Mississippi St. Bulldogs 34, LSU Tigers 29: State Sneaks Out Win After Nearly Blowing 24-Point Lead

Tiger Stadium's record crowd of 102,321 largely emptied after Mississippi State took a 34-10 lead with 14:49 remaining. The small contingent that remained witnessed a 19-point LSU rally and throw toward the endzone as time expired that could have won the game for LSU.

LSU's true freshman backup quarterback, Brandon Harris, entered the game with less than four minutes remaining and the Tigers trailing 34-16 and led LSU to two touchdowns in a 30-second period to give the Tigers a chance to win. The second touchdown came after Mississippi State's backup center, Archie Muniz, snapped the ball over Dak Prescott's head and the Tigers recovered the ball at the Mississippi State 30. Two plays later, Harris hit fellow freshman Malachi Dupre in the endzone to make the score 34-29 and set up a furious final minute and a half.

Mississippi State recovered the ensuing onside kick, but with LSU having two timeouts, Mississippi State went three-and-out and punted back to LSU. Harris completed a pass for 22 yards to Travin Dural and rushed for 12 yards to get to the Mississippi State 46-yard line with less than 10 seconds remaining. Harris' pass into the endzone was intercepted by Will Redmond to finally ensure the victory that Mississippi State looked to have wrapped up a quarter earlier.

The win marked the first time the Bulldogs have beaten LSU since 1999, and the first victory for Mississippi State in Baton Rouge since 1991.

After pitching back-to-back home shutouts for the first time since 1941, LSU's defense gave up a touchdown on Mississippi State's opening drive and struggled on both lines of scrimmage for much of the game as the Bulldogs rushed for over 300 yards while holding LSU to 2.5 yards per carry and under 100 yards (35 carries for 89 yards). Mississippi State running back Josh Robinson ran for a career-high 197 yards on 16 carries with one touchdown.

Dak Prescott slammed the door on critics who panned his big game ability by leading the Bulldogs to touchdowns on two of their first three drives and racking up 268 passing yards and 105 rushing yards. After LSU gained momentum on the first play after halftime by stripping Prescott for a 25-yard Danielle Hunter fumble recovery touchdown, Prescott led Mississippi State to two straight touchdown drives. The first was capped by a 56-yard Prescott rushing touchdown while the second was capped by a highlight reel worthy 74-yard pass to Jameon Lewis, in which Prescott scrambled away from pressure before finding a wide-open Lewis.

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings was harassed by Mississippi State's defense all game. Jennings often missed open receivers and received treatment on his non-throwing shoulder after taking several jarring hits. Three-time defending SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week Preston Smith sacked Jennings twice and put on a solid case to be considered the best defensive lineman in the SEC. Jennings finished 13-of-26 for 157 yards and zero touchdowns or interceptions. Harris finished 6-of-9 for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns in three drives of work.

Mississippi State will surely leap into the top 25 polls and set up a weekend of potential undefeated teams in Mississippi on Oct. 4 with the Bulldogs hosting Texas A&M while their archrival Ole Miss faces Alabama.