Mississippi State Bulldogs News: This Past Weekend was Unkind to Bulldog Fans

Mississippi State Bulldogs News: This Past Weekend was Unkind to Bulldog Fans

If you checked the sports lineup on Saturday morning, you were a pumped Mississippi State Bulldogs Sports fan. Two Mississippi State sporting events were showcased twice in one day hours after each other.

The Men’s Basketball team faced off against Dayton in the Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta on ESPNU at 2:00 PM. The Football team would face Auburn in a rescheduled home game at 6:30 PM on the SECNetwork.

Having two sporting events airing on the same day is great exposure for your program. Unfortunately, both of our Bulldog teams experienced losses on Saturday. I was able to take in both games, and while I was disappointed, I was glad to have a third of my day consumed by Mississippi State Bulldogs Sports.

Basketball Battles Back But Fall to Dayton in Double OT

Mississippi State squandered a chance to leave Atlanta with a 4-2 record. The Bulldogs were in control in the first half and led 33-25. It was a different story in the second half as Mississippi State needed a last-second layup by Iverson Molinar to force the first of two overtimes.

A defensive failure left a Dayton shooter wide-open to knockdown a game-tying three to send the game into a second overtime. Dayton would put away the Bulldogs and when the game 85-82.

The loss also wasted a career-high 32 points by D.J. Stewart. Missed free throws once again hounded the Bulldogs. Mississippi State was 9-22 from the line. The pitiful free-throw shooting needs to be remedied immediately.

The Offense Again Fails to Support a Stout Defensive Effort in Loss to Auburn

I predicted Will Rogers would throw for over 400 yards on this Auburn defense. I was wrong as Auburn’s defense was better than I gave them credit for. Rogers was held to under 300 yards passing, and he also threw two interceptions.

Tank Bigsby ran for almost 200 hundred yards, but the defense still kept Mississippi State in the game. Auburn didn’t put the game out of reach until the fourth quarter. Neither team had much success on third down, which lets you just how well the defense played.

Jaden Walley has his third straight 100-yard receiving game with eight catches for 100 yards. Austin Willians caught four passes for 33 yards and the only touchdown for the Bulldogs. Brandon Ruiz kicked a 41-yard field goal in the first half, and the final score would be 24-10.

On a positive note, Lideatrick Griffin was close to returning a kickoff for a touchdown. His return of 65 yards was blazing fast and exciting.

I also want to congratulate Erroll Thompson for joining the 300 career tackles club. The last Bulldog to record 300 tackles in a career is former  NFL player Mario Haggan.

Erroll will have a chance to add to his totals against Missouri on Saturday, at a possible bowl game, and if he chooses to come back for another year has a shot at Ray Costict’s all-time career tackles record (467).

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