Not many people were expecting Mississippi State to give Alabama a hard game, but many did expect the Bulldogs to play a little bit better than they did Saturday night.
The Bulldogs lost 30-6, but were shut out most of the game until the closing seconds of the fourth quarter.
After the game, Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach (seen above during the game) explained why he thinks his team struggled so badly against the Crimson Tide.
“I’ll tell you one thing they do that gives us trouble,” Leach said to the press Saturday night, “We’ve got some guys that are afraid of the jersey that says Alabama on it. We spent a lot of time frightened of their jerseys. You want to scare some of the guys on our team, put an Alabama jersey on, it’ll scare the hell out of them.”
The Bulldogs have struggled mightily over the years in Tuscaloosa. Saturday night was the first time since 2014 when Dak Prescott was quarterback that they scored a touchdown on the road in Tuscaloosa. (Their last games there were a 41-0 loss in 2020, a 24-0 loss in 2018, a 51-3 loss in 2016, and a 28-25 loss in 2014. Leach became Mississippi State’s coach in 2020.)
Since starting the season 5-1 with their only loss coming to LSU, the Bulldogs have lost back-to-back to Kentucky and now Alabama. Now, instead of fighting to make a New Year’s Day Bowl, fighting to make a bowl game.
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.