What do you get when two teams that aren’t that good play? You get Saturday night’s Mississippi State-Auburn game.
The only truly good element of the game was MSU quarterback Dak Prescott, who continued to be one of the smoothest operators in the SEC. Prescott threw for 270 yards and a pair of scores for the Bulldogs in the win. Prescott lent some stability and structure to this contest, as he guided his team — with a number of new faces on offense — to a road night win in the SEC West, which is no small thing. Other than that one redeeming detail, however, this game was played between a team careening towards an abysmal season (Auburn) and a team that’s more pretender than contender (Mississippi State).
Auburn had its best offensive game of the year by racking up 389 yards (the Tigers gained 401 against Jacksonville State, but when you subtract the 25 yards from overtime that day against an FCS opponent, Saturday night’s game becomes the measuring stick). Even with that output, the Tigers could not find the end zone. All they had to show for their effort was nine points, a missed field goal, and an interception inside the red zone. There’s nothing much more to say about Auburn; Gus Malzahn just doesn’t have a good team. The Tigers will steal a few wins along the way, but a bowl game is becoming more and more of a pipe dream by the minute.
On the other hand, the Bulldogs looked a lot like paper lions. This Mississippi State team has a lot of similarities to the 2012 Mississippi State team, and that’s not a good thing. That team won its first seven games, and worked its way up into the top 15 of numerous polls, before getting throttled by the SEC’s elite for three straight weeks in late October and early November.
So far this year the Bulldogs have a loss to LSU, a walkover against Northwestern State, and difficult wins over Southern Miss and now Auburn.
What’s impressive?
This team got stretched and generally contained last night by an Auburn defense that was squashed by LSU. That was the same LSU team which never trailed en route to beating the Bulldogs on the road.
What’s impressive?
In their three games against FBS competition, the Bulldogs’ defense has given up an average of 380 yards a game.
What’s impressive?
A win next week in College Station over Texas A&M would be very impressive, and would legitimize State in a chaotic, unstable league, but for now the Bulldogs are nothing more than a team living on last year’s glory.
As for Auburn, the glories of two years ago — the 2013 SEC championship season which led to a national runner-up finish — seem very far removed from the present day.
