POSTGAME NOTES
GAME FOUR • MISSISSIPPI STATE (4-0, 1-0 SEC) AT NO. 8 LSU (3-1, 0-1 SEC) • SEPT. 20, 2014 • TIGER STADIUM
TEAM NOTABLES • Mississippi State defeated a top-10 team for the first time since a 47-35 home victory against No. 3 Florida on Sept. 30, 2000. • The victory was the first road win against a top-10 squad since a 27-23 triumph at No. 8 Tennessee on Sept. 13, 1986. • The Maroon and White defeated LSU for the first time since 1999 (17-16) and the first time in Tiger Stadium since 1991 (28-19) • Dan Mullen’s squad became just the third team to beat LSU on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium in the Les Miles era (since 2005). The other two were No. 1 ranked teams (Florida, 2009; Alabama, 2012). The Tigers were previ- ously 42-2 at night under Miles. • The Bulldogs handed LSU its first home loss in September since 2005, snapping a 24-game Tiger winning streak in the month. • Against the No. 3 defense in the FBS, MSU has racked up 500-plus yards of total offense for a school-record five- straight games. • The 570 total yards were the most allowed by a Les Miles LSU team. • The 570 total yards of offense tied for sixth most in school history and the third most against a SEC team in MSU history. • Mullen’s squad is 4-0 for the second time under Mullen and has won seven-straight games for the second time under Mullen. • State scored on the opening drive in its third-straight game against LSU, the longest such streak since at least 1990. • The touchdown pass by MSU in the first quarter was snapped LSU’s streak of nine-straight quarters and 31-straight possessions without a point allowed and marked the first touchdown through the air given up by LSU all season. • The 34 points were the most by State against LSU since scoring 38 in an overtime loss in Baton Rouge in 2000. • State’s five play, 98-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter was its longest since a nine play, 98-yard touchdown drive in the first quarter of the 2011 Egg Bowl vs. Ole Miss. • After LSU failed to give up a play longer than 12 yards last week vs. Louisiana-Monroe, MSU’s offense recorded 12 offensive plays of 12-plus yards. • MSU’s defense went 10-straight quarters without allowing a touchdown on the road before the streak was snapped in the fourth quarter. LSU FOOTBALL POSTGAME NOTES #8/8 LSU vs. Mississippi State September 20, 2014 – Tiger Stadium (Baton Rouge, La.)
1. LSU’s game captains were 10 Anthony Jennings, 26 Ronald Martin, 27 Kenny Hilliard, 40 Duke Riley and 59 Jermauria Rasco. a. Guest captains for the Tigers were Richard Dickson (TE, 2006‐09), Jacob Hester (RB, 2004‐07) and Robert Royal (TE, 1999‐2001). 2. MSU won the toss and elected to defer its option until the second half. LSU received and defended the South endzone. 3. Tonight’s attendance was 102,321, which was a Tiger Stadium record for the third consecutive week. a. The 102,321 fans was the third‐largest crowd LSU football has ever played in front of. The other two games were 108,472 fans at Tennessee on Sept. 29, 2001 and 106,333 fans at Tennessee on Nov. 4, 2006. 4. LSU dropped to 50‐28‐4 in SEC openers since 1933. It marked the 11th time that the Tigers began SEC play versus Mississippi State. The Tigers had posted a 9‐0‐1 mark in those previous 10 meetings. 5. LSU fell to 71‐34‐3 all‐time against Mississippi State. The Tigers had their 14‐game winning streak over Mississippi State which dated back to the 1999 season come to a close. It marked MSU’s first win in Tiger Stadium since a 28‐19 decision on Nov. 16, 1991. 6. LSU’s defense had its scoreless streak come to a close on the game’s opening possession when Mississippi State scored a touchdown. The streak ended at 31 straight possessions over nine quarters and 151 minutes and 37 seconds of game time. 7. LSU dropped to 34‐4 in games played in September under Les Miles. The Tigers had their 24‐game winning streak in Tiger Stadium during September games under Miles which dated back to the 2005 season end. 8. LSU fell to 43‐3 in Saturday night home games under Les Miles. The previous two losses came against the nation’s No. 1 ranked team – Florida on Oct. 10, 2009 and Alabama on Nov. 3, 2012. 9. LSU’s offense has had 14 of its 18 touchdowns scored by either freshmen or sophomores this season. a. True freshmen have accounted for nine of 18 TDs.
