STARKVILLE – It was a beatdown in every sense of the word.
Losing by 33 points – 56-23 – to No. 7 Alabama was tough enough for No. 16 Mississippi State to follow. Losing four starters to injuries made it even tougher. However, the toughest to digest was the fact that, in their eyes, they did it to themselves.
Advertisement
“After tonight, I just told the guys, ‘That game wasn’t on nobody but us. It wasn’t on the coaches, it wasn’t on anybody, It was on us,'” Isaac Smith said. “And to the fans, I want to say I’m sorry because we let them down. We let you guys down. We let ourselves down. But the coaches had us ready to play, and we just didn’t execute like we were supposed to.”
Kamario Taylor fumbled the ball on the first drive of the game, and it led to an Alabama touchdown. Then he threw a pick-six on State’s next drive. It was one of three giveaways by Taylor that led to 21 of Alabama’s 56 points.
Two others scores came down to penalties. The Crimson Tide appeared to have gone three-and-out in field goal range to start the third quarter, but an MSU lineman was called offsides, and the Tide scored a touchdown on the next play.
In the fourth quarter, Alabama added on a field goal, but a State rusher ran into the kicker, which gave the Tide a first down and eventually led to another touchdown.
Advertisement
“Those are the things that cannot happen for us as a football team,” MSU coach Jeff Lebby said. “It’s going to be really hard to overcome those things, especially against great teams.”
There were more critical mistakes than just the penalties and turnovers.
In a one-possession game in the first quarter, Mississippi State had the Crimson Tide facing a third-and-19 at their own 31-yard line. A breakdown on the back end led to Keelon Russell finding Lotzier Brooks for a 39-yard gain. Alabama went back up by two touchdowns three plays later.
It was a one-possession game again late in the second quarter. Alabama was driving and faced two third downs – one of 19 yards and one of six. The Bulldogs allowed Russell to make big plays each time, and the Tide went back up by 14 again.
Advertisement
When faced with third down, Russell completed six of seven passes for 146 yards, six conversions and two touchdowns. The Crimson Tide had eight passing plays of at least 15 yards.
“He’s a really good player. I mean, as y’all saw today. He was throwing some really good balls,” Smith said of Russell. “But a lot of those plays shouldn’t even have been able to happen without us shooting ourselves in the foot … and I’ll take the blame for it because … I’m the leader of the back end, and we just didn’t do our job.”
Mississippi State knew, even heading into the Alabama game, that the bye week to follow would be crucial for getting healthy. That need has grown even stronger.
Taylor was taken out of the game early in the fourth quarter and came back with a boot on his right foot. Fluff Bothwell, who was on Wednesday and Thursday’s availability reports for this game, played the first drive and did not return. Jalen Smith, the team’s leading tackler, went down after the Crimson Tide’s third touchdown and did not return. Canon Boone, the team’s starting center, left the game as well.
Advertisement
Taylor was described by Lebby as day-to-day after the game. He and the other three’s statuses will be revealed next Wednesday, when the first availability report for State’s game with LSU comes out.
“We’re going to have to go get help. That’s what this next week is about,” Lebby said. “I just finished talking to those guys. For us to go do what we want to do in Baton Rouge, it starts and it starts right now, making great decisions and having the ability to get fresh, get fast, get healthy, and be ready to go play on the road here in two weeks.”
On top of getting healthy, Smith wants the Bulldogs to be able to play a complete game.
“When you get the SEC play, it’s a four-quarter war, and to me, quite frankly, we haven’t played a four-quarter game all year,” Smith said. “And I think that’s what, going into the bye week, is going to be my message to the team is just playing a four-quarter game because look at the rest of our schedule. It doesn’t get any easier.
“We’ve got to put quarters on top of each other and stack and play four quarters all together and play good complementary football.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
