A record crowd of 102,321 fans saw Louisiana natives Dak Prescott and Josh Robinson lead the Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday night to their first victory over LSU since 1999.
The Bulldogs shocked the college football world with their win by defying some incredible odds. LSU was 29-1 in their previous 30 home games and had only lost two night home games since 2005. Those losses came to No. 1 ranked Florida in 2009 and No. 1 ranked Alabama in 2012. The last time a Bulldog team defeated LSU in Tiger Stadium was in 1991. The No. 8 ranked Tigers had the third-ranked defense in college football, and that defense had not allowed a single point in nine straight quarters.
The Bulldog defense forced the LSU offense to punt on its first possession of the game. Dak Prescott took over at the Bulldog 49 yard line and completed a six-play 51-yard drive capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver De’Runnya Wilson. That touchdown snapped the LSU defense’s streak of 31 straight scoreless possessions.
Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, on first down the LSU offense had the ball two yards outside of the goal line. The Tigers attempted to run the ball three straight times, but failed to get in the end zone. On fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, LSU Head Coach Les Miles elected to go for the touchdown rather than the field goal. The Bulldog defense stuffed LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings for a loss of a yard and a turnover on downs.
Prescott had the unenviable task of beginning the MSU drive standing in his own end zone. However, Prescott threw for 70 yards on the drive and led the Bulldogs to a five-play 98-yard touchdown drive. MSU senior running back Robinson capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run. Following a 27-yard field goal from Bulldog kicker Evan Sobiesk and a 30-yard field goal from LSU kicker Colby Delahoussaye, the Bulldogs took a 17-3 lead into halftime.
Disaster struck just seconds into the third quarter. LSU defensive end Danielle Hunter returned a Prescott fumble for a 25-yard Tiger touchdown. The LSU crowd was ecstatic as the crowd noise was near its loudest of the night.
Prescott was unfazed by the capacity crowd in Tiger Stadium. On third-and-three of the following drive, Prescott ran for an amazing 56-yard touchdown to silence the rowdy LSU crowd. Following a Tiger punt, Prescott completed a three-play scoring drive with 74-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jameon Lewis. The Bulldogs took a 31-10 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs padded their lead just seconds into the final quarter with a 28-yard Evan Sobiesk field goal. The Tigers scored their first offensive touchdown with 12:24 remaining in the game, with a one-yard rush from Kenny Hilliard. The Tigers scored again on a 31-yard pass from back up quarterback Brandon Harris with 1:55 remaining in the football game.
Following a bad snap from MSU backup center Archie Muniz, the LSU defense recovered the fumble, and the Tigers scored on the very next play with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Harris. It took LSU over three quarters to score its first offensive touchdown, but now had scored two touchdowns in 28 seconds. The Bulldog’s 24-point lead had dwindled down to just a five-point lead.
LSU attempted an onside kick but failed to recover it. The Bulldogs elected to punt on the ensuing drive, and with 20 seconds remaining in the game, LSU began its final drive. After gaining 34 yards on the next two plays, the Tigers found themselves 46 yards away from a touchdown with four seconds remaining. As time expired, junior defensive back Will Redmond intercepted Brandon Harris’ touchdown pass attempt in the end zone. After near disaster, the Bulldogs held on to beat LSU for the first time in 14 years by a score of 34-29.
“We said the big key coming into this game is controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Mullen said. “We ran for 302 yards, they ran for 89, so I think we did control the line of scrimmage.”
MSU senior defensive end Preston Smith played a big role in stopping the LSU running attack. Smith said the crowd noise made it even more difficult.
“We just had to block out the crowd noise,” Smith said. “It was really hard. The crowd was yelling, and you could barely hear yourself think. We knew we had to play sound football to go out and execute our assignment tonight.”
Led by Prescott, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are now 4-0 and ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Prescott said he was excited to get the SEC win.
“There’s nothing like an SEC game, coming back home to the state of Louisiana,” Prescott said. “It was a great team victory and university victory. Everybody’s happy right now.”
Categories:
MSU stuns LSU in Death Valley
Kevin Simmons
•
September 23, 2014
0
More to Discover