TROY, Ala. — The Mississippi State University football fans had their fears realized Saturday afternoon.
But the Bulldogs and their fans will use the four-hour bus ride back to Starkville as a chance to exhale in relief.
In front of a sellout crowd of 29,013 with thunder sticks in hand and nonstop emotion from the opening kick, MSU walked away from an upset friendly environment with a 30-24 victory against Troy University on Saturday night.
MSU (3-0) survived six dropped passes and a defensive effort that was less than stellar to avoid what would’ve been the biggest disappointment of Dan Mullen’s head coaching career in Starkville.
Troy’s 572 yards of total offense was the second-most allowed by a Mullen-coached team and the most surrendered by Bulldogs defensive coordinator Chris Wilson.
When asked about the effort and ineffectiveness of the defense, Mullen used the word “terrible” in repetition four times and stopped talking.
“The story of the day is we didn’t play well on the defensive side of the ball at all,” Mullen said. “We’re very fortunate to play as poorly as we did and come out here with a win.”
When asked after the game to pinpoint the problem, Mullen pointed to his staff instead of the experience on the field that failed to get lined up properly and identify assignments against a high-octane spread-option attack.
“They had guys open all night and huge running lanes,” Mullen said. “That’s a coaching issue and we’ll get that fixed. I think we didn’t play very well, we got outcoached, and didn’t have a good plan.”
To escape with its 13th consecutive non-conference victory, MSU relied on junior tailback LaDarius Perkins to run between the tackles. Perkins hadn’t eclipsed the 100-yard mark since 2010, and ended with a career-high 179 rushing yards on 23 carries. MSU used an average 20-pound weight edge on the offensive line against its smaller Sun Belt Conference foe to average 6.1 yards per rush.
“We knew we could dominate them up front, so I knew I would get to the secondary more,” Perkins said. “When you get to the second level, you have to be able to break a long one and break through low tackles, and I did that tonight.”
MSU won the time of possession battle by more than a 2-to-1 ratio in the final quarter, allowing Mullen to move to 23-0 when leading after three quarters.
After throwing for a little less than 500 yards last week against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Troy junior quarterback Corey Robinson went untouched all evening and threw for 343 yards on 45 attempts. The only two mistakes Robinson made landed in the waiting hands of Darius Slay. The senior defensive back had two interceptions and a fumble recovery that the Bulldogs turned into 20 points. Slay leads all Football Bowl Subdivision players with four interceptions.
“I knew they like to throw vertical, so you had to jump the routes,” Slay said. “It was almost like the ball kind of found me on one of (the interceptions).”
Mullen is 19-1 as a head coach when his team wins the turnover battle. MSU is tied for the lead in FBS with 12 forced turnovers.
“I’m not the least bit discouraged, except for the turnovers, the explosive plays, and the timeouts,” Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. “That always comes back to bite you late in a game, especially when you’re trying to come back.”
MSU will play host to the University of South Alabama on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium with a chance to move to 4-0 for the first time since 1999.
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