By JOEL COLEMAN
Starkville Daily News
AUBURN, Ala. – Not even one second had ticked off the game clock on Saturday night in Mississippi State’s game at No. 7 Auburn before flags were on the field. It was a delay of game penalty against the Bulldogs. Right from the jump, MSU was backing up five yards. On a night full of backwards steps, those were only the first.
Mississippi State was essentially never competitive in the ballgame as the Bulldogs fell behind 21-0 in just over six minutes of action, trailed 42-9 at halftime and then eventually fell 56-23 to the Tigers.
“Against a good football team like this, we went into the week talking about how small the margin of error is,” MSU head coach Joe Moorhead said. “To come out and spot (Auburn) 21 points before the band even gets in their seats, you don’t give yourself a chance. You’re fighting out of the corner the whole game.”
The errors were many for Mississippi State on this night as evidenced by how far the Bulldogs fell behind so quickly. There were penalties – nine of them in total – that cost MSU 70 yards. Many were preventable. Linebacker and team captain Erroll Thompson was ejected in the second quarter for targeting. there were multiple unsportsmanlike conduct calls, including one on Moorhead himself as he sought answers for why a targeting penalty wasn’t called on Auburn when a Tiger defender hit MSU quarterback Garrett Shrader.
“We talk about poise and composure and discipline and I think we’ve exhibited that pretty well leading into this game,” Moorhead said. “We had too many (unsportsmanlike conduct penalties). I got one myself. We can’t do things like that. We have to make sure we’re holding our poise and composure.”
When MSU wasn’t shooting itself in the foot, the Bulldogs weren’t being especially effective anyway. Bulldog running back Kylin Hill entered Saturday’s game having eclipsed the 100-yard mark in all of State’s first four contests of the season. He was held to only 45 yards on Saturday and averaged only 2.6 yards per carry.
“It was more our part,” MSU center Darryl Williams said of State’s struggles running the football. “It was more our offensive line just not being on the same page at certain parts of the game.”
While State wasn’t able to find offensive consistency, Auburn had no problems moving the football against the MSU defense.
Tiger quarterback Bo Nix passed all over State for 335 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 56 yards and a score.
“He was confident in himself,” MSU defensive back Jaquarius Landrews said of Nix. “They made some good play calls on the field and they were prepared for us. They found our weaknesses. All we can do is just learn from that.”
In all, Auburn totaled 578 yards of offense against the Bulldogs. The Tigers averaged 8.4 yards per play. It was an absolutely dominant showing.
Mississippi State, meanwhile, had little success to hang its hat on. The play of Shrader was perhaps the lone bright spot. The true freshman signal caller passed for 209 yards and two scores and rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns. He was nearly the entirety of MSU’s offensive attack.
“You’re really seeing the potential and promise of Shrader,” Moorhead said. “I think the kid has an unbelievable future. He played a solid game once again. He had a couple of freshman mistakes near the goal line. He overthrew a couple of guys. But his game and his performance gives something for people to look forward to because the kid’s going to be a special player.”
Shrader actually didn’t even start Saturday’s game. That job went to Tommy Stevens who returned to his starter’s role after missing last week with an upper-body injury. Stevens sustained a lower-body injury early in Saturday’s affair though and never returned, leaving the door open again for Shrader, who looked every bit like the quarterback of MSU’s future, if not the present too. Moorhead didn’t tip his hand postgame on if Shrader might could possibly have won the starter’s job moving forward given his showing on Saturday.
Either way, the MSU future with Shrader seems promising. The present though, at least on Saturday, was completely disappointing.
“Some of our warts got exposed,” Moorhead said. “The first and biggest thumb goes back to me. Myself and the coaches have got to do a better job of putting the kids in position to be successful with the calls. When we do, we’ve got to be sure we’re out there making plays.
“We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to correct it.”
The Starkville Daily News Bulldog Beat 