Inconsistent play haunts Mississippi State again in 27-13 loss at Auburn
Mississippi State’s 27-13 loss at Auburn Saturday was fairly indictiative of the season thus far. The Bulldogs showed glimpses of good play here and there on both sides of the ball. But it was nowhere near consistent enough to prevent another disappointing loss.
The Bulldogs quickly fell behind 24-3 at halftime and could never string together enough momentum to crawl back into the game.
“We couldn’t stop anything in the first half, couldn’t stop the run or the pass,” said head coach Zach Arnett. “You can’t win a football game playing a half of football. I appreciate the guys’ efforts in the second half but I’m not particularly interested in moral victories. We’ve struggled to put a full game together all year and that’s my fault.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs mustered 345 yards against Auburn and did have success on the ground. State finished with 184 yards rushing with quarterback Mike Wright (63 yards) along with backs Seth Davis (62 yards) and Jeffery Pittman (51) all totaling over 50 yards on the day.
Wright made his second straight start for the Bulldogs in place of starting quarterback, who Arnett called “week to week” from an injury standpoint.
Offensively, the Bulldogs mustered 345 yards against Auburn and did have success on the ground. State finished with 184 yards rushing with quarterback Mike Wright (63 yards) along with backs Seth Davis (62 yards) and Jeffery Pittman (51) all totaling over 50 yards on the day.
At that late stage of the first half, State was trailing 17-3 and inside the red zone. After stopped on fourth down, the defense allowed Auburn to find the end zone with just nine seconds left in the half. Auburn’s Payton Thorne, who tossed three touchdowns on the day, hit Jeremiah Cobb from seven yards out to give the Tigers a commanding lead at the half.
“I thought we ran the ball pretty good against a front and scheme that has plenty of hats to stop the run,” added Arnett. “I was pleased with the offensive game plan. Now you’re going to have to throw the ball better and have to find some ways to create some plays. Zavion (Thomas) did a nice job but the way the game plan was, you’ll have a lot of third and shorts to mediums (in the passing game).”
Wright was 16 of 32 passing for 161 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Thomas hauled in most of those Wright passes and he finished the day with a career-best nine catches for 112 yards and a touchdown.
“Zavion is a playmaker and we’ve got a bunch of playmakers on this team,” Wright added. “My job is to get them the ball. I just didn’t connect today the way I wanted to. I am proud of the way (Thomas) came through today. It is about execution and players play. That starts with me. Just different timing routes and there are plays you want back. But we will ramp it up and be ready next week.”
And next week the task gets no easier. State plays host to Kentucky in a 6:30 p.m. kickoff at Davis Wade Stadium. Finding a way to start fast has been an issue for State all season long and the Bulldogs hope to stop that trend against Kentucky.
“We’re playing in the best conference in college football,” said Wright. “Whenever you start off slow it is hard to fight your way back into it. We made some mistakes early and we will clean up everything else. We will be ready to go next week but we’ve got to start faster. That’s pretty much it.”
