The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MISSISSIPPI STATE ROUTS WOEFIL ARKANSAS
Kylin Hill ran for a career-high 234 yards and three touchdowns as Mississippi State racked up a season-high 640 yards of total offense, including 460 on the ground, in a 54-24 demolition of Arkansas on Saturday.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak and kept alive the Bulldogs’ (4-5, 2-4) chances at a .500 season and a bowl game. It also ensured they wouldn’t finish last in the SEC West as host Arkansas, winless in the SEC in coach Chad Morris’ two seasons, was never truly in the game.
All three of Hill’s scores came in the first half as the Bulldogs took a commanding 38-10 lead into intermission.
Arkansas QB Ben Hicks was ineffective and ultimately pulled. He didn’t complete a pass until the second quarter and, after an interception returned for a touchdown, he was replaced by thirdstring quarterback John Stephen Jones. The Razorbacks (2-7, 0-6) had just 141 yards of total offense in the first half, 52 of which came on a TD run by Rakeem Boyd that
cut Arkansas’ deficit to 10, at 17-7. Mississippi State’s six-play, 66-yard drive to start the second half sealed things. Tommy Stevens, making his first start in three weeks, capped the series with a TD pass, his second of the game, to Farrod Green. Stevens was 12 of 18 passing for 172 yards to go with his two scores. He added another 74 yards on the ground.
With the outcome decided,
Morris made another quarterback change, one that excited the few thousand who stayed. Freshman quarterback K.J. Jefferson, a four-star recruit, made his first appearance of the season on the first drive of the fourth quarter. The heir apparent at the position ran for 21 yards on his first play from scrimmage, threw a 32-yard strike to Treylon Burks on his next play and capped the four-play drive with a 5-yard rushing touchdown.
Mississippi State countered with three straight Nick Gibson runs, the last one going 48 yards for a score. (At) Texas A&M 45, UTSA 14:
Freshman Isaiah Spiller set season highs with 217 yards rushing and three touchdowns to lead Texas A&M over UTSA (3-5).
The Aggies (6-3) were up by 14 when a 50-yard touchdown run by Spiller made it 28-7 early in the third quarter. It was his sec
ond long scoring run of the game, after a 60-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Spiller padded the lead on an 8-yard run later in the third quarter on a drive where he had a 42-yard run.
Kellen Mond threw for 211 yards and a touchdown, and his 1-yard TD run on the first drive of the fourth quarter made it 42-7. He was replaced on A&M’s next drive with the Aggies in control.