The Mississippi State Bulldogs lost their third game of the season on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, falling to the No. 5 LSU Tigers 19-3 in a game in which their defense played very well but the offense continued the struggles that have plagued them the past few weeks.

Here’s a breakdown and grading of the Bulldogs’ performance.

Passing offense

Wow. I’m almost at a complete loss for words in trying to break down the Bulldogs’ passing attack, or lack thereof, against the Tigers. To be frank, I’m not sure I can remember a more dismal passing performance than what Nick Fitzgerald put on the field Saturday night, as the senior completed just 8 of 24 attempts for just 59 yards (2.4 yards per attempt) with no touchdowns and a whopping 4 interceptions. Good grief. Look, I know the LSU secondary is a very talented unit, but that’s a remarkably horrible performance for the senior QB.

I know his receivers (again) didn’t provide much help as they struggled to get separation against the Tigers’ man coverage, and the line was far from perfect in pass protection, but Fitzgerald is struggling mightily right now with mechanics, ball placement and decision-making. It seemed like every time he was pressured in the pocket on Saturday night, he forced a pass into coverage, leading to turnovers. I know head coach Joe Moorhead doesn’t want to bench a senior QB who has broken a number of both school and conference records, but it’s hard to justify continuing to trot him out there each week knowing he can’t provide anything with his arm.  Grade: F.

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Rushing offense

This was one area of the night where Fitzgerald found some success, as he finished with 23 carries for 131 yards, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Tailbacks Kylin Hill and Aeris Williams were also strong when they got carries, combining for 70 yards on 14. While it’s hard to find much fault with a rushing attack that racked up 201 yards, averaging 5.4 per carry, against a defense as talented as LSU’s, I just don’t understand why they’re not giving more touches to their tailbacks instead of prioritizing Fitzgerald as a ball carrier. I know more often than not he’s making a read based on what the defense is taking away, but when factoring in the number of designed QB runs, he tends to phase out both Hill and Williams.

It has been a common theme in each of the Bulldogs’ three losses. Against Kentucky, Hill and Williams combined for 12 carries while Fitzgerald had 16. Against Florida, Hill and Williams combined for 12 carries while Fitzgerald had 20. And against LSU, it was 14 for Hill and Williams while Fitz ran it 23 times. I know Fitzgerald is very good with his legs, but he’s easily the third-best ball carrier on the team, yet he has 10 more carries on the season than his two tailbacks have combined, and he has played in one fewer game. Grade: C.

Rushing defense

Can’t blame the defense for the loss, that’s for sure. The run defense was fantastic, holding the Tigers to just 9 rushing yards in the first half on 17 carries while showing the speed and physicality that has become their calling card. Toward the end of the game they began to wear down a bit, particularly as the offense continued failing to string together any lengthy drives, but in the end they still allowed only 110 rushing yards on 44 carries, allowing just 2.5 yards per carry against an offense that went into the game averaging 202.1 yards per game and 4.7 per carry.  Grade: B+.

Passing defense

Another solid night for the Bulldogs’ pass defense as they allowed the Tigers just 129 yards through the air and forcing a big INT in the red zone. I know the Tigers aren’t known for their passing attack and Joe Burrow isn’t exactly Tua Tagovailoa, but the Bulldogs were tight in coverage on all three levels, and the pass rush played a big role. They did experience some struggles on third down, but give defensive coordinator Bob Shoop credit: he called a pretty damned good game overall, holding a top-five team to 239 yards of offense on the road in a very tough environment. Grade: B.

Overall

Another great performance by the defense wasted by an anemic offense, and much of it comes back to Fitzgerald. Moorhead is going to face a lot of heat for this game, with many people probably wondering why he didn’t bench Fitzgerald at any point. Early in the game, after he threw his second pick, why keep him in? He obviously wasn’t going to be able to throw against the Tigers secondary, so why keep him in? To retain his abilities as a ball carrier? Keytaon Thompson can run the ball just as well as, if not better than, Fitzgerald, so you’d still be able to maintain a rushing threat under center to allow for zone-read and RPOs, so why keep Fitzgerald in?

The once promising season for State is slowly slipping away. At 4-3 (1-3), and with games against No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 1 Alabama looming, it could very well be another 7-5 type of season for the Bulldogs, far from the expectations they entered the season with.