Mississippi State Falls In Oxford, Suffers Second Loss

OXFORD, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State (10-2, 6-2 SEC) fell to Ole Miss (9-3, 5-3) 31-17 on the road Saturday, dropping the Egg Bowl for only the second time in Dan Mullen’s six years and finishing second in the SEC West.

“It’s obviously a devastating loss,” Mullen said, as MSU’s playoff hopes were dashed. “There’s plenty of blame to go around.”

Of note to Mullen, the Bulldog defense gave up 532 yards to UM, including 327 passing yards, an average of 23.4 yards per completion.

Offensively, MSU struggled to get going in the first half and found rhythm too late in the second half, ultimately totaling 445 yards, despite only scoring 17.

“I felt bad for the seniors,” junior quarterback Dak Prescott said. “I feel like I let them down and we all let each other down.”

Said senior defensive tackle Kaleb Eulls, “it was pretty hard.”

Despite the loss, MSU did have bright spots on offense as sophomore receivers De’Runnya Wilson and Fred Ross both topped 100 yards. Wilson caught eight passes for 117 yards and a score, while Ross chipped in 103 yards on six catches.

Fellow sophomore Ashton Shumpert had a breakout performance as the running back averaged 6.8 yards per carry as he got the ball often down the stretch, gaining 68 yards on 10 carries.

Prescott quietly completed 22-of-37 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 48 yards and a score, accounting for 330 total yards in the contest.
MSU will now await to hear where it will go for its bowl game, which extend its already school-record streak to five consecutive years of advancing to the postseason.

“It was a great season,” Eulls said. “Great run.”