NEW ORLEANS — In a city known for its funky undertones of bayou magic, Mississippi State’s special teams unit looked as if its own voodoo doll was poked and prodded throughout the first half of Saturday’s 38-28 win over Louisiana in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
In 30 minutes of frivolous ineptitude, the Bulldogs kick and return teams were consistently abysmal over the first two quarters of competition before responding resoundingly down the stretch.
“I think we kicked and covered much better in the second half,” Moorhead conceded postgame.
The first major blemish of the day came when junior cornerback Taury Dixon backpedaled into a Louisiana punt, thus creating a live ball. Louisiana sophomore long-snapper Paul Boudreaux quickly leapt on the fumble — granting the Ragin’ Cajuns possession at the MSU 15-yard line.
Visibly exacerbated by the gaffe, Bulldog senior returner Malik Dear shoved Dixon in frustration after he had signaled a fair catch.
Gifted an opportunity, Louisiana cashed in three plays later as junior running back Elijah Mitchell punched through the MSU defensive line for a three-yard score.
Compounding the special teams issues, MSU junior kicker Jordan Lawless badly sliced a 37-yard kick wide right one minute and 57 seconds into the second quarter as he handled the kicking duties in the wake of junior Jace Christmann’s suspension.
Sophomore kick off specialist Scott Goodman also botched a late kick off — granting Louisiana senior receiver and Ackerman native Ja’Marcus Bradley a 23-yard return, up to his own 48 with under a minute to play in the second quarter.
Irate with the first half gaffes, Moorhead reamed the special teamers at the break.
“Some of it’s not suitable for work so decorum prohibits me from saying exactly what I said,” he quipped. “But I will paraphrase: We got hit with the punt, which turned it over then we missed the field goal so I said ‘We needed to make a play on special teams.'”
Receiving Moorhead’s words of “encouragement,” the unit’s revenge tour began at the outset of the fourth quarter.
Leading 28-14 at the beginning frame, MSU junior punter Tucker Day lined up around the 50 yard-line for his first kick of the day. Peering out the corner of his eye, Day noticed a contingent of Ragin’ Cajuns rearing to pounce off the line for a block.
After the Bulldogs took a timeout to account for the block formation, he again readied.
Squaring, dropping and kicking, Day dropped his sand-wedge of a punt right inside the one-yard line where it was downed inches from the goal line.
Celebrating uncontrollably all the way to the MSU sideline, the ever-eccentric punter finally gave the MSU special teams unit something worth cheering about.
“On a situation like that it’s 50-50 whether the bounce goes your way or not because half the ball makes it go forward, half the ball makes it go backwards the way it hits,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to where it smacked and it went backwards and sideways. That’s all god — That’s god working right there.”
One possession later, Dear again lined up to field a Louisiana punt. Receiving the line-drive kick, the 5-foot-9, speedster took off. Dodging flailing Ragin’ Cajun defenders Dear took the ball down to the Louisiana 12 yard line where he was taken clipped from behind by sophomore defensive back Percy Butler.
Granted prime real estate, the MSU offense cashed in on the ensuing play as graduate transfer quarterback Tommy Stevens delivered a bullet to sophomore receiver Austin Williams from 12 yards out.
Furthering the special teams recovery effort, Day dropped his second and final punt of the day inside the one-yard line once more with 7:21 remaining in the game — just one possession after the Ragin’ Cajuns drew within two touchdowns.
“It was just kind of a routine thing,” he said of the second kick. “…We just kind of went out there and did it.”
Lawless then redeemed his wayward kick as he notched a 37-yard field goal with 1:02 left to put the game out of reach.
Just minutes after closing what began as a disastrous day for the special teams unit, Day addressed the media.
With his flowing brown hair bursting through a ball-cap, he boasted an ear-to-ear smile as he approached reporters in the tunnel beneath the Superdome.
“In a game like this where the momentum is just going back and forth, every little thing matters,” Day said. “Whether it be a pick or a sack or you make them have to punt or you punt, it’s unpredictable — that’s the best word for it. It paid off for us really, really well in the end and that was huge.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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