Mississippi State improves to 4-0 ahead of upcoming showdown with No. 15 Tennessee

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi State moved to 4-0 for the first time since 2014 with a 38-10 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday.

The Bulldogs navigated sloppy play for most of the game but pulled away late in the win. Mississippi State trailed 3-0 after the first possession and led just 14-10 going into halftime before outscoring the Huskies 17-0 in the second half.

“I think we’ve got a tough football team,” Bulldogs coach Jeff Lebby said. “We’ve got a team that will respond the right way when things aren’t perfect. There’s been those moments in a lot of different ways where things haven’t been perfect. Our guys have responded the right way. Good football teams do that. Tough football teams do that.”

The ground game is what got the Bulldogs there as they averaged 6.0 yards per carry 49 attempts for 292 yards against a defense that has been stingy against the run. NIU (1-2) came into the game surrendering just 74.0 yards per game, including holding Maryland under 100 yards a week ago.

Leading the charge on the ground for Mississippi State was South Alabama transfer Fluff Bothwell, who notched 100 yards for the first time in his Bulldogs career. Bothwell rushed 17 times for 101 yards and Davon Booth scored two touchdowns to lead the way. Xavier Gayten came in and had four carries for 45 yards and scored a touchdown late in the game.

“It’s a big achievement,” Bothwell said of his 100-yard performance. “At the end of the day it really doesn’t mean anything. The biggest thing is us winning and keep stacking days.”

Blake Shapen was 12 of 20 for 160 yards and a touchdown and had 11 carries for 51 yards. The Bulldogs had 452 yards of total offense and overcame 11 penalties for 104 yards. Mississippi State was 4-for-4 on 4th downs.

It wasn’t Shapen’s best game, and the senior quarterback acknowledged that. He missed some big plays and took some unnecessary hits, but he helped the Bulldogs to yet another win.

“I’ve got to be a lot better. The biggest takeaway for me is that I didn’t play my best game,” Shapen said. “I wasn’t on my A game and I’ve got to be better. That’s something for me that I’ve got to be better at moving forward.”

NIU had 267 yards of total offense with 125 yards on the ground.

Jahron Manning made seven tackles to lead the way for the MSU defense and Isaac Smith had six tackles and his first career interception. Mississippi State had 6.0 tackles for loss.

The Bulldogs have a major matchup with No. 15 Tennessee next week and Saturday looked the part of a trap game. In the second half, Mississippi State woke up and got the job done to set up a big one against the Volunteers.

Northern Illinois has played spoiler before against Power 4 opponents. On Saturday, they had everything fall into place in the first half to repeat a game like they had against Notre Dame a year ago. This time, they came up short.

Mississippi State hosts Tennessee on Saturday.

Northern Illinois hosts San Diego State on Saturday.

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