A little bit of rain and 13 unanswered points from LSU were all it took for Mississippi State fans to start the third quarter exodus Saturday in Starkville, Miss., when the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 37-7 at Davis Wade Stadium.
The game was close at halftime with LSU leading MSU 17-7, but the Tigers’ offense scored 20 consecutive points and held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half for coach Les Miles’ first Southeastern Conference win.
“The offense showed great balance – both run and pass,” LSU Coach Les Miles said. “They controlled the game when they needed to.”
The Tigers (2-1, 1-1 SEC) entered the third quarter with a 10- point lead but extended their score to 23 after an 80-yard drive, which ended with sophomore fullback Jacob Hester rushing for a 1-yard touchdown.
The drive, LSU’s longest of the game, consisted of 13 plays and lasted 8 minutes, 2 seconds. Short-range placekicker Colt David misfired the extra point.
On the third play of the Tigers’ next possession, sophomore quarterback JaMarcus Russell threw a strike to junior receiver Dwayne Bowe, who spun off an MSU defensive back at the 20-yard line for a 44-yard touchdown.
Russell completed 20 of 23 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns to Bowe. Senior receiver Skyler Green led the Tigers in receptions with 8 for 55 yards, and most of his catches were made on screen passes.
“He led his offense to win the game,” Green said of Russell’s performance. “Guys are more honed into playing, and getting everything together. Everybody is on the same page and focusing on what we have to do.”
The Tigers added another touchdown in the third with a 1-yard run, but this time it was senior Joseph Addai who carried the ball over the goal line after a 19-yard rush on the previous play. Addai rushed 17 times for 84 yards.
The drive led to the Tigers’ third touchdown of the third quarter, which increased their lead to 30.
“Once we got our momentum, we were determined to drive down the field and score,” Bowe said. “We let other teams know that we’re going to come out and play like we did in the first half for 60 minutes straight.”
MSU coach Sylvester Croom said the it was evident the Tigers came out ready to play the second half.
“Their athleticism is obvious,” Croom said. “They came out in the second half and shoved the ball down our throats.”
Although the Tigers won by 30 points, the game started with LSU down 7-0 to the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-3 SEC), who scored on the sixth play of the game after a blown coverage on the defense.
Bulldogs’ junior quarterback Omarr Conner lofted a pass to sophomore receiver Joey Sanders, who was wide open near the sideline. Sanders slowed to catch the pass and spring into the endzone untouched.
“It was just a miscommunication on my part,” strong safety Jessie Daniels said. “I told [linebacker] Ali Highsmith a check, and he didn’t move out a little bit. I didn’t think he was going to cover the flat so I went down and covered it, and I was supposed to be over the top.”
The Tigers’ offense would have the lead before the end of the first quarter, and the defense held the Bulldogs scoreless the rest of the game.
“Without us making a mental error, they score no points,” Daniels said. “The rest of the plays were by penalties that we caused.”
David kicked a 30-yard field goal for the the Tigers’ first points, which cut the Bulldogs’ lead to four.
The Tigers took a 10-7 lead three minutes later, when sophomore receiver Xavier Carter took the handoff from Addai and ran through several Bulldogs untouched for a 36-yard touchdown.
“It had developed good in practice, but we really didn’t now how it was going to look because we just run against the scout team,” Carter said. “When I got to the edge, I really didn’t see anybody there so I figured it would go for big yardage if not a touchdown.”
The Tigers went into halftime with a 17-7 lead after Russell completed his first touchdown to Bowe for 14 yards.
The Bulldogs lost senior tailback Jerious Norwood, who had seven carries for nine yards, in the second quarter after LSU senior linebacker Kenneth Hollis laid a hit on Norwood and inadvertently collided with teammate Jessie Daniels by the sideline.
The impact sent Daniels’ chinstrap flying in the air and his helmet came off, and Norwood went to the locker room with a concussion.
“I had a full head of steam since I was on the other end of the field,” Hollis said. “I came all the way across the field to the other sideline and made a tackle. I don’t think [Norwood] saw me coming.”
Green said the team proved a lot to themselves despite the fact they they were playing a team who has not won a game against an SEC West opponent since 2001.
“We expected a lot out of ourselves today,” Green said. “We came out and did that. We just have to continue.”
Contact Clinton Duckworth at [email protected]