The LSU Tigers looked to have things in control early on, but the second half saw their offense become virtually nonexistent, but they were able to hold off Mississippi State’s late rally to win 23-20.
The Tigers got on the board about halfway through the fist quarter as Danny Etling connected with DJ Chark in the endzone to take an early 7-0 lead.
The scoring continued late in the first quarter with Leonard Fournette forced his way into the endzone from five yards out to extend their lead. The star running back looked to return to form on Saturday night having a 149 yard night against the Bulldogs defense and a pair of touchdowns including a 25-yarder in the second quarter to make it 20-0 after Colby Delahoussaye missed the extra point.
Westin Graves finally got the Bulldogs on the board with a 41-yarder that went through the uprights. Delahoussaye responded with a 27-yarder with seven seconds left in the half to head into the locker room with a 23-3 lead.
But when the Tigers came out the locker room, the offense began to slow down and the Bulldogs began to slowly creep back into competition with another field goal from Graves.
And Mississippi State wasn’t done with a run from Damian Williams made it a ten point game with four and a half minutes left in the ball game. They recovered the ensuing onside kick which gave them another chance to cut away at it, which they did after a pass from Fred Ross to Damian Williams from seven yards out to make it a three point deficit. But LSU managed to shut down the Bulldogs late and were able to come away with the win.
The Tigers (2-1, 1-0 SEC) will leave the friendly confines of Death Valley and head to Jordan-Hare Stadium to take on Auburn with kickoff set for 5 pm.(1-2, 0-1 SEC)
-Clint Domingue