Strong Defensive Effort Lifts State To Egg Bowl Win
November 25, 2022 | Football
OXFORD – While the old adage that defense wins championships is certainly true, Mississippi State proved playing solid defense can help win trophies too.
The Bulldogs' defense played a crucial role in claiming a 24-22 victory over Ole Miss and helped return the Golden Egg Trophy back to its pedestal inside the Seal Football Complex in the early morning hours on Friday.
"I think it really was a strong effort by our defense, an incredible effort by our defense," said head coach Mike Leach. "Defensively, we had a lot of really key plays and key stops that I thought were huge."
The Bulldogs limited Ole Miss to just 4 of 17 on third down conversions and turned the Rebels over on downs on 4th-and-2 from the MSU 6-yard line trailing 16-14 late in the third quarter.
Zach Arnett's defense also held Ole Miss to its lowest rushing output of the season at just 78 yards.
"We just harped on stopping the run big time this week," said linebacker Nathaniel Watson. "We had pads on during all the practices that we had. They were preparing us for physicalness. We knew they had a physical run game and we held up to it."
Arnett also had the Bulldogs prepared to stop the scrambling ability of dual-threat quarterback Jaxson Dart. The sophomore signal caller was sacked twice – once by Watson and again by Tyrus Wheat – and netted negative-4 yards on the ground on his 10 attempts.
"(Dart) is a great athlete and we knew about (Quinshon Judkins) and the other running backs that they have," said defensive end Randy Charlton. "We had to make sure that we kept (Dart) in the pocket and contain him because if we gave him one lane, he's going to take it. We most definitely understood that."
Watson, Jett Johnson and Decamerion Richardson all finished with 10 tackles to lead State with Johnson also recovering a fourth-quarter fumble. The Bulldogs recorded 15 tackles for loss during the contest as well, the most stops they've had behind the line of scrimmage since the 2018 season opener.
But perhaps the biggest play of this year's Egg Bowl came as Ole Miss tried to tie the game with a two-point conversion with 1:25 remaining. The Rebels attempted a shovel pass to Jonathan Mingo with a blocker out in front, but Charlton immediately recognized the play and alertly batted Dart's pass down to preserve State's slim lead.
"When I saw him shuffle, we practice that play in practice 24/7," Charlton said. "I just stuck my hand out and tried to hit the ball."
Leach likes to utilize shovel passes in his Air Raid arsenal, so Charlton has plenty of experience going against it in practice. And those practice plays typically end with the same result as the Rebels' did on Thanksgiving night.
"I try to run plays like that against him all the time and they usually don't work," Leach said.
Charlton's late-game heroics will certainly go down with the many memorable moments associated in Egg Bowl lore. The fifth-year senior from Miami, Florida who transferred in from USF in 2021 was proud to do his part to aid his teammates in reclaiming the Golden Egg Trophy for the first time since 2019.
"It was a surreal moment to be able to secure that win for my team," Charlton said.
