STARKVILLE, Miss. – The reigning Southland Conference champion Southeastern Louisiana University football team dropped a 48-7 decision to Mississippi State in the season opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Davis Wade Stadium.
Southeastern (0-1) cut the Bulldog lead to 10-7 late in the second quarter, but Mississippi State (1-0) would score 38 unanswered points to pull away for the win, outscoring the No. 15 Lions, 28-0 after halftime.
Eli Sawyer (11-for-19, 85 yards) and
Zachary Clement (5-for-10, 40 yards, 1 TD) shared time under center for Southeastern, which finished with 208 total yards.
Harlan Dixon led SLU with 51 yards rushing, as well as four catches for 42 yards.
Ian Goodly led Southeastern with 15 tackles, while
Herman Christophe IV was credited with 10 stops. All-SEC quarterback Will Rogers (20-for-29, 227 yards, 2 TD) engineered a 525-yard offensive output for the Bulldogs, while Jo'Quavious Marks led the MSU ground attack with 127 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
The two teams traded punts to open the game before the Bulldogs got on the board first with a 12-play, 56-yard scoring drive.
Khamron Ford sacked Rogers to force MSU into a 47-yard field goal by Kyle Ferrie that staked the Bulldogs to a 3-0 advantage with 4:02 left in the opening quarter.
On the opening play of the second quarter, Mississippi State's Nathaniel Watson stripped
Jacob Logan to allow MSU to take over at the Lion 36-yard line. Three plays later, Marks powered in from a yard out to extend the lead to 10-0 with 13:46 left in the opening half.
On the ensuing possession, SLU got on the scoreboard. Sawyer engineered a 16-play, 89-yard drive that took just over eight minutes off the clock. The Lions converted three-of-four third-down tries and a fourth-down attempt on the scoring drive, as Clement found Logan from two yards out to pull the Lions within, 10-7, with 5:32 left in the second quarter.
The Bulldogs answered right back. Rogers found Creed Whittemore from 33 yards out to give MSU a 17-7 advantage with 1:29 remaining in the half. After a SLU three-and-out, Mississippi State tacked on a 49-yard Ferrie field goal to go into the break with a 20-7 lead.
Southeastern went three-and-out to start the third quarter and Mississippi State drove deep into Lion territory. However,
Anthony Britton Jr. broke up a Rogers pass on fourth-and-four to turn the Bulldogs over and keep the score at 20-7.
The Bulldogs finally added to their lead late in the third quarter. A 51-yard quarterback keeper by Mike Wright set up a five-yard scoring toss from Rogers to Jaden Walley to send MSU into the final quarter up, 27-7.
On the first play of the final period, John Lewis blocked an
Austin Dunlap punt and Trent Singleton returned it 11 yards to give MSU a 34-7 lead seven seconds into the fourth quarter.
Mississippi State added to its lead after a Southeastern punt, as Marks found the end zone from six yards out to extend the Bulldog advantage to 41-7 with 9:20 remaining. MSU further lengthened its lead when Whittemore broke loose on a 53-yard end around to put the Bulldogs up, 48-7, with 5:19 remaining to close out the scoring.
Next, the Lions will travel to South Alabama for a 4 p.m. contest Sept. 9 in Mobile, Alabama in the second of three straight Southeastern road games to start 2023. The Lions-Jaguars tilt will be seen on ESPN+ and can be heard on the Southeastern Sports Radio Network (Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM, The Boss 103.7 FM/WFPR 1400 AM).
Season and single-game tickets for the 2023 home football season, which includes visits from HCU (Sept. 23), Tarleton State (Sept. 30), Lamar (Oct. 14), McNeese (Nov. 4) and Nicholls (Nov. 18) are available online at
https://vivenu.com/event/2023-football-2klkar.
SLU – 0 7 0 0 – 7 (0-1)
MSU – 3 17 7 21 – 48 (1-0)
Scoring Summary
1
st Quarter
MSU – Ferrie 47 FG, 4:02
2
nd Quarter
MSU – Marks 1 run (Ferrie kick), 13:46
SLU – Logan 2 pass from Clement (Callaghan kick), 5:32
MSU – Whittemore 33 pass from Rogers (Ferrie kick), 1;29
MSU – Ferrie 49 FG, 0:00
3
rd Quarter
MSU – Walley 5 pass from Rogers (Ferrie kick), 1:30
4
th Quarter
MSU – Singleton 11 yard blocked punt return (Ferrie kick), 14:53
MSU – Marks 6 run (Ferrie kick), 9:20
MSU – Whittemore 53 run (Ferrie kick), 5:19
SLU MSU
FIRST DOWNS 10 23
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) 26-83 39-298
PASSING YDS (NET) 125 227
Passes Att-Comp-Int 28-16-0 29-20-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS 54-208 68-525
Fumble Returns-Yards 0-0 1-0
Kickoff Returns-Yards 7-142 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards 0-0 3-37
Interception Returns-Yards 0-0 0-0
Punts (Number-Avg) 8-40.5 2-37.5
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 5-25 1-15
Possession Time. 28:58 31:02
Third-Down Conversions 5-for-15 5-for-11
Fourth-Down Conversions 1-for-2 1-for-2
Red Zone Scores-Chances 1-for-1 4-for-5
RUSHING: SLU – Dixon 8-51, Graham Jr. 5-23, Sharp 1-13, Zuell 4-12, Jackson 2-11, Williams 1-1, Sawyer 2-(-8), Clement 3-(-20). Totals – 26-83. MSU – Marks 19-127, Wright 5-95, Whittemore 2-57, Pittman 3-14, Price 1-6, Davis 2-6, Lee 1-4, Griffin 2-(-2), Rogers 2-(-7). Totals – 39-298.
PASSING: SLU – Sawyer 11-19-85-0-0, Clement 5-9-40-1-0. Totals – 16-38-125-1-0. MSU – Rogers 20-29-227-2-0. Totals – 20-29-227-2-0.
RECEIVING: SLU – Dixon 4-42, Lewis 3-25, Sharp 2-20, Logan 2-11, Domingeaux 2-10, Hugley 1-7, Graham Jr. 1-5, Hill 1-5. Totals – 16-125. MSU – Marks 4-59, Whittemore 4-59, Griffin 4-33, Robinson 3-26, Walley 2-9, Harmon 1-17, Bellazar 1-13, Mosley 1-11. Totals – 20-227.
A –50,041.
TICKETS
For ticket information, contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit
www.LionSports.net. Southeastern will continue offering mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2023-24 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail or text message in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Football, follow @LionUpFootball and @Coach_Scelfo on X, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and follow lionupfootball on Instagram.
TOUCHDOWN CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the football program are encouraged to join the Touchdown Club. Lion football alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
All membership fees and donations to both the Touchdown Club and S Club (football) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern football program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting
www.LionUp.com.
INSIDE SOUTHEASTERN FOOTBALL WITH FRANK SCELFO
The 2023 season of Inside Southeastern Football with
Frank Scelfo is airing from its new home – Walk-On's Sports Bistreaux (305 CM Fagan Dr) in Hammond. Hosted by Scelfo and Allen Waddell, the hour-long radio show will air Mondays throughout the football season on Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM and The Boss 103.7 FM/WFPR 1400 AM.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of the 2018 football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
