STARKVILLE – Northern Illinois was on the verge of finding the end zone again in the third quarter at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday.
Mississippi State’s defense was backed up in the red zone and looking for a stop on third down when the Huskies went back to the air. Quarterback Josh Holst tossed a ball toward the back-left pylon for DeAree Rogers, hoping to connect for a second touchdown of the game.
MSU’s Isaac Smith saw it all the way.
Smith bolted to his right to make a play on the ball, snagging it out of the air and tapping the turf with his foot before falling out of bounds to complete the interception.
“I thought our guys did a great job adjusting,” head coach Jeff Lebby said of the defense. “Got a couple of new things, both sides of the ball, early, that we were able to get adjusted and talk through, but you’ve got to give it to the guys to go execute when we bent at times. We found ways to bow our neck, Isaac makes a great pick, and they play lights out on that side of the ball to keep them out of the end zone.”
The Bulldog defense shut out NIU in the second half, allowing the offense the space to get into gear and get the ball moving again in a 38-10 win.
The Huskies’ second half drives ended with a pick, two turnovers on downs, and a punt, putting the Bulldogs in position to score 24 unanswered points. Lebby’s group now sits 4-0 going into SEC play next week.
The result was far from secure at halftime, with MSU holding just a 14-10 lead. A sluggish start was exacerbated by penalties and special teams errors, and it required a reset at the break to light a fire under the team.
“As a team, there was just a lack of energy in the first half,” linebacker Nic Mitchell said. “Just sluggish and not playing to our standard. We tightened up in the locker room at halftime and came out with the right mentality.”
The defense had several bend, but don’t break moments in the game against a visiting team with a reputation for pulling off upsets on the road. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Bulldogs got the better of key swing moments in the game to see out a relatively comfortable win.
“Just finding a way to get off of the field situationally,” Lebby said of the defensive-fueled momentum change in the second half. “I thought fourth down in this game was one of the biggest turning factors. For us, I think we were 4-4 on fourth down, and being able to get off the field defensively on fourth down was huge. That played a huge part in how the game ended up.”
The performance wasn’t without red flags. A shanked punt, three-and-outs on offense, and 11 penalties hindered MSU throughout the game. Quarterback Blake Shapen was just 12-20 through the air with 160 yards, too, missing on three home run balls with a chance to break the game open.
Shapen did make several plays with his legs, picking up 51 yards on 11 carries, but he admitted that a few times he should have stayed in the pocket and worked through his progressions before bailing out.
“I think the biggest takeaway from today for me is I didn’t play my best game today,” Shapen said. “I think that’s why we struggled a little in the first half was I wasn’t on my A-game. I’ve got to be better, especially whenever you get an opportunity to throw the ball down the field, you want to connect on it every time.”
The biggest positive for the Bulldogs on offense was the rushing game. Fluff Bothwell passed the century mark on the ground, and the team as a whole ran for 292 yards with four touchdowns. It certainly helped to paper over the cracks in the passing game on the day, and demonstrated once again the strength in depth at the running back position.
“I feel like today, we really proved a lot,” said Davon Booth, who scored twice on the ground. “I looked at the stats, over 250 yards, and a lot of that was Blake too. I really like the depth in this room. There’s a lot of versatility.”
MSU is back at home next week for its SEC opener against No. 15 Tennessee at 3:15 p.m. next Saturday. The Vols come to town hungry for a conference win after letting one slip against Georgia at home last week, but the Bulldogs aren’t a pushover team anymore.
“I think we’ve got a tough football team,” Lebby said “I think we’ve got a team that will respond right away when things aren’t perfect. There’s been those moments in a lot of different ways, whether it was Week One, Week Two, Week Four. There’s been moments where things haven’t been perfect, but our guys responded right away. Good football teams do that, tough football teams do that. We’ll have to continue to trend that way to get done what we want to get done.”
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