Mississippi State vs. Louisiana final score: Bulldogs triumph over Ragin’ Cajuns, 38-28

Kylin Hill rumbled for 197 yards on the way to a season-opening win for the Mississippi St. Bulldogs.

The victory wasn’t easy to come by at first as the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns played the Bulldogs tough. But eventually, State was able to break through and clinch a 38-28 dub to get victory #1 on the season out of the way.

Tommy Stevens’ debut in maroon and white went about as well as it could’ve. The Penn State Nittany Lions transfer went 20-for-30 for 236 yards. He tossed two touchdowns, one to Austin Williams and the other to Osirus Mitchell. His best quarter came in the third, when he went 8-for-10 on his passing attempts. That naturally coincided with State pulling away from Louisiana.

The aforementioned Hill may have only found the end zone once, but he may very well have been the best player on the whole field. He picked up 7.3 yards per carry against the Ragin’ Cajuns defense on his 27 attempts on the day. He romped on his longest run on his first carry, which was good for 20 yards. He was rather methodical after that, but still was able to cut through when he needed to.

State’s defense looked a little bit more concerning in the second half versus the first, though. Louisiana upped their yards per play from 4.4 to 6.3, logged more TOP and total yards. Their numbers weren’t super gaudy or anything, but State wasn’t able to wrestle the ball away from them much (45 plays to State’s 28 in the second half). That being said, they were able to keep them away from the end zone for the entire third quarter and the two touchdowns they gave up in the fourth quarter wound up not being a factor. So, from a yardage standpoint, State may look to shore things up. But points wise? They were just fine.

Mississippi State won’t play again until September 14, when they welcome the Kansas State Wildcats to town.