Mississippi State fans needed that extra hour of sleep from daylight savings to recoup after the Bulldogs suffered a heartbreaking loss Saturday night to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Of course, there will be a lot of conversation about kickers after Nolan McCord badly missed the potential tying field goal in the final seconds. But the way I see it, the Bulldogs were just not quite as good as Arkansas.

After winning three of the previous four, the Bulldogs fell  in the last seconds by a final score of 31-28 in what was one of the absolute best games in the SEC so far this season.

Mississippi State, No. 17 at the time in the College Football Playoff rankings, falls to 5-4 overall and will likely fall out of the rankings, perhaps for the remainder of the season, with Arkansas moving to 6-3.

For the Bulldogs, this loss delays qualifying for a bowl for at least one more week. The final three games are against Auburn, Tennessee State and Ole Miss in that order.

For me, this loss is not a huge deal. At the end of the day, the SEC is loaded and Arkansas, Ole Miss, MSU, TAMU and Auburn all appear to be “back” from a few down years. These losses are going to happen. Honestly, this loss showed more positive things about the state of the program than a few of the wins have.

What we learned about the Bulldogs

The missed kicks are difficult to swallow. My stance is that kickers should make all extra points if the snap and the hold are good, no excuses. However, games like this happen to college kickers. If you lose a game on missed field goals, you probably should have scored touchdowns.

But, that’s just me. I do not participate in any college kicker slander and the way that the Arkansas kid came over to comfort McCord after the final missed kick should show that those players experience loneliness unlike any others in college sports. Back off. MSU should have scored one more TD.

That said, the full development of the MSU football team in 2021 has been outstanding and was on display against Arkansas. In the opening month, the Bulldogs allowed a bunch of big plays, forced things on offense and beat themselves a few times.

But Saturday, trailing 13-0 in the first half, quarterback Will Rogers II led the Bulldogs on an 11-play, 74-yard touchdown drive that took 3:08. The 3-yard TD pass to Jaden Walley came with less than 10 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs didn’t settle for a field goal, they finished the drive.

Then, after MSU clawed all the way back to within three points, Rogers led the Bulldogs on another massive long drive and a 28-23 lead with about two minutes left. After falling behind 13-0, MSU finally led.

But after a remarkable Arkansas drive led by quarterback KJ Jefferson, one of the most underrated and least-talked about players in the country, the Bulldogs found themselves down again, 31-28.

Rogers delivered. With just 21 seconds left and no timeouts, the Bulldogs moved the ball from their own 25 yard-line to the Arkansas 22 on three plays, capped by a 23-yard pass from Rogers to Austin Williams. We all know what happened next.

But, the confidence and execution in situational football comes from teammates who trust one another and from a group of guys who trust their coaches to put them in the right place.

The team that probably should have lost to Louisiana Tech, and probably should have beaten LSU and Memphis, doesn’t resemble the squad we’re seeing on the field now.

The unfortunate thing about a reboot or rebuild or whatever you want to call a new coaching regime is that it takes some time. But, after this loss, I think the time to count moral victories is over — this is the last one. The Bulldogs look all the way back to me. It’s time to set the expectations high enough that (other than Bama) losing close isn’t enough.

Looking down the road, the Bulldogs have big games remaining against Auburn and Ole Miss. Auburn just got absolutely smothered by Texas A&M while Ole Miss just casually beat former head coach Hugh Freeze and Liberty with Matt Corral and backups.

The Bulldogs have a chance to finish off the Tigers and lock up a bowl bid. And we might as well start talking about it now: The Egg Bowl is starting to look like it will be a classic. The Bulldogs and the Rebels match up with one another in a way that will make this appointment viewing.

In the final quarter of the season, there’s no reason the goal can’t be winning out and sending a message to recruits and the SEC.