Mississippi State wasn’t far from putting Saturday’s game at Memphis far out of the Tigers’ reach.

The Bulldogs led 17-7 at halftime and seized an opportunity when linebacker Jett Johnson leapt to tip a pass from Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan at the line of scrimmage. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes grabbed the football at the Memphis 35-yard line and took it down to the 14, setting Mississippi State up in prime position to lead by three scores.

But within three minutes of game time, the Bulldogs had squandered that chance. A turnover on downs at the Memphis 2-yard line averted disaster for the Tigers, who promptly rattled off a 12-play, 98-yard touchdown drive. 

Memphis completed the comeback for a 31-29 win, handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the season.

“They just sat and watched us self-destruct,” Mississippi State coach Mike Leach said.

Leach wasn’t talking about the specific series in which the Bulldogs set up shop with first-and-goal at the Memphis 3-yard line, but it was a perfect example of MSU’s inability to get out of its own way.

After Forbes’ interception, quarterback Will Rogers found running back J.J. Jernighan for a 9-yard pass to the 5, and running back Dillon Johnson ran for 2 yards to give Mississippi State a first down.

But the Bulldogs’ first-down play went awry. Rogers’ screen pass to Washington State transfer receiver Jamire Calvin was caught at the 5-yard line, but the Tigers blew up the play. Retreating backward with nowhere to go, Calvin was brought down at the 7. Already, Mississippi State had lost 4 yards.

The Bulldogs quickly made up for it, though, as Rogers found Malik Heath up the middle for a 5-yard gain. Mississippi State was 2 yards away from a back-breaking score.

But on third down, Rogers attempted to connect with Cal transfer Makai Polk on an end-zone fade. The sophomore’s high-arcing toss was nearly on target, but Polk couldn’t secure it on a dive toward the sideline, forcing fourth down.

And had the Bulldogs’ final play been executed as normal, things might have played out just fine — a touchdown pass, a three-score lead, a road win for Mississippi State.

That’s not what happened. Center LaQuinston Sharp’s snap skipped across the ground, forcing Rogers to dip down and field it like a shortstop. Rogers scrambled to his right, and his pass to redshirt senior Austin Williams was knocked away by the Tigers’ Quindell Johnson well before it reached the end zone.

“How the hell do you roll a snap back?” Leach said after the game. “We had 83 plays, and of those, we had 82 good snaps. I don’t know why the hell we wouldn’t have a good snap on that one.”

Williams acknowledged the significance of the Bulldogs’ failed drive, saying it was “a bit of a swing” — a possible understatement.

“We’d like to finish that drive, honestly,” he said. “We’ve got to come away with some points there. Whether it be three or seven, we’ve got to put some points on the board.”

Instead, the Bulldogs’ offense exited the field and watched Memphis do so instead. The Tigers moved up the field relatively slowly with the occasional big play: a 16-yard pass to Calvin Austin III; a 19-yard rush by Brandon Thomas. 

Mississippi State linebacker Aaron Brule said Memphis’ tempo made things difficult, but the Bulldogs remained determined.

“We’re just thinking that we’ve got to get a stop,” Brule said. “No matter how many plays they run or how tired we get, we’ve just got to keep playing.”

On the seventh snap of Memphis’ drive, cornerback Martin Emerson picked off Henigan at the Bulldogs’ 11-yard line. Mississippi State had the stop it needed.

Then it didn’t. An illegal substitution penalty on MSU before the snap wiped out the pick, moved Memphis to the 34-yard line and kept the drive alive. Memphis converted on fourth-and-8 with a pass to a wide-open Javon Ivory, and Henigan found Austin two plays later for a 21-yard touchdown to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to three points.

Austin scored a 25-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to put Memphis ahead, and the Tigers remained there after two controversial calls late in the game. Mississippi State had missed its chance, and it backfired for the Bulldogs in the worst way.

“We were moving the ball,” Williams said. “We had opportunities. We were doing what we can. You’ve just got to make it happen.”

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.