Takeaways as Mississippi State football displays fight against Texas

Mississippi State football dropped it's fourth-straight game of the season on Saturday, losing in Austin to the #1 Texas Longhorns 35-13 to drop to 1-4 in Jeff Lebby's debut season. Despite a comfortable victory for Texas, the Bulldogs acquitted themselves better than many expected they would.

Here's what we can take away from the game

Mississippi State is starting to find something in the run game

Last week against Florida, the Bulldogs ran for a season-best 240 yards. It was a good day on the ground, but considering Florida's defensive woes, it seemed likely it was a product of the opponent. But based on today's performance, that may not be the case. When adjusting for sacks, State ran for 195 yards on 44 attempts. That 4.4 yard per rush average is nothing spectacular, but against a salty Texas defense in a game where the Bulldogs were clearly looking to lean on the run game, that's solid. The MSU run game is starting to round into form, and that's huge for their chances of offensive improvement as the season progresses.

The Bulldog defense played about as well as you could've asked for

If you look at the final stat line, you'd think the Longhorns had their way on offense against the Bulldog defense. They put up 522 total yards and scored 35. But for much of the game, State's defense came to play. For more than 44 minutes of game time, Texas had just 14 points. They converted just twice on their first six 3rd down attempts. The Bulldogs forced and recovered two fumbles, blocked a punt, and made a big 4th down stop, all while the game was still in reach. They were attacking and gave the offense a chance. They did eventually break, but if State's own offense had managed to better sustain drives, I don't think the Horns pull away like they did. This was a more than acceptable day from the defense.

State continued to fight, and that's reason for optimism

Many fans don't like to hear about moral victories. There's a feeling that nothing other than a win should be celebrated or praised, and playing hard and looking competitive in a loss is irrelevant. I'm not going to celebrate this game nor am I going to heavily praise the performance. There were some positives, as acknowledged above, but ultimately we're still talking about a bad football team playing a game that wasn't all that close. However, it is possible to find reason for optimism. It would have been really easy for State to be completely disinterested in this game given the start to the year, the injuries, and their miniscule chances of a win. Instead, they continued to fight, and had a chance entering the 4th quarter. No, I don't believe this season suddenly turns around. But they seem committed to giving State fans something worth turning into the rest of the year, and that's a good thing.