BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Leonard Fournette’s bruised left ankle didn’t stop him from exhibiting his usual mix of hard-nosed and explosive runs. His fumbles, however, gave Mississippi State the breaks it needed to turn a game that had the makings of a comfortable LSU victory into a rather tense affair.
Fournette rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns, and the 20th-ranked Tigers withstood the Bulldogs’ late rally for a 23-20 victory on Saturday night.
“We’re fortunate it finished like it did,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “It’s a great lesson for us.”
Danny Etling completed 19 of 30 passes for 215 yards in his first start for LSU (2-1, 1-0 Southeastern Conference), including a 37-yard touchdown strike to D.J. Chark.
“I continue to get more and more comfortable with the first team guys,” Etling said.