Mississippi State Beats LSU in Big College Football Upset

Mississippi State sent a message that it deserves a place in the discussion when it comes to contenders in Southeastern Conference football.  On September 20th, the Bulldogs went into Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, built up a 34-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, and then held off a furious Tiger comeback to win 34-29.

Neither team’s defense distinguished itself in this contest, but these two sure can rack up the yards on offense.  The Bulldogs had 570 total yards and the Tigers had 430.  Mississippi State beat LSU for the first time since 1999 and it was the first win at Baton Rouge since 1991.

There were other upsets on this college football Saturday.  Missouri, ranked #18 in the country, lost at home to of all teams, Indiana by a score of 31-27.  Let’s see a show of hands of those who thought Indiana would be the team to help the Big Ten’s tarnished reputation against quality non conference opponents.  Actually, the Big Ten did all right for themselves, winning 12 of 13 games.  Michigan continued its decline by losing to Utah 26-10 in Ann Arbor; there were blowouts by Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan State over Mid American conference teams,  and wins over FCS teams by Northwestern and Purdue, but Iowa beat a decent Pittsburgh team, Nebraska beat Miami, and new conference members Rutgers (31-24 over Navy) and Maryland (34-20 over Syracuse) beat decent competition.  Next week Maryland plays its first Big Ten conference game against Indiana, and it should actually be entertaining.

Elsewhere, East Carolina scored 70 points and a whopping 780 yards in beating North Carolina 70-41.  The Pirates beat Virginia Tech last week and played well in a losing cause against South Carolina two weeks ago.  We may be seeing East Carolina cracking into the Top 25.  And speaking of Virginia Tech, the Hokies lost to Georgia Tech on a last second field goal 27-24.  Virginia Tech has lost two in a row since upsetting Ohio State.  Georgia Tech, 4-0, may also be entering the Top 25 soon.

It took big second halves to do it, but Oklahoma beat West Virginia 45-33. and BYU beat Virginia 41-33.  The #1 ranked Jameis Winston less Florida State Seminoles beat #22 Clemson 23-17 in overtime.  Apparently, Winston either didn’t get the word or doesn’t understand what being “suspended for the game” means as he showed up in uniform with  full pads to the astonishment of coach Jimbo Fisher, who sent him back to the locker room to change.