LSU Silences the Cowbells in 41-14 Defeat of Mississippi State

"Mississippi-7624" by cj&erson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0via Flickr.

The silence of the cowbells was deafening in Starkville Saturday as the LSU Tigers dominated the Bulldogs of Mississippi State 41-14, in the 117th meeting between the two schools.

Game Notes

QB Jayden Daniels, making his 46th career start as a college quarterback, showed that he is a veteran signal caller by completing 88.2 % of his passes, setting a new school record. Daniels completed 30 of 34 passes and accounted for 425 total yards (361 yards passing, 64 yards rushing) and four total touchdowns.

All day long, Daniels hooked up with WR Malik Nabers to move the LSU offense down the field at will against a pretty good Bulldogs defense. Nabers caught 13 of Daniels’ passes for 239 yards and two scores of 26 and 33 yards.

On the day, the Bayou Bengals kept pressure on Mississippi State QB Will Rogers, sacking him four times. The Bulldogs could not get anything going at all and were out of sync offensively for most of the game. Rogers completed 11 of 28 passes (39%) for 103 yards and no touchdowns.

The LSU defense held the Bulldogs to just 3 of 13 on 3rd down, 10 first downs, and 94 yards rushing for the game.

After leading 13-0 at halftime, LSU outscored Mississippi State 28-14 in the second half. The Bulldogs did not score until less than a minute left in the 3rd quarter on a 9-yard run by Lideatrick Griffin. Later, Mississippi State scored again at the 4:26 mark of the 4th quarter on a TD pass by Vanderbilt transfer QB Mike Wright to Antonio Harmon to make the score 41-14 in favor of the visiting Tigers when the final horn sounded.

Play of the Game

Take your pick, but my pick is the 33-yard TD pass from Daniels to Nabers on 4th down and 7 to take a 17-0 lead.

MVP-LSU

MVP's-Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers turned in stellar performances on the road.

MVP-Mississippi State

Three Mississippi State defenders combined for 37 tackles: LB Jett Johnson (14 tackles), LB Nathaniel Watson (13 tackles), and CB DeCarlos Nicholson (10 tackles).

What the Win Means for LSU

LSU gets an early season win in SEC play, and the SEC West specifically. And they gain more confidence and momentum as they head to their SEC home opener vs. Arkansas next week in Tiger Stadium.

What the Loss Means for Mississippi State

The Bulldogs are now 2-1 on the season, and they must figure out how to get the offense clicking. They need to find plays in the playbook that works as they travel to Columbia, SC next week to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks.