Mississippi State Is 9-0 For The First Time

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – No. 1 Mississippi State (9-0) defeated UT Martin (5-6) 45-16 in Davis Wade Stadium Saturday on Homecoming, extending their winning streak to 12 games, a run dating back to November of last year.

The Bulldogs had strong performances across the board as they dismantled the Skyhawks in the final non-conference game of MSU’s regular season. Junior quarterback Dak Prescott played just over two quarters, completing 14-of-23 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, also running six times for 54 yards and a score.

Sophomore Ashton Shumpert paced MSU’s runners with 82 yards and a touchdown on only four carries, while freshman Gabe Myles was the top receiver with 54 yards on five catches.

Defensively, senior linebacker Christian Holmes paced the Bulldogs with nine tackles, including seven solo stops.

“Pretty clean game,” Mullen joked. “Always great to get a win.”

Of course, it’s hard for the Bulldogs not to look ahead with Alabama and a trip to Tuscaloosa on the horizon.

“This is what you play for,” Mullen said. “You’re going to be in the middle of November competing for first place in the SEC West. That’s what you come here for, that’s what we want our program to be like.”

Elsewhere in the game, a few players had some of the bigger performances of their careers, including speedy sophomore running back Brandon Holloway, who scampered a combined 48 yards on back-to-back carries to get in the endzone for the first time in his career.

“It’s been too many close calls,” Holloway said with a smile after the game. “Yeah, it was good.”

With a three-game SEC stretch ahead to finish the regular season, focus could have easily been an issue for MSU.

Mullen was happy to find his team in a right state of mind Saturday.

“I don’t know that we performed as well I wanted to tonight,” Mullen said, “but I thought our leadership was excellent. I never had to talk to guys to get them focused.”

Mississippi State travels to face Alabama next weekend on ESPN at 6:15 p.m. or on CBS at 2:30 p.m.