Second-Half Surge Sends State To 4-0
September 20, 2025 | Football
STARKVILLE – Things were a little shaky in the first half for Mississippi State on Saturday.
Even the first play of the third quarter began with a holding penalty on the Bulldogs. But once Jeff Lebby's squad found their footing, there was no stopping them as MSU routed Northern Illinois 38-10 to remain undefeated.
The Bulldogs went into the locker room at halftime holding a four-point advantage but had been outgained by NIU in the opening half. That trend certainly changed in the final two quarters as State amassed 304 yards and scored 24 unanswered points all while shutting out the Huskies and holding them to less than 100 yards.
"It felt great to respond," said linebacker Nic Mitchell. "We started off sluggish and realized that. At halftime, each individual player had to make a mental choice and come out with the right mentality and right energy to go out there and perform. I'm proud of the performance we had in the second half, especially on defense."
The Bulldogs' defense was swarming in the second half, limiting Northern Illinois to just 41 rushing yards and 56 through the air. They also held the Huskies to 0 of 4 on third down conversions and shutdown both of their fourth down attempts.
NIU's best drive of the second half was its first, marching inside the red zone only to be picked off in the end zone by Isaac Smith – the first of his career. Ray Thomas put the icing on the cake for State defensively by adding a sack against his former team on the Huskies' final offensive snap.
 "Our guys did execute," Lebby said. "We bent at time, but we found ways to bow our neck. Isaac goes out there and makes a great pick. We played lights out on that side of the ball and kept them out of the end zone there. I'm proud of that group."
Lebby had to like what he saw from his offensive as well in the second half. The Bulldogs threw for 125 yards and chewed up 179 more yards on the ground to go along with three rushing scores.
"I feel like we left a lot out there in the first half, just simple mistakes on our end," said running back Davon Booth. "We were able to clean those up and the rest is history."
Booth punched it into the end zone twice on a 1-yard run on the opening drive of the third quarter and a 6-yard scamper early in the fourth while Xavier Gayten added a 1-yarder to cap the scoring.
Fluff Bothwell led the way with 101 rushing yards on the day as the Bulldogs finished with 292 yards on the ground, the most during Lebby's tenure.
"In this game, we wanted to establish the run game," said quarterback Blake Shapen. "Early on we struggled a little bit with it. But as you can see, we were able to get it going in the second half and that helped us out a ton."
State swept through the non-conference portion of the schedule to begin the season 4-0 for just the eighth time in program history and first since 2014. The successful start has the Bulldogs confident as they attempt to continue their surge when SEC play begins next Saturday against Tennessee.
"When you can start the season 4-0, you're creating momentum for the next set of games and those are SEC games," Shapen said. "I can't wait for it. We couldn't have started any better. Obviously, there's a lot we can clean up but I'm super excited to be 4-0."
