Mississippi State football's quest for an SEC win will have to wait at least a few more weeks. The Bulldogs lost to No. 6 Texas A&M 31-9 in College Station on Saturday night, their 14th-straight conference loss. A banged-up Bulldogs squad competed closely with the Aggies in an ugly contest until late in the 3rd quarter before A&M managed to pull away.
Mississippi State's offense was incompetent against Texas A&M
The Bulldog offense was always going to be facing an uphill battle going on the road against a ferocious pass rush down their starting tackles, but it was an especially ugly game. The Bulldogs managed just 219 yards of offense and went 1-10 on 3rd downs. Blake Shapen was sacked four times, and State committed two turnovers. They couldn't pass protect at all, and the gameplan didn't alleviate those issues. And to truly ruin the night, Fluff Bothwell suffered what looks to be an incredibly serious injury on a pointless play late in the game. This could not have gone worse.
The Bulldog defense held on as long as they could
The box score is going to look quite deceiving for those that did not watch this game because Mississippi State's defense did about as much as you could've asked from them. The Bulldogs held the Aggie offense to just seven 1st half points and 179 yards. A&M QB Marcel Reed was just 5-12 passing with a pick at the break. And to open up the 2nd half, State forced a pair of punts from the Aggies. They held on for as long as they possibly could have while the offense gave them absolutely nothing. Eventually, the dam burst, and A&M was able to run away. But for this to have been a 7-3 game until late in the 3rd quarter speaks volumes to how well Coleman Hutzler's group played. They did their job.
Mississippi State football desperately needs this upcoming bye week
The bye week could not come at a better time for Mississippi State. They're severely banged up and now reeling after two-straight losses. They need a chance to get healed up and regroup for the closing stretch of the season. This is still clearly a far better team than we saw last year. There's no debating that. And they've proven they can compete with talented SEC squads. They can find the wins necessary the rest of the way to make a bowl, even with a tough schedule remaining. But they've got to take advantage of the bye week to reset themselves and finish the season strong.