Football Moves To 2-0 With 57-21 Victory At Louisiana Tech

Saturday, September 9

Ruston, La.

6:30 PM

Mississippi State

2-0

Louisiana Tech

1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Mississippi State

LATECH

Football Moves To 2-0 With 57-21 Victory At Louisiana Tech

September 09, 2017 | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes & Quotes Photo Gallery VIDEO: Game Highlights

RUSTON, La. - A solid performance on both sides of the ball for the second straight week led Mississippi State (2-0) to a convincing 57-21 victory at Louisiana Tech (1-1) Saturday night.

Things were a bit shaky early on for State, as Tech mounted a 9-0 lead. But the Bulldogs from Starkville answered with 36 consecutive points of their own to take total control of the contest. Leading 36-14 at halftime, MSU picked up right where it left off in the second half, outscoring Tech 21-7, the lone LTU score coming in the final seconds of the game.

"I think overall we played well and set our selves up for the start of league play next week," head coach Dan Mullen said after the win.

Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald had another big night, giving way to Keytaon Thompson midway through the second half for the second week in a row. Fitzgerald accounted for 235 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. He was 12-for-18 for 124 yards and three scores through the air while rushing for 111 yards and two TDs. Gabe Myles, Donald Gray and Jordan Thomas all hauled in TD receptions for the Bulldogs, while rookie Kylin Hill scored for the first time in his career with a rushing touchdown. Aeris Williams rushed nine times for 107 yards on the night.

Defensively, State had another very effective game, forcing three turnovers. Jeffery Simmons was the star of the night, as the sophomore defensive lineman scored two touchdowns, recovering two blocked punts - one in the end zone (which he blocked himself) in the first half and returning the other 90 yards for a score in the second half after Gerri Green blocked the kick.

"Oh, it was crazy, wasn't it? We go safe punt block, and he (Simmons) just blows it up in the middle," Mullen told reporters after the game. "That was pretty exciting to see. I know he's a talented player, but don't mistake that for how hard he works every day in practice."

State returns to the friendly confines of Davis Wade Stadium next Saturday, Sept. 16, hosting No. 12 LSU (2-0) to open SEC action. The contest is slated for a 6 p.m. kickoff and will be televised by ESPN.

Mississippi State Head Coach Dan Mullen Quotes

DAN MULLEN: -- Offensively we've got to clean some things up. We've got to constantly execute cleaner throughout the course of a game, but I think overall we played well and get ready for league play next week.

Q. The impact a guy like Simmons can have not just on defense but making special teams plays like that? DAN MULLEN: That was crazy, wasn't it? Safe punt, blocks the punt, scores, and, you know, he was going crazy. That was pretty exciting to see, you know what I mean? He's a guy that works his tail off. Not -- I know he's a very talented player, but don't mistake that for the fact of how hard he works every day at practice to be able to put himself in a position to make those plays.

Q. Can you explain the 80-something yard loss by --

DAN MULLEN: That's what I'm sayin' that's crazy stuff right there. Like our guys are saying, we might get top-10 play of the week, with Jeffrey with two touchdowns in the game, and then we're going to get top-10 worst play of the week. Was that like -- I'm like watchin' it and I'm like just pick it up. It was like -- honestly! (Laughter.) Looked worse than Liverpool did this morning (Away from mic.) Awful.

Q. Michael Story got thrown in at left guard today. What did you think of him?

DAN MULLEN: We'll see on film. Like I said, the offense at times, I thought, executed fairly well. We were able to run the ball fairly well today. What did we have? 327, you know, which is big. When you come on the road you want to be able to be -- you know, you come on the road in an environment -- they're ready for this game, a very explosive offense that we were going to play. A team that's picked to win their conference championship, and you want to be able to establish the run game. We were able to do that and play a bunch of different guys.

Q. Gerri Green had a huge game. What made him effective?

DAN MULLEN: Work ethic. He's another one. I mean, Gerri -- Gerri is poster child-type person, you know what I mean? Great student, leadership committee, everything you ask him to do he's going to do as hard as he possibly can. And, you know, that translates when you watch him play. The energy he plays the game with, the intensity he plays with is pretty special.

Q. The defense were down 9 -0, and they spearheaded a contrast from last year. What have you seen from that unit?

DAN MULLEN: I was pleased with the team. You're on the road. We have a young football team, and we drop down 9-0. Todd does a fantastic job. Everybody just calm down, you know what I mean? We're down 9-0 on a 2-yard drive and a long pass -- one play for a long pass play, so -- you know what I mean? But I was really pleased that -- he did a great job, our defensive coach calming guys down, and I'm pleased with the leadership on the team. The maturity they have. All of the sudden you're on the road and boy, I mean, you look -- atrocious start, and now we allow the crowd to get excited. Everybody just calmed down and did their job and everybody came out and started making plays.

Q. You had them rolling offensively. What made the run game so good tonight?

DAN MULLEN: We blocked 'em up front, you know what I mean? And that's -- that's what it did. Then you put on top -- I mean, to me, Aeris was running the ball hard, shoot, he only had 9 carries, huh?

Q. Wished he had more?

DAN MULLEN: Well, no, I thought he had some more, because, like I say, I thought he was running hard and physical, you know what I mean? It wasn't -- like you look at Fitz' number, sometimes, Fitz with 10 carries has three or four hard-nosed runs and a lot of runs to the outside and run out-of-bounds or on an option play, you know? And Aeris I thought was churning pretty well and helped -- you know, you expect Fitz to get the bigger runs, more than Aeris, but I thought we blocked and he made some good runs.

Q. (Away from mic.) -- the rotation of running back. What have you seen from him?

DAN MULLEN: The same thing. Him and Kylin, both talented players. You love to get 'em on the field but you gotta see them -- you know, it's one of the hardest things, you know, because if you're a fan you're looking at the film and see these guys running with the ball, but there's a lot of other things you have to do. Like Aeris played a bunch, had 9 carries. There's a lot of other things you have to do and they're still growing and maturing. And Greg is constantly staying with them and trying to accelerate those guys because they're talented backs. We just gotta make sure they can do all the other things when they're not carrying the ball, the right way.

Q. Help those guys mature in a week to play an LSU football team?

DAN MULLEN: They're an excellent football team -- a top-10 football team, you know what I mean? They've got a ridiculous amount of talent. So we gotta -- we gotta take another step forward this week and it's a great challenge for us to prepare harder, practice harder, play harder next Saturday.