Starkville, Miss. • That broken record coach Kalani Sitake keeps talking about, the one that repeats itself and has come to symbolize the 2017 BYU football season, played out on the field again deep in SEC territory on Saturday.
The downtrodden Cougars played conservatively and with little creativity on offense, failed to capitalize on their opponents’ few mistakes and were dominated by Mississippi State on both sides of the ball in an easy-as-expected 35-10 Bulldogs romp in front 54,866 at Davis Wade Stadium.
“They put it to us up front on the line of scrimmage,” Sitake said. “I just really thought we could do more up front on both sides of the ball. That’s my biggest disappointment right now.”
Storylines<br>• The Bulldogs rush for 306 yards and pass for 240 in handing BYU its sixth straight loss for the first time since 1968.<br>• The Cougars force three turnovers, but post fewer than 200 yards (176) for the third time this season and drop to 1-6.<br>• Linebacker Fred Warner and running back Trey Dye are injured and leave the game early.
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen agreed, saying the Bulldogs were “able to control the line of scrimmage on offense and wear them down.” He said they knew BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum was “a little bit banged up” and schemed for the Cougars to run the ball a lot and try to get off short, quick passes.
“I don’t think it was this warm in Provo, and it was a hot week of practice,” said Mullen, whose team was coming off an off week and got revenge for last year’s 28-21 overtime loss in Provo.
If the offense was to blame for most of BYU’s five straight losses coming in, the defense took its turn at ineptitude on an 86-degree afternoon that seemed to suck what little enthusiasm the Cougars (1-6) had for the game midway through the second quarter.
Missed tackles were plentiful, allowing the home team to get a good chunk of its whopping 35 first downs. By comparison, the Cougars had eight first downs.
“It wasn’t lack of effort,” Sitake said.
It was lack of tackling, and execution, again, with some questionable play-calling, for good measure.
Mississippi State rushed for 306 yards, becoming the first team to rush for more than 300 yards on BYU since 2010, when Air Force did it in a 35-10 win as well. Aeris Williams (114 yards) and quarterback Nick Fitzgerald (103 yards) did the most damage, and Fitzgerald also threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns.
“We were just getting gashed,” Sitake said.
And it would have been worse, but BYU cornerback Dayan Ghanwoloku intercepted Fitzgerald twice when the Bulldogs were close to scoring. The sophomore returned the first pick 67 yards to the Mississippi State 33 when it appeared he had an open lane to the end zone.
The Cougars were still in decent shape, trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, but Ula Toluta’u fumbled the ball away two plays later.
“Obviously, not happy with the results on our side,” Sitake said. “Some positives, not a lot, not enough, so our backs are against the wall now, definitely, if we didn’t feel it before.”
Stopped twice after their opening touchdown drive of 89 yards on 10 plays, the Bulldogs would not be stopped again when it mattered. With BYU’s defense in a funk after Toluta’u’s fumble, the Bulldogs’ next three possessions resulted in drives of 74, 75 and 75 yards for touchdowns.
Fitzgerald’s 32-yard strike to Jamal Couch early in the second half made it 28-3, and the rout was on.
The Cougars capitalized on Ghanwoloku’s second interception, thanks partly to two 15-yard penalties on Mississippi State, and cut it to 28-10 when Tanner Mangum hit Aleva Hifo for a 27-yard touchdown on a nice post pattern.
“Everything clicked on that one,” said Mangum, who 16 of 26 for 145 yards, and intercepted once. The Cougars had 176 yards, the third time they’ve failed to surpass the 200-yard mark this season.
Three times in the first half, on third-and-9, third-and-1 and third-and-4 and once in the second half, on third-and-6, offensive coordinator Ty Detmer dialed up running plays — three to fullback Brayden El Bakri.
“Try not to make mistakes, I guess,” Sitake said of that offensive philosophy.
Running back Trey Dye left the game with a foot injury, and Toluta’u picked up 15 yards on eight carries after Sitake said his rushing is what the Cougars hoped to hang their hat on the second half of the season.
Now the Cougars have to win out to reach a bowl game for the 13th straight season, beginning next week at East Carolina.
“If you thought that there was blood in the water, that our backs were against the wall before, I mean, it is triple that,” fullback Brayden El Bakri said. “Everybody is pretty down in [the locker room] right now. It sucks to lose. It sucks to be in this situation.”
The same one, over and over again.