It took four games for the Mississippi State Bulldogs to taste victory, but that did nothing to diminish its flavor.
“The food will be tastier, the bus ride home will be smoother and our girlfriends and wives will look as good as they’ve every looked,” head coach Sylvester Croom said.
Croom’s excitement stemmed from the Bulldogs’ 16-10 overtime victory over the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers.
Senior quarterback Omarr Conner scored the winning touchdown on the Bulldogs’ third offensive play in the overtime period, scampering to his left for 21 yards before diving into the end zone.
“It was designed to give the ball to the running back,” Conner explained. “And the ball should have went to him, but I said to myself that players got to step up and make plays. And I’m the quarterback, and I felt I just had to make a play.”
The play was reviewed by the officials, and the ruling stood as a touchdown, giving the Bulldogs their first win since last November’s season-ending victory against Ole Miss.
Conner was 14-for-23 in the game-his first start at quarterback since the team’s trip to Kentucky last fall-passing for 115 yards with no interceptions and rushing for another 54.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster,” Conner said. “I was so proud of myself, happy, nervous-so many things going through my body. But I know I can do this now. I am the quarterback.”
The Bulldogs squandered multiple opportunities early in the game, most notably ending two different drives of longer than 50 yards with Anthony Dixon fumbles.
Tulane scored the first points of the game on a 9-yard run by quarterback Chris Williams. Adam Carlson kept the Bulldogs in striking distance with a 37-yard field goal, and by halftime MSU trailed 7-3.
“We did some things early that were not characteristic of our team,” Croom said. “When we came back out the second half, I said OK, let’s line up and do what we do. Be physical and go right at people and just out-hit them and use our conditioning.”
The Bulldogs did just that, and with nine minutes left in the game, Dixon scored from 1 yard out, a score set up by a crucial fourth-and-2 conversion by Conner.
“All the other players told me not to give up,” Dixon said. “I was just devastated. My head was spinning. I’ve never fumbled twice in a game. I felt like I had let everyone down, and I wasn’t going to let them down anymore.”
UAB kicker and Starkville-native Parker Mullins tied the game on a 37-yard kick with just under two minutes left in regulation, and MSU ran out the clock to set up overtime.
The Blazers took the ball first in the extra period but ran only one play before Adron Chambers intercepted Chris Williams’ pass to give the Bulldogs possession.
“Last game Coach Croom had us open the doors and listen to Tulane chanting and celebrating,” Chambers said. “This time it’s us, and it feels good!”
The win is the first on the road for the Bulldogs since Croom took over as coach after the 2003 season and improves State’s 2006 record to 1-3.
“This was the kind of game we needed,” defensive tackle Deljuan Robinson said. “Now, we’re fixing to run off eight straight. Eight, baby.”
The win could not have come at a better time for the downtrodden Bulldogs, who head to Baton Rouge this weekend to face No. 9 LSU (3-1).
“Had we gone in 0-4, we would have been moping with our heads down,” Conner said. “But now we go into this with a win, knowing we have a fighting chance to make something happen.”