As expected, Mississippi State (4-6, 2-4) fell to No. 1 ranked Alabama (10-0, 7-0) 51-3 in a game that the Crimson Tide controlled from the beginning.
           MSU was coming off an upset victory over No. 8 Texas A&M, but could not repeat the same performance against Alabama. MSU’s offensive line returned to their normal form this week, giving up three sacks and leaving QB Nick Fitzgerald with little time to find a receiver. Almost everytime Fitzgerald dropped back to throw, he was hit. Alabama ended up with three sacks and 12 QB hurries on the day. 
           Fitzgerald was not taken out of the game until the fourth quarter when all the starters were subbed in favor of getting some young players experience. With the game well out of hand, many fans felt head coach Dan Mullen should have pulled Fitzgerald out of the game sooner. After the game Fitzgerald explained why he did not come out sooner. 
           “They got some good shots in,” Fitzgerald said. “My teammates are out there busting their butts for me, so there was no way I would come out of the game because I was getting hit.” 
The rest of the offense performed poorly with the exception of running back Aeris Williams. Williams had 11 carries for a total of 56 yards which averages out to 5.1 yards a carry. Without Williams average yardage, MSU only ran for a poultry 1.58 yards a carry.
           The only real highlight was Fred Ross passing former Bulldog receiver Chad Bumphis as MSU’s all-time leading receiver. Ross has 2298 career receiving yards after a 23-yard performance today. Mullen, after the game, explained why Ross has been so successful.
           “I don’t know if you’re going to find a harder worker than Fred Ross,” Mullen said. “He has a heck of a career here for us, it is a great example for the young guy that if you come here and work your tail off things are going to happen.” 
           On defense, there was a drastic difference between the team that held A&M’s offense in check last week and the team that let Alabama run wild this week. MSU gave up the most points they ever have in the Dan Mullen era. Alabama pretty much did whatever they wanted on offense as the Crimson Tide moved the ball for 615 total yards. 
           Alabama freshman QB Jalen Hurts put forth a stellar performance. He was 28-37 on the day with 347 passing yards. Rushing is where he really did well as he ran the ball 11 times for 100-yards, an average of 9.1 yards a carry. 
Richie Brown, senior linebacker, highlighted the inconsistencies in the defense after the game.
“We are really capable of playing some really good ball and then we are really capable of playing some bad ball,” Brown said. “We have been kind of spotty this year, but we are just trying to find ways to keep making those plays and keep moving forward.” 
          Overall, it was just a bad day for MSU football. Alabama had the better team.
The Bulldogs will have to put the blowout behind them as they have to win their next two games or their season ends. At 4-6 MSU needs to beat both Arkansas and Ole Miss to make a bowl game. 
           They will face Arkansas next week in Davis-Wade Stadium with a 6 p.m. kickoff. The game will be broadcasted on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.