Individual 10. QB Anthony Jennings made his first career SEC start and dropped to 4‐1 as LSU’s starting quarterback. He was 13‐of‐26 for 157 yards. 11. QB Brandon Harris completed 6‐of‐9 passes for 140 yards and threw two touchdowns over the final 3:43 of the game. The six completions, 140 yards and two touchdowns were career highs for Harris. a. Harris tossed both of his touchdown passes to WR Malachi Dupre. The duo connected for a 31‐yard scoring strike with 1:55 remaining and added a 30‐yard touchdown pass 28 seconds later. b. All three of Harris’ career touchdown passes have gone to Dupre. 12. RB Terrence Magee completed a 44‐yard pass to WR Malachi Dupre on a halfback pass during the 1st quarter. 13. RB Kenny Hilliard tallied 30 yards on nine carries and scored on a 1‐yard touchdown rush at the 12:34 mark of the 4th quarter. a. Hilliard has scored a rushing touchdown in four straight games. He has 25 career rushing touchdowns and is one TD shy of tying LaBrandon Toefield (2000‐02) for 10th place on LSU’s all‐time list. 14. WR Travin Dural tallied six receptions for 124 yards. For Dural, the six receptions matched a career‐high, and it was his third 100‐yard plus receiving game of the season. a. During his career, 21 of Dural’s 26 receptions have resulted in either a first down or a touchdown. 15. WR Malachi Dupre finished four receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns. All three marks were career highs for Dupre. 16. Dural and Dupre each recorded over 100‐yards receiving. It marked the 13th time in LSU history that the Tigers had two receivers collect over 100 receiving yards in the same game. Odell Beckham, Jr. and Jarvis Landry accomplished the feat during the TCU and Georgia games last season. 17. PK Colby Delahoussaye buried a 30‐yard field goal with 1:20 left in the 2nd quarter. He has converted on eight consecutive field goal attempts dating back to the Furman game last season and improved to 17‐of‐18 for his career. 18. LSU’s defense scored its 13th defensive touchdown under DC John Chavis on the first play of the 3rd quarter when LB Kwon Alexander forced a fumble of MSU QB Dak Prescott on a rushing play. DE Danielle Hunter recovered the ball and returned the fumble 25‐yards for a touchdown. a. The last time LSU scored a defensive touchdown was a 100‐yard interception return by Craig Loston during a 37‐17 victory over Mississippi State on Nov. 10, 2012 – a span of 19 games. b. The last time LSU returned a fumble for a touchdown was Tyrann Mathieu with a 23‐yard score versus Kentucky on Oct. 1, 2011. c. LSU is 9‐1 under Chavis and 13‐2 under Les Miles when scoring a defensive touchdown. 19. LSU’s defense recorded two sacks to bring its season total to 10 sacks through four games. a. Hunter tallied his first sack of the season and fourth career sack in the 1st quarter. b. CB Dwayne Thomas garnered his first full sack of the season during the 1st quarter and now has 4.5 career sacks. 20. S Ronald Martin amassed a career‐high 13 tackles and forced his third career fumble. 21. LB Kwon Alexander also collected 13 tackles, one shy of a career‐high.
Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU
September 20, 2014
HEAD COACH DAN MULLEN
Opening Statement… “I’m really proud of the way our kids played, how we performed. We said we had to play for four quarters‐‐‐as it turns out, we had to play for every second of that four quarters. A lot of different things happened in that game. It could’ve turned the other way for us. I’m sure I’m going to look back, and I made a whole bunch of mistakes in that game. I’ll make sure I get that corrected. Fortunately, we were able to get that win against, as everybody knows, one of the best teams in the country, in one of the hardest environments to play. I’m really proud of our guys, how we performed. We’re going to go and enjoy this bye week. I tell you that much.”
