Mississippi State football offensive film study: Recapping Alabama

Mississippi State football couldn’t get much going against Alabama in a 40-17 defeat. But the offense actually produced a few more points that they usually do against the Tide. What did we see out of the Bulldogs’ offense?

The most predictable game of each season for Mississippi State football has come and gone. It’s become an unfortunate annual tradition that Alabama beats the Bulldogs, typically in dominant fashion. Things weren’t much different this time around. The Tide rolled to a 40-17 victory, easily covering a 14.5 point spread.

As sad as what I’m about to say might sound, this really wasn’t that bad of an outing for State against Bama, at least, not that bad relative to how this series has gone.

State actually managed to put together multiple touchdown drives. It was their first time scoring double-digits against the Tide since 2017, and it was just the fourth time hitting double-digits since their last win over Bama in 2007.

Their 17 points were the second-most they’ve scored in the series since 2014.

Again, this is really pathetic, but considering how awful this series has been for the Bulldogs, I must point out the one small “positive” that existed. I mean, they had a passing touchdown against Bama for the first time since 2014 with Dak Prescott at QB.

It’s been bad. Real bad.

Mississippi State football film recap: Miss. State Bulldogs vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

After failing to record a first down through their first three drives (and Bama getting a pick six on the third), they put together consecutive long drives to put 10 points on the board and get themselves back into the game. The closing sequence to the first half was disastrous, but State responded with another touchdown drive to open the second half and, again, make things semi-competitive.

Now after that, the offense went back to being ugly. This certainly wasn’t a performance you can look at and say “they’re figuring things out.” But at the very least, they managed to sustain a few good drives and get into the endzone, which is a rarity for Mississippi State when playing Alabama.

Here’s some of what we saw…