The Troy State University Trojans beat the Mississippi State University Bulldogs 21-9 Saturday in a game that was delayed for one hour and ten minutes because of a tornado warning. The delay came with 12:36 remaining in the first half, just after TSU scored the first touchdown of the game.
“When we went in for the delay, we were still in the game,” MSU head coach Jackie Sherrill said.
Defensive lineman Tommy Kelly agreed.
“I don’t think it (the delay) had (any) effect,” he said. “We were ready to go when we came out of the locker room (after the delay).”
The Trojans were also ready when they came back out of the locker room. They scored two more touchdowns in the next eight minutes of the second quarter to make the score 21-0.
TSU’s second touchdown came on a 73-yard interception return. Their final touchdown came on a 23-yard rush by former Auburn tailback Demontray Carter.
The Bulldogs answered with 1:19 left in the first half, as MSU quarterback Wayne Madkin connected with wide receiver Justin Jenkins on a 22-yard touchdown pass. John Michael Marlin’s extra-point attempt failed, and the Bulldogs went into half time trailing 21-6.
Neither team had a tremendous second half offensively, as the Bulldogs scored the only points of the half on a field goal with 3:11 left in the third quarter.
“Offensively, we couldn’t get any continuity in the second half,” Sherrill said.
The Bulldogs fell to 1-4 on the season, making their record worse than every team they have played this season.
Sherrill said freshman tailback Fred Reid earned his first start because Dontae Walker was late for a class and Dicenzo Miller is recovering from an ankle injury suffered in the South Carolina game.
“The only good thing we can say is the guys were going to class,” Sherrill said.
Sherrill did not have any specific solutions to the Bulldogs’ recent losses after the game.
“You have to get the chemistry somehow,” he said. “We don’t have 11 (players) on either side (of the ball) right now.”
Sherrill said the responsibility for the losses starts with him, but he also said that the offense must score more points for the Bulldogs to win.
“I thought Dontae (Walker) ran the ball hard,” Sherrill said. “We didn’t give him any help throwing and catching the ball.”
Jenkins said he was also dissatisfied with the Bulldogs’ offensive execution.
“We didn’t execute like we thought we would,” said Jenkins, whose touchdown reception was his only reception of the game.
“The quarterbacks and receivers-they have to throw and catch,” Sherrill said.
He also said that MSU has played a lot of receivers but must now find “the two receivers that’ll go in there and play.”
Kelly said he thinks part of the problem is that MSU is not getting breaks in their favor and that the players are becoming discouraged because of that.
“We’re expecting (something) bad to happen,” he said. “When it does everybody’s head drops.”
Jenkins said he thinks MSU will get better this season.
“There’s nothing worse we could do now,” he said. “We just want to come up.”