On QB Dak Prescott being stripped to start the second half … “That happened all of sudden. I think we’ve been really, kind of controlling the game. That could’ve slipped and gone the other way for us right there. But our guys‐‐‐there wasn’t one bit of panic, one bit of concern, one bit of ‘uh‐oh’. That could’ve went bad for us. I think our guys played with a lot of confidence.”
On the defense… “We played great defense throughout the night I think we’d given up nine points with three minutes left in the fourth quarter on defense. But to give up those two late scores, that just can’t happen.”
On takeaways from game… “Field position, I’m going to look at that. I don’t know that we won the field position battle tonight, that’s for sure. We seemed to be backed up the entire game, but we made plays we needed to do. We’ve been doing that all year. When we need a big play, guys step up and make that play.
On big offensive plays…. “We knew we’d have a lot of one‐on‐one matchups. We said the big key coming into this game is controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. I think we did that, I think we did. We ran for 302 yards, they ran for 89, so I think we did control the line of scrimmage. And then make big plays in one‐on‐one matchups down the field.” Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU September 20, 2014
MISSISSIPPI STATE DEFENSIVE PLAYERS
LB BENARDRICK MCKINNEY
On winning in Tiger Stadium … “I had dreams. I’ve been day dreaming all day of what type of plays I needed to make. I’ve been trying to get the front four right and just trying to get everybody to play to their highest potential and play the whole 60 minutes of the game.”
On their play as a unit … “We gave up two big plays at the end of the game to put them back in the game, but things happen in football. A victory is a victory. We just want to get better on plays like that.”
On how excited he is for the Texas A&M game … “I’m very excited. We’re going to get in the workshop, and we’re going to study film and take it game to game.”
DE PRESTON SMITH
On how they were able to win … “We just had to block out the crowd noise. It was really hard. The crowd was yelling, and you could barely hear yourself think. We knew we had to play sound football to go out and execute our assignment tonight.”
On what it was like when LSU made their push in the fourth quarter … “We never have losing in our mind. We just realize we have to finish no matter what happens. We have to finish all the way through the fourth quarter until the clock hits zero.”
On the play of QB Dak Prescott … “It was really great because Dak is a great player. He’s a great quarterback, and he can do anything with the ball in his hand.”
Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU September 20, 2014
MISSISSIPPI STATE OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
QB DAK PRESCOTT
On playing in his home state of Louisiana and getting the win for Mississippi State … “It was another game in how I prepared myself and how I got ready to go, but it was an SEC game. There’s nothing like an SEC game, coming back home to the state of Louisiana. It was a great team victory and university victory. Everybody’s happy right now.”
On his thoughts on his preparation for tonight’s game … “I pretty much knew everything they were coming with before the snap of the ball, so it paid off.”
On Mississippi State’s third down conversion to WR Jameon Lewis … “I knew what they were doing defensively, so I knew what they had back there in coverage. I knew I had time to do a little extra, and the offensive line did a great job in keeping them off of me. Nobody touched me on that play. I rolled out, and the receivers were open. Jameon (Lewis) made it look good.”
On the long‐yardage plays throughout the game … “We’ve done that all season. All season long we’ve had some big plays, 20‐plus yards plays. Any time we do that, we seize the momentum on that drive and get the confidence going and usually put a touchdown in.”
On their opening drive in the second half … “They made a nice play on the ball. I should have had two hands on it. They did a good job of picking it up and turning it around, but I told the whole sideline that I would respond. The offensive line did what they needed to, and we came back on the second drive. “
Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU September 20, 2014
LSU HEAD COACH LES MILES
Opening statement… “First of all, give Dan Mullen and Mississippi State a good bit of credit. They are a good football team. They came out and played hard. You kind of go back, review this, and say, ‘what exactly happened here?’ To me, we kind of misfired on offense at times and defensively, probably half a dozen times. We were in poor position and a couple of plays that Mississippi State makes on a scramble throw that certainly the coverage we had called should have covered it. They got unbelievable play by their quarterback. And so, we are certainly going to look and review film for some things that we need to change. We need to make calls better and communications need to happen more cleanly. First and foremost, look at me. I have to improve and be a better head coach. I think our coaches will take it exactly the same way. I think we will look at how we conducted business and what we need to do differently. I think our players will too. This is a team that has a great attitude, and I think there is still an emphasis on this season. I think we will look at this film and be miserable. There won’t be anyone smiling for a while. It happens when you play a good team. When you don’t execute and when you have your chances, you finish second. That’s what we did today.”
