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TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Will Rogers’ receivers failed him thrice on Saturday evening, twice on fumbles after the catch and as soon as when a catchable ball bounced off Caleb Ducking’s palms and proper into the palms of a defender.
Even so, Mississippi State’s quarterback was unbothered.
“Who cares?” Rogers stated. “I’m about to throw the ball right to you again. You gotta go make a play.”
Eventually, the Bulldogs did. Rogers threw for 313 yards and 4 touchdowns — two every to Austin Williams and Ducking — and Mississippi State beat Arizona 39-17.
It was an odd sport for the Bulldogs, who seemed just like the have been going to drag away a number of occasions earlier than pricey turnovers allowed Arizona to remain within the sport. Ultimately, the protection was capable of restrict the injury from these miscues and Mississippi State left Tucson with