Even after a blowout loss at Georgia last week, many were at least expecting Mississippi State to keep things close at Auburn on Saturday night.

However, in what was clearly the best performance of the year for the Tigers, they dominated the Bulldogs through the air and on the ground in an easy 49-10 win.

Mississippi State, once a team that looked like it might be the second-best in the SEC West, now looks desperate to turn its season around, while Auburn has emerged as the biggest threat to Alabama’s division dominance.

Here are some early takeaways in the immediate aftermath of Auburn’s blowout victory:

There’s the passing game!

Auburn fans have been waiting for weeks to see highly touted Baylor-transfer QB Jarrett Stidham show off his arm and improve the Tigers’ passing game, and they finally saw it on Saturday night.

Stidham threw for several big gains in the first three quarters, spreading the love to Eli Stove (57 yards), Kyle Davis (52 yards), Darius Slayton (49 yards) and Will Hastings (47 yards).

With the running game and passing attack both clicking, the blowout was on. Stidham finished the game with 264 yards and two touchdowns in his best performance as a Tiger yet.

No Pettway, no problem

If Kerryon Johnson keeps going at the pace he’s going now, he’s going to shatter the SEC’s rushing touchdown record.

Through five games, he has nine rushing touchdowns, eight of which have come in the past two weeks. This time, though, he did it while also running for more than 100 yards after having only 48 yards in his five-touchdown effort against Mizzou last week.

As Kamryn Pettway continues to recover, he’ll be able to take his time, knowing that his backfield mate can hold down the fort until he’s ready to roll.

Points from the defense

When Alabama went through the regular season undefeated and won an SEC title before losing to Clemson in the national championship game, the Crimson Tide defense scored a lot of points.

On Saturday, Auburn snagged a pick-six against Nick Fitzgerald, turning the game into a blowout.

If the Tigers can continue to be opportunistic on that side of the ball, they could make things difficult for Alabama QB Jalen Hurts in this year’s Iron Bowl.

Mississippi State needs a receiver to step up

Auburn did a great job stopping the run on Saturday night, but Fitzgerald had several accurate passes dropped by his receivers.

Fred Ross is gone, but the Bulldogs desperately need someone else to fill his shoes this year to help the offense get going.

Against tough SEC teams like Georgia and Auburn, you can’t be one-dimensional, but that’s what has happened to Mississippi State in back-to-back weeks.

Not time to panic in Starkville

Yes, this was the second-straight week the Bulldogs were embarrassed on the road, but they played two of the top three teams in the SEC.

After a much-needed bye next week, Dan Mullen’s squad will have two manageable games against BYU and Kentucky at home.

That should be enough to get the Bulldogs back on track and stop this recent spiral.