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MSU won the game vs. UMass in New England, but it wasn’t pretty.
Bulldogs win 47-35 in a game that featured a horrible first quarter, a mediocre second quarter, a good third quarter and back to a mediocre 4th quarter.
State trailed at halftime by a score of 14-13 despite only allowing four first downs and out-gaining the Minutemen by nearly two to one. But an 83 yard run for a TD in the 1st quarter accounted for most of their offense, and the Bulldogs sputtered on several drives, trailing 14-6 at one point.
In the 3rd quarter however, MSU put up 28 points to seemingly put the game out of reach. That was until UMass scored a couple of touchdowns to get within six points with five minutes to go. At that point, Nick Fitzgerald and Ashton Shumpert willed their way into the endzone to seal the game with a two-score lead.
The Mississippi State defense finally forced some turnovers, getting three interceptions including one pick-six by Jamoral Graham.
Fitzgerald threw for a career high 299 yards and ran for 108 more. Fred Ross had 126 yards receiving to lead the team.
It was an ugly game for sure. State’s offensive line resembled Swiss cheese for most of the 1st half. Despite a decent defensive performance in the 1st half, they didn’t hold up well against the Minutemen in the 2nd half and ultimately gave up 411 total yards to their less than average offense.
A win is a win, I suppose. It sure wasn’t pretty but the Dawgs are 2-2 going into the off week. We’ll discuss further over the next couple of days.
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