On freshman QB Brandon Harris’ role moving forward… “He definitely gave a strong performance when he came in. We are still going to look at the overall body of work and the things that we can do with him. He certainly made a case today that we need to look at a bit more seriously. If you look at the position he was in late in the game, he is coming. We will look at it.”
On if the offensive line got outplayed… “I don’t know that it happens quite as cleanly as that. I think you will have to look at some calls that were made defensively. We will have to look at the film before you go back and say they were outplayed. I can tell you that we can expect better play than we got. I may say that Monday or at another time, but I am not ready to say that now.”
Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU September 20, 2014
LSU OFFENSIVE PLAYERS
WR Travin Dural
On the offense’s performance … “It started out real slow. You know we kind of got it together in the second half, but it was a little too late. We started to move the ball a little bit in the third and fourth quarter.”
On why they came out slow … “I’m not sure. They are a real good defense. 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.”
On Brandon Harris’s performance coming in late … “Brandon made some plays, and that is what is expected of him. If he would have started, he would have done the same thing. Malachi (Dupre) did the same thing. When they called up on those guys, they made plays.”
On his opinion if Brandon Harris should start … “Coach Miles has done a great job on letting those two guys have a week of practice to see who’s ready. I can’t say if Brandon should get a starting job. You know every week we go to practice, and those two guys battle. Whichever one looks like they have the most talent and the coaches feel are most prepared will earn a starting spot.”
RB Terrence Magee
On the overall performance of the team… “The defense played great. I tip my hat to those guys. But offensively, we made some mistakes. We’ve got some things we need to clean up in this following week and get better going forward.”
On getting ready for next week… “When you suffer a loss like this and things go wrong, you want to start pointing fingers. That is not going to happen on this team. We are going to accept it as an offense, as a defense and as a whole team. Everyone is going to look at themselves, try to get better and develop as a team.”
On their struggles running the ball… “The (Mississippi State) defensive line did a good job of using their hands up front and letting their linebackers flow. We had some mistakes on the offense as far as the offensive line to tailback and fullback communication. We’ll get those things cleaned up... (The miscommunication) doesn’t happen a lot, but there are some things we could have cleaned up and done better on the offensive line.”
Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU September 20, 2014
LSU Defensive Players
DB JALEN MILLS
On tonight’s loss to Mississippi State… “We came out slow and then picked it up late. We have to start faster and play like the coach believes in us. We believe in ourselves. We had miscues. We had plays that we are better than and plays where we could have played better. We will review the film tomorrow and Monday and get better as a team.”
DT CHRISTIAN LACOUTURE
On tonight’s loss to Mississippi State… “We just need to focus on some things. We had a couple miscues out there tonight. There were just a couple things they gassed us on tonight. We just need to look at the film and see how to improve on that. Give credit to Mississippi State. They did a good job tonight and did what they needed to do to get the ‘W’. We have things to improve on. As a team, we are going to get better and only improve.”
On MSU QB Dak Prescott’s performance tonight… “Dak is an explosive guy. He is a guy we really focused on this week making sure that we limit him from making big plays. A couple times, we did that and had some great calls out there too. Chief (Defensive Coordinator John Chavis) put us in a great situation with stuff like that. We just have to make sure as a team we get it right. A couple times, we did that and a couple times were miscues.
CB DWAYNE THOMAS
On the defensive performance tonight … “We need to come back, practice hard and fight … We give Mississippi State credit for coming out and playing with intensity, but we fought till the very end.”
On if the team was shocked about the outcome tonight … “Not necessarily. They just came out with a high tempo. Everyone needs to stick to their role and not try to make any heroic plays. If everyone does their job we are going to be just fine down the road.”
On his thoughts about his fumble recovery during the second half … “I knew that the play was going to keep us in the game. It gave us another chance to go out and fight. We needed the big play to start off with a quick advantage. Anything can happen, and we have to play till the last minute.”