TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — These Bulldog Bullets are going to be relatively short.
Let’s start with what we already know. Alabama is everything it’s billed to be: a championship-caliber team loaded with ridiculous amounts of talent. Mac Jones is playing at another level. Najee Harris is electric. The offensive line is intimidating. The defense is a work in progress, but it sure shut down Mike Leach’s air raid.
It would be surprising if the Crimson Tide didn’t earn one of the four coveted spots in the College Football Playoff at this rate.
As such, nobody was taken aback by their 41-0 victory against Mississippi State on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
The Bulldogs, a week after a mini roster purge, looked out of sorts offensively and defensively struggled to contain one of the most talented wide receivers in the country.
Four losses later, that LSU win feels like years ago.
As always, for those that are new to Bulldog Bullets, The Commercial Dispatch will bring you an instant reaction blog of Mississippi State football games posted immediately after the final gun filled with short observations and commentary.
To the Bulldog Bullets:
— Hey, at least the next opponent on the schedule is Vanderbilt, which looked absolutely hapless against Ole Miss on Saturday. If MSU somehow loses that game, gulp.
— First time a Leach-coached team has ever been shut out. His previous low was the two points MSU scored in its loss against Kentucky earlier this season.
— First time since 2008 MSU has gone three straight games with less than 300 yards of total offense.
— It appears MSU’s defensive strategy of hoping DeVonta Smith drops touchdown passes only works once a game.
— Smith in the first quarter: six catches, 130 yards, two touchdowns. He ended with four receiving touchdowns, giving him 31 career touchdown catches, which tied Amari Cooper for the most ever for a player at Alabama. Pretty incredible company.
— The first five MSU drives: five three-and-outs.
— Scary situation with K.J. Costello taking a knee to the helmet and staying on the ground for several minutes. Never want to see anyone endure that.
— Bulldogs finally picked up a first down with 9:24 left in the second quarter.
— MSU total yards in the first half: 38. Woof.
— At least the offensive line played marginally better than it did against Texas A&M? Kind of?
— Just when MSU was getting a smidge of momentum in the third quarter, Will Rogers throws a red zone interception after Dylan Moses takes away a ball from Osirus Mitchell. Moses somehow ran the ball out of the end zone and was tackled at the 1-yard line instead of taking a touchback, but a long completion from Mac Jones made that irrelevant anyway.
— Leach had one of his full-team speeches at the start of the fourth quarter. It didn’t seem to matter much.
— Incredible stat: 203 of Jones’ 291 passing yards went to Smith.
— If the Costello injury isn’t serious, I think you have to ride Rogers the rest of the season. Neither Costello or Rogers, a true freshman, have been all that spectacular, but at this point, you know what Costello is. You might as well see what you have in Rogers for a few games before deciding if you want him to be in the mix for a starting spot next season.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
