BATON ROUGE, La. — After struggling in the first half and not taking advantage of opportunities in the third quarter, the Mississippi State football offense finally came alive.
MSU scored two touchdowns within 40 seconds late in the fourth quarter to pull within a field goal of No. 20 LSU. The Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game or walk away with the win, but the Tiger defense locked down and the Bulldogs fell 23-20 Saturday night at Tiger Stadium in a Southeastern Conference game.
“We just kept fighting. Guys didn’t get down, guys kept fighting,” MSU senior wide receiver Fred Ross said.
Trailing 23-6 with 6 minutes, 50 seconds remaining, the Bulldog defense came up in a big way. Junior linebacker Dezmond Harris hit LSU running back Leonard Fournette on fourth-and-1 causing him to fumble the ball. Harris pounced on it and MSU took over at its own 34-yard line.
The Bulldogs (1-2, 1-1 SEC) began to drive down the field. However, starting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald lost his helmet after being hit hard on third-and-3. He lost a yard on the play and had to come out of the game.
MSU football coach Dan Mullen went to junior backup Damian Williams. Williams converted the fourth-and-4 with a 24-yard pass to Donald Gray. He then hit Brandon Holloway for an 11-yard completion to move MSU to the LSU 25 yard line. A 27-yard pass to Ross put MSU at the 3-yard line for first-and-goal.
Williams scored on the next play on a two-yard touchdown and MSU cut the lead to 23-13 with 4:10 remaining.
“Damian is the type of guy that’s going to compete,” Ross said. “He’s a competitor. When he stepped foot on that field I knew he was ready. Offense didn’t stop rolling. He gave us a spark.”
MSU tried an onside kick with Westin Graves and Harris recovered as the Bulldogs took over at the LSU 32-yard line. Williams then hit Ross for a 25-yard gain and then a 7-yard touchdown to cut the lead to three with 3:30 remaining.
“He came in and did a heck of a job,” said Fitzgerald of Williams. “He made the plays he needed to make and he gave us an opportunity to win.”
MSU didn’t attempt another onside kick with two timeouts left. LSU went three-and-out and after a punt, MSU took over at its own 23 yard line. But Williams fumbled on fourth down and LSU took over to seal the win.
Williams was 5 of 8 for 94 yards and the touchdown. Fitzgerald, who was named the starter after last week’s win over South Carolina, struggled passing and was 12 of 24 or 120 yards. He was sacked four times and had 13 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Mullen said Williams’ good play at the end doesn’t affect the quarterback battle. But he did like what he saw from Williams.
“I don’t think he was happy obviously with the decision we made, but he didn’t let it affect his preparation or the teammate he is or being ready to go and his development and maturity,” Mullen said. “He understands we made that decision to try to do what’s best for the team.
“I thought he did a great job though, which is what you want. A veteran player comes in, he’s an experienced player and he’s ready. Helmet pops off and he’s ready. He doesn’t miss a beat, makes some plays for us and did a really nice job for us.”
The Bulldogs couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first three quarters, especially the first half. MSU had 270 yards of total offense (56 rushing and 214 passing) and 190 in the second half.
MSU got a 41-yard field goal from Graves in the second quarter and trailed 23-3 at halftime. Mullen said the offense played “OK” in the first half. He was more disappointed in the lack of execution on plays that were presented to them.
“There were a lot of plays to be made in the first half there,” Mullen said. “They were making plays we weren’t. They run double post, it’s a touchdown. We run double post, it’s just off our fingertips. There were plenty of opportunities there for us to make but we didn’t.”
The Tigers (2-1, 1-0) brought a lot of pressure in the first half and that disrupted Fitzgerald. There were several drops, including a near touchdown by Ross. Ross couldn’t corral a Fitzgerald pass in the third quarter in the end zone and that led to a 37-yard Graves field goal.
MSU’s offense sputtered greatly in the first half, but Ross gave a lot of credit to the LSU defense.
“They were flying around, they were playing physical, they were playing fast and they were playing with that swagger and confidence,” Ross said. “I think that’s what we were lacking, we weren’t bringing that confidence to the game.”
As Ross thought back on the game as a whole after the 14-point fourth quarter near comeback, his mind kept going to the drop in the third quarter. Although he had two defenders around him and he had to jump up and contort his body, he felt like that was one that he should have had.
Even with the struggles of the first half, that opportunity will sit with Ross for a while.
“I should have caught it. If I catch that we win the game, simple as that,” Ross said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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