Mississippi State Football: How Much Did Penalties Hurt the Bulldogs Against Kentucky?

No. 16 Mississippi State dropped Saturday night's matchup to No. 22 Kentucky by a score of 27-17.

Although the score seems relatively close, the Bulldogs struggled tremendously on offense and defense. Quarterback Will Rogers went 25-of-37 passing for 203 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Jo'quavious Marks led all receivers with 70 yards on six receptions, while Austin Williams recorded the team's only touchdown catch. The offense as a whole rushed just 10 times for a total of 22 yards.

Defensively, Emmanuel Forbes had an interception returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and Nathaniel Watson had 17 total tackles. DeCamerion Richardson and Jett Johnson also recorded at least 10 tackles apiece.

Kentucky definitely gave MSU trouble, but the bright yellow flags that were thrown fairly often certainly hurt the Bulldogs. The team had 13 penalties for 109 yards, not including four more that were not accepted by Kentucky. Many came at huge moments in the game and ultimately played a much bigger role in Mississippi State's loss than they should have.

Six of the Bulldogs' seven offensive penalties were false starts. Kroger Field's loud environment played a role in throwing the team off at times, but it shouldn't have affected State that heavily seven games into the season. Five of those false starts came when Mississippi State faced a third down, putting the team at a disadvantage when it mattered most. The other offensive penalty was a holding call on a first down. Although it didn't help the Bulldogs by any means, it was much less costly in the long run than the plethora of pre-snap mistakes.

On defense, Mississippi State committed six penalties that were accepted by Kentucky. The Bulldogs were penalized for defensive holding four times, with three being against the secondary and one coming on a kick return. The most devastating of those calls came after an incomplete pass in the fourth quarter that would've brought the Wildcats' punt team on the field.

State was also flagged for unnecessary roughness twice. The first came on a late hit out-of-bounds after Kentucky reached the first-down marker. Although the Wildcats already had a fresh set of downs, the play ultimately moved them 15 yards deeper into MSU territory. The second came after a bit of a skirmish between Collin Duncan and Kentucky offensive lineman Tashawn Manning. The two got a bit physical before Duncan struck his opponent's face mask; Manning threw his hands up and fell backwards to the ground as Duncan stepped away. A bit of acting was involved, but it was easy enough to earn the 15-yard penalty.

The defense was also flagged for unnecessary roughness, pass interference, holding and being offsides, but those were either declined or offset by a mistake against the Wildcats.

The Bulldogs recorded 13 penalties for 138 yards a few weeks ago against Texas A&M, but many of those mistakes came when the team was ahead by a large margin. Saturday's matchup was the first time this season in which a large number of penalties repeatedly hurt Mississippi State's chances of winning the game. Aside from these two matchups, the Bulldogs have had no more than seven penalties in their five other contests, with an average of 4.4 fouls in each game.

MSU will have to clean up some of those simple mistakes heading into next weekend's matchup against Alabama. The Bulldogs have not taken down the Crimson Tide since 2007, and they won't be able to pull off a huge upset if they commit too many self-inflicted mistakes.