With a young offense, there must be growing pains. From the Mississippi State Bulldogs, those growing pains cost them an upset bid.
The Bulldogs lost a 17-0 decision on Saturday to the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide, despite an outstanding effort by their defensive unit. Fourteen of the Tide’s points came from a fumbled kick, which was returned for a touchdown, and an interception returned for a touchdown, both less than three minutes into the second half.
The fumbled kick came on the opening kickoff of the second half, and occurred when true freshman defensive back Derek Pegues tried to spin out of a tackle. The interception came five plays later when redshirt freshman quarterback Mike Henig-making his first start of the season-tried to get rid of the ball in order to avoid a sack.
The ball fell right into the hands of an Alabama defender, who marched it into the end zone to seal State’s fate.
“I didn’t want to take a sack and that was the only place to throw it,” Henig said.
The defense allowed only three points in the game, shutting down Alabama quarterback Brody Croyle.
Croyle had only 116 yards and was sacked three times. He completed 14 passes on the day but was also intercepted twice. MSU defensive back Jeramie Johnson intercepted Croyle early in the first quarter, marking the first time ‘Bama’s quarterback has been picked off since September.
“Our defense was outstanding. There could have easily been 21 more points on the board if they had given up at all,” MSU head coach Sylvester Croom said. “We came out the second half with a lot of fire, and I thought our kids were ready. Then we had (two turnovers in a row) and basically that was the ballgame.”
The deficit early in the second half changed the way MSU (2-7, 0-6) had to conduct their play-calling, forcing them to abandon their struggling running game and put even more pressure on their young quarterback.
“Our game plan was to run at them consistently and try to keep the ballgame close. Had we not had those two bad plays at the start of the third quarter, I think we would have done that,” Croom said. “Once we put them in a situation where we couldn’t run the football and had to throw it, we had no chance to protect the passer.”
The Bulldogs had a chance in the second quarter to put points on the board. The offense had capitalized on an Alabama turnover to get the ball inside the 10-yard line and was facing a fourth-and-two. Rather than kick the short field goal, Croom decided to go for the first down and try to keep the drive alive.
“I told the staff all week that if it was two or less (on their side of the 50) we were going for it,” Croom said. “We knew we weren’t going to get a lot of opportunities to get down there, and we were going to make the most of them.”
The play resulted in a roll-out pass that went in and out of the hands of preseason all-SEC halfback Jerious Norwood. Henig said after the game that had the team completed that play it could have changed the game.
“I could have put a little more touch on it, but I think that would have been a touchdown if he’d caught it,” he said.
In the first start of his young career, Henig struggled to hold his own against the tough Alabama defense. He mustered only 78 yards on 32 percent passing and was intercepted three times.
Still, Croom saw several positives in his rookie’s first test drive.
“I thought he ran the team well early,” Croom said. “There were a couple of times during the night where he missed throws because he just couldn’t see. But overall he kept us in the ballgame and managed the game really well.”
Croom expressed disappointment in the loss but felt for the first time this season that his troops gave their full effort.
“I hope they learned today what they can accomplish when they play it all-out, one play at a time. Because we did that tonight,” Croom said. “If we had played like this the last two weeks, we’d have won both of those games easily.”
The general attitude from the Bulldog coach was one of optimistic hope for the future of his program, but general frustration for the inconsistent play of his current squad.
“We’ve played five of the best teams in the country toe-to-toe. But the last two weeks we didn’t give the kind of effort we gave tonight for the full 60 minutes,” Croom said. “But what choice do you have? Quit or keep fighting? Men keep fighting, and we’ve got some men in that dressing room.”