LSU's defense exacts revenge against Fitzgerald, Mississippi State
BATON ROUGE, La. — Ed Orgeron preaches about having a short memory, but last year’s loss in Starkville, Miss., was unforgettable.
LSU was throttled in surprising fashion at the hands of a more physical Mississippi State defensive line and a dual-threat playmaker in Nick Fitzgerald. The latter was absolved in 60 minutes in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night.
LSU’s defense stymied Fitzgerald, holding the Bulldogs’ quarterback to eight completions for 59 yards and four interceptions. Fitzgerald was able to salvage his place in the box score with a game-leading 23 rushes for 131 yards, but could not lead his offense into the end zone in a 19-3 defeat at the hands of a zeroed-in Tigers defense.
“We took pride in coming in and stopping home,” senior LSU safety John Battle said after the game. “What they did to us last year — it felt like our big brother beat us up. We kind of took that to heart. We came out here and wanted to dominate, and I think we did tonight. Coach (Dave) Aranda had a great game plan for us this year, and as you can see it, it all worked out tonight.”
The little brother exacted revenge.
Aranda, who dialed up an effective game plan to top No. 2 Georgia a week earlier, followed suit with a calculated effort to contain Fitzgerald and hold Mississippi State to three points — and scoreless over the final 57 minutes of the contest.
In his second game as the starting nose guard, Ed Alexander drew double teams. Aranda plugged Rashard Lawrence and Glen Logan — who started in place of an injured Breiden Fehoko, who sported a brace of his left arm during pre-game warmups — into the B-gaps to force Fitzgerald to run outside, where the second and third layers of the LSU defense were waiting.
“It was really just staying disciplined, focusing on whatever gaps we had. That was our main focus,” said junior linebacker Michael Divinity, who intercepted Fitzgerald on the opening drive and returned it to the 3-yard line, where LSU scored its lone touchdown of the game.
“The quarterback runs they like — we waited to see what gaps he would hit and whatever guy would move out of the way, he’d hit it for 25 (yards). We stayed focus and handled our business on defense. Some teams want to sit there and run, run, run and then pass, pass, pass, but we’ve played a lot of teams and we’ve been playing to get them out of what they want to do. It works a lot, too. They want to run the ball; we stop them. Then they try to throw the ball and cause turnovers. We’re doing a lot of great things on defense.”
The Bulldogs, who entered Saturday’s tilt ranked No. 22 in the nation coming off an upset of Auburn and then a bye week, amassed 201 yards rushing. Fitzgerald managed to complete one-third of his passes (8) for 59 yards and finished with a 20.6 quarterback rating.
Fitzgerald’s completions total and yardage were both season-low marks.
“He’s a huge man … like 6-foot 4 with pads on, a great runner. He’s kind of similar to a Tim Tebow type of quarterback,” said Battle, who nabbed an interception to go along with four tackles. “He performed pretty well tonight, but Coach Aranda put us in some great spots to keep him and I think we did a good job tonight.”
Aranda’s game plan stifled Fitzgerald, who entered the game with three picks in five games this season. The last time a Mississippi State quarterback threw four interceptions in a game was back in 2012 when Tyler Russell struggled in a 34-20 loss to Northwestern in the Gator Bowl.
Forcing Fitzgerald to attempt to move the ball with his arm proved critical, particularly with what the tape revealed about the Bulldogs’ passing game.
“We knew as long as we did a good job of stopping the run, their route concepts weren’t that hard,” sophomore safety Grant Delpit, who picked off Fitzgerald twice, explained. “We stayed in the film room and we knew what came from what formations.”