STARKVILLE — Mississippi State faced its biggest deficit of Saturday’s season opener against Louisiana Tech when Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin lined up deep.
LA Tech had just taken a 20-point lead on a 33-yard field goal by Jacob Barnes with 13 minutes, 11 seconds to go in the game. After leading 14-0, Mississippi State trailed 34-14, and hope was hard to come by inside Davis Wade Stadium.
Then Griffin played his part in launching the school-record comeback that led the Bulldogs to an improbable 35-34 win.
The sophomore wide receiver from Philadelphia High School fielded the kickoff from LA Tech’s Cesar Barajas at his own 9-yard line and reeled off a 70-yard return that put MSU in business at the plus-21.
“I feel like that turned the whole stadium up,” wide receiver Jamire Calvin said. “It gave us the energy we needed to kind of push toward the win.”
But it took more than one superb play by the young returner to set the Bulldogs up with excellent field position. Head coach Mike Leach praised Griffin for slashing his way from the right side of the field to the left sideline with ease, but it was Griffin’s teammates who made it all possible.
“That was a full-unit deal,” Leach said. “There were some great blocks on that. Great blocks to the point I’m a little curious who missed their block that he didn’t score. As it’s going down the field, I saw a number of great, key blocks.”
Griffin finished with 144 kick return yards Saturday, nearly half of which came on that play. His previous career long was 65 yards, set last year as a freshman.
He returned the opening kickoff 38 yards to the MSU 43, ran back a second-quarter kickoff for 20 yards and had a 16-yard return in the third quarter.
But his fourth-quarter play wouldn’t have done any better if it weren’t for the teammates who paved his way.
“Tulu’s not going any farther than he had earlier in the game if we’re not blocking like we are on that play,” Leach said. “We blocked really well. I didn’t see any of their guys really out of position. It looked to me like we executed the return really well, and there were a lot of blocks involved in that.”
With first down at the LA Tech 21, it was smooth sailing for the Bulldogs’ offense. Quarterback Will Rogers found Austin Williams for 15 yards to the six line, and running back Woody Marks powered to the 1 before another tote gave him a 1-yard touchdown.
Marks credited Griffin for his role in setting up the score.
“He gave the team a spark for us to keep pushing and get better,” Marks said. “Right there and then, we went and pushed it in for the touchdown.”
That spark started a red-hot stretch on offense and defense for the Bulldogs. LA Tech went three and out twice, Marks scored a 5-yard touchdown, and Jaden Walley put MSU ahead for the first time since the first quarter with a 15-yard pass from Will Rogers.
When Barnes’ 46-yard field goal fell well short to end the game, it capped an unlikely win that wouldn’t have been possible without a perfect play — and not just from Griffin.
“Tulu gets the credit for the return, but there were a lot of unsung heroes in the middle of that deal,” Leach said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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