Mississippi State's rise to No. 1 in 2014 began with win at LSU

Sep. 21—Every week, our Mississippi State athletics reporter Stefan Krajisnik will provide a 'rewatchable' in which he'll reach into the archives and find a game, play or moment relevant to that week's upcoming matchup for MSU and relive it. Ahead of Week 4, here's a look back at MSU's upset win against LSU in 2014.

STARKVILLE — The first thing Mississippi State fans will see Saturday when making their way through the student entry of Davis Wade Stadium will be a photo of Dak Prescott leaping into LSU's end zone nearly seven years to the day.

The photo is on a banner along with other immortalized State wins on Davis Wade Stadium's northwest concourse. Below the photo of Prescott, this banner reads "Bulldogs 34 LSU 29."

Mississippi State went into Death Valley unranked against No. 8 LSU and came out with what Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee called in an article "the most shocking upset of the 2014 season."

What captivated Sallee and many others wasn't the spread entering the game (many books had LSU favored by just a touchdown), but instead it was the way in which MSU dominated a game not fairly depicted by the final score.

The Bulldogs weren't afraid of the Tigers.

On MSU's opening drive, De'Runnya Wilson was chirping LSU's future NFL corner Rashard Robinson before tapping him on the head and trying to shake his hand.

Three plays later, Wilson was snagging a touchdown over another future NFL corner in Dwayne Thomas.

A couple possessions later, LSU left tackle La'el Collins — a Dallas Cowboy who would have been a first round pick had it not been for off-field issues — was frustrated with his team for not running the ball his way on first-and-goal from the two-yard line.

LSU ran Collins' way on two of the next three plays and was stuffed at the goalline by MSU's defensive line — one highlighted by Preston Smith and Chris Jones but ran up to 10 players deep.

"We fed off our defense's momentum all night long and especially when they made that stop on fourth down," Prescott went on to say postgame.

MSU ran four plays to go 96 yards an extend the lead to 14-0 on the ensuing possession.

That drive featured the key to Mississippi State's win: the ability to be aggressive with a lead and generate big plays.

Josh Robinson had a 66-yard run on the following possession to put MSU in field goal range for a 17-0 lead.

During that drive, Prescott started to receive high praise from ESPN's broadcast crew.

"Not just in the way he plays, runs the football, his power or his throwing — but also his spirit," analyst Todd Blackledge said during the broadcast. "He has a presence, a leadership ability and a will to win that reminds me very much of Tim Tebow when he played at Florida."

LSU cut the deficit to 17-10 and tried to implement fear back into Mississippi State.

LSU linebacker Kwon Alexander started chirping MSU's Jameon Lewis after a nice tackle to force third-and-three.

The next play, Prescott made his banner play.

LSU spread its safeties outside, leaving an open gap up the middle for Prescott to break on a designed run. After passing the first down line, Prescott broke a tackle and finished a 56 yard run to put MSU back up by two scores.

"This is what he does better than anybody in the SEC," play-by-play commentator Brad Nessler said as Prescott inched toward the end zone.

LSU made a run late after MSU miscues that Dan Mullen said postgame aged him seven-to-10 years, but ultimately Mississippi State's explosive plays were too much to overcome.

The win started a run of 13 straight weeks for MSU in the AP top-25, including five as the nation's top team.

The 56-yard run remains Prescott's banner moment.