With 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, a dark cloud dropped light rain on Scott Field for about 30 seconds. The noise created by that small shower made the arena sound like a massive hail storm had blitzed the area.
The reason? The wet pellets were clanging on empty bleachers.
Most fans had headed for the exits early in the third quarter in Mississippi State’s 37-7 loss to the LSU Tigers on Saturday. It’s tough to blame them when the team they were there to see did the same thing.
“At some point, you’ve got to play for pride,” MSU head coach Sylvester Croom said. “At some point, you’ve got to believe in yourself. I can’t put courage in a guy’s heart. I don’t know how to do that, and if you know someone who does send them to me, because I need help.”
The Bulldogs again opened up the game with an efficient offensive drive, this one for a touchdown. Omarr Conner found a wide open Joey Sanders for the 67 yard score.
LSU found holes in the MSU defense also, and rallied for 17 straight points.
After Keith Andrews’ 47-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, MSU rallied to put together a long drive right before the half.
With a man wide open in the end zone, Conner made an admitted mistake and held the ball a second too long, allowing an LSU defender to intercept the pass.
“I saw the guy wide open, but I didn’t see the (LSU defender) coming,” Conner said.
The momentum swing caused by the interception continued upon returning from the locker room. The LSU offense moved methodically down the field for a touchdown, eating up eight minutes of the quarter on their way.
“The interception before the half totally destroyed any confidence that we had,” Croom said, “They came out in the second half and just stuffed the ball down our throats.”
According to Croom, the play would have never resulted in an interception had it been ran the way it was drawn up.
The original offensive play broke down, causing Conner to scramble from the pocket, and forcing the wide receivers to break off into preset scramble routes.
Moving to the middle of the field was not one of them.
“When he rolled out there and the pattern wasn’t there, our receiver should never turn into the middle of the field,” Croom said. “In our scramble drill you never do that because when you throw it to the middle of the field, nine out of 10 times that is exactly what happens.
“If he had turned right up the sideline, it’s an easy loft to the end zone for a touchdown. That’s just a lack of discipline,” Croom added.
The interception was Conner’s only one of the game, as he passed for 141 yards on nine completions.
All-SEC running back Jerious Norwood left the game in the second quarter after sustaining a mild concussion and a sprained neck in a vicious collision with two LSU defensive backs. He gained only nine rushing yards on seven carries.
“A lot of times they were bringing eight and nine people down in the box,” senior center Chris McNeil said. “Then we got behind, and we had to pass. So once again, we put ourselves in a bad situation.”
Conversely, the Tiger offense was a model of efficiency, racking up 402 total yards of offense. Quarterback JaMarcus Russel passed for 197 yards and two touchdowns on an amazing 20 of 23 completion ratio.
“My biggest disappointment is that we are still a very undisciplined team, and a lot of it is with our older players,” Croom said. “All I want us to do is to play as good as we are capable of playing, not make dumb mistakes and dumb penalties.”