LEXINGTON, Ky. — On one key fourth-quarter possession, Mississippi State’s defense watched as cornerback Emmanuel Forbes charged down the middle of the field, the football in his arms.
Forbes jumped a short pass from No. 22 Kentucky quarterback Will Levis and returned the interception 59 yards for a touchdown, tying the Southeastern Conference career record for pick-sixes and giving MSU life Saturday at Kroger Field.
But on their next defensive series, the Bulldogs were again just watching.
Safety Jalen Green collided with corner Decamerion Richardson, leaving Wildcats receiver Dekel Crowdus wide open down the field for a back-breaking 50-yard gain. Kentucky scored on the next play, going back up by two scores.
The contrast between the two plays was a perfect example of No. 16 Mississippi State’s clear inconsistency in a 27-17 loss to the Wildcats (5-2, 2-2 SEC) in Lexington, Kentucky.
“I wish that we had played better and put our best foot forward, which is our fault,” MSU coach Mike Leach said. “Part of it is that Kentucky kept us on the ropes and kept us frustrated, and they beat us.”
The Bulldogs (5-2, 2-2 SEC) were sloppy on offense, beatable on defense and imperfect on special teams just for good measure as they lost for the first time since Sept. 17 at LSU.
Mississippi State was outdone significantly in total yardage, allowing 478 yards to a Kentucky team that had lost its past two games while totaling just 225 offensive yards itself.
Leach pulled no punches when asked what Kentucky was doing to make things difficult on the Bulldogs.
“They were patiently sitting there watching us screw up and then whipping our offensive line,” he said.
The Wildcats held MSU to just 10 offensive points in all and scored three touchdowns in the second half, pulling away after fighting the Bulldogs to a 3-3 halftime tie.
Kentucky gashed the Bulldogs’ run defense for 239 yards on just under five yards per attempt.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries for the Wildcats.
“He played as good a game as I’ve seen, to be perfectly honest, anybody play in the conference so far this year,” Leach said of Rodriguez.
Mississippi State helped ease Kentucky’s way down the field with penalties throughout the game, including several drive-extending holding calls and multiple unnecessary roughness fouls.
The Bulldogs were flagged 13 times for 109 yards in the game.
MSU’s lone offensive touchdown came on a 1-yard fourth-down strike from Will Rogers to Austin Williams, cutting the Kentucky lead to just three points in the fourth quarter.
But the Bulldogs never threatened again. Leach pointed to a laundry list of issues: forced passes, false starts, holding penalties and more.
“We never got in a rhythm and never played together,” he said.
The Wildcats didn’t seem to have that problem.
After Williams’ score, Kentucky drove 76 yards on eight plays and scored again to extend its lead back to 10 points.
Forbes’ touchdown cut into the lead again, but Kentucky promptly scored to go up 10 again and ice the game.
Levis found Crowdus behind the Bulldogs’ defense, putting the Wildcats at the 7-yard line. Rodriguez scored from there on the following snap.
Trying to get something going late, Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers threw an ugly interception that effectively finished off the Bulldogs.
Rogers finished 25 of 37 for 203 yards and one touchdown. He found a rhythm on Mississippi State’s lone touchdown drive but played — like most of his teammates — inconsistently for most of the game.
The junior quarterback made several off-target throws in the first half and at one point had the football simply slip out of his hands on one pass attempt.
Leach called Rogers “frantic” after an uneven performance Saturday, and Rogers admitted he didn’t have his best game.
He took full responsibility for the Bulldogs’ struggles across the board.
“All of the blame goes on me,” Rogers said.
It wasn’t just him. After back-to-back stellar rushing performances against Texas A&M and Arkansas, Mississippi State’s run game was stifled by Kentucky.
The Bulldogs ran just eight times for 30 yards, excluding sacks; Dillon Johnson, the team’s leading rusher this season, had just two carries.
It was part of a poor overall performance that Leach attributed to complacency following wins over Texas A&M and Arkansas the past two weeks.
The third-year MSU coach said the Bulldogs got “fat, dumb and happy” after improving their record to 5-1.
“I don’t think we handled the last two weeks of success very well,” Leach said.
The Bulldogs must now deal with the pain of failure instead.
And the road ahead isn’t getting any easier.
Mississippi State will play next week at No. 3 Alabama. The game kicks off at 6 p.m. in Tuscaloosa, and like last year — when the Tide whipped the Bulldogs 49-9 — Alabama is coming off a loss.
“This should definitely wake us up,” Rogers said of Saturday’s disappointing defeat. “We have to come ready to practice tomorrow and the rest of the week.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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