STARKVILLE
When Devon Bell’s 51-yard field goal attempt sailed far right of the goal post, LSU had a measure of revenge and Mississippi State had a stinging 21-19 loss that might change the nature of how the Bulldogs play football this season.
There were times, particularly in the first half, that the thought of MSU having a chance to win the game with a field goal seemed laughable.
Well into the third quarter, LSU had pounded MSU’s defense with body shot after body shot in the form of its beast-of-a-running back Leonard Fournette. On offense, the Bulldogs had nowhere to run.
So, while there is no appetite for “moral victories” — if such a thing really exists — there can be no questioning the Bulldogs resiliency on either side of the ball. The Bulldogs didn’t make it respectable; they made it a game they could have won.
If you are old enough to remember the epic Muhammed Ali- Joe Frazier fights, you’ll see some similarity in this game. For first two-and-a-half quarters, LSU (playing the role of Frazier, if you will) pounded MSU behind the punishing running of Fournette, who scored all three of his team’s touchdowns, the last gave LSU a 21-6 lead with 6 minutes, 48 seconds left in the third quarter), and took away the one thing MSU always has been able to rely on — its running game. MSU managed only 43 yards on 26 carries, while Dak Prescott finished with negative rushing yards (-19) for the first time in 22 starts as the Bulldogs’ quarterback.
Through three quarters, LSU had MSU on the ropes.
But the Bulldogs didn’t stay there. Maybe LSU punched itself out. Somehow, the Bulldogs staggered, but unbeaten, rallied — and how.
Desperate times require desperate measures. Forget the running game. The Bulldogs came out flinging it and, in the process, turned the momentum and sent the crowd of 62,531 at Davis Wade Stadium into delirious spams.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs attempted three running plays. Prescott, meanwhile, caught fire, completing 14 of 18 passes for 174 yards in two long scoring drives that moved the Bulldogs enticingly close to an improbable victory.
Suddenly, the Tigers were on the ropes, hanging on in desperation.
When Prescott scored on a 1-yard plunge up the middle to close the gap to 21-19 with four minutes left, the Bulldogs were a wrong turn away from tying the game on a two-point conversion pass.
On the try, tailback Ashton Shumpert leaked out of the backfield and was alone near the goal line. But as Shumpert turned inside, the ball arrived at his outside shoulder and he was unable to secure the ball as he fell into the end zone.
Still, MSU wasn’t finished. The Bulldogs moved furiously from their 11-yard line following an LSU punt with 1:32 left to the LSU 29. A delay of game penalty with three ticks left turned what would have been a 47-yard field goal attempt into a 51-yarder, although it’s hard to say it would have made much difference, so badly did Bell miss on the Bulldogs’ last chance.
Credit MSU for hanging tough and finding seize the momentum, if not the victory.
Previous Bulldog teams under previous regimes never would have managed that, for what it’s worth.
That said, the Bulldogs face a great challenge if they are to succeed.
Gone are the days when the Bulldogs ran to win and passed to keep the defense honest.
The Bulldogs don’t have a running game they can count on consistently. That means MSU will have to go outside its comfort zone.
In the span of one September evening, for better or worse, MSU has become a passing team.
Prescott was 34 of 54 for 335 yards.
Chances are the Bulldogs are going to have to rely on the right arm of their senior quarterback far more than they could have imagined just a day ago.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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