Mississippi State Football Film Study: Western Michigan

Mississippi State football got a much-needed win over Western Michigan. But the performance left a lot to be desired. What did we see out of the Bulldogs?

Mississippi State football took down the Western Michigan Broncos 41-28 on Saturday in Starkville. It was a much-needed victory for a Bulldogs squad that had lost three-straight games going into the matchup. But beyond simply getting a win, State’s overall performance was not one to be excited about.

WMU is amongst the worst teams in the MAC. While not quite as bad as expected going into the season, the Broncos are still a lower-tier Group of 5 team. They’re the type of team you expect a SEC program to totally dominate.

Winning by just 13 points is far from dominant.

It wasn’t as though this game was competitive from the get-go. State build out a 17-0 lead in the first half. The MSU offense was moving the ball fairly easily while the defense was forcing stops. But a 14-play, 75-yard WMU touchdown drive late in the second quarter flipped the momentum.

From that point on, the Bulldog defense seemingly could not get off the field, allowing a struggling and injury-ridden Bronco offense to get back into the game. State’s offense, for the most part, continued to handle it’s business. But the result was very-much in doubt in the fourth quarter.

Mississippi State ultimately put away Western Michigan, but there was little out of this game to inspire confidence in the team going forward. While the offense seemed to have figured some things out, we saw more of what we’ve seen all year from the defense: they were a massive liability.

So what stood out from Mississippi State football against Western Michigan?