Mississippi State 21 - BYU 28: Bulldogs Fall Short in Provo|MSU Hot Topics|Team BattleGround|College BattleGround

Mississippi State’s game against BYU started Friday night at 9:21 central. It went into double overtime and lasted until Saturday morning. The Bulldogs played with a lot of intensity. It seemed like Mississippi State’s players knew this was a must win game. The young and inexperienced team that has seemingly played with so little heart for what feels like an eternity put everything on the field last night, but it still wasn’t enough.

Early in the first quarter, Mississippi State jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the Cougars. But BYU would strike back with a long sustained touchdown drive that took just under 8 and a half minutes. 15 plays and 75 yards later, the game was tied back up to end the first quarter at 7-7.

But the Bulldogs would strike again, this time with a 75 yard drive of their own. 14 plays and 5 minutes and 44 seconds off the clock and the Bulldogs had a 14-7 lead, and it appeared we had a game that would be relatively high scoring and fun. That was wrong.

BYU and Mississippi State’s offenses would both effectively shut down thanks to opportune plays be defenses and, well, dumb mistakes. Turnovers and failed drives stalled the scoring until early in the 4th quarter where the Cougars would tie the game back up at 14-14. Another 13 or so minutes dripped off the clock and the scoring was still halted. To overtime, instead of bed, we went.

Overtime, being the interesting thing that it always is, featured three incredible touchdowns. Unfortunately, two of them were for BYU, and only one was for Mississippi State. The slow, back and forth affair would come to an end when Nick Fitzgerald was forced to throw on the run on 4th and 9 in double overtime.

Errors and missed opportunities cost the Bulldogs in Provo. A young and inexperienced team showed incredible intensity on the road in a hostile environment, but again, it simply wasn’t enough.