HAILSTATEBEAT: Bulldogs Rally Together For Impressive Taxslayer Performance

Mississippi State took the field Saturday with an interim head coach, a skeleton staff and an opponent everyone expected them to lose to. Louisville had a Heisman winner at quarterback, while State had a true freshman making his first start ever after its usual starting quarterback was hurt in the final game of the regular season. The Bulldogs had injuries, absences, illnesses and more. By the end of the first half, only one of their four captains was even still able to play.

And MSU won, the 2017 Taxslayer Bowl Champions. Not only did they win, but that freshman stole the show on the same field as the winner of college football's greatest award. The defense without a coordinator played lights out for almost the entire game, racking up four interceptions and six sacks against Bobby Petrino's vaunted Cardinal offense.

It shouldn't have happened, and few would have been surprised if it hadn't, but it happened anyway, largely because those select few also happened to be the ones on the field. It can often sound cheesy, insincere or clichéd, but when MSU beat Louisville 31-27 on Saturday in Jacksonville, the players on the team were making a statement about the truth behind the word: they're a family.

"There are coaches missing, a few players being hurt, Jamal Peters didn't play, a couple seniors are hurt," the winning freshman quarterback Keytaon Thompson listed off the reasons people doubted them. "It takes a family to come together in a situation like this and still fight in a tough game against a Heisman trophy winner in a big game."

"It's been a tough time for everyone, a lot of emotions. You're talking about 120-something guys and everyone is viewing things differently," interim head coach Greg Knox replied when asked what it was like leading with an interim staff. "Today, that's what you saw on the field. It was a chance for everyone to breathe a sigh of relief and say, 'Thank you God for this win.'

"I've been here nine years," he finished. "These guys, I recruited them. I've been in their homes. We're family. We're a family."

"I know it means a lot to the team. I know it means a lot to Coach Knox," sophomore defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons offered as confirmation. "When he first got in front of the team I told Coach Knox, 'We have your back.' He said, 'I need that.' From that point on, I knew this was going to mean a lot to him."

"We had to face a lot of adversity, especially throughout the coaching change, and our team stayed focused," Simmons added. "We stayed together as a team. Like I told the team earlier, the bond we have as a team won't be broken because of all the changes going on. Like I said, the family is strong and the team was strong to come and finish a bowl game."

"Back on January 1, when this team was born, we made a commitment to this team and this season. We were going to hold that rope, hold that chain up high," Taxslayer Bowl MVP Mark McLaurin offered as explanation of the history. "We locked arms and said we're gonna take the field today and come out with a win."

"It's the same way we've been having success. Nothing changed. Just hard work and preparation. It doesn't matter who's in, what quarterback or what coach. It comes down to us and hard work and preparation," freshman linebacker Errol Thompson shared. "That was kind of the sense of everybody. We'd come into the weight room and it was go time, everyone knew they needed to lock in no matter what. Everybody understood that from the start. It helped to have that mindset."

"We're a family," Thompson repeated. "Guys knew it was my first start and they wanted me to win. Defense had all the confidence in me and the team. We wanted to go out with a bang."

And that's what they did. In the coming days and weeks, the 2018 team will be born and their journey will begin, aided by many who helped make this year so successful. But before that happens, Mississippi State made sure to finish what it started in 2017, and above all, the Bulldogs made sure to do it as a family.

And it wasn't just the players. It wasn't just the coaches leaving, the coaches staying or the coaches coming. It was the thousands of fans in the stadium who came to watch their last game. It was athletic director John Cohen cheering them on, and on many occasions coaching them on, from the sideline all afternoon. It was guys like Jay Perry, Brad Peterson, Patrick Austin and Rod Gibson who ensured everything held together. It was the baseball coach, Andy Cannizaro, who flew to Florida on his own dime to watch the team. It was the band, the spirit groups, the equipment managers and athletic trainers. The strength staff, the ticketing staff, the compliance staff and the external staff. It was all who work, cheer and care for the Bulldogs. It was a connection of people with a common goal and an uncommon bond.

Dak Prescott said it first, and these players said it again on Saturday in the most trying of circumstances. You can call it a cliché, but they call it family, and that's who they play for.

Mississippi State University Athletics

HAILSTATEBEAT: Bulldogs Rally Together For Impressive Taxslayer Performance

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