Where do we begin?
Mississippi State University lost their first game of the 2023 football season in an ugly 41-14 loss to No. 14 LSU in Davis Wade Stadium Saturday.
The Bulldog offense looked completely stale in the blowout loss. Quarterback Will Rogers had his career-worst game as a starter, going 11 for 23 on completions while throwing for 103 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.
“[It was] not very good, obviously,” Rogers said about the loss. “It’s kind of back to the drawing board for us. We’ve got to stick together and get better. We can’t dwell on this too long, we’ve got a big game next week on the road.”
Meanwhile, LSU’s offense had a field day dissecting the Bulldogs’ defense. The Tigers’ quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for 361 yards and had an 88.2% completion percentage, which ranks as the best ever for an LSU quarterback.
MSU safety Shawn Preston Jr. was also ejected during the third quarter after delivering a big hit against Jayden Daniels. The officials ruled it targeting, meaning that Preston will be out for the first half of next week’s game at South Carolina.
For the Bulldogs, it was a sloppy game from start to finish, which head coach Zach Arnett echoed in his post-game conference.
“Very poor execution by us and very good execution by them,” Arnett said. “Opening play of the game we throw a little quick gain and it goes for a first down, then the next play we have a shot play dialed up with max protection and you get a pass rush through there that should’ve never happened. We were 3-13 on third down and 2-3 on fourth down, so really 5-of-16. If you can’t keep drives going you’re not gonna convert third downs and score many points.”
Anyone who has watched the Bulldogs’ previous two games probably could have seen this coming. The team started slow against Southeastern Louisiana and needed a comeback in overtime to beat Arizona at home, despite forcing five turnovers. It was only a matter of time before their level of play caught up to them.
Next up, the Bulldogs go on the road to play at the University of South Carolina on Saturday. Kick-off is set for 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be aired on SEC Network.