On a brisk but beautiful Saturday morning at Davis Wade Stadium, the Mississippi State Bulldogs welcomed in-state foe Southern Miss for an exciting matchup. Southern Miss jumped out on top of Mississippi State early with a quick touchdown to put the pressure on the home team. However, despite the early deficit, Mississippi State found a way to win the game despite Southern Miss making things intriguing late in the 4th quarter.

In the first half, Mississippi State failed to create an offensive flow to sustain drives. Kicker Kyle Ferrie scored nine out of the 16 first-half points for Mississippi State, giving the Bulldogs a halftime advantage of 16-7 over the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss would receive the ball to start the second half. After a three and out for Southern Miss, Mississippi State would take the ball down the field, finishing the drive with a touchdown pass from Will Rogers to Woody Marks to extend the Bulldogs lead to 23-7 over the Golden Eagles. With 13:16 remaining in the game, Southern Miss would put together an impressive drive capped off by a touchdown pass from Billy Wiles to Cole Cavallo to cut into the Mississippi State lead by making it 23-13. Kyle Ferrie would help Mississippi State respond with another field goal to extend the Bulldogs lead to 26-13 with 8:05 to play. Jakarius Caston would take the ensuing kick-off 98 yards for a Southern Miss touchdown to close the gap to six points with 7:52 to play. Jeffery Pittman found the hole in a second and long situation, taking it to the house, extending the Mississippi State lead to 34-20 with 7:14 remaining. As fate would have it, Jett Johnson would seal the deal for the Mississippi State Bulldogs as Johnson picked off and returned a Southern Miss pass with 3:30 to play to make it 41-20 Bulldogs.

It wasn’t pretty, but Mississippi State found a way to take care of business on Saturday in the final tune-up before the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night. Given the adversity facing Mississippi State on Saturday heading into the Southern Miss game, a win as ugly as it was is the only thing that matters. With the win, Mississippi State is one win away from earning a trip to compete in the postseason for the 14th straight season, a streak dating back to the 2010 season.

Overall, a win is a win. Now, it’s Egg Bowl week for the state of Mississippi, as the nation turns its attention to Davis Wade Stadium on Thanksgiving night for one of the most intense rivalries in college football. Last season, it was the Mississippi State Bulldogs taking home the Golden Egg back to Starkville in what would be the final game in the storied career of Mike Leach.

A win over Ole Miss on Thanksgiving night and the Bulldogs will be heading back to the postseason with a sixth win.