Zach Arnett, Mississippi State Bulldogs fall short on the road at Auburn

In what should have been a winnable road SEC game for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Zach Arnett’s team fell short against the Auburn Tigers.

There weren’t many bright spots for the Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-4 overall, 1-4 SEC) as they fell short on the road against the Auburn Tigers (4-4 overall, 1-4 SEC). Zach Arnett’s Mississippi State football team struggled to find anything that resembled a consistently successful (or even moderately respectable) offense.

But it wasn’t just the offense that had its share of issues. Mississippi State’s defense that seemed to be solid just one week ago was porous and torn apart by the Auburn offense early on. The Tigers simply could not be stopped by a very flawed MSU football team in the first half of this game.

As a result, State found itself down 24-3 at halftime. A deficit that was far too big for the Miss. State Bulldogs to overcome.

Mississippi State Bulldogs fall flat against Auburn Tigers, drop road SEC game

Auburn, which had previously on a four-game losing streak, handed the Bulldogs an infuriating defeat. And while State’s defense came alive in the second half, MSU wasn’t able to string together enough drives on offense.

The Bulldogs scored twice in the second half, one being a field goal in the third quarter and the other being a touchdown to cap off a drive at the top of the fourth quarter that was actually full of solid play calling and some impressive execution.

On that aforementioned touchdown drive, Jeffery Pittman ripped off a run of 22 yards, Mike Wright ran for 11 yards and then 13 yards, and then the Bulldogs finished the drive with a perfectly placed pass from Wright to Zavion Thomas.

And that was it.

There wasn’t anymore offense after that. The Bulldogs simply could not score again. Now the Bulldogs are left trying to figure out how they’ll move forward after this 27-13 loss to Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers.

And even when there were drives where Barbay’s play calling seemed to be on point, those same drives often had execution issues that derailed what could have been otherwise productive drives for the Bulldogs.