QB again gets under Ags’ skin
Fitzgerald buttons up annual victory with a pair of touchdown runs in the fourth quarter
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Texas A&M defensive lineman Landis Durham said there was no sense in pointing fingers among the Aggies. A little help from their receivers’ hands would have gone a long way, however.
Mississippi State defeated the No. 16 Aggies 28-13 on Saturday night at Davis Wade Stadium thanks to a multitude of A&M miscues, starting with their 10 drops that kept the offense from moving with any consistency in the Southeastern Conference clash.
“Those hurt a lot — they’re drive killers,” said A&M running back Trayveon Williams, who was held to 26 rushing yards on 10 carries. “It’s unacceptable, and we’ll get that fixed.”
One big thing the Aggies (5-3, 3-2 SEC) won’t have to worry about getting fixed against the Bulldogs (5-3, 2-3) moving forward: senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald, coming off an awful game at LSU a week prior, led all rushers Saturday with 88 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown blast with a little more than two minutes remaining that iced the Bulldogs’ third consecutive victory over the Aggies.
“You knew he was going to battle back,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “He played well against us.”
Again.
Three years of torture
Fitzgerald rushed for 182 yards two years ago against the Aggies in a 35-28 victory in Starkville, and ran for another 105 yards last year in the Bulldogs’ 35-14 win at Kyle Field. In three seasons against A&M, Fitzgerald finished with 966 total yards and 11 touchdowns.
“I don’t know what it is,” Durham said of the Fitzgerald riddle. “He’s a great athlete. They just did some things better than we did.”
A lot of things, on both sides of the ball, in a game A&M actually led 10-7 at halftime.
“We gave up a lot of big plays, and a lot of them were on third down,” Fisher said. “We had opportunities in the game, and they took advantage of their opportunities and won the game.”
Former A&M coach Kevin Sumlin was fired last November in part for his failure to beat the Mississippi State and Mississippi in SEC West play. The two schools have now won seven of their last nine meetings against the Aggies, with Fisher getting his shot against the Rebels on Nov. 10.
The Bulldogs clutched onto a 14-13 lead late in the third quarter when Fitzgerald faced a thirdand-21. He ran to his right and waited patiently for a receiver to come open. Stephen Guidry did, and Fitzgerald coolly connected with his receiver for an 84-yard reception, as Guidry outran a backpedaling A&M secondary to the Aggies’ 2-yard line.
It took Mississippi State three plays to start the fourth quarter, but Fitzgerald finally punched in the ball from a yard out for a 21-13 lead. The Bulldogs iced the game when Fitzgerald, essentially trying to run out the clock, blasted through the stunned A&M defenders for a 76-yard score. It was reminiscent of his 74-yard touchdown run to start the game against A&M two years ago.
The Aggies’ offense, with one of its rare bursts on the night, went 64 yards on four plays late in the second quarter, with Quartney Davis snagging a screen pass from Kellen Mond and hustling 34 yards for a touchdown and an A&M lead at the break.
The lead held up for nearly 30 minutes, but only because that’s about how long halftime lasted. Mississippi State quickly collected its second touchdown of the night, a 38-yard touchdown pass from Fitzgerald to Osirus Mitchell that handed the Bulldogs a 1410 lead while many of the fans were still finding their seats for the final two quarters.
Faulty prediction
The Aggies were off last weekend after defeating South Carolina 26-23 on Oct. 13, while the Bulldogs were coming off a 19-3 loss at LSU. Fitzgerald threw four interceptions to go with zero touchdown passes while completing a quarter of his passes (8of-24) against the fourth-ranked Tigers.
“In this age where everything is right at your fingertips on social media … it’s hard not to see a lot of the hate,” Fitzgerald said of enduring plenty of criticism of late.
Earlier Saturday, college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit predicted on ESPN’s “College GameDay” that the Aggies would win out under Fisher, including against LSU to close out the regular season. Herbstreit, however, failed to appreciate the Fitzgerald factor against the Aggies, like so many others leading up to the Saturday night showdown.