Rapid Reaction: Mississippi State's offense comes up short once again as Bulldogs fall to Iowa in Outback Bowl
In a game of wild swings of momentum, it was Iowa that held on in the end, beating Mississippi State 27-22 in the latest edition of the Outback Bowl.
Stop if you’ve heard this one before but Bob Shoop’s defense showed up to play in this game, setting the tone early in the contest from Tampa. The game began with Jeffery Simmons blowing up the first play from scrimmage in the game, holding Iowa to a four-yard loss on the Hawkeye’s first play. Two plays later, Simmons sacked Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley to force a three and out.
That was a sign of things to come for Iowa, which finished one of 11 on third down attempts in the Outback Bowl. The Hawkeyes finished with minus 15 yards of rushing in the game.
Unfortunately, as has been a theme throughout the season against top competition, the Mississippi State passing game didn’t do its part in the game to help the team get a victory on the field. Nick Fitzgerald completed only 14 of his 32 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. His second turnover of the game was particularly brutal, as MSU was in position to score a go-ahead touchdown, down only two at that point, when a pass into the end zone was caught by an Iowa defender.
Fitzgerald’s performance wasn’t all bad, however, as the SEC’s all-time leading rusher from the quarterback position reached 100 yards in a contest for the 22nd time of his collegiate career. Fitz finished with 103 yards and one touchdown on the ground against Iowa.
In one of the more bizarre plays from the game, Mississippi State defender Aaron Brule “picked off” a rugby style punt early in the game.
That's a very effective counter to the rugby punt. pic.twitter.com/Ai8LP18Ekm
— patrick meyer (@myrdsm) January 1, 2019
After being completely shut down early in the game, Iowa had zero yards of total offense entering the second quarter, the Hawkeyes caught fire for the first momentum swing of the game. Iowa scored two touchdowns in a span of 53 seconds in the second quarter, which gave the Hawkeyes an early 17-6 lead that carried over to halftime.
Mississippi State came out strong in the second half, getting a spark from linebacker Willie Gay, who intercepted Stanley and nearly returned it for a touchdown. Kylin Hill quickly converted the turnover into a touchdown for the Bulldogs. In a scary moment in the game, Hill exited the game in the second half and collapsed on the sideline, according to the ESPN broadcast.
ESPN did not update his status following that report.
Following that exchange, this wild play happened on the ensuing kickoff:
WHOOOOOOOP pic.twitter.com/0h580KbKyD
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) January 1, 2019
On the next play, Fitzgerald went beast mode for a touchdown that gave Mississippi State a 19-17 lead in the game.
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1080182756259319810
However, after this, the scoring was nearly all Iowa in the game. Mississippi State did convert a 51-yard pass that set the team up on the goal line, but the offense could not convert the possession into a touchdown. The following possession resulted in Fitzgerald’s end zone interception, which appeared to really take the sails out of the team.
Mississippi State did have one final possession to win the game but failed to muster a touchdown drive that could have won the game.
Joe Moorhead’s first Mississippi State team finishes 8-5 on the season and enters the offseason with plenty question marks on why the offense never really got going under the offensive-minded coach.
Too bad Morehead couldn’t do anything with probably the most talented Miss St team ever lol. Cant wait to see him run off in 4 years.
LMAOO, that’s why they are MSST.
If Dr.Keenum doesn’t run this incompetent man off, it will take our program to the depths of pure hell. He is without question, not a head coach. He makes decisions that our puerile and sophomoric. What bothers me about over HIS HEAD BRAIN DEAD
MOORE HEAD is his so-called reputation as an offensive genius. He looks like an overweight PIG ON THE SIDELINE. Please trade him for anybody!
LMAO…. You’re an idiot. We suck but we wouldn’t have if a QB behind the center instead of a RB. And that’s on Cousin Eddie and not Moorhead.
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Iowa had -15 rushing yards and still won. Good grief.
Good Ol State football. Our program is a joke.
Ole Miss does still suck as do you.
Ole Miss has as many bowl wins as State does this season…..Pretty pathetic how you have to bring them up when this post has nothing to do with them.
Guidry was the cause of the end zone interception. Fitz put it on the money and Guidry bobbled it for 5 seconds until finally the Iowa defender pick it off. Guidry also failed to score before by tripping on his own feet at the 1 yard line which caused us to settle for a field goal. Blame anyone except Nick Fitzgerald for this loss.
I blame Cohen for hiring this Dollar General associate coach. Over His Head moron is the worse coach in the SEC. HE MAKES AND LEGITIMIZES MATT LUKE!
Moosehead and Fitzgerald just cannot get it done. At least Rebel hasn’t lost a game this year. BTW say bye bye to failstate defense.
Your program is a pathetic laughing stock.
Didn’t they destroy UGA the last time they played them?
My Fellow Bulldawg fans our program is in for some very hard times. I am also hearing from close sources that Pickering and Moore are Florida Bound. Cohen and OVER HIS HEAD MORON NEEDS TO GO TODAY!
You’re an Ole Miss fan pretending to be a MSST fan..Get a life, loser.
Exactly. Fakes are the worst.
Thats weird considering I’m looking at my diploma right now. Facts are tough to deal with I understand. Oh look a fake marine and a pathetic band nerd hahaha. These people have never even played football in their lives. Again our program is pathetic.
Lol there’s so many trolls on here now.
Really, lmao as if an ole piss fan has room to talk sh!t.
