AUBURN, Ala. — Trailing by 14 points with four minutes left in the first half, Mississippi State had an ideal opportunity to trim its deficit, taking over just shy of midfield after the Bulldogs’ defense forced its first-three-and-out of the day.
With MSU also getting the ball to start the second half, it was a perfect chance to go two-for-one and perhaps even tie the game if all went well. The Bulldogs picked up a quick first down on a pair of carries by freshman running back Seth Davis, but were soon confronted with a fourth-and-1 at Auburn’s 30-yard line.
MSU called a timeout to make sure everybody was on the same page, and quarterback Mike Wright remained in the shotgun even though the line to gain was less than a yard away. Wright faked a handoff to running back Jeffery Pittman, then took off to his right with tight end Ryland Goede blocking out ahead. But the quarterback slipped as he tried to cut back toward the middle of the field, falling to the grass before a defender could even reach him.
“We obviously didn’t execute well enough,” head coach Zach Arnett said. “In hindsight, I’d like to see that ball handed off and just jam it up in there. We’d been doing a pretty good job of creating movement there in short-yardage situations at the point of attack. That is the reality of read (option) football; the quarterback is going to pull it sometimes.”
It was a spot where MSU sorely missed running back Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks, who was out with a leg injury and would likely have gotten the ball on that play if he was healthy.
The Tigers took over on downs with more than a minute remaining until halftime and all three timeouts, and quarterback Payton Thorne led them swiftly down the field, completing an eight-play, 68-yard scoring drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to running back Jeremiah Cobb. Instead of trailing by just one score at the break, the Bulldogs (4-4, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) suddenly found themselves down 24-3.
“We had six inches to get a first down; you have to go for that,” Arnett said. “If you can score there and make it a 17-10 ball game and have the ball coming out of halftime, you have a great opportunity to take all the momentum. (Instead) we gave up a 70-yard touchdown drive in a two-minute drill.”
Defense all out of sorts early
MSU held Arkansas to 200 yards of offense in its first SEC win on Oct. 21, but the Bulldogs quickly proved that to be an aberration, allowing Auburn (4-4, 1-4) to drive 75 yards for touchdowns on its first two possessions. The Tigers consistently picked up chunks of yardage on first down to stay ahead of the chains and avoid third-and-long situations — they averaged 7.5 yards per first down play.
On Auburn’s second drive with the Tigers leading 7-3, they twice gained six yards on first down before converting on second-and-4. That moved the hosts across midfield in just four plays, and they then snapped the ball with more than 30 seconds left on the play clock as Thorne faked a handoff to Brian Battie and faded back to throw. Ja’Varrius Johnson was wide open downfield along the left sideline, and he caught the pass in stride for a 45-yard touchdown.
Johnson had blown right past MSU’s top cornerback, Decamerion Richardson, and safety Marcus Banks arrived far too late to provide any help.
“You need to get yourself into a state a little bit more than how you show up to practice,” Arnett said. “We failed to get them there. We lacked a little intensity coming out.”
Interception halts comeback attempt in its tracks
The Bulldogs played better on both sides of the ball in the second half, combining for 125 yards and 10 points on its first two drives after halftime. MSU was on the move again midway through the fourth quarter, trailing 27-13, after Wright connected with Antonio Harmon and Harmon shook free of a defensive back for a 21-yard gain on third-and-12.
Two plays later, though, Wright went deep middle looking for Jordan Mosley, but overthrew his target and instead found safety Zion Puckett, who was trailing the play and positioned perfectly to haul in the interception.
“You think back on different plays that you want back,” Wright said. “It’s just about executing. We can talk a big talk, but at the end of the day, you have to go out there and play football. We’ll ramp it up and we’ll be ready to go by next week.”
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