BATON ROUGE, La. — When Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott and coach Dan Mullen addressed the media following MSU’s 34-29 upset of No. 8 LSU Saturday night, they showed little reaction to the victory.
Maybe that’s because they expected it to happen.
“This is a veteran group of guys that knew how difficult this environment would be,” said Mullen, who led the Bulldogs to their first road victory against a top-10 team since 1986. “They knew how tough it would be to win. But, at the same time, they knew how hard we worked and prepared and they came in here thinking we could win this game.”
Prescott, who had 373 yards and three touchdowns, echoed Mullen’s sentiments.
“It was another game in how I prepared myself and how I got ready to go, but it’s a big win,” said Prescott, a native of Haughton, Louisiana. “That preparation was big because I knew what to expect. I pretty much knew everything they were coming with before the snap of the ball.”
While the responses from Mullen and Prescott were restrained, the reaction from around the country following MSU’s first victory against LSU in 15 years wasn’t.
MSU, which has won seven games in a row, returned home Saturday night undefeated and unranked. By early Sunday afternoon, MSU was ranked No. 16 in the Amway Coaches’ Poll and No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25. The
rankings are the Bulldogs’ first since late in the 2012 season. That year was also the only other season MSU start a campaign 4-0 under Mullen, who earned his first victory against LSU in six tries. For Mullen, the win means staying ahead of the curve in the brutal Southeastern Conference.
“It means we’re 1-0 in the SEC,” Mullen said when asked what the victory meant for his program. “It means we came in here, beat a good football team, and now we get to our bye week at 4-0. We’ll enjoy this win. We’ll take tonight and enjoy it, then we’ll start to shift our focus to a very good Texas A&M team.”
The rankings weren’t the only accolades awaiting the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon. Prescott was named the National Player of the Week by Athlon Sports for his performance. The redshirt junior was 14 of 22 for 268 yards and two touchdowns. He added 105 rushing yards with another score.
Prescott helped the Bulldogs pull away in the third quarter, as he delivered a 56-yard rushing touchdown and a 74-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jameon Lewis on back-to-back possessions to turn a 17-10 lead into a 31-10 advantage.
“Dak is a great player,” MSU defensive end Preston Smith. “He’s a great quarterback and he can do anything with a ball in his hand.”
While Prescott’s heroics helped the Bulldogs earn the win, MSU’s defense was just as instrumental, helping the team build a 34-10 lead that was just enough to withstand a late rally by LSU. The Bulldogs allowed 89 rushing yards and had three sacks.
With the dominant performance by MSU’s defensive line, the Bulldogs’ grip at the top of several conference statistical categories remained intact.
MSU leads the SEC and is second nationally in tackles for loss with 35. The Bulldogs also are second in the league with 14 sacks. The defensive front is also allowing 2.37 yards per carry, easily the lowest average in the league.
“They are a real good defense,” LSU wide receiver Travin Dural said. “We were prepared for it, but they hit us with things we weren’t expecting. Credit to them. They did a lot of great things.”
MSU’s defensive dominance helped it stun favored LSU in front of 102,743 fans, the largest crowd to watch a game in Tiger Stadium.
By the beginning of the fourth quarter, most of those 102,743 fans were long gone, their roar replaced by the screaming of a few thousand MSU fans that made the trip.
“We just had to block out the crowd noise,” Smith said. “The crowd was yelling, and you could barely hear yourself think. We knew we had to play sound football to take the crowd out of it.”
MSU’s win has the program thinking big. After an open date Saturday, MSU will play host to a pair of currently unbeaten top 10 teams, starting with No. 6 Texas A&M on Oct. 4 and continuing with No. 5 Auburn on Oct. 11.
For players like Benardrick McKinney, who led the way with seven tackles, the Bulldogs’ focus already has shifted to the Aggies.
“I’m very excited,” McKinney said. “We’re going to get in the workshop, and we’re going to study film, going to take it game-by-game.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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