OXFORD — Jaylen Walton had nowhere to run. He tried the middle and found nothing. He tried the right and found nothing.

Mississippi State’s defense had the Ole Miss tailback hemmed in.

Then they didn’t.

Walton, a junior, escaped danger and found running room on the left side of the defense, broke one tackle, and raced to a game-changing 91-yard touchdown, the most memorable big play on a day filled with them for Ole Miss in a 31-17 victory.

“Give them credit. They played hard,” said MSU coach Dan Mullen of Ole Miss, which had 532 yards and hit on nine plays of 20 yards or more. “Their kids made a whole lot of big plays in the game. We gave up 20 yards per play. That’s absolutely pathetic. Just a terrible job by our defensive coaching staff, and we will work to get that fixed.”

On a night Ole Miss reclaimed the Golden Egg Trophy, which is given annually to the winner of the 111-year-old rivalry, the number of big plays for the Rebels made the difference. In addition to the 91-yard dagger by Walton (14 carries, 148 yards), Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace delivered an 83-yard pass to tight end Evan Engram to set up another the score. The pass came on the Rebels’ first play after MSU took its only lead, 10-7. Backup quarterback Jeremy Liggins scored on a 1-yard run three plays later to give the Rebels the lead for good.

“This one feels great,” Wallace said. “I can’t even put into words how it feels.”

Wallace, a senior from Pulaski, Tennessee, passed for 296 yards and kept the offense humming. The Rebels averaged 23 yards per pass play and rushed for 205 yards, which were season highs against MSU.

While Walton’s 91-yard run was the highlight that will live longest, it had plenty of company. The Rebels also scored on a 31-yard halfback pass from Jordan Wilkins to wide receiver Cody Core, which capped a two-play, 72-yard drive that gave Ole Miss a 31-17 lead and put the game out of reach.

“Tackling, finishing plays is something we work on every day in practice,” MSU senior defensive lineman Kaleb Eulls said. “We will have to work harder.”

Dominating defense

MSU entered the Battle for the Golden Egg as the Southeastern Conference’s most prolific offense, averaging 511 yards per game. Against a fast, physical Ole Miss defense, MSU fell well short of that number and tied for a season low in points.

“They are good, very fast up front,” MSU quarterback Dak Prescott said of Ole Miss’ defense. “They made plays up front all night. We will have to watch film and take what we see to get better from it.”

The Rebels held the Bulldogs to 445 yards, and MSU found the end zone just twice. The Rebels’ defensive performance was particularly strong in the first half, when it limited MSU to 128 yards and three points.

“We started slow,” Prescott said. “They had a lot to do with that.”

The Bulldogs were turned away three times in the red zone, and despite 282 passing yards and two total touchdowns from Prescott, the Bulldogs never recovered after falling behind 31-17 early in the fourth quarter.

“Not a great job on offense,” Mullen said. “Those last couple of possessions gave us opportunities to make plays and come back and win it. A lot of that is on me.”

Trouble up front

Dominant all season, MSU’s defensive line was handled by Ole Miss consistently on Saturday. The Rebels rushed for 205 yards, the most MSU has allowed all season, and allowed one sack of Wallace. The Bulldogs entered the game second in the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss, but the Ole Miss offensive line didn’t allow MSU’s defensive front to be a factor.

“We were off our game just a little bit,” Eulls said. “That’s just part of the game.”

The Rebels scored three of their four touchdowns on the ground, including 1-yard scores by Wallace and Liggins and the 91-yard sprint by Walton.

Not bowled over

Despite the loss, MSU’s players believed the result wouldn’t affect the Bulldogs’ preparations going forward.

At 10-2 for the first time, the Bulldogs look to be No. 2 in the bowl pecking order for the SEC, a fact that likely will help the Bulldogs land in a prestigious bowl game.

“Hopefully we can put this behind us and go to a nice bowl,” Prescott said. “We can have fun with that and continue working to get better.”

Disappearing Robinson

The Bulldogs, a balanced team all season, struggled to establish a rushing attack against one of the league’s top run defenses.

The Bulldogs ran for 163 yards, a season low, on 47 carries, and averaged less than 4 yards per rush.

MSU tailback Josh Robinson, now fifth on the school’s all-time single-season rushing list with 1,028 yards, didn’t have a big presence. The Franklinton, Louisiana native, third in the league with 11 rushing touchdowns, had 12 carries for 44 yards. Robinson has rushed 37 times for 177 yards in MSU’s last four games after gaining 889 yards through seven games. He hasn’t broken the 100-yard barrier since a 45-31 win at Kentucky on Oct. 25.

Bulldogs land in second

Although the regular season ended on a sour note, MSU still enjoyed its highest finish in the SEC’s Western Division in 15 years. With the loss, MSU finished 6-2 in league play, good for second place behind division champion Alabama. Ole Miss, which finished 9-3, placed third at 5-3 in league play.

“It doesn’t take anything away from what we accomplished this season,” said MSU tailback Ashton Shumpert, who led the Bulldogs with 10 carries for 68 yards.

Said Mullen, “We’re here to build a team that’s going to finish. We don’t want to just compete, we want to win championships. And we are going to keep going until we build that.”

Team involved in bus crash

Part of the football team was involved in a bus crash following the loss.

MSU spokesman Kyle Niblett said there were no injuries in the accident that happened shortly after the Bulldogs left Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Niblett said the five-bus caravan was waiting on the side of the road while a replacement bus was sent to the scene.

Niblett said he didn’t know how the accident occurred.

Mississippi State spokesman Bill Martin posted a message on Twitter shortly after that accident that said “we were involved in accident with buses on (the) highway but no need to panic. Everyone is OK. Just getting some to another bus now.”

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