In what feels like a broken record at this point in the season, Mississippi State hit the road on Saturday to take on the Auburn Tigers in one of the few winnable games remaining for the Bulldogs. Like clockwork, Mississippi State blew a massive opportunity at victory on Saturday by allowing an okay Auburn team to dominate them and earn their first Southeastern Conference win. Given Mississippi State walked into a tiger den on Saturday with Jordan-Hare stadium rocking, the Bulldogs showed no fight on Saturday as the Auburn Tigers cruised to an easy 27-13 victory.

Auburn jumped out to an early 24-3 lead at the break, pinning Coach Arnett and his Mississippi State against the wall. Mississippi State would add ten points to their first-half total to walk away with a single touchdown and two field goals as another disappointing loss came and went for the Bulldogs.

With everything going wrong for the Bulldogs on Saturday at Auburn, it’s hard to pick just a few takeaways from another loss for Coach Arnett and his team. However, three takeaways jump off the page to the naked eye from the Mississippi State loss on Saturday.

First, once again, Mississippi State let Auburn build an early lead that proved an impossible feat for the Bulldogs to overcome. Auburn jumped out to a 24-3 lead over the Bulldogs, all but putting Mississippi State to the pasture before the first half was even over. During that time, Auburn picked apart the Mississippi State defense, finishing the first half of play with over 300 yards of total offense. During that time, the crowd at Jordan-Hare Stadium continued to play a gigantic role for Head Coach Hugh Freeze and his Auburn Tigers into the break. With that came the Auburn defense, who fed off the swagger from the offense, holding Mississippi State to 122 yards on three points.

Second, to piggyback off the first takeaway of the Auburn offense dominating the Mississippi State defense. All season, the Mississippi State defense has carried the Bulldogs into uncharted territory and has been the deciding factor for Mississippi State in the four wins this season. However, after a solid performance last week against the Arkansas Razorbacks, only giving them three points, the Bulldogs looked like a completely different unit on Saturday during the first half of the Auburn loss. Sure, the second half was a completely different story for the Bulldogs, holding Auburn to 115 yards of total offense. However, Auburn had too large of a lead, and the Bulldogs were sent back to Starkville with another loss.

Third, Mississippi State was without Will Rogers and Woody Marks on offense. As a unit, the Bulldogs underperformed, costing Mississippi State a winnable game and possibly a chance at postseason play. Not sure of an answer as to how Coach Barbay can overhaul Mississippi State before the season’s end, but the clock is ticking to find a quick fix to give the Bulldogs a better chance at postseason play. Something has to change; though Mike Wright is doing everything he can do in the backup role until Will Rogers is back, when the coaching staff is calling shotgun plays on 3rd and one or 4th and one plays and failing to get the first down, the odds of Mississippi State being successful is slim to none. Taking away the air raid offense from an offense built to run the air raid to implement something far less desirable makes things difficult for the Bulldogs on the offensive side of the ball. In the loss to Auburn on Saturday, Mississippi State finished 2-12 ( 17%) on third down plays, leaving the Bulldogs punting unit to try and flip the field on the Tigers.

Overall, Saturday was by far one of the most disappointing losses of the season for Coach Arnett and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. All is not lost for Mississippi State as they will return home on Saturday night, welcoming a struggling Kentucky Wildcats Football team to Davis Wade Stadium. Kentucky started the season 5-0, since losing the last three, and comes into the Mississippi State game looking to salvage the 2023 season with a win over the Bulldogs.