KJ Costello Throws for 623 Yards in Mike Leach Air Raid Debut, Mississippi State Beats LSU

KJ Costello threw for 623 yards and five touchdowns as Mississippi State won outright at LSU in a game where they were about 17-point underdogs. It was the debut at Mississippi State for Costello, who transferred from Stanford, and new head coach Mike Leach.

This was the most passing yards in a game in Mississippi State, Tiger Stadium, and SEC history. The previous SEC record was set by Eric Zeier 544 yards for Georgia in a win over Southern Mississippi in 1993. In case you’re wondering, the all-time single game passing record is held by Patrick Mahomes from a losing effort to Oklahoma in 2016; he had 734 yards.

It bears mentioning that many of the Bulldogs’ yards came after the catch, through combinations of great runs and missed LSU tackles. Here was a long catch and run by Kylin Hill.

NOBODY'S CATCHING KYLIN pic.twitter.com/VgKEUEdxkz

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 26, 2020

LSU is a depleted squad from their national championship last season. Among their losses were no. 1 overall pick and Heisman trophy winner Joe Burrow, and both their coordinators, Dave Aranda and Joe Brady. In addition to players who graduated and/or were drafted, star receiver Ja’Marr Chase and tackle Tyler Shelvin opted out of this season. Look at how few starters they have from last season:

Today’s @LSUfootball starting lineup featured the same number of players that started In national championship game (3)
as those who were playing at the #FCS level last year (3) – LB Jabril Cox (NDSU) DB Darren Evans (Nicholls)
C Liam Shanahan (Harvard). #LSU

— Michael Bonnette (@LSUBonnette) September 26, 2020

Nonetheless, this is a massive win for Mike Leach and Mississippi State. It shows that they will not only be interesting, but are a threat on any given Saturday to knock off SEC blue bloods in their own building.