STARKVILLE, Miss. – LSU junior safety Chad Jones is not Billy Cannon, but he certainly did his best impression Saturday in Davis Wade Stadium.
Clinging to a six-point lead in a wet and wild shootout, Jones delivered both the game-winning points and the game-saving goal line tackle for LSU (4-0, 1-0) in a sloppy 30-26 win against Mississippi State (2-2, 1-2).
“I’m glad to see our players rally late, but we cannot make mistakes like we did today” said LSU coach Les Miles. “The team better show up Monday ready to work.”
It all started for Jones, like Cannon, with a booming punt deep into LSU territory. Jones fielded a bouncing ball at his own seven-yard line, slipped a tackle and was off — streaking, snaking and stumbling to a 93-yard touchdown.
“If he didn’t run out of gas, I ran out of gas for him,” Miles said. “Daggone it, it seemed like he made more rights and left than he should have, but I’ll tell you one thing — he was not going down, and that team that was running alongside him was certainly going to support him.”
With the Bulldogs lining up at the LSU goal line with 1:08 to play, Jones struck again, batting down a sure-thing touchdown pass on third down and assisting on a fourth down tackle to keep Mississippi State out of the end zone.
“The play worked out like it was supposed to — the linebackers took out the fullbacks, and I came and tackled the quarterback for the fourth down,” Jones said. “I was hoping the play was coming to my side. I wanted to make the big play and it definitely came.”
The late-game heroics were just some of many on a rainy afternoon in which LSU scored a touchdown on offense, defense and special teams for the first time since Oct. 12, 2002, against Florida.
Sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson connected on passes of 39, 18, 58 and 40 yards for two touchdowns and a career-high 233 yards.
Sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson opened the day’s scoring with a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown, and senior cornerback Chris Hawkins and sophomore safety Brandon Taylor added a pick each in the second quarter.
 
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