OXFORD – This is why the Bulldogs can’t have nice things.
Ole Miss 31, Mississippi State 17.
Goodbye, Egg Bowl trophy. Goodbye, a shot at the SEC West title. Goodbye, speculation over whether the Bulldogs would hang on to a spot in the first-ever College Football Playoffs.
Mississippi State’s season did not end here amid the joyous din of the partisan crowd of 62,058 at Vaught Hemingway Stadium.
It only felt like it.
The plan was to go into Oxford, whip a depleted, presumably dejected Ole Miss team and wait around to see how the cards fell. A win over Ole Miss, coupled with an Auburn win over Alabama later Saturday evening would send the Bulldogs to their second-ever SEC Championship Game. But even if Tide prevailed, MSU could make a solid argument for making the four-team playoff field with a win over the Rebels.
You can forget all that now. The Bulldogs won’t get a chance to prove they are one of the four best teams in the country precisely because they weren’t the best team in the stadium Saturday.
“This is as tough as it gets,” said Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen. “I don’t care about the stakes. This game is for bragging rights in the state. It’s the most important game we play, so it’s obviously a devastating loss because of that.”
Mullen, who lost the Egg Bowl for just the second time in his six seasons, bemoaned poor offensive execution and a defense that gave up six plays of 20 years or more.
After finally breaking through to take its only lead of the game on a one-yard TD run by quarterback Dak Prescott five minutes into the second half, the Rebels answered with dizzying quickness.
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace, who showed no ill-effects from a sprained ankle suffered in last week’s humiliating 30-0 loss to Arkansas, hit tight end Evan Engram for 83 yards on the next offensive play, setting up a 1-yard TD run by Jeremy Liggins.
After holding State without a first down, Wallace had completions of 35 yards to Engram and 24 yards to Quincy Adeboyejo to set up a 39-yard field goal to push the lead to 17-10.
What would be the coup-de-grace, and emblematic of the Bulldogs’ inability to tackle, came on the Rebels’ next possession, with Rebel tailback Jaylen Walton breaking hand-tackles behind the line of scrimmage then popping free along the east sideline on the way to a 91-yard score — the third longest TD run in Rebel history. In those three drives, the Rebels piled up 233 yards of offense.
After holding a 7-3 halftime lead, the Rebels’ offense carved up State to the tune of 342 total yards in the second half, including 160 rushing yards for a running game that was presumed to be non-existent.
“To give up as many big plays as we gave up is unacceptable,” Mullen said. “That’s pathetic. Give Ole Miss credit. Their kids make a whole lot of big plays. But you give up 500 yards on 60 plays? You’re not going to beat anybody like that.”
While Mississippi State (10-2 overall, 6-2 in the SEC) is certain to take a healthy plunge from its current No. 4 ranking, the Bulldogs can take solace in several things. State won 10 regular-season games for the first time in school history and can post its first 11-win season with a bowl victory. MSU is almost certainly destined for a slot in one of the four major bowl games when the CFP committee announces those matchups on Dec. 7. State also reached No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in school history. None of that seemed to be of much solace to Mullen, however.
“Our goal was to build a team that isn’t just No. 1 at some point in the season,” he said. “We’re here to build a team that’s going to finish No. 1.”
It won’t be this year, though.
The Rebels made sure of that.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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