A sea of crimson washed away the Mississippi State University Bulldogs (6-4) on Saturday in an away game against the University of Alabama (10-0).

Although MSU put up a fight and the words ‘Fitzgerald pass complete’ never sounded sweeter, the bulldogs could not out-swim the rolling tide. With inconsistencies in the offense, the defense was put at a disadvantage. MSU QB Nick Fitzgerald mentioned what he thinks could have been the problem with the offensive line during the game.

“I think we struggled with the clap cadence, it’s something that’s giving us troubles as an offense,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got to figure out a fix for that.”

MSU DT Jeffery Simmons keeps a positive mentality when facing Saturday’s loss. In a game against the best team in college football, there is going to be high energy and a lot of nerves. Moving forward Simmons knows that they have to keep fighting until the clock runs out of time and the game is over.

“We fight until the end, we keep it going no matter what the score is,” Simmons said. “Like coach says don’t look at the scoreboard.”

Simmons explained that the team had to calm down and get into the right mentality going into the big game. He said that no matter who the opponent is, the team just has to do their best and give it their all each time.

“Starting off, I think everybody was trying to do too much. I feel like when everybody settled down and we got our groove back.”

Moving forward Simmons shared that the team can bounce back from losing verses the No. 1 team and learn from it. He focuses on moving forward win or lose.

“We just got to keep moving on, it’s not our first loss,” Simmons said. “We know how to move past a loss.”

Coach Joe Moorhead gave a respectful comment to Alabama head coach Nick Saban explaining that Alabama is a great team and that he wants MSU to get to a high level.

“You have to tip your cap to Coach Saban, his team and his program. From a program standpoint that should be what motivates us every single day,” Moorhead said. “We wake up everyday and that’s what we’re chasing and that’s the standard and the type of team that we want to become.”

Indeed the bulldogs are striving to be the best that they can be. Coaches and players both realize the mistakes made in this past game however they are working endlessly to fix the problems so that their upcoming games can be better.

“We had some opportunities throughout the game, too many missed cues – Guys open, balls being snapped early but when you’re not running well and you’re not moving it and not creating explosive plays against a defense like this.”

MSU will play the University of Arkansas, 11 a.m.  Sat. November 17 at Davis Wade Stadium. ESPN will broadcast this game.