Mississippi State suffered its second loss in a row, and sixth SEC loss of the season on Saturday in Columbia. It was a battle of teams that needed to respond, and one team did just that. 

The Tigers, led by running back Ahmad Hardy’s 300 rushing yards and three scores, did enough to win the game on offense, but got an extra boost from the other side of the ball as well. 

The Mizzou defense needed to step up after two-straight losses for the Tigers and another night of struggles in the passing game, and the unit responded with two interceptions, two fourth-down stops, and five sacks to kill the Bulldogs in key moments.

For the Bulldogs, the loss was the result of failure on multiple fronts, but once again, the key moments of the game were too big for MSU to handle. 

Here’s a look at those moments and how the Tigers capitalized on MSU’s mistakes

Trouble with the snap

The moment where the Bulldogs had a chance to take a lead in this one came shortly after a Nic Mitchell interception at midfield. Just a few plays later, the Bulldogs were in the red zone, but failed to convert. 

During the sequence inside the 10-yard line, the Bulldogs ran six straight quarterback runs for a net gain of -8 yards. Five yards of that came from a delay of game penalty, but the Bulldogs were also gifted a first down on a facemask penalty and a targeting call, and could not get any sort of ground to get into the end zone. 

The drive resulted in a field goal attempt, but kicker Kyle Ferrie never had a chance to swing his leg. The snap was off target and picked up by Mizzou special teamer Toriano Pride Jr., who returned it 62 yards before he was taken down by Koby Keenum. 

It was the latest in a series of painful mishaps in a position of opportunity for the Bulldogs this season, a big reason behind the one-score losses to Tennessee, Florida and Texas, but also a feature in the now back-to-back blowout losses against Georgia and Mizzou. 

Torched and picked

The Bulldog offense began the second half eager to make the game a contest once again, and did so with another touchdown from Blake Shapen on the ground to cut the Tigers’ lead to 21-17. 

Just as there seemed to be some positive momentum, the Tigers dealt a killing blow. 

Running back Ahmad Hardy bolted through a gaping hole in the MSU defense just a minute after Shapen’s touchdown, springing through the heart of the secondary to strike from 72 yards out and restore Mizzou’s two-score advantage. 

The Bulldog offense again took the field in search of a response, but a pass to Anthony Evans was tipped up in the air and plucked by Pride, who made his second big play of the day with a 19-yard pick-six. 

Evans was being hit from behind as he tried to make the catch, and got a bit unlucky as the ball bounced off his back as he went to ground, sitting up just enough for Pride to pluck it before it could hit the ground, but his mistake gave the defender a chance to make a play.  

There was a sense from early on in the contest that the Tigers could take control of the game, but they kept falling just short of it until the second half. With the two quick touchdowns on both sides of the ball, it was clear that the Tigers were the boxer with the stamina to deal out the final blow of the bout. 

One more, for good measure

The contest appeared over after the first interception by the Mizzou defense, but the Bulldogs got back up for another round. A quick scoring drive by MSU made it an 11-point game again at 35-24. With plenty of time left, the Bulldogs forced a three-and-out to get the ball back, only for disaster to strike again. 

Faced with fourth down, Lebby kept the offense on the field deep in their own territory. Shapen had time to throw, targeting Sanfrisco Magee over the middle, but sailing the ball high over his receiver and into the hands of Tigers safety Marvin Burks. The junior ran the return in from 28 yards out to make it a 42-24 ballgame. 

This time, there was no receiver error. The coverage was tight, but Magee was running into space and beyond the line to gain. Shapen stepped into the throw while moving to his left, and simply overthrew his man.