Mississippi State improved to 4-0 in 2014 and gave itself a great chance to break into Sunday’s updated top 25 polls with a 34-29 upset of No. 8 LSU in Baton Rouge Saturday night.

Here are five takeaways from the Bulldogs’ upset win in Death Valley:

  1. Mississippi State legitimized its early season success with its win over LSU. The Bulldogs had already won their first three games over Southern Miss, UAB and South Alabama by convincing margins, but the win over LSU was their first quality win of 2014. Quarterback Dak Prescott threw for 200 yards and ran for 100 yards against the Tigers, just as he had done each of the last two weeks against lesser opponents. The Bulldogs ran for more than 300 yards and dominated the game with the run, just as they had in their first three wins. The defensive front seven won almost every snap against LSU’s offensive line, just as it did against every other offensive line its faced this year. There’s now concrete evidence to back up the early season claim that Mississippi State was one of the top teams in the SEC West. The Bulldogs will have to continue to play well the rest of the year in a tough division, but their 4-0 start is more than just a product of weak competition.
  2. What sets this Bulldogs team apart is experience. Mississippi State has a history of letdowns, but that wasn’t the case Saturday night. The Bulldogs have started years with impressive records in the past only to fold against tough SEC competition later in the year; they’ve made tremendous runs at upsets, only to fall apart in the fourth quarter. Most thought Mississippi State would crumble under the expectations Saturday night. They did not. When LSU returned a Prescott fumble for a touchdown early in the third quarter to cut the lead to 17-10, many thought it would be the start of another Bulldogs collapse. It was not. Mississippi State returned most of its starters from last year, and that experience has already begun to pay off. A less experienced MSU team might have been blown out by a talented LSU squad, or would have at least followed through on a second half choke to lose the game. But this team remained resilient all night, knowing the entire time exactly what it had to do to earn a victory. It was ugly at the end, but Mississippi State earned that victory, in large part due to its savvy veterans.
  3. America is starting to learn Dak Prescott’s name. Most of America seemed shocked by Prescott’s stellar play in the win in Baton Rouge, but his performance was nothing Bulldogs fans hadn’t already seen. Prescott has been burning defenses with his arm and his legs all season, but the dynamic plays he made Saturday — especially his 56-yard touchdown run and 74-yard touchdown pass to Jameon Lewis — let the rest of the country know he is among the best quarterbacks in the SEC. Prescott is the ultimate equalizer, the talented leader that won’t let MSU fall too far behind or get too complacent with a lead this year. He makes everything the Bulldogs do possible, and now the rest of America is finally beginning to appreciate his spectacular abilities.
  4. Josh Robinson is the most underrated tailback in the SEC. The SEC has a ton of incredible running backs, and none of the backs receiving a lot of hype are undeserving of the attention. With that said, Robinson is far and away the most underrated back in the conference. He rushed for nearly 200 yards and two touchdowns at better than 12 yards per carry against one of the toughest defenses in the nation. In Death Valley. At night. Simply put: that’s amazing. He has now rushed for 485 yards in four games, and is on pace to rush for more than 1,400 yards by season’s end. Robinson’s performance against a defense of LSU’s caliber proved he is the real deal at running back, and Mississippi State should rely heavily on the run game in upcoming showdowns with Texas A&M and Auburn.
  5. Preston Smith might be named the SEC’s Defensive Lineman of the Week AGAIN. The senior defensive end has already won the honor in each of the first three weeks of the season (first time it has happened in SEC history), and he made a compelling case to win the honor for a fourth time with a sack and two tackles for loss against LSU. He finished the game with five tackles overall, nearly doubling his total from his first thee games combined, and was a disruptive force all night, helping limit the LSU rushing attack to just 89 yards on the ground. Even if Smith doesn’t receive the honor when it is awarded Monday, he still added another stellar performance to his collection of big games so far this season.