LSU football pitched a shutout against Mississippi State in Week 7. Head coach Lane Kiffin said he is "really proud" of the defense following the 31-0 win in Baton Rouge, which came one week after a 35-34 overtime loss at Kentucky.
"0 for 5 on fourth downs was obviously really critical in it, which... challenged our guys really after last week," Kiffin said. He wanted his team "to seize those moments when we have a chance, when we're ahead, to knock people out of the game and learn from last week about not knocking them out when we had four different possessions to do that offensively and defensively."
The Bulldogs made it past LSU's 30-yard line once on Saturday. LSU stood strong at the goal line late in the second quarter, stopping Mississippi State on fourth down at the 2-yard line during the Bulldogs' lone trip to the red zone.
Kiffin told his team the night before the game to "play like we're behind," and he repeated that challenge at halftime with LSU up 21-0.
"I really challenged them, and I said, 'hey, we're down ten points, okay? And so let's go out there like we have to stop them,'" Kiffin said.
Injuries have hit LSU's defense hard. Safety Dashawn Spears is out for the season after tearing his ACL at Ole Miss in Week 3, linebacker Whit Weeks missed another game and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen exited in the first quarter against the Bulldogs and did not return. Kiffin credited defensive coordinator Blake Baker for adjusting the defense around those injuries in recent weeks.
"Blake [Baker] did a good job all the way back," Kiffin said. "We've got Ty [Benefield] playing a position he don't play at all, you know, the last couple weeks because of these massive injuries to significant All-American type players. And today we had very little linebacker depth and had to do some unique things with the front and different things, and especially once Princewill went out."
This article originally appeared on LSU Wire: Kiffin credits Blake Baker as LSU defense goes 5-for-5 on 4th-down stops