Bulldogs get going after trailing 28-3
MISSISSIPPI STATE 43, NO. 17 AUBURN 34
AUBURN, Ala. — Will Rogers threw for 415 yards and six touchdowns, and Mississippi State beat No. 17 Auburn 43-34 on Saturday.
Auburn (6-4, 3-3 SEC) scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and led 28-3 midway through the second quarter. But Mississippi State (6-4, 4-3) rallied, scoring 40 unanswered points behind Rogers’ arm.
“I think the biggest thing is that we didn’t get discouraged by the first half, which should have been easy to do,” Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach said. “That first half, I thought we kind of played tentatively and played not to lose. Then we played aggressively. We played faster.”
Rogers completed 44 of 54 passes, connecting with 10 different Bulldogs. Jaden Walley had seven catches for 87 yards, and Jakai Polk finished with 61 yards and 2 touchdowns on 8 receptions.
Mississippi State was held to just one field goal on its first three drives. Then Rogers threw for his six touchdowns on the Bulldogs’ next seven drives. He only had three incompletions after the first quarter.
“I felt like we all were just doing a good job,” Rogers said of his second half. “The o-line did a good job of blocking. [Auburn] played a lot of man coverage today, and the receivers were doing a great job of getting off with their routes. It’s kind of crazy to think I completed that many, because some of those were contested. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my receivers.”
Auburn’s offense got off to a strong start behind Bo Nix, who finished with 377 yards passing and two touchdowns. But, as the defense struggled to slow Mississippi State’s passing attack after halftime, the Tigers were held to 158 yards and six points in the second half.
“We’re not going to make excuses,” Auburn Coach Bryan Harsin said. “We’ve got to take this and learn from it. … You’ve got to be able to start like we did, and you’ve got to be able to finish much better than we did.”
NO. 1 GEORGIA 41, TENNESSEE 17
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Stetson Bennett ran for a touchdown and threw for another as top-ranked Georgia remained perfect, wrapping up its SEC schedule by routing Tennessee 41-17 Saturday.
The Bulldogs (10-0, 8-0) actually trailed by their largest margin this season after Tennessee scored a touchdown on the opening drive. Georgia also was down 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, new territory for the Bulldogs, who had only trailed by a field goal each to Auburn and Missouri.
Georgia responded by reeling off 27 straight points, including 17 in a dominating second quarter. Derion Kendrick intercepted a pass by Hendon Hooker, and Channing Tindall stripped Hooker of the ball — Tindall had three of Georgia’s six sacks.
Bennett converted the interception into a 9-yard TD run midway through the second, and he capped a 90-yard drive with a 23-yard TD pass to James Cook just before halftime. Cook also ran 10 times for a season-high 104 yards and two more TDs.
Tennessee (5-5, 3-4) had five-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning, former All-Star first baseman Todd Helton and WNBA champ Candace Parker on hand along with an announced crowd of 100,074 for a team coming off a win at Kentucky, its first upset of a Top 20 team on the road since 2006.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 59,
NEW MEXICO STATE 3
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bryce Young passed for 270 yards and five touchdowns, including three to Jameson Williams, and Alabama routed New Mexico State.
Young completed 21 of 23 passes in just over a half and the Crimson Tide (91) produced the expected romp after a slow start. Alabama even trailed briefly before rattling off seven touchdowns in 20 minutes for a 49-3 halftime lead over the Aggies (1-9).
Young became the first Alabama quarterback to complete his first 13 passes in a game, playing only one drive into the second half when he lost a fumble in New Mexico State territory.
NO. 15 MISSISSIPPI 29,
NO. 11 TEXAS A&M 19
OXFORD, Miss. — A.J. Finley returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown and Matt Corral threw for 247 yards and a touchdown to lead No. 15 Mississippi to a 29-19 win over No. 11 Texas A&M.
The Rebels (8-2, 4-2) held a 15-13 lead in the fourth quarter before Ashanti Cistrunk’s interception set up a 13-yard touchdown run by Snoop Conner with 6:32 left.
Finley provided an insurmountable cushion on the next series, grabbing Zach Calzada’s throw and returning it down the Texas A&M sideline.
Texas A&M (7-3, 4-3) trailed 15-0 at half, but whittled the lead to to 15-13 in the fourth quarter on a 24-yard scoring run by Devon Achane and field goals by Seth Small.
Achane scored on a 9-yard run to finish the scoring with 3:11 left.
Corral completed 24 of 37 passes and Caden Costa kicked field goals of 33 and 32 yards. Chance Campbell and Keidron Smith added a safety by tackling Isaiah Spiller in the end zone in the first half.
The Rebels finished with 504 yards of total offense, highlighted by Jerrion Ealy with 24 carries for 152 yards and added 34 yards on four receptions. FLORIDA 70, SAMFORD 52
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Emory Jones accounted for 544 yards and seven touchdowns, delivering a career performance in Florida’s come-from-behind victory against lower-division Samford.
Although the Gators (5-5) ended a three-game skid, the offensive shootout in the Swamp felt more like a loss than any outcome in embattled Coach Dan Mullen’s four years in Gainesville.
Florida gave up its most points (42) in a half against any opponent, and it came against a middle-of-the pack team from the Southern Conference and less than a week after Mullen fired two of his top assistants.
KENTUCKY 34, VANDERBILT 17
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran for 114 yards and a touchdown, Will Levis threw for two scores and Kentucky used a fast start to beat Vanderbilt.
The Wildcats (7-3, 5-3) ended a threegame losing streak and have won the last six games against Vanderbilt (2-8, 0-6). The Commodores have lost five in a row and 19 consecutive SEC games.
Kentucky scored on its first four possessions.
Levis hit Wan’Dale Robinson in the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown and Izayah Cummings for a 22-yard score. Jalen Geiger returned an interception 31 yards into the end zone. Rodriguez, who has rushed for over 100 yard five times this season, added a 5-yard touchdown run that stretched the Wildcats’ lead to 28-3 with 10:43 remaining in the second quarter.
MISSOURI 31,
SOUTH CAROLINA 28
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Tyler Badie rushed 34 times for 209 yards and a touchdown and Missouri held off South Carolina’s fourth-quarter charge to defeat the Gamecocks.
The Tigers (5-5, 2-4) built a 17-point lead when Badie scored on a 19-yard run with 12:31 left in the game. That’s when the opportunistic Gamecocks (5-5, 2-5) made things interesting by converting two Missouri turnovers into touchdowns and slicing the deficit to three points with 4:32 left. But they never saw the ball again, thanks to Badie, who rushed for 63 yards on the final drive.