The MSU defense was particularly impressive throughout this game. The heart and character that they showed, even into the last minutes of the game was brilliant. The effort which they were putting forward made fans want to stand up and cheer. Titus Brown, the Senior DE from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the heart and soul of the defense was amazing throughout the game. Though Brown only had 4 tackles in the game, he was consistently blistering through and man-handling the offensive line with force and power. He was constantly on Tiger QB Matt Flynn's back and nearly had a safety at one point in the game. He also managed a tackle for loss and a sack in the game. MSU's defensive backs were also stellar during the contest. They held standout receiver Early Doucet to just 78 yards on 9 catches and the rest of the Tigers receivers to just 50 receiving yards in total. Keith Fitzhugh, the junior strong safety made an incredible athletic play early in the game to break up a pass near the end zone and also recorded a tackle for loss in the game. Anthony Johnson, a sophomore cornerback was also very impressive, recording 8 tackles in the game to go along with a tackle for loss and a broken up pass.

On the LSU side of things, there was no real surprises except for the extreme lack of offense. Gary Crowton was brought over from Oregon during the off-season and was expected to make an immediate impact at LSU. His offensive scheme seemed to take a night off during last night's game, however. The Tiger offense looked miserable for the entire first half of the game, earning just 17 points when they probably should have had 31, the Bulldog offense letting them off the hook the entire game. If LSU plays offense like this versus any other SEC team, they won't win that many games this year. QB Matt Flynn did seem to find his rhythm in the second half and Early Doucet was the lone bright spot on the Tiger offense throughout the game earning 78 yards receiving and catching a touchdown on a pretty ball from Flynn early in the second half. Trindon Holliday, the tiny Sophomore scat back/receiver played decently, but never really had much room to show off his all-world speed. {mosimage}

As most would have expected prior to this game, the LSU defense was the brightest spot of all on the night, even if they were granted about four donations from the arm of Michael Henig. The defense was rough and tough as usual, knocking heads all over the place. Even WR Brandon LaFell got into the action with a jaw-jarring block on defensive back Zach Smith. Senior safety Craig Steltz recorded a school record 3 interceptions on the night and Senior cornerback Jonathan Zenon also caught an interception to go along with a solid 4 tackle performance. Maybe most impressive on the night was Senior linebacker Ali Highsmith. He finished with 8 tackles (5 of them solo), a tackle for loss, and even a broken up pass. Highsmith is amazingly athletic for a linebacker and his motor is just non-stop. Even when MSU RB Dixon was beating him to the sideline, Highsmith still gave absolutely everything that he had and was constantly clawing and grabbing at the back of #24 for MSU. He is truly the epidomy of what the LSU defense is all about....pure toughness and athleticism.

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