BATON ROUGE, La. -- Dak Prescott treated a national audience to an extraordinary performance and Mississippi State ended a 14-year losing streak against LSU by holding off a wild rally after most Tigers fans had left Death Valley.
Prescott passed for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns and highlighted his 105 yards rushing with a 56-yard scoring run as Mississippi State celebrated a stunning 34-29 victory over No. 8 LSU.
MSU led 34-10 in the fourth quarter, but LSU scored three late touchdowns, including two in a span of 28 seconds. That set up a last-second desperation heave by LSU backup quarterback Brandon Harris, which was intercepted by Will Redmond at the goal line.
Prescott, a Louisiana native, not only helped the Bulldogs (4-0) beat LSU (3-1) for the first time since 1999, but win in Tiger Stadium for the first time since 1991 -- about two years before Prescott was born.
His touchdown passes included a 74-yarder to Jameon Lewis, who had five catches for 116 yards. De'Runnya Wilson caught four passess for 91 yards, including a tough 9-yard touchdown catch along the sideline to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead. Josh Robinson rushed 16 times for 197 yards and 1 touchdown for MSU, which led 17-3 at halftime and never trailed.
LSU's offense struggled to sustain drives until after MSU had built a 34-10 fourth-quarter lead, although the Tigers somehow managed to make the final minutes interesting.
Malachi Dupre caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from backup Brandon Harris with 1:55 left, and after an MSU fumble on a bad shotgun snap in its own territory, Harris found Dupre again from 30 yards to make it a one-score game with 1:27 left.
The Bulldogs recovered LSU's onside kick attempt, then left LSU only 20 seconds after a punt through the end zone. Still, Harris managed to get the Tigers to midfield in time for one last desperate deep pass to the goal line.
Will Redmond intercepted the pass as time expired and was mobbed by teammates as players wearing maroon jerseys celebrated on the field, while the few LSU fans who stuck around fell suddenly silent.
Mississippi State had won its first three games easily, but those victories over Southern Mississippi, UAB and South Alabama hadn't won over enough poll voters to get the Bulldogs into the Top 25.
That's bound to change after Mississippi State became first unranked team to win in Tiger Stadium since Mississippi did it in 2008, when LSU was ranked 18th.
The buildup to the game was significant in Baton Rouge because it marked the first SEC game in Tiger Stadium since it had been expanded with new seating rising steeply above the south end zone, increasing capacity to more than 102,000.
During the Tigers' previous two home games -- victories of 56-0 over Sam Houston State and 31-0 over Louisiana-Monroe -- fans left early. With the Bulldogs leading 31-10 and driving inside the LSU 20 as the third quarter ended, fans started filing out early again.
The LSU defense, which was oozing with confidence after shutting out opponents for the equivalent of about 10 quarters, was staggered repeatedly by Prescott and Co. Mississippi State gained 20 or more yards on 10 separate plays. Those included a 66-yard run by Robinson which set up a second-quarter field goal to make it 17-0.
LSU was as close as 17-10 after defensive end Danielle Hunter returned Prescott's fumble for a 25-yard score early in the third quarter. Prescott responded the on the next series by ripping off his long scoring run, faking defensive back Jalen Collins to the ground with a hard cutback to the right before outracing remaining pursuers to the goal line.
NO. 13 GEORGIA 66, TROY 0
ATHENS, Ga. — Sony Michel ran for 155 yards and three touchdowns to highlight a big day for freshmen in No. 13 Georgia’s 66-0 win over Troy on Saturday. Michel, playing behind Todd Gurley, had a 75-yard gain to set up his second touchdown.
Among other standout freshmen for Georgia (2-1) were receiver Isaiah McKenzie, who scored on a 52-yard punt return, and Bryce Ramsey, who threw his first career touchdown pass.
Dontreal Pruitt started at quarterback for Troy (0-4) as Brandon Silvers was held out after leaving last week’s loss to Abilene Christian with a concussion. The Trojans’ last 0-4 start was in 1982.
The Bulldogs posted their highest scoring game since a 70-6 win over Northeast Louisiana in 1994 and their most lopsided victory since beating The Citadel 76-0 in 1958.
Troy finished with only 216 yards, including 68 on its first possession. The Trojans held the ball for 12 plays on the opening drive, but it ended when Ryan Kay was wide right on a 26-yard field goal attempt.
Pruitt completed 16 of 27 passes for 158 yards with an interception.
Georgia led 45-0 at halftime.
SOUTH CAROLINA 48,
VANDERBILT 34
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Now Steve Spurrier trails only Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most SEC victories by a coach. Better yet, his 14th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks shook off a hangover to win their third consecutive game.
Dylan Thompson threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns and he ran for another score as South Carolina rallied from 14 points down to beat Vanderbilt. Spurrier now has 202 SEC victories, breaking a tie with Vince Dooley and putting him second only to Bryant (292). Spurrier also picked up his 20th victory all-time against the Commodores.
The Gamecocks (3-1, 2-1) started slow coming off their 38-35 victory over Georgia in their first road trip this season. They got going by scoring 17 points in the second quarter, part of 24 consecutive points that gave them the lead for good.
Darrius Sims returned two kickoffs for touchdowns for Vanderbilt. The Commodores (1-3, 0-2) pulled to 34-27 with 5:57 left but couldn’t get closer.
Sports on 09/21/2014