In a game that looked eerily similar to the Alabama game, the Mississippi State Bulldogs dropped their second game of the season to the Texas A&M Aggies, 38-13.    
    MSU head coach Dan Mullen said he did not have his players as focused as they needed to be for the game.
    ”That’s my fault for not having them ready to go,” Mullen said. “That was as bad a performance as I think we’ve had here in a long time.”
    The first half was all Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel, and MSU did not cross midfield until the second quarter after a 39-yard kickoff return from Jameon Lewis. The Aggies took a 24-0 lead to the locker rooms, just as the Tide did last week.
    Johnthan Banks said the Aggie offense was very different from Alabama’s in style and pace.
    ”That kid Manziel, Johnny Football, he’s a football player. He did a great job managing their offense,” Banks said. “If coach says it’s his fault, it’s a lot my fault too. He made me a captain of this team. It’s my job to help him get our team ready and have us ready to play.”
    At the half, the Aggies had 386 yards of offense to MSU’s 87. A&M had 22 first downs to MSU’s five. Punter Baker Swedenburg saw plenty of playing time in the first half for MSU, but Texas A&M did not punt the ball.
    State came alive in the third quarter as Tyler Russell threw a touchdown to Chad Bumphis to get the Dogs on the scoreboard. That touchdown pass by Russell tied him for the school record in touchdowns.
    On A&M’s next possession, Cameron Lawrence forced Manziel to fumble the ball, and Ferlando Bohanna recovered it in the end zone for a touchback. However, any momentum State gained was lost when Russell threw an interception on third and seven in Aggie territory.
    Russell found the end zone on the ground in the fourth quarter to cut the Aggie lead to 31-13.
    Manziel added one final touchdown to make the game 38-13. Overall, Manziel ran for 129 yards, 31 more than State’s total rushing yards. The freshman quarterback also threw for 311 yards, one yard more than MSU’s total number of offensive yardage.
    Russell said tying the record for touchdowns meant nothing to him since his team did not come out with the win.
    ”We had a good game plan and a good week of practice, but it comes down to execution, and we didn’t execute when we needed to,” Russell said. “We have to bounce back. We are facing adversity and the great teams can bounce back from it and make something out of the rest of the season and continue to improve.”
    State will travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU next week, for its third top-20 opponent in three weeks.