The Sports Xchange
Oct 17, 2015
Senior quarterback Dak Prescott passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns as Mississippi State cruised to a 45-20 victory over Louisiana Tech in a nonconference game at Starkville, Miss.
Junior receiver De'Runnya Wilson had seven receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns for Mississippi State (5-2). Prescott also added a rushing touchdown and redshirt freshman strong safety Brandon Bryant scored on an interception return.
Senior quarterback Jeff Driskel passed for 303 yards and two touchdowns as Louisiana Tech (4-3) had a three-game winning streak halted. Junior receiver Trent Taylor posted his sixth career 100-yard outing as he had 130 yards and one touchdown on 10 receptions.
Mississippi State led the battle of teams named Bulldogs by seven at halftime and took control with two third-quarter touchdowns. Prescott hit Wilson on a 20-yard scoring aerial with 8:55 left in the third quarter and later connected with junior receiver Fred Brown to make it 38-20 with 1:31 left in the third quarter.
Bryant's interception ended any chance of a Louisiana Tech comeback. He picked off Driskel -- the former Florida quarterback -- and returned it 73 yards for a score to increase the lead to 45-20 with 7:12 remaining.
Louisiana Tech jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead as Driskel threw touchdown passes of 21 yards to senior receiver Paul Turner and 16 yards to Taylor. Mississippi State got on the board on a 2-yard run by redshirt freshman Aeris Williams with 2:30 left in the quarter and pulled within 14-10 on a 26-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Westin Graves with 11:33 remaining in the first half.
Louisiana Tech led by seven after sophomore kicker Jonathan Barnes connected on a 33-yard field goal with 7:23 left in the half. But Mississippi State surged ahead as Prescott tossed a 5-yard scoring pass to Wilson with 2:53 to play and then scored on a 2-yard keeper with 57 seconds left to make it a 24-17 halftime lead.