Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett was visibly frustrated after his team lost 40-17 against Alabama football in Starkville on Saturday. The Bulldogs turned the ball over three times, failed to convert on two fourth downs and never were able to serious challenge Alabama on offense or defense.

According to Arnett, his team, which fell to 0-3 in conference play, 2-3 overall, and sits dead last in the SEC West, will have to do better going forward.

“We played five games in the month of September,” Arnett said. “We’re 2-3. That was the message to the team in the locker room. Only thing we’re focused on starting tomorrow is October. You’ve got three games in the month of October. To be honest with you, we need to go 3-0 in the month of October, but you can’t until you go 1-0. So the only thing we’re focused on starting tomorrow is preparing for the next game. That’s the only game you can prepare for and we’ve got an opportunity to play a quality football team and hopefully execute better and win.”

The Bulldogs will look to get their season record back to .500 against Western Michigan in Starkville Saturday. After that and a bye week, they’ll face Arkansas and Auburn on the road to close out October.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe only threw the ball 12 times, but completed 10 of those passes for 164 yards. He also rushed for 69 yards and two touchdowns.

After the game, Arnett described the challenge of facing Milroe.

“Some extended plays where he was able to scramble around in the pocket and then it turns into scramble drill,” Arnett said. “With an athlete the caliber of Jalen Milroe, usually your underneath coverage is itchy to come up on him because if you sit back and try to match all the routes, he pulls it down and runs for a first down. But you can’t trigger up on a quarterback until he crosses the line of scrimmage because he’s obviously still able to throw a pass, so that led to some long completions there.”

One of the turning points in the game came late in the first half. Mississippi State got the ball back after an Alabama touchdown with 57 seconds left before the break, and tried to move down the field.

Instead, Will Rogers threw the ball directly to Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell, and the Crimson Tide added another seven points before the break. Afterward, Arnett tried to place the burden on himself.

“You’re not gonna beat a whole lot of good football teams when you give up a touchdown and then you have an opportunity for a two-minute drill and then you throw an interception the first play and give them a short field,” Arnett said. “Poor job of game management by the head coach. Should have took a knee, went into half, had the ball coming out of halftime. At least you’re down 14.”

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