It has become the Mississippi State football team's slogan because of its recent dominance of rival Ole Miss, which Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen often refers to as that "school up north."
A giant banner with the same message hangs on a side of Scott Field, and LSU coach Les Miles had to chuckle if he saw it before Thursday night's SEC opener against the No. 25 Bulldogs.
If Mississippi State owns the state, it's still paying taxes to Miles, whose team beat them for a seventh consecutive time with a 19-6 victory in front of a crowd of 56,924. Overall, MSU has lost 19 of its past 20 games against LSU, including 12 in a row.
After struggling to a 6-3 lead at the half, the No. 3 Tigers' defense dominated the overmatched Bulldogs in the second half, holding them to 76 yards of offense and five first downs in the final 30 minutes.
"We weren't perfect by any stretch, but I felt like the intensity of the defense was strong and that ended up being the tale of the day," Miles said. "I felt like the offense did the things that they needed to do. I think we did the things we needed to do to win."
LSU's defense is about as close to perfect as it gets. The Bulldogs averaged 321 rushing yards in their first two games, a 59-14 rout of Memphis and 41-34 loss at Auburn, the defending BCS national champions. But MSU managed only 52 rushing yards on 34 attempts against LSU, which had a whopping 15 tackles for loss.
"That's how we play every snap," LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne said. "We don't want anybody to get anything on us."
Most offenses will probably have a difficult time just getting past LSU's first line of defense. The Tigers can go as deep as about eight players up front, rotating tackles and ends in and out of the game to wear down offensive linemen. Every player seems as good or better than the one he replaced. Against Mississippi State, LSU ends Kendrick Adams and tackles Bennie Logan, Michael Brockers and Anthony Johnson combined for 10½ tackles for loss and 3½ sacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment