Mississippi State travelled to the southern part of the state as they opened the 2025 season with a rivalry game against Southern Miss. A Southern Miss team, in fact, is looking to make a statement in the first game of the Coach Charles Huff era in Hattiesburg with a win over an in-state SEC school. 

Southern Miss would win the opening coin toss, opting to defer to the second half, giving Coach Lebby and the Bulldogs the ball first with an opportunity to make a statement of their own to open the game. Mississippi State would take the first drive for a touchdown as Blake Shapen found Seydou Traore on a 55-yard touchdown pass to give the Bulldogs the early 7-0 advantage over Southern Miss. Southern Miss would respond with a field goal to cut it to 7-3 in favor of Mississippi State. From there, Kyle Ferrie would drill a career-long 55-yard field goal to extend the Mississippi State lead with a little over 3:00 remaining in the first quarter. The 55-yard field goal also marked the longest field goal ever made in the history of MM Roberts Stadium. At the end of the first quarter, Mississippi State held on to a 10-3 lead over Southern Miss with the Golden Eagles facing another big 4th and one from the 45-yard line. 

As the second quarter rolled around, the Mississippi State defense held Southern Miss on 4th and one, giving the Bulldogs the ball back. However, as it turned out, the Mississippi State drive would quickly stall, giving Southern Miss the ball back after a punt. Southern Miss would capitalize on the Mississippi State offensive woes by putting together a nice scoring drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Braylon Braxton to Micah Davis to tie it at 10-10 with 9:32 on the clock in the second quarter. Kyle Ferrie would drill a 33-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining in the half to give Mississippi State a 13-10 halftime lead over the Golden Eagles. 

Blake Shapen led the game in passing at the half with 130 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, while Braylon Braxton finished the half with 114 yards through the air with one touchdown. Kyle Ferrie was the player of the half for Mississippi State after finishing two for two with six of the 13 points. 

After deferring to start the game, Southern Miss would open the second half with the ball, looking to make a statement with the second half opening drive. A late hit on the offense and the Mississippi State defense once again forced Southern Miss to punt, giving the Bulldogs the ball back with a 13-10 lead. Fluff Bothwell would end the Mississippi State with a six-yard run to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 20-10 over the Golden Eagles with 9:34 on the third quarter clock. Fluff Bothwell added another goal-line touchdown to make it 27-10 Mississippi State late in the third quarter. Davon Booth would add another touchdown with 1:52 on the third quarter clock to make it 34-10. 

With a 34-10 lead heading into the 4th quarter, the game was all but over, and the remaining quarter was more practice reps before the showdown with Arizona State next Saturday night at Davis Wade Stadium. 

Outside of the slow start to the first half, Mississippi State did what they had to earn the first win of the season over an in-state foe. Added to that was the second-half performance, where the Bulldogs looked the part of an SEC team playing a program like Southern Miss. Half the battle is looking the part, and Mississippi State did that, plus doing enough on offense, while on the defensive side, the Bulldogs looked like a new team from last season.  

Mississippi State will return to action next Saturday night as they welcome Arizona State to Davis Wade Stadium. 

Photo Credits- Mississippi State Football on X