STARKVILLE — Just three plays into the 2024 season, Mississippi State had already matched its longest offensive touchdown from 2023.
One of new head coach Jeff Lebby’s sayings is “Score From Far,” and the Bulldogs wasted no time doing exactly that Saturday against Eastern Kentucky, even with Texas-El Paso transfer Kelly Akharaiyi and freshman JJ Harrell out. But it wasn’t dynamic Louisville transfer Kevin Coleman who hauled in the deep ball, nor was it four-star freshmen Mario Craver or Braylon “Stonka” Burnside.
Quarterback Blake Shapen’s target was redshirt junior Jordan Mosley, who played in every game last year but had just three catches for 45 yards, scoring his first collegiate touchdown against Western Michigan. Mosley raced right past cornerback Vito Tisdale and exceeded his receiving yards total from last season on that play alone, a 65-yard touchdown that set the tone for MSU’s 56-7 victory over the Colonels.
“Our guys understand that we want to have fun doing it,” Lebby said. “We want to have fun every single Saturday. You get so few opportunities at this thing, and to have the ability to come out and open the season at home, our energy should have been through the roof. We should have played as if we were having fun. That was the expectation. I love where our guys are mentally and how much we’ve come together in a very short amount of time.”
Smith stalls EKU’s momentum
The Colonels, trailing 35-0 late in the first half, put together their best drive of the day and found the end zone just before the break on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Matt Morrissey to Ron Vann Jr. EKU got the ball to start the second half as well and needed another score to keep any hope of a miraculous comeback alive.
Morrissey had the Colonels on the march again, connecting with Dequan Stanley for a 19-yard pickup on the first play of the half and moving into Bulldogs territory. But on third-and-2 from the MSU 35-yard line, defensive lineman Sulaiman Kpaka and linebacker Nic Mitchell stuffed running back Joshua Carter for no gain. On fourth down, safety Isaac Smith broke up Morrissey’s pass by knocking the ball away from Jayden West for a turnover on downs.
It was part of a big night for Smith, who played through some injuries as a true freshman last year and started his sophomore season by leading all players with 11 tackles.
“(Last year) taught us how to handle adversity well,” Smith said. “We brought that over into this year. With injuries and some people not being able to play and a coaching staff change, that all just lit a fire under all of us and helped us today. This whole week, all camp, it fired us up to show people that we can get back and play how Mississippi State football is supposed to play.”
Freshman Cannon provides the exclamation point
With the Bulldogs in control late, MSU began emptying the bench on both sides of the ball. Cornerback Elijah Cannon may not have been the most heralded member of Lebby’s first recruiting class — the south Florida product had no other Southeastern Conference offers — but he delivered the final blow in his Bulldog debut.
Cannon was initially matched up against West, but read Morrissey’s eyes and instead undercut Stanley, stepping right into the passing lane for the interception. From there, Cannon raced 51 yards untouched to the end zone for a pick six and became the first player to put his signature on MSU’s new turnover cowbell.
“You want the drive back right before the end of the (first) half,” Lebby said. “But I saw guys playing the game the way we want them to play — flying around, hats to the ball, trying to get contact on the ball, nonstop. I’m proud of the way our defense finished, the way they finished in the second half.”
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