Mississippi State vs. Georgia: What went wrong?

ATHENS, Ga. – The Mississippi State football team should get a confidence boost from a much closer-than-expected game against No. 5 Georgia.

But a 41-31 loss is still a loss, and there are some big concerns Mississippi State will have to address if it wants to pull off an upset or two in its final six games.

Here are some of the things that went wrong for Mississippi State on Saturday against Georgia.

What went wrong?

Run game. Mississippi State ran the ball 26 times for a total of 79 yards. That’s an average of just three yards per carry. Johnnie Daniels’ 19-yard touchdown run was the longest rushing play in the game. Mississippi State seemed to have found a ground game before the bye week, but there was next to nothing against Georgia.

What went wrong?

Pass defense. Carson Beck set a new career high with 459 receiving yards and wasn’t sacked once. He was rarely pressured when he pulled back for a pass and saw wide-open receivers down the field all game long. Sure, the defense had two interceptions, but those were more of a byproduct of being in the right place at the right time.

What went wrong?

Kick-off out of bounds. The only “bad” kick of the game for Mississippi State was a Nick Barr-Mira kickoff that went out of bounds, giving Georgia a short field.

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Mississippi State makes Georgia sweat but falls 41-31