The Mississippi State Bulldogs used timely big plays Saturday to knock off 1-AA foe Jacksonville State University 51-13. The dynamics came from both sides of the ball as the Bulldogs easily got the first win of the 2002 season. After sitting out the season opener because of an NCAA rules violation, quarterback Kevin Fant led the Bulldogs to the first score of the game on their second possession. Fant evaded a sack and ran for 25 yards to keep alive the Bulldog drive that eventually ended with a five yard touchdown run by fullback Justin Griffith.
Dog safety Richard Ball would provide the game’s next points after picking up a fumble caused by linebacker Mario Haggan. Ball returned the fumble 50 yards and moved the score to 13-0.
After allowing the Gamecocks to score, MSU answered with their third big play of the game on a 50-yard pass from Fant to Terrell Grindle. JSU would respond with another touchdown to pull to 19-13, but did not find the endzone again.
On the following drive Fant hooked up with Grindle again for another 50-yard gain to set up the Bulldogs’ next score. Fant found Fred Reid for a 13-yard touchdown pass to push the score to 25-13.
On the Bulldog’s next possession, Fant found Ray Ray Bivines and Darius Tubbs for long gains to set up Reid’s second touchdown of the day on a three-yard run. The Bulldogs took a 32-13 advantage at halftime.
After halftime, Fant hit Bivines for an 89-yard touchdown pass, the longest in school history, to post the only score of the third quarter. MSU used their most sustained drive of the night on the next offensive possession taking the ball 96 yards on 20 plays. Dontae Walker punched in the score to make it 46-13.
The Bulldogs forced JSU to punt on their next possession, and then pushed the ball to the Gamecock 10-yard line. Brent Smith pushed the Bulldog lead to 49-13 with a 27-yard field goal.
On the Gamecocks next possession, the Bulldogs forced a safety to end the scoring for the night at 51-13.
The Bulldogs posted 547 total yards in the game and held JSU to 248. Kevin Fant threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns. Bivines and Grindle both eclipsed 100-yards receiving with 109 and 118 respectively. Walker led the Bulldogs on the ground with 52 yards and one touchdown, and Griffith posted 43 yards.
“I thought that Kevin (Fant) threw the deep ball very, very well. We were inconsistent a couple of times early where he overthrew it, but we came back,” said MSU head coach Jackie Sherrill. “I was glad to see the receivers make some big, big catches. Probably the toughest catch the entire night was when Justin Jenkins went up and made his.”
The Bulldogs have a short week in front of them as SEC West rival Auburn comes to town on Thursday. Auburn will come in to Scott Field with a 2-1 record and 1-0 record in SEC play, after defeating Vanderbilt on Saturday.
“There are a lot of things that we are going to have to (work on). I wasn’t very pleased with our kickoff coverage or our punt coverage in the first half. But during the second half, we did well there,” said Sherrill. “I think our returners are good enough to make things happen on both kickoffs and punts. We just have to make sure we get the right people up front