Mississippi State football: 5 concerning stats from loss to Alabama
By Ethan Lee
The Mississippi State Bulldogs weren’t able to keep up with Alabama on Saturday. And as a result, the fifth Mississippi State football game of the season ended in frustrating fashion.
Saturday evening, the Mississippi State Bulldogs fell 40-17 at home against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mississippi State made some noise and came close to making a few plays early on, but State wasn’t able to keep it close and things unraveled right before halftime.
Ultimately, Mississippi State loss in a lopsided, devastating mess that put the Bulldogs at 2-3 overall and 0-3 in SEC play. Zach Arnett and the Bulldogs are currently on a three-game losing streak that has been remarkably frustrating to watch.
And there were certainly some very frustrating things that happened on Saturday.
Mississippi State football vs. Alabama Crimson Tide: 5 concerning stats in Bulldogs’ loss to Alabama
Here are five stats that jump out and are incredible indicators that something went wrong. (No, the scoreboard doesn’t count, Facebook commenters. Here are five stats other than the scoreboard, folks)
261: The number of total yards gained by the Bulldogs’ offense
In the game against the Crimson Tide, there were several drives where the Bulldogs were able to move up and down the field a bit. But only a bit.
Mississippi State had some really solid play calling going on from offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay and it at one point looked like his unit might be able to find some success against a Nick Saban defense that continues to be dominant and frustrating to play.
That ultimately wasn’t the case, unfortunately.
The Bulldogs didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard and Mississippi State was only able to muster 261 total yards against Alabama. The offense sputtered and the Bulldogs averaged a meager 4.2 yards per play.