Mississippi State added yet another painful loss to a pantheon of remarkable defeats on Saturday, as Texas overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 45-38 in overtime.
After another look at the game, it’s still difficult to comprehend how the Bulldogs gave away what looked like a near-certain win with 12 minutes to play, but there are clear moments where things went wrong and snowballed into an avalanche.
Explosive
Five plays, two minutes.
That’s all it took for the Texas offense to drive and score its first touchdown of the second half.
The Bulldogs extended their lead with a touchdown right at the end of the fourth quarter, and the Longhorns were entering desperation mode. They began looking to the air for answers as they chased the game, and found what they were looking for with a deep shot to Ryan Wingo.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning took a shot deep to his receiver, finding him down the sideline for a gain of 62 yards. Wingo carried the ball down to MSU’s 3-yard line after the catch, setting up a goalline possession.
Back-to-back pass interference calls reset the sticks and inched Texas closer to the end zone, and though a false start backed them up the Longhorns found the score with a pass to Parker Livingstone.
It was the start of what would end up being a 24-point fourth quarter for Texas. After struggling to find consistency through the air all game, Manning would double his passing yardage and score two touchdowns before the end of regulation, slicing through a Bulldog secondary that was giving him fits for three quarters. The momentum shift wasn’t immediate; in fact, there were several moments where it could have been halted. However, the big play through the air set the tone for the collapse on defense, as MSU found no adjustments or answers defensively.
Roughing the passer
Texas’ offense produced a lightning-fast touchdown drive to open the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs had their own response with a 62-yard catch-and-run touchdown by Davon Booth. With a 17-point lead restored, the MSU defense had a chance to get the ball back on the Texas 34 as the Longhorns went on 4th and 1.
Manning looked for Parker Livingstone through the air, and though the ball fell incomplete, a penalty flag was thrown. Deonte Anderson was called for roughing the passer, a gift for Texas that advanced the ball 15 yards with an automatic first down.
Six plays later, the Longhorns were in the end zone.
That mental error on Anderson’s part kept the drive alive when the Bulldogs could have taken over deep in Texas territory. Even without a touchdown in that situation, a chance to kill some clock and kick a field goal would have gone a long way in putting the finishing touches on a win. Instead, the Bulldogs were suddenly under pressure, and responded poorly.
Coverage
The Bulldog offense did little to help the team in the fourth quarter, and attempts to keep looking downfield backfired.
Back-to-back three-and-outs followed the second Texas touchdown, including two sacks of Shapen and failure to convert on 3rd and 1. The short yardage struggles were nothing new, as MSU turned the ball over on downs at midfield twice earlier in the game, but this time it forced the Bulldogs to punt.
Ethan Pulliam launched one deep to the Texas 21, a 57-yard kick that gave the MSU coverage team time to track down Ryan Niblett. The dangerous return man dodged out of the initial tacklers and found space on the sideline to accelerate. As the play developed, the hole became an avenue as Texas blockers paved the way for a game-tying touchdown on the 78-yard return by Niblett.
With the offense, defense and special teams all taking part, it was a complementary collapse.
Clock
Even with the capitulation complete, there were still two minutes for the Bulldogs to work with.
MSU picked up a couple of first downs and suddenly found themselves at the Texas 46 with roughly a minute to play and timeouts to spare. An incomplete pass on first down was followed by a Shapen scramble to set up 3rd and 6 at the Texas 42, but then they allowed the clock to run down. Shapen dropped back to pass and was sacked, losing the ball but falling to retain possession crucially.
By the time the play had stopped, roughly 40 seconds had ticked away. Rather than spending a timeout to draw up a play on the edge of field goal range, the Bulldogs waited it out and lost yardage.
Texas didn’t have the time to win it in regulation, but there was no doubt that the visitors had the wind in their sails after their 17-point turnaround.
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