Mississippi State
7-3 , 3-3
#2 Alabama
9-1 , 6-1
No. 17 State Falls To No. 2 Alabama To End Four-Game Win Streak
November 15, 2015 | Football
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Second-ranked Alabama (9-1, 6-1 SEC) used big plays to defeat No. 17 Mississippi State (7-3, 3-3) 31-6 on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs out-gained the Crimson Tide 393-379, but a trio of big plays for touchdowns in the first half gave UA a lead it never lost. All four of Bama's touchdown plays were for 60 or more yards.
“Not going to win doing that,” head coach Dan Mullen said. “For 55 plays we played unbelievable defense. For three were played terrible defense.”
MSU senior quarterback Dak Prescott put the offense on his shoulders on a tough night, accounting for the majority of MSU's yardage, completing 22-of-43 passes for 300 yards, in addition to several first down runs. Junior receiver Fred Ross also had a big night, building on his impressive season, catching eight passes for 114 yards against the UA secondary.
The downfall for MSU was Alabama's defensive front tallying nine sacks, including six in the first half.
“It wasn't like they were fancy blitzes,” Mullen said. “They just rushed the quarterback and we didn't do a great job protecting him.”
Defensively, MSU was paced by junior linebacker Beniquez Brown with 11 tackles, while freshman safety Brandon Bryant recorded an early interception and junior linebacker Richie Brown had three quarterback hurries.
Mississippi State travels to Arkansas next weekend with the game to be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT.
Team Stats
UA 7, MS 0
UA - Cyrus Jones 69 yd punt return (Adam Griffith kick)
UA 14, MS 0
UA - Calvin Ridley 60 yd pass from Jake Coker (Adam Griffith kick) 3 plays, 65 yards, TOP 0:39
UA 14, MS 3
MS - Westin Graves 31 yd field goal 10 plays, 71 yards, TOP 2:22
UA 21, MS 3
UA - Derrick Henry 74 yd run (Adam Griffith kick), 3 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:00
UA 24, MS 3
UA - Adam Griffith 42 yd field goal 9 plays, 41 yards, TOP 4:17
UA 24, MS 6
MS - Westin Graves 39 yd field goal 10 plays, 54 yards, TOP 3:56
UA 31, MS 6
UA - Derrick Henry 65 yd run (Adam Griffith kick), 2 plays, 74 yards, TOP 0:58
