Mississippi State University hosted Louisiana State University in front of the second largest crowd in school history Saturday night in Davis Wade Stadium. With an end score of 21 to 19, the game was MSU’s first home football game of the season and SEC opener. After entering the game ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press and Coaches Top 25 poll, the Bulldogs lost their Top 25 ranking while the LSU Tigers advanced, now ranking at No. 13.
  Beginning the game
     The Bulldogs found themselves down early and did not score at all in the first quarter. While, LSU on the other hand started hot, scoring fourteen points by the end of the first quarter. MSU would score before halftime, sophomore kicker Westin Graves made a 43-yard field goal making the score 14-3 at half time.
    The Bulldogs offense could not get a rhythm going, stopping as quickly as they would start. The offense as a whole only had 109 yards of total offense in the first half. The MSU offense was also 0-4 on third down before halftime.
    “I felt like we were just all doing too much,” receiver Fred Ross said on the offense in the first half. “We were just waiting on somebody to make a play.”
     In the third quarter, it was much of the same as the first half. LSU scored another touchdown and the Bulldogs were down 21-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Fight     
Then the offense came alive. MSU registered 158 total yards in the final period and they scored two touchdowns to make the score 19-21.
  “We were just more efficient, did things we should have been doing in the beginning of the game,” RB Brandon Holloway said.  “It’s not that we didn’t have plays open to make, we just didn’t make our plays when they came to us in the first half.”
After LSU’s second touchdown, MSU went for the two point conversion in an attempt to tie the game. The play was well executed as running back Ashton Shumpert rolled into the flats, wide open. Prescott made the throw, a little short, and it falls out of Shumpert’s hands. The play was so close to scoring that the crowd cheered, thinking they had tied the game.
  After the Bulldogs’ defense stopped the Tigers’ offense, the Bulldogs found themselves down two points with 1:32 left on the clock. They had the ball on their own eleven yard line. After a couple of plays, the Bulldogs had moved to the LSU 29-yard line with eight seconds left.  
MSU only needed a field goal to win the game and a field goal from the 29-yard line would have been a 47 yarder. Slightly outside of Westin Graves’ range, Graves is perfect on the season so far in the kicking department.
Then disaster struck.
 MSU came onto the field and made a costly error. They had taken too much time and it incurred a delay of game penalty. MSU now had the ball on the 34-yard line. After one incomplete pass, Devon Bell lined up for a 52-yard field goal with three seconds on the clock. The field goal fell short. LSU won the game 21-19.
   “That is 100% on me,” coach Mullen said on the delay of game penalty. “Everyone has to get better, starting with me.”
    The Bulldogs will be back in action next Saturday, Sept. 19  as they play Northwestern State in Davis Wade Stadium. The kickoff will be at 3 p.m. and the game will broadcast on the SECNetwork.

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Sarah Story, The Reflector

MSU falls to LSU, loses Top 25 ranking