Mississippi State fell to Alabama 99-67 on Saturday night at the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. The performance by the team was arguably the ugliest game of the Chris Jans Era.

The Bulldogs now sit at 14-8 overall and 3-6 in SEC play. Saturday night's result caused the Bulldogs to drop from 37th to 44th in the NET rankings. They are still in a good position to make the tournament, but as the schedule picks up they need to handle business.

Coming up for Mississippi State is an important three-game stretch consisting of Georgia, Missouri, and Arkansas. These three games are essentially must-win games, as they all are categorized as Quad 3 opponents. A Quad 3 loss at this stage would feel like a black eye on the Bulldogs' resume. Although multiple teams have made the NCAA tournament with more than one Quad 3 or 4 loss, Mississippi State does not want to be playing with fire.

After that three game stretch comes a big rematch with rival Ole Miss. This time it will take place in Starkville. The environment in Starkville for the matchup with the Rebels is expected to be special, as student tickets have already sold out. If Mississippi State can take care of business over this four game stretch they will be 18-8 and 7-6 in conference play, and be on the right track heading into the final part of the schedule.

Joe Lunardi’s most recent Bracketology Mississippi State had dropped to the "Last Four Byes." Last year the Bulldogs were just on the right side of the bubble. With almost the entire team returning and a couple players added to the program, the expectation was that this team would be able to comfortably make the tournament. Instead, there is still a lot of basketball left to play and more opportunities to strengthen the resume (or weaken it) in the coming weeks.

Next up for Mississippi State is a home tilt against the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum. Georgia comes into the matchup at 14-8 overall and 4-5 in SEC play.