Mississippi State vs. Georgia: What Went Wrong?

ATHENS, Ga. – Mississippi State’s football team should get a confidence boost off its much-closer-than-expected game against No. 5 Georgia.

But a 41-31 loss is still a loss and there are some major concerns Mississippi State needs to address if it hopes to pull of an upset or two in the final six games.

Here are some of the things that went wrong for Mississippi State on Saturday against Georgia.

What went wrong?

Run game. Mississippi State ran the ball 26 times for a total of 79 yards. That’s an average of only three yards per carry. Johnnie Daniels’ 19-yard touchdown run was the longest rushing play in the game. Mississippi State appeared to have found a ground game before the bye week, but it was practically non-existent against Georgia.

What went wrong?

Pass defense. Carson Beck set a new career-best with 459 yards and wasn’t sacked a single time. He was rarely pressured when he dropped back for a pass and saw wide open receivers downfield all game. Sure, the defense had two interceptions, but those were more a by-product of being in the right place at the right time.

What went wrong?

Kickoff out-of-bounds. The only “bad” kick of the game for Mississippi State was on a kickoff by Nick Barr-Mira that went out-of-bounds and gave Georgia a short field.

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