5 biggest takeaways: Big plays cost Bulldogs in Egg Bowl loss
By Ethan Levine
Published:
Here are the five biggest takeaways from Mississippi State’s crushing 31-17 loss to Ole Miss in Saturday’s Egg Bowl:
1. Big plays torched the Mississippi State defense once again. The Bulldogs entered Week 14 having allowed more explosive plays on defense than any other team in the SEC. In Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss, it allowed the Rebels to amass two-thirds of its yards from scrimmage on just 13 percent of its plays from scrimmage. Had MSU limited the Rebels’ explosive plays and forced them to drive the length of the field, they might have had a chance at victory in the fourth quarter.
2. The Bulldogs offense struggles when the run game struggles. Mississippi State tied its season low for points in a game with 17, and it posted its second-lowest yards per carry average of the year with just 3.5. The only game in which it averaged fewer yards per carry was its only other loss of the year, coming against Alabama on Nov. 15. When the Bulldogs are unable to run the ball effectively, it limits the entire offense. Mississippi State failed to ever find a rhythm on offense aside from a few long completions, and it was due in large part to its inability to run the ball against the vaunted Landshark defense.
3. Mississippi State’s greatest failure was its lack of run defense. Ole Miss has had one of the weakest rushing attacks in the SEC this season, yet it ran for more yards against Mississippi State (205) than it did against any other SEC opponent this season. The Rebels averaged 6.6 yards per carry and ran for three of their four touchdowns in the victory, and the Bulldogs’ inability to stop the run allowed Ole Miss to open up its entire playbook, resulting in a number of the explosive plays mentioned above.
4. The kicking game finally came back to haunt the Bulldogs. Mississippi State had been flirting with disaster in the kicking game all season, missing three extra points this year despite avoiding any fatal misses on field goal tries in its first 11 games. However, the Bulldogs missed a critical field goal in the second half of Saturday’s loss, allowing Ole Miss to maintain a four-point lead at the time. The miss can be blamed on holder Dak Prescott, who held the ball with the laces facing inward toward Evan Sobiesk before he pushed the kick wide of the uprights. Apparently Prescott has never seen the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, or he would have known to put the laces out. Regardless of who is to blame, the kicking game finally let MSU down in a big spot, and the Bulldogs missed their chance at an SEC West title as a result.
5. The Bulldogs may not be able to recover from this loss. Mississippi State was clearly shaken after Saturday’s loss. Dan Mullen was blunt and irritable with the media rather than his usual chipper self, and the players looked devastated as they exited the field inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mississippi State may not get another chance to win the West for many years, and it will always remember its loss to its arch-rival from across the state as the loss that killed its best title chance in a generation. Losing to Ole Miss is never fun, but losing to the Rebels with this much at stake is even tougher to move past. The Bulldogs may be haunted by this loss well into the offseason, especially if they fail to win whatever bowl game they’re invited to this winter.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
