What went right for Mississippi State in loss to Aggies?

Even in a 31-9 loss to No. 6 Texas A&M, the Bulldogs did have some things that went in their favor. Here's three of the biggest things that went right.

Mississippi State Bulldogs cornerback Kelley Jones (1) runs the ball after catching an interception during the second quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Finding the bad things a football team does in a game is easy.

Everyone can see a mistake – a missed block, a missed field goal, a dropped pass, a coverage bust, etc. – which makes it easy to dwell on the negatives.

There’s no shortage of mistakes and negatives to find from Mississippi State in its 31-9 loss to No. 6 Texas A&M. It was not a pretty loss for the Bulldogs, who are now 4-2 overall and 0-2 in SEC after two straight losses.

But it wasn’t all bad at Kyle Field for Mississippi State. Some things did go right for the Bulldogs, so let’s focus on that today and we’ll worry about the bad stuff later.

Defense

The Bulldogs’ defense was the main reason they were still in the game until late in the third quarter when the Aggies went up 14-3.

Mississippi State held the Aggies’ offense to just one touchdown in the first half and less than 200 yards of total offense. The defense had a heroic goal line stand in the second quarter, stuffing three-straight runs from the two-yard line.

Even coach Jeff Lebby had praise for the defense after the game.

“Defensively, the way we played for the first three quarters was exactly what the expectations were,” Lebby said. “Our guys defensively were ready to play. We played our butt off on defense.”

The problem was the defense was on the field for most of the game.

“We're on the field the entire game defensively and the fourth quarter happened, that's a real thing (Texas A&M scored 17 points in the fourth quarter),” Lebby said. “Had we done what we needed to offensively, we would have had an opportunity for the game to be different.”

Big pass plays still there

Mississippi State quarterback Blake Shapen didn’t have many opportunities to take deep shots down field because of the Aggies’ pass rush.

.@BShapen ➡️ @BrenenThompson_ 🎯

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 » 9
#6 Texas A&M » 28
#HailState || 📺: @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/bCEJI5BCw9

— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) October 5, 2025

But he did manage to connect with Brenen Thompson for a 44-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to keep Shapen’s streak of games with a touchdown pass alive (21).

Shapen might’ve had another big touchdown pass earlier in the game, based on the broadcast replay.

After Kelley Jones’s interception in the second quarter, Brenen Thompson had gotten behind the Texas A&M secondary. Shapen saw it and tried to throw it.

However, as Shapen threw the ball, it was tipped by a Texas A&M defender and went wobbling high into the sky for an Aggie to intercept it.

If Shapen is able to throw cleanly and complete the pass to Thompson for a touchdown, the Bulldogs go up 10-0. Instead, the Aggies scored a touchdown of their own after the interception and led 7-3.

Scoring long touchdown passes in the first four games was, relatively, easy. They’re not as frequent in SEC games, but it’s good to know the opportunities are still there.

Penalties

One of the reasons I thought Mississippi State would lose was because of how often it’s penalized.

The Bulldogs entered Saturday’s game as the most penalized team in FBS. Apparently, cleaning up penalties in one week is actually doable.

Mississippi State had just three penalties called against it that cost 35 total yards.

One of those three penalties saved a potential touchdown (the pass interference on Jones), and another was a false start on the first drive of the game.

The third penalty was an important lesson for Tyler Lockhart about not touching quarterbacks out of bounds.

Even if it doesn’t look like much of a push by Lockhart, it’s something that will get called every single time.

Now, the Bulldogs only have the second-most penalties in the nation, behind Georgia State’s 60 penalties and one spot ahead of Texas A&M (47).