Mississippi State University (4-5, 2-3) was firing on all cylinders when they upset, then No. 4 ranked, Texas A&M (7-2, 4-2) with a 35-28 win.
Head coach Dan Mullen was elated at the press conference after the huge upset win.
“There is going to be a big celebration at the Mullen house tonight,” Mullen said. “It means a lot to me for these kids.”
Senior linebacker Richie Brown talked about the excitement in the locker room after the game.
“This is up there with beating Auburn at No. 2 and Texas A&M the year we went number one,” Brown said. “Honestly this is better because this team is so hungry for a win that we’re not taking it for granted. I think the guys are more excited about this than when we were ranked at No. 1.”
MSU put up 35 points and more importantly their defense held A&M to 28.
On offense, the rushing attack was near unstoppable. MSU rushed for 365 yards on the day with two players both Nick Fitzgerald and Aeris Williams going over the century mark.
In doing so, the Bulldogs finally found their running back in Williams, who ran the ball 24 times for 140 yards.
“It was just a flood of emotions,” Fitzgerald said. “I think it was kind of like a finally, we finally put it all together and we finally played how we can play against a great team and came out on top. It is definitely overwhelming.”
As far as play is concerned, the biggest surprise was how well MSU’s defense played. After an abysmal performance last week against Samford, they came back and held Texas A&M’s explosive offense to 382 total yards. Where they struggled getting off the field last week on third down, they had no trouble this week. A&M ended 4-15 on third down conversions. In comparison, MSU went 11-18.
Richie Brown, a senior from Long Beach, Mississippi, had a spectacular day at linebacker. Flying all over the field, he seemed to always be where the ball was as he ended the day with eight tackles.
Mark McLaurin was the surprise standout on defense. McLaurin, a sophomore from Collins, Mississippi, made big plays in key moments.
In a third-and-one situation, Texas A&M had the ball at the goal line in the second half, and it was McLaurin who stepped up and made a huge sack to force the Aggies into a field goal try, which they missed. Then on the final play of defense, with MSU up seven points and 30 seconds left in the game, McLaurin caught a tipped pass to seal the upset for MSU.
“Like my old coach in high school would always tell me,” McLaurin said, “‘Big time players make big time plays at the right time.’ It so happened that I happened to be there and make the play for my team to get us off the field.”
Not to be left out, MSU also saw supurb offensive line play compared to previous weeks. MSU gave up no sacks and created gaps for Fitzgerald and Williams to run up the field. Even with lineman seeing limited play due to injuries, the patchwork offensive line got the job done.
MSU will not have much time to revel in this win as they travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, next Saturday to take on the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. It will be an 11 a.m. kickoff and will be televised on ESPN.
Williams talked about what they need to do again next week.
“We just have to go and prepare like we did last week,” Williams said. “Then just go out there and play like we did today.”
Bulldogs celebrate Texas A&M upset
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