Instant Reaction: Mississippi State's bowl hopes in jeopardy after loss to Missouri

The Bulldogs made too many mistakes of their own and failed to capitalize on the Tigers' own mistakes in the 49-27 loss.

Missouri Tigers wide receiver Joshua Manning (0) celebrates with wide receiver Donovan Olugbode (1) and tight end Dakotah Terrell (85) after scoring against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the first half of the game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Mississippi State's dreams of going to a bowl game are on life support after Missouri beat the Bulldogs 49-27.

It was not a good game for Mississippi State and its biggest flaws were exposed even more so than before. (That'd be 326 rushing yards and five sacks by the Tigers.)

For a change of pace, below you'll find this writer's reaction at halftime followed by his reaction at the end of the Bulldogs' game against Missouri.

And if you're the type of reader needing a TL;DR-type of summary, the reaction is this:

Uh oh.

First Half Reaction

Something has to change for Mississippi State.

The problem is that the magnitude of the changes needed may be too much to make during halftime.

Missouri gave its best try to keep the Bulldogs in the game in the second quarter. The Tigers had two personal foul penalties, including a targeting penalty that saw a second defender ejected, setting the Bulldogs up in a first-and-goal from the four yard line.

Six quarterback runs, a Missouri facemask penalty and an incomplete pass later, the Bulldogs had to settle for a 25-yard field goal attempt.

A successful field goal makes the score 14-13 with just under five minutes left in the half.

Instead the snap on the field goal attempt was low, bounced off the holder’s knee, Kyle Ferrie missed the ball on a slide, and the Tigers returned it to Mississippi State’s 21-yard line.

Put aside how Mississippi State gifted the Tigers a touchdown run after an offsides penalty on a field goal attempt because that type of problem isn’t halftime fix.

The Bulldogs had six straight plays (seven if you count the first play after Missouri went up 21-10) that resulted in quarterback runs.

Some were with Blake Shapen. Some were with Kamario Taylor. Some were designed runs, some were not. But none of them worked.

That’s the problem. Whatever plays were called, Missouri was able to force the Bulldogs into quarterback runs.

Is it because of the Bulldogs’ run-pass option-heavy offense? Or are the Tigers eliminating all other options?

This problem is further compounded by how the Bulldogs’ only touchdown drive came after Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby reached into his bag of tricks and ran a couple plays with both Shapen and Taylor taking snaps.

It was fun to see and opens up a world of possibilities Lebby likely already has in his playbook. But those types of plays can’t be the entire offense.

Sitting here at halftime and seeing Missouri already has the same amount of rushing yards as Mississippi State has in total (134), two sacks, nine TFLs and an 11-point lead (when it should be, a worse a one point lead), it’s hard to see how the next 30 minutes will go well for the Bulldogs.

Second Half

After writing all of that, of course the first touchdown Mississippi State scores is a quarterback run.

No changes were made on when and what dictates a quarterback run, but there were some changes made to the offensive line.

Mississippi State moved Albert Reese IV from left guard to right tackle, replacing Jimothy Lewis and moving Jacoby Jackson from right tackle to left guard and inserting Trevor Mayberry in at right guard.

The early returns were good and helped immensely by Mississippi State’s defense forcing a fumble on the Tigers’ opening drive of the second half. It was the second takeaway of the game for the Bulldogs.

But then Arhmad Hardy scored a 72-yard touchdown run and the Tigers had two interceptions returned for a touchdown.

The second pick-six was the coffin in the nail that extend an 11-point lead to 18.

Big Picture

The big picture is pretty easy to paint.

If Mississippi State wants to go to a bowl game, it'll have to beat its biggest rival, Ole Miss, who will be playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

So, ya know, no pressure.