STARKVILLE — Whether it be the botched pooch kick on the opening kickoff or the interception senior quarterback Tommy Stevens delivered on his first play from scrimmage, Mississippi State looked the part of a three-touchdown underdog as it was throttled 38-7 by No. 5 Alabama Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
Despite a bye week to prepare, MSU was boat-raced from the get-go. The Bulldogs fell behind 14-0 just over two minutes into the contest and were outscored 35-7 in the first half.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t coach or play well enough to beat a team like Alabama,” coach Joe Moorhead said postgame.
After undergoing ankle surgery just under a month ago, Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa looked anything but hampered before being carted off in the second quarter with a hip injury.
Though the Crimson Tide will be as concerned with Tagovailoa’s future health as anything that occurred on the field Saturday in Starkville, the left-handed Hawaiian failed to incur an incompletion until the 14:15 mark of the second quarter and finished the afternoon 14 of 18 for 256 yards and two touchdowns.
Crimson Tide running back Najee Harris was similarly prolific in the game’s opening 30 minutes — racing to first-half rushing scores of 10, 5 and 5 yards with a 19-yard receiving touchdown to boot.
Progressively pounding the Bulldogs into submission, Harris earned 88 yards on 17 carries and another 51 yards on three receptions, marking his third-highest all-purpose yardage total of the season.
“I feel like the Alabama coaching staff put him in a great position to make those plays,” junior linebacker Erroll Thompson said of Harris. “Some of the plays we didn’t fit correctly, but I feel like Alabama put him in great situations.”
With the MSU defense haplessly chasing Harris and Alabama’s quartet of NFL-caliber receivers up and down Scott Field, the Bulldog offense returned to its anemic form of games past.
After exploding for 54 points and 640 yards against lowly Arkansas two weeks ago, Moorhead’s unit mustered just 270 yards — its lowest output since earning 267 yards against Tennessee on Oct. 12.
“Numbers won’t show it, but I feel like we had a few plays where we were able to be explosive and have some success,” Stevens said. “And obviously there’s some missed opportunities in there as well.”
Stevens — who has now started back-to-back contests since returning to full health from a laundry list of upper- and lower-body injuries — was routinely bludgeoned by the Alabama pass rush, as he totaled just 82 yards on 12 of 21 passing.
And while the former Penn State signal caller added an encouraging 96 yards on the ground, junior running back Kylin Hill was thoroughly bottled up throughout.
Despite becoming the first player in the SEC this season to rush for 10 touchdowns and over 1,000 yards, Hill followed up his career-high 234 yards against Arkansas with 35 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries before heading to the locker room with an upper-body injury. Moorhead said postgame that Hill is day to day.
While Saturday’s loss marked the 12th straight season in which the Bulldogs fell to the Crimson Tide, MSU still controls its own postseason destiny. Now sitting at 4-6, MSU remains two victories short of bowl eligibility with games against Abilene Christian and Ole Miss to come.
“Never going to be pleased with a loss, but we’re going to come in tomorrow, watch film, get better off it and we’ve got to reload and get ready for Abilene Christian,” Moorhead said.
Dawg notes
Moorhead announced postgame that junior safety C.J. Morgan will miss the remainder of the season. Morgan was carted off the field after suffering a lower-body injury in the third quarter of Saturday’s game.
Senior defensive tackle Lee Autry, junior linebacker Willie Gay Jr., sophomore free safety Marcus Murphy and freshman left tackle Kwatrivous Johnson were all suspended Saturday for violating team rules.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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