Mississippi State loses penalty filled game against BYU

Mississippi State lost to BYU in double overtime, 28-21, late Friday night.

Mississippi State played much better in this one than they did against Auburn, but still leave the game with a loss. BYU was able to stop the Bulldogs on 4th down in the second overtime to get the victory.

The game was filled with penalties on both sides. The officiating crew called a bunch of ticky-tack fouls, some at critical moments which had a huge impact on the game. Other flags were thrown on perfectly legitimate calls that also had a big impact. It was that way for both sides.

On two different occasions in the first half, BYU lined up offside on defense which allowed MSU to continue their drive after being stopped on third down….and the Dawgs capitalized by scoring a touchdown. Those accounted for all of State’s scoring in regulation.

One series I want to focus on was early in the 4th quarter when BYU scored the game-tying touchdown. It’s conceivable to say this ultimately determined the outcome of the game as no more points were scored by either team until overtime.

MSU stopped BYU on third down, but Will Coleman was called for roughing the passer. Here’s the video, you decide for yourself:

It looked to me like the gave the QB a slight one-handed shove. Roughing?

Instead of being forced to attempt a field goal, BYU got a fresh set of downs. MSU proceeded to stuff the Cougars on first and second down, then they threw a TD pass on third down. But BYU got called for holding – which was another ticky-tack foul that should not have been called. Nevertheless, you could consider it a make-up call and all the Bulldogs had to do is stop BYU on 3rd and Goal from the 20. They couldn’t do it.

There’s no doubt – State had the opportunity to stop BYU on that last series of downs and they didn’t get the job done. But it never should have happened with the bogus roughing the passer penalty.

These were SEC refs, but that doesn’t really matter. They were still way too involved. And every single replay in the game over-turned the ruling on the field. Not the best night for the zebras.

Penalty stats:

• Mississippi State: 7 for 63 yards
• BYU: 9 for 84 yards

State lost this game fair and square, it’s just unfortunate there were so many yellow flags on the field.