Mississippi State has announced that it has found its offensive play-caller.
Kevin Barbay, most recently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Appalachian State, will take the same position with the Bulldogs, per a press release on Thursday. Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellinger was the 1st to report the news that a deal was coming together.
“Kevin Barbay is an innovative rising star in college football,” Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett said in a statement. “He’s an outside-of-the-box thinker with a brilliant Xs and Os mind. His offenses have proven to be creative, efficient and explosive, and his attacking offensive philosophy will be an excellent fit for our program.”
Barbay oversaw a Mountaineers offense that averaged 34.9 points a game, 2nd in the Sun Belt behind James Madison and ranking inside the top 25 in FBS. They rushed for 205.9 yards per game — 2nd in the conference and 21st in the country — while ranking 4th in the SBC in passing yardage per game (250.9).
Per the MSU release, the Mountaineers ranked in the top 25 in yards per play and yards per rushing attempt, as well as top 10 nationally in plays that went for 40 or more yards (21).
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Per hailstate.com:
Among FBS offensive coordinators since 2009, Barbay ranks per Matrix Analytical:
Inside the Top 15 percent in Passing Touchdowns Per Attempt
Inside the Top 20 percent in Fewest Interceptions Per Attempt
Inside the Top 25 percent in both QB Rating and QB Efficiency
Inside the Top 30 percent in Yards Per Attempt
From the same source:
Over the last two seasons, Barbay's offenses combined to averaged 448.01 yards per game and rank in the top 20 nationally. His offenses have consistently scored over 30 points per game, achieving that feat 56 percent of the time with a 33.61 points per game average.
This past season, Barbay's prolific offense ranked inside the top 25 nationally in scoring offense (No. 23 – 34.9), passer rating (No. 19 – 155.80), yards per pass attempt (No. 18 – 8.4), yards per play (No. 22 – 6.56), rushing offense (No. 21 – 204.42) and yards per rush (No. 21 – 5.18).
Power 5 teams his two offenses played in that stretch: Mizzou, LSU, Wazzu, Texas A&M, and North Carolina. They went 2-3 in those games (with wins against Wazzu and Texas A&M) but only lost to the Tar Heels by two points, so essentially they were two points away from being 3-2 against power five teams in that stretch. Given that it was with Central Michigan and Appalachian State, that's not bad at all.
This does not bode well for A&M. :)
This honestly made me laugh out loud. Subtle humor is either a strike out or a grand slam....no in between. And you sir, you knocked it out of the park.
lol
I like it
He runs a pro style offense, correct?
Correct