Mississippi State: what could have been

 A lot of teams had QB injuries that affected their season. Oregon and Ohio State came to mind. But Oregon has gotten back on track and Ohio State at least seems to have patched things up enough to make a final run at the Playoff. But no team was hit as hard as Mississippi State.

Here's the chart for their season:

If you didn't know, QB Kamario Taylor was one of the best in the country in Mississippi State's first four games. He hurt his toe against Missouri in game 4, tried to play through it in game 5 against Alabama, and was done for the season after that (he played briefly in game 7 vs. Oklahoma).

You can see what happened. Through 4 games he was 83 of 120 (69%) with 14 TDs and 2 picks. Against Alabama he was not nearly as good, which was partly due to the Tide defense obviously but a lot due to the injury as well. The team through 4 games rates 29 points better than in the six games after. 

Before his injury they beat Minnesota 39-13 on the road, beat South Carolina 41-34 on the road, and beat Missouri 31-24. Those are still considered Top 25 worthy wins. UCLA just got moved from #8 to #4 by the Committee based on their great 34-20 win over the Gophers!

Their next 4 games were losses to good teams, but clearly they didn't play as well. And today they were blown out at home vs. Auburn 41-9. The offense fell apart and in the last game the defense finally broke too (hobbled by 4 fumble turnovers by the offense, to be fair).

All of the "what could have been" stories in college football this year pale to Mississippi State, because the Bulldogs don't get to shine very often in the SEC. Based on their first four games—who they beat and how they beat them—they would have been a contender. With so many 3-loss teams in the league, they'd be right in the mix for the Playoff. 

They STILL have a better wins résumé than most Top 25 teams!