STARKVILLE — After a late kickoff Friday night in Provo, Utah, the Mississippi State football team didn’t arrive back in Starkville until early Saturday morning.
A 9:15 p.m. kickoff that resulted in a 28-21 double overtime loss to BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium led to MSU returning to the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex at 6:30 a.m. MSU coach Dan Mullen and his staff used Saturday to break down the BYU film and start preparing for Kentucky. The players had the weekend off.
MSU hit the practice field Monday with a two-game losing streak looming over its head. Mullen doesn’t expect MSU (2-4, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) to have a problem re-focusing as it continues to prepare to play Kentucky (3-3, 2-2) at 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network) Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.
“I’m excited to get back out there,” Mullen said at his Monday news conference. “You face a little bit of adversity, it kind of tests your character. But it can really pull a team closer together. We’ll see how it pulls us together out on the practice field. Stuff like that can help pull the team closer together at times. They really tighten up, come together, and hopefully that happens out there on the practice field this week.”
MSU lost 38-14 to Auburn on Sept. 8 at Davis Wade Stadium. The 2-4 record is MSU’s worst start under Mullen since a 2-4 start in Mullen’s first season in 2009. MSU finished 5-7 and didn’t make a bowl game that year.
MSU trailed Auburn 35-0 at halftime and finished with 289 yards of offense (103 rushing, 186 passing). MSU led BYU 14-7 at halftime. The Bulldogs finished with 386 yards (163, 223 passing) against the Cougars. In the first overtime, MSU quarterback Nick Fitzgerald scored a 2-yard touchdown to give his team a 21-14 lead. He scrambled out of the pocket and leaped over a defender, landing on his shoulder in the end zone. MSU couldn’t take advantage of a forced fumble by A.J. Jefferson in the first overtime and BYU scored to tie the game at 21. The Cougars scored on the first play in the second overtime and MSU failed to score.
Senior wide receiver Fred Ross, who leads the Bulldogs with 34 catches for 386 yards and five touchdowns, dropped a touchdown in the back of the end zone in the second overtime. He said the team understands it isn’t going to win a national championship. Its goal is to work hard every day.
“There’s a lot of talk going on on the outside, and I think us as a team we’re just coming together more as a team,” Ross said. “At the end of the day, we’re out there putting in the work together, and we’re all we’ve got. I think that’s bringing us closer together as a team.”
Mullen wasn’t pleased with the amount of strain his team showed against Auburn and said young players were learning what it took to compete at the Division I level. He said he saw better effort against BYU.
“Guys are learning to play hard. I see guys learning to play hard every single week out there,” Mullen said. “I see guys make some great plays and then I see us make some bad plays. We’ve got to continue our consistency.”
Injury bug
Sophomore offensive lineman Deion Calhoun (sprained ankle), senior running back Brandon Holloway, and senior safety Kivon Coman are questionable to play against Kentucky, Mullen said. He added he would be surprised if any of the three players saw action.
Mullen didn’t discuss Holloway and Coman’s injuries, but they didn’t travel to Provo.
Calhoun made the trip, but he left the game in the first half. Redshirt freshman Michael Story came in at left guard and Devon Desper was moved to right guard.
“He handled the situation well,” Mullen said of Story. “Now he’s gotten a little bit of experience on the road in a tough environment and in a close game. He’ll get a lot more reps with the ones this week, so we’ll see how he responds to it and if he responds well to take that job and start. If not, we’ve got to get the next guy ready. It’s not just him. We have to have somebody else ready as well.”
Story, who enrolled at MSU in January 2015 and went through spring drills, has played in every game.
After watching film, Story said he needs to work on his technique in practice. Although expected to get more reps with the first string, Story will continue to prepare like he is going to play.
“It’s going to be the same as any other week,” Story said. “I have to be on top of my stuff, knowing what I’ve got to do and keep going from there.”
In Holloway’s absence, senior Ashton Shumpert started and had six carries for 10 yards. Sophomore Aeris Williams, who played at West Point High School, had a game-high 82 yards on 21 carries.
Sophomore Mark McLaurin started for Coman and had four tackles, his first career interception and a pass breakup.
Afternoon game
MSU’s Saturday’ Oct. 29 Homecoming game against Samford will be at 2:30 p.m. (SEC Network), the SEC announced Monday.
It is the third home day game for MSU (South Alabama and Auburn the other two).
MSU is 16-1-1 against Samford. The loss came in 1909 (6-0 in Birmingham, Alabama) when Samford was known as Howard College. The teams played to a 0-0 tie in 1922 in Starkville. The last meeting was a 43-0 win for MSU in Starkville in 1963.
Women’s golf team tied for ninth
The MSU women’s golf vaulted into a tie for ninth at the Greenville Regional Preview in Greenville, North Carolina, before darkness cut short the Bulldogs’ second round.
MSU ended the first round with a 315. That tally tied Iowa for ninth place, only five shots out of the top five.
Sophomore Katie Holt paced the Bulldogs in a tie for fifth with a 74. Starting at No. 13, Holt overcame a 2-over start by playing her next five holes at 2-under.
“I had to constantly remind myself of the big picture today. We had a lot of golf to play today, and I made sure I didn’t let one bad shot determine the rest of my day,” Holt said. “There were some really tricky hole locations out there today, so staying patient with the greens was key. The biggest part for me today was accepting that sometimes a bogey was going to happen, letting it go and moving on to the next hole.”
Holt is three shots back of first-round leaders Connie Jaffrey, of Kansas State, and Virginia Tech’s Jessica Spicer.
Jessica Peng ended her day two strokes behind Holt with a 76 that tied her for 13th.
Ji Eun Baik carded an 82 to tie for 63rd, while freshman Athena Yang notched an 83 to end the opening round tied for 69th.
Kendall Wisenbaker opened with an 88 and is tied for 88th.
Playing as an individual, Teri Doss carded a 79 to sit in a tie for 37th.
Special Reports were included in this story.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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