And who the hell are you? Ole Miss has all kind of room to talk. Enjoy your one season win. Lol
35-3…
And…..
Does not winning the conference and division in 50 years, give you a reason to talk trash? You cheated and sitll couldn’t win anything..Have fun in the cellar, losers.
When was the last time Ole Miss won the SEC, SEC West, or anything of significance beyond the Egg Bowl?
I dont understand your comment.
Sugar Bowl……
They got it done in Oxford just fine…
The SEC is really killing it this bowl season lemme tell ya
I’m sorry but this is the WORST recap I’ve ever read. Did you even watch the game? That second interception WAS NOT NICK’S FAULT. He threw it on the money to a wide open Guidry who flat out dropped it, batted it up in the air and into a defender’s hand.
You’re here talking about how Nick’s second turnover “Was brutal” like it’s his fault that he threw it directly to an Iowa player.
This site needs real reporters because this is pathetic
B- for Moorhead.Deserved C+. But he won 8 games,beat OlMs, went to NY bowl. Should have beat Fla and Iowa
Holding Iowa to -15 rush less than 200 total offense, 11 1stdowns,1-11 on3rd down Snatched defeat from jaws of victory.
Agreed. Moorhead needed a different QB to run his system.
A good coach adapts and overcomes designs his system around the pieces he has. What happened to make room on your shelf for the Heisman? That is far and away the best team miss st has ever had from a talent standpoint. That’s an 11-1 squad with Mullen there.
Brutal in respect to Mississippi State’s chances to win the game, that was the defining moment in my opinion. And yes, I did watch the game.
MSU is losing a lot and will probably take a slight step back next year. Tough finish..
That’s not a certainty. We’re losing some stars but there’s plenty of talent coming back and maybe Moorhead will have a QB that fits his system better.
Nothing is a certainty but MSU is losing a lot of talent and experience no matter how you slice it…
Indeed. Those defensive superstars are gone, and they carried the team. They should be a good team, but still bottom half of the SEC West.
Tough loss. Couldn’t get out of our own way against an inferior team. This looked like the team that played LSU, not the one that blew out Ole Piss and Arky. Oh well. On to the next one. Love my team. Hail State!
Clanga clanga cry cry
Lol 35-3. At least we went to a bowl.
Don’t pay him attention. You guys have a respectable program that has certainly rose dramatically the past few years (without cheating).
And lost it. Please don’t pay him attention..Legend go away. Was going to pull for Georgia but now I hope they lose.
Okay, I’m sorry!
Legend. Too late. Karma. Act like a jerk, lose like a jerk. Loser. Lol. This made my day.
Joe Moorhead has proved that you can lose at poker even if you hold a full house without drawing a card.
You must not play much poker.
This game was lost when that receiver decided to drop a perfectly delivered football. Fitzgerald did everything he could to get the win for his team, but they couldn’t get out of their own way.
Yeah, there was no excuse for that drop. State should have won that game by at least 2 scores.
Me and the wife were at the game today. There were some questionable penalties but the dropped passes didn’t help any, along with the bad play calling. Defense can only bail out the offense so much…
Very true.
Tough loss for State. I was really hoping y’all could pull off the win.
Sorry for the loss State, your Eastern Bulldog cousins were pulling for you.
Thanks. Hope y’all throttle the Longhorns tonight.
Guidry’s drop hurt, but this game was lost due to the play calling and clock management of Moorhead. I mean really, first and goal at the one and we get: 1) QB run for loss of 1; 2) QB run for loss of 1; 3) QB run for loss of 2; and finally, field goal. Three plays right into the strength of the Iowa defense. Several WR receiver drops plus quite a few off target throws by Nick, but even then with a little more creative play calling State wins this game. And no way Iowa played that game without committing a penalty. Moorhead better study hard this offseason because he let the team down in this game, just like he did in the Florida game.
And why in the world did he punt on a 4th and 6″ in the 4th quarter with 4 minutes to go and only 1 timeout left due to his incompetent clock management in the 3rd quarter? Luckily we got the ball back, but we all know the 2 minute drill has always been our strong suit (he says with a strong dose of sarcasm)!
Agreed…we were scratching our heads on why he didn’t go for it…especially since we blew two timeouts like we had plenty to spare.
Been waiting for someone to bring that up. When your strength is the run game, you don’t give up the ball with just over four minutes left. Even after yet another stand by our great defense, there just wasn’t going to be enough time for a final drive by our offense. When the punt team hit the field I stood up, threw up my hands, and yelled, “Well, that’s the game!”
Yeah. Brought back memories of Les Miles, didn’t it?
Iowa shouldn’t have won this game. Fitz picked the bowl game of all times to go Fitzy. And Moorhead should have picked up on the fact that Fitz could hit a bull on the butt @ 2 feet and adjusted the play calling.
The team was fine after Rankin and his friends stopped being a negative influence on the team. I’m tired of all you people talking as if it was 2-10 team Moorhead inherited. This guy couldn’t coach high school teams. He inherited a team so talented it won a couple of games despite him. The rest of the wins were div 2 teams and the worst teams in football. LOL. I can imagine the ridicule and laughter next years as Moorhead continues his destruction of MSU football. He’s either an idiot or a con-artist. So far he’s made several million for screwing things up, the question is whether the administration is so stupid they will allow it to continue. And you wonder why people shake their heads & laugh at Miss?