COLLEGE STATION – Mississippi State was down and out by the final minutes of the fourth quarter at Kyle Field on Saturday. The Aggies scored touchdowns on three straight drives, starting at the end of the third quarter, to take a 28-3 lead. It was a capitulation that began as a slow death, with the MSU defense fighting to keep the team alive well into the second half, but the floodgates opened after seven straight drives without points.

“Defensively, the way we played for the first three quarters was exactly what the expectation is,” MSU head coach Jeff Lebby said. “Our guys defensively were ready to play, played our butt off on defense. The frustration is that offensively, we were so bad on normal downs, with all of the negative plays, we had no chance to sustain. None whatsoever.”

The Bulldogs (4-2, 0-2 SEC) dropped a golden opportunity to get a road win over a top 10 team on Saturday. No. 6 Texas A&M may have won 31-9, but MSU had every chance to take it to their hosts through three quarters. A goalline stand and a Kelley Jones interception before halftime had the Bulldogs looking to capitalize on an early 3-0 lead, but the offense got stuck in the mud.

“First and second down was brutal,” quarterback Blake Shapen said in a blunt evaluation of the offensive struggles. “I mean, we weren’t getting any type of positive yards.”

The Bulldogs were consistently getting into third-and-long situations, which became exacerbated in the second half as the run game dried up. The Bulldogs were just 1-10 on third downs and had just one play in Aggie territory in the second half. They were outgained 479 to 219 in total yards by the end of the night, and couldn’t find the end zone until they were trailing by four scores.

“I think the second drive we were able to do that, you all saw what happened, and then throughout the game we were just not very good on first and second down,” Shapen continued. “Put us in third and longs, extra longs, and whenever you do that, they can have the opportunity to tee all, because they know you’re about to pass. Doing a ton of exotic blitzes and things like that.”

Shapen was held under 200 yards for the third game in a row, taking four sacks and plenty more hits. One such play came as the Bulldogs had players streaking toward the end zone, but an Aggie hand obstructing Shapen’s heave caused the ball to float in the air for an easy interception.

Settling for an early field goal after a false start on the goal line seemed to spell the beginning of the same old story of self-inflicted wounds, but the reality after that was the offense didn’t have enough plays to rack up any more penalties.

What was a winnable game for the Bulldogs devolved into a bad road loss, and then disaster in the fourth quarter as emerging star running back Fluff Bothwell was carted off with a leg injury and sent for X-rays and medical evaluation.

The loss of Bothwell would be hard for the offense to handle with how much he’s carried the offense in the last few games. There are depth options with veteran Davon Booth and sophomore Xavier Gayten waiting in the wings, and seniors Seth Davis and Johnnie Daniels also on the roster.

The problems on offense went well beyond the running game on Saturday though, and the evaluation process begins immediately for Lebby and his staff.

“For me, it’s just about finding answers,” Lebby said. “To begin, what we just lived, it was real. That happened. Offensively, the furthest thing from our expectation, our standard. Felt great about the game plan, felt great about the week of work we had, and we did not play or go the way we needed to. As I go back and watch the tape as soon as I sit on the bus, it’s going to be about fixing problems and putting people in positions of success, because that’s why they call us coach.”

The Bulldogs have a week to rest and reset before traveling for their next game at Florida. Aside from some good news on Fluff, the team will also hope for the return of offensive tackle Albert Reese IV and linebacker/safety Isaac Smith, who were both missed at Kyle Field on Saturday.