Mississippi State Football: 3 biggest disappointments from 2019
1. The near loss to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl
Despite coming out with a 21-20 home victory over the Ole Miss Rebels in the Egg Bowl, the Bulldogs were severely disappointing. The Rebels out-gained the Bulldogs in first downs accounted for 23-15 and total yards accounted for 384-318.
Garrett Shrader only scored through the rushing game with two touchdowns. The offense could not find a way to create a consistent drive in the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs needed it the most.
Defensively, the Bulldogs contained the two-quarterback system of Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, a more established passer, and John Rhys Plumlee, a dual-threat power runner. The Bulldogs benefitted from an interception from Corral and two fumbles from Ole Miss’ Plumlee and running back Jerrion Ealy.
The Bulldogs’ defense needed one more stop from the Rebels’ offense to win the game. Ole Miss started at their 18-yard line with 2:06 minutes left in the game down by seven.
Chauncey Rivers and Kobe Jones contributed to a sack that forced fourth down that put Ole Miss on their 14-yard line. After a timeout by Ole Miss, Mississippi State’s defense allowed a 57-yard pass from Coral to wide receiver Braylon Sanders. The next play, nickelback Brian Cole II was penalized for a roughing the passer that put Ole Miss to the Mississippi State 15-yard line.
It was evident that the Bulldogs’ defense was falling apart by the pressure of the Rebels’ dynamic offense.
Ole Miss was able to score on a two-yard pass from Corral to wide receiver Elijah Moore with four seconds left in the game with only the extra point to tie it up. After the touchdown, Moore enacted a depiction of a dog urinating which forced the infamous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that forced the extra point to be kicked 15 yards further.
On the point-after attempt, placekicker Luke Logan kicked the ball from the 25-yard line where he missed wide right thus giving Mississippi State the victory.
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While the penalty on Moore helped give the Bulldogs the victory, the matter of fact that they won based on Ole Miss missing the extra point was troubling. Mississippi State won mostly on the measure of Ole Miss’ mistake with Moore’s penalty that put Logan in a bad spot.