South Alabama stuns Mississippi State 21-20
STARKVILLE —Clanging cowbells echoed throughout the Junction. Students sprinted into Davis Wade Stadium more than two hours prior to kickoff against South Alabama to claim front row real estate in the north end zone seating.
Thirty minutes later Mississippi State’s players entered the stadium fresh off the first Dawg Walk of the 2016 season. Sticking with tradition they trekked the 140 yards or so to the same end zone, where the students greeted them with more cowbell.
Saturday morning’s pregame routine in MSU’s 21-20 loss mimicked that of any the last five years. But the 57,075 in attendance noticed the glaring difference: Dak Prescott wasn’t under center.
With the best quarterback to ever come through Mississippi State, an opener against South Alabama would have been a layup. Without him, the Bulldogs suffered the worst loss under Dan Mullen to a 28 point underdog.
Westin Graves missed a 28 yard field goal with six seconds remaining as MSU's last chance to salvage the spoiled opner.
Damian Williams guided Mississippi State inside South Alabama’s 20 yard line and set up a game winning field goal attempt. Graves missed the 28 yard attempt after making a career-long 47-yarder earlier.
The last second drive came after MSU led 17-0 at halftime, built upon the play of Williams.
The quarterback completed his first nine passes. He didn’t throw an incompletion until 5:30 remained in the second quarter. The junior guided Mississippi State to scores in his first four drives leading to 20 points. He struggled to move the offense late in the third quarter and into the fourth.
But he took over with 57 seconds remaining and 65 yards away from the endzone.
The one time he did, Westin Graves missed a 46 yard field goal. The sophomore made one from 47 yards earlier in the game.
The game’s starter, Nick Fitzgerald, logged only three drives in the first half. He misfired on all three pass attempt, two were batted down. The only other action he saw was to take a knee at the end of the first half.