It was only midafternoon in Starkville, but the proverbial clock struck midnight on Vanderbilt’s Cinderella season Saturday.
Mississippi State (2-4, 1-2 SEC) handed the Commodores (5-1, 3-1) their first loss of the season in a hard-fought 17-14 game.
Prior to the game, the Commodores led the nation in turnover margin, having forced nine more turnovers than they had given up. The Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt at its own game, picking off a pair of passes and not turning the ball over.
Junior quarterback Tyson Lee said minimizing turnovers is something the Dawgs have worked on not only this week, but all season.
“Protecting the ball was the biggest thing. We’ve talked about it all season,” Lee said. “You can’t beat yourself. You can’t turn the ball over with interceptions or fumbles. The defense did a wonderful job today of capitalizing on [Vanderbilt’s] mistakes.”
MSU head coach Sylvester Croom said the team showed great effort in the practices leading up to Saturday’s game.
“We had our best six practices of the entire year, going all the way back to spring practice, last week and this week,” Croom said. “The attitude was magnificent.”
The Bulldogs opened the scoring for the second game in a row, taking the opening kickoff and driving downfield for a field goal.
Senior placekicker Adam Carlson’s first failed attempt at the field goal was called back due to a Vanderbilt offside penalty, and Carlson connected on the second try from 33 yards.
After the initial score, the two teams battled for field position for the rest of the half.
The Commodores finally won that battle near the end of the half, aided by punts of four and 17 yards by MSU punter Blake McAdams. The second of those punts gave Vanderbilt the ball on the MSU 17 yard line.
Vanderbilt, the SEC leader in red zone scoring percentage, managed to take the lead on a 1-yard run by starting Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson after multiple MSU penalties kept the drive alive.
The Bulldogs established themselves in the second half, holding Vanderbilt without a first down in the third quarter. After Vandy’s initial three-and-out, MSU marched 59 yards on 12 plays to regain the lead.
Lee connected with sophomore tight end Brandon Henderson for Henderson’s first career touchdown catch to cap the drive.
After the game, Henderson said the touchdown was the result of improvisation.
“I saw that the corner was pressing up at the line of scrimmage so I broke it off early and Tyson [Lee] saw
me,” Henderson said.
Lee said Henderson was the second option on that particular play.
“I was looking for my guy in the flat first. They jumped that, so I knew my next option was to look for Brandon in the back of the endzone. He got behind the guy and just went up and made a wonderful catch,” Lee said.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, De’Mon Glanton picked off a Nickson pass for the first turnover of the game and returned to the Vanderbilt seven yard line. Three plays later, Christian Ducré scored from three yards out.
Glanton said that turnovers come as no surprise to the Bulldog defense.
“We work on turnovers. We expect to get the ball,” Glanton said.
He added that turnovers are especially emphasized on Wednesdays, when the defense is rewarded after practice for winning the turnover ratio.
“The defense has been winning so far and we’re going to keep on winning,” Glanton said.
After Nickson’s interception, Vanderbilt opted for the younger Mackenzie Adams at quarterback. The decision paid off for the Commodores as Adams led a 57-yard drive in 10 plays resulting in a 2-yard Jeff Jennings
touchdown run.
That was all the offense the Commodores would muster, however, as the Bulldogs held on to preserve the victory.
MSU senior defensive back Derek Pegues said Croom had stressed the importance of starting over after the team’s disappointing start.
“Coach Croom said it’s a new season. There’s no better way than to start off 1-0,” Pegues said.
Croom said his Bulldogs have grown a lot during the course of this season.
“We are not the same team we were at the beginning of the season, and they are not the same people they were at the beginning of the season,” Croom said. “As happy I am about the win, I am more proud that they have been through the fire and came out better men.”
The Bulldogs look to build on the momentum of this win when they hit the road to take on Tennessee next Saturday.
Like the Bulldogs, Tennessee is 2-4 on the season. The Volunteers’ two wins on the season came over Alabama-Birmingham and Northern Illinois. Tennessee is one of two SEC teams without a conference win.
Game time is set for 6 p.m. and the game is offered on pay-per-view.