LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Mississippi State football team reversed its numbers Saturday in what coach Dan Mullen calls the most important part of the field.
MSU’s ability to go 4-for-5 (four touchdowns) inside the University of Kentucky’s 20-yard-line Saturday proved to be the difference in a 28-16 victory, its first in the Southeastern Conference this season.
“It’s always huge, and it’s one of those things that is the defining factor of a football game,” Mullen said. “If their possessions are touchdowns then it’s a complete different football game.”
MSU (4-4, 1-4 SEC) hadn’t had more than two touchdowns in the red zone all season and entered the game 9 of 21 (43 percent) in scoring touchdowns in that area of the field.
“All I care about was winning because no matter which quarterback is in there, they’re going to do the job well,” MSU quarterback Chris Relf said.
MSU’s dominance at the line of scrimmage allowed it to have success in the red zone. The Bulldogs averaged 7.5 yards per play. They also capitalized on Relf’s to move the ball on designed quarterback runs.
“There was just a lot of physical running,” Kentucky linebacker Avery Williamson said. “Some plays we just weren’t fundamentally sound.”
MSU quarterback Tyler Russell had a confidence-building play in the red zone when he hit tight end Malcolm Johnson on a play over the middle for 13-yard touchdown in a play-action fake the team had worked on all week in practice.
“They were in the same defense as we practiced,” Russell said. “I knew he’d be right there because that’s what has happened every time we ran it in practice.”
Cox dominant again
MSU defensive tackle Fletcher Cox made another case for being SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
Cox had a career-high tying seven tackles (three and a half for loss) and two sacks. In his first five SEC games this season, the All-SEC candidate has nine and a half tackles for loss and four sacks.
“It was critical to get that push so we could win first down,” MSU defensive coordinator Chris Wilson said. “Once we got them in a third-and-long situation because of our defensive lineman we knew we could attack.”
The defensive penetration not only affected the Wildcats’ passing game early in the first half, but it also knocked quarterback Morgan Newton out in the first quarter.
“With Newton, you had to keep someone in front of his face,” junior Josh Boyd said. “He basically put it on our shoulders to control the line of scrimmage.”
Boyd, Cox’s partner on the defensive line, had six tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack.
MSU’s defensive line had eight of the nine total tackles for loss and held Kentucky to 3.26 yards per play in the first half.
“Every year we play them we always talk about how there is something in the water down there in Mississippi because they are always coming after you,” Kentucky center Matt Smith said. “They are always one of the toughest teams in the SEC but always give you a lot of looks, too.”
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