Takeaways from Mississippi State football's admirable showing at Georgia

Mississippi State football fell 41-31 to the #5 Georgia Bulldogs in Athens on Saturday, dropping to 1-5 on the season and 0-3 in the SEC. Despite the loss, State played admirably against the SEC's other Bulldogs. They found enough of a groove on offense to stay competitive with Georgia until late in the game, far better than anyone expected going in.

Here's the key takeaways from today's game...

Michael Van Buren is still very much a freshman, but his ceiling is incredible

It'd be hard to find a tougher first two games to start as a true freshman QB than at Texas and at Georgia, and that's exactly what Michael Van Buren has faced since taking over for Blake Shapen. But despite the challenges, Michael Van Buren has shown exactly why Jeff Lebby recruited him in those starts. Today Van Buren fearlessly threw for 306 yards and three scores against the UGA defense, connecting on multiple shots down the field. He certainly showed his youth, struggling with communication and getting on the same page with his WRs. But the ceiling is obvious. He's got the chance to be great.

The Bulldog defense is awful, but the occasional big play goes a long way for this team

Mississippi State's defense is really bad. That's the single most obvious statement I could make. And it was really bad today, allowing 605 total yards and a career day for UGA QB Carson Beck. But if there's one thing to give them some credit for, it's that against both Texas and UGA, they made a handful of key big plays that gave MSU a chance to compete. An batted-ball interception on Georgia's opening drive allowed State to go up 3-0 early. Down 34-17 in the 3rd, they recorded a pick in the endzone that helped flip momentum and got State right back into the game. These few big moments aren't enough against elite teams, but that might be enough to spring an upset later in the year.

State looks like the team we expected before the season

For as rough as things have been for the Bulldogs so far this season, they're beginning to trend upwards. State had steadily gotten better over the last three games, and now, they look like the team most of us envisioned before the season began. We knew defense was going to be a major struggle. Hope for this team was centered around an offense that could be explosive enough to keep MSU competitive. That's exactly what they're now showing. Scoring 31 in Athens is better than we could truly have asked for. The team that took the field Saturday is good enough to pick up some good wins down the stretch and build momentum into next season.