Mississippi State football will have to wait at least one more week to reach bowl-eligibility. The Bulldogs fell 41-21 in Starkville on Saturday to No. 5 Georgia. The 5th-ranked Bulldogs thoroughly dominated State on both sides of the ball. And the struggles went beyond the result. State lost multiple key players, including QB Blake Shapen, to injury plus one to a targeting ejection. It was an all around rough day on the gridiron, as MSU is now 5-5 on the season and 1-5 in the SEC.
Mississippi State ultimately got dominated by a much better team in Georgia
The simplest explanation for what went wrong in Starkville? Georgia is simply a far superior team to Mississippi State. They have more talent and more depth practically across the board, and their ability to physically overwhelm State allowed them to run away with this game. You could dissect individual plays and situations that went poorly for MSU, but the big picture is they weren't on UGA's level. Sure, they could have played better, and UGA has looked beatable in other games. But the version of Georgia that took the field Saturday is a team that State, in the midst of a rebuild, cannot compete with.
The Mississippi State defense looked like last season's unit
MSU's defense is much better this season. They're more talented and are capable of making the needed plays to give MSU a chance at wins. And early in this game, there were some big stops by the defense. But from that point on, they looked much more like last season's unit. Georgia racked up 567 yards of offense on 7.7 yards per play. They ran for a season-high 303 yards, blowing State's front off the line and racing past tacklers in space. State defenders not named Kelley Jones or (pre-ejection) Jahron Manning got beat 1-on-1 in coverage throughout the game. UGA went 7-12 on third down. They were completed dominated.
Mississippi State's offense couldn't maintain momentum from opening drive
State opened the game with a fantastic 14-play TD drive on offense. Blake Shapen was operating the quick passing game at a high level, and the Bulldogs got just enough on the ground to keep the chains moving and punch it in the endzone. From that point on, it was mostly ugly for State's offense. Georgia kept tighter coverage on State's wideouts, the run game was wildly inconsistent, and a banged-up OL made what's been an underwhelming UGA front look more like what you'd expect of them. The lone positive were the reps for and handful of flash plays made by true freshman QB Kamario Taylor, who scored three rushing TDs and led a pair of long drives with an injured Blake Shapen sidelined. Overall, State couldn't get much going.