STARKVILLE — Mike Leach laid it out plainly for his Mississippi State players when the Bulldogs fell three scores behind Louisiana Tech early in the fourth quarter Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
“I basically said that we’d tried every way known to man to lose it,” Leach said.
Louisiana Tech had answered two early MSU touchdowns with 34 unanswered points, and the Bulldogs trailed by 20 points. An embarrassing home loss in the 2021 season opener was staring Leach and his team in the face.
“Just for fun,” Leach told his players, “let’s try something different. Let’s go ahead and do our job.”
Apparently, the Bulldogs listened.
Mississippi State (1-0) scored three consecutive fourth-quarter touchdowns, weathered a final drive from Louisiana Tech (0-1) and held on for a 35-34 victory in the biggest comeback in school history.
“It was a great win,” Leach said.
Jaden Walley caught the winning touchdown pass from Will Rogers with 3 minutes, 37 seconds to go, tying the game before Brandon Ruiz’s PAT put the Bulldogs ahead.
On its final drive, Louisiana Tech came up well short on a 46-yard field goal as time expired, averting any possibility of a last-second road win for the Ruston-based Bulldogs. Coach Skip Holtz’s team scored 34 unanswered points, beginning with the final play of the first quarter, to put a scare into Mississippi State. When a Trey Baldwin pick-six of Rogers in the third quarter buried MSU in a 31-14 deficit, the Starkville crowd began to thin out.
“The middle of that game was about as bad as a team can play on all sides of the ball,” Leach said.
But those who stayed witnessed a momentous comeback that made it worth their while. As soon as Jacob Barnes’ 33-yard field goal went through the uprights with 13 minutes, 11 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, MSU poured on the offense and dialed up the defense to prevent an embarrassing early-season loss.
Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin set up Marks’ first touchdown with a 70-yard kickoff return, getting to the LA Tech 21 on a play in which Leach praised the execution all the way down the field.
“That was a full-unit deal,” he said. “There were some great blocks on that.”
Wide receiver Jamire Calvin said the Bulldogs’ first touchdown since Calvin himself took a screen pass 20 yards to the house in the first quarter broke the ice for MSU.
“Once we finally got back in the end zone again, I think that finally kind of jump-started the offense,” Calvin said.
LA Tech proceeded to go three and out, and Rogers completed all five passes on the ensuing drive before Marks found the end zone from 5 yards away. The visitors went three and out again, and Mississippi State had a chance for the lead with 6 minutes, 7 seconds to go from its own 48.
It took only four plays. Rogers found Makai Polk twice, Griffin once and Walley from 15 yards out to give the Bulldogs their first lead since their early 14-0 advantage.
The first one evaporated quickly. Louisiana Tech quarterback Austin Kendall hit Bub Means for a 72-yard touchdown as the first quarter expired, and Kendall later took a QB keeper 59 yards to the house in the second quarter to tie things up.
Smoke Harris caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Kendall before the half, and Barnes added a 20-yard field goal in the third quarter to give LA Tech a 24-14 lead.
“Defensively, we were just like a bunch of slugs out there for the middle of the game,” Leach said.
Things reached what seemed like a breaking point when Rogers, facing pressure, got his pass off late and Baldwin took it 35 yards to the house. Barnes added another field goal for LA Tech’s biggest lead of the night at 20 points.
But the sophomore quarterback wasn’t fazed by his mistake. He finished 39 of 47 for 370 yards and three scores in addition to the pick, putting together a strong opening game.
“As bad as he played at times, he didn’t really flinch or give in,” Leach said of Rogers. “The composure to do that, I thought, was very good.”
The Bulldogs’ defense was similarly strong down the stretch. After LA Tech converted on fourth-and-11 with 52 seconds left at the MSU 30, the home team stopped three runs for a total of two yards to keep a long field goal in order.
Barnes’ 46-yard attempt never made it close to the uprights, and the Bulldogs celebrated a win that swung from almost certain to extremely unlikely and back again.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling because we still were able to battle,” Calvin said. “We didn’t quit, so that shows a lot in the team that can battle back and not quit. But by the same token, it shows you how much better we need to get moving forward if we want to be a top team and a championship team.”
Mississippi State will take on N.C. State at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 in Starkville. The Wolfpack (1-0) are coming off a 45-0 shutout of South Florida.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.