember, both the Mississippi State and Louisiana Tech offenses struggled in 2020. So if they are passing that frequently, that must mean they are not doing a very good job of it:

Both teams employed similar strategies to address their offensive woes. Skip Holtz brought a slew of transfers to Ruston, including a new starting QB, multiple RBs, and practically an entirely new offensive line. Mike Leach was not quite as aggressive but did bring in three new QBs, a couple of WRs, and a single new offensive lineman.

The offseason moves that Tech made show that Holtz wants to bring back a balanced attack through the run game. But as on-brand as ever, Mike Leach’s only goal was to bolster the passing game.

This game will be a true trial by fire for Tech’s secondary, which has also been improved by a swath of incoming transfers. So that brings us to the biggest question of week one. Which will be more improved: the Mississippi State passing game or the Louisiana Tech secondary?

Because the former will almost certainly lead to a fourth straight humiliating loss to Mississippi State. But the latter may give Tech just enough of a chance to make it interesting.

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Nathan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to check out @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.