Mississippi State (8-4) took on No. 16 Ole Miss (9-3) for the 112th time in the Egg Bowl Saturday night. The game did not go the Bulldog’s way as they were down 31-3 at halftime and ended up losing the game by a score of 38-27.
It was an emotional night as MSU said goodbye to this year’s senior class and most of all, MSU Quarterback Dak Prescott. Tears were rolling for senior Left Tackle Rufus Warren, who missed the game due to a stomach virus, especially as there was a lot of emotion seen from one of the winningest senior classes in MSU football history.
Dak Prescott discussed the emotion of his last game in Davis-Wade Stadium.
“I’m thankful for this university. It was just a time to think back on everything, all my time here and hearing all the ‘thank yous’ at the Dawg Walk,” Prescott said on the pre-game ceremonies.
Things started out bad for the Bulldogs from the outset as Dak Prescott fumbled on the first possession. Ole Miss would go down the field and score a touchdown. Afterwards, things got worse as Ole Miss jumped out to a 21-0 lead.
Dak completed 31 of his 42 passing attempts. He has 254 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He would also have 63 yards on 21 rushes and a touchdown. Seven of those rushes, however, were sacks as Head Coach Dan Mullen talked about offensive line issues in an emotionless press conference.
“We have a lot of guys banged up, and we had to shuffle a bunch of guys around and improvise,” Mullen said. “They (Ole Miss’ defensive line) were winning in one-on-one matchups.”
Fred Ross had a strong night as receiver as he caught 12 passes and broke the single season reception record at MSU which was at 74. Ross’ 12 tonight gave him 81 on the season. He also had 117 receiving yards.
The story was poor tackling by the MSU defense as they struggled to make tackles all night. Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly had 74 rushing yards and a single touchdown. Jaylen Walton led the Rebels with 93 yards on 16 carries. Jordan Wilkins rounded out the group with 54 yards on five rushes and single touchdown.
Senior Ryan Brown said it was simple fundamentals that caused all the missed tackles saying, ”It was just poor angles and sometimes we just were not wrapping up when we needed to. It was just the simple fact that we did not tackle tonight.”
Kelly also had 21 completions on 30 passing attempts. He has 236 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Rebels were led by Damore’ea Stringfellow who had five catches and 84 yards along with two touchdowns.
On Defense, MSU was led by Richie Brown who had 12 total tackles along with 2.5 for loss. Brandon Bryant also had a good day tackling as he had 10 total tackles. The defense played better in the second half as they only gave up 10 points in the half, opposed to the 28 they gave up in the first.
MSU will finish out the 2015-16 season with a bowl game around New Year’s Day or eve. MSU finishes the year 8-4 overall and 4-4 in SEC play.