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Mississippi State Football: 3 takeaways from win over Louisiana in Week 1

By Connor Muldowney

NEW ORLEANS, LA - AUGUST 31: Quarterback Tommy Stevens #7 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs celebrates with offensive lineman Tommy Champion #70 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs after scoring a touchdown in the second half of play during their game against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns at Mercedes Benz Superdome on August 31, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - AUGUST 31: Quarterback Tommy Stevens #7 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs celebrates with offensive lineman Tommy Champion #70 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs after scoring a touchdown in the second half of play during their game against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns at Mercedes Benz Superdome on August 31, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /
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The Tommy Stevens era got off to a strong start for Mississippi State football with a win over Louisiana in New Orleans. What’d we learn?

Mississippi State entered a new era to start the 2019 season. In Joe Moorhead’s second year as head coach, the Bulldogs would be without Nick Fitzgerald under center for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

Enter, Tommy Stevens.

The Penn State-transfer garnered all the headlines this offseason as he came in after spring ball and stole the starting job from Keytaon Thompson. Was it the right choice? Well, he led the Bulldogs to a Week 1 win over the Ragin’ Cajuns in New Orleans.

What’d we learn from Mississippi State’s win over Louisiana in Week 1?

3. Defense is a work in progress

Losing three players who were drafted in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft meant that Mississippi State might be in a rebuild mode defensively, but there was still talent returning to that side of the ball. It was clear that the defense is going to take some time to gel.

Don’t get me wrong, the pieces are there, but Mississippi State should not be giving up the type of yardage and clutch first downs to a team like Louisiana that it did on Saturday afternoon.

Louisiana was getting chunk plays in the fourth quarter which kept the Ragin’ Cajuns in the game with time winding down. A 35-14 lead seemed to put the game away in the second half, but Louisiana kept moving the ball, scoring a touchdown to pull within 14 and then driving again with under five minutes remaining to try and pull within one score.

The defense has some things to clean up if it wants to get back to that 2018 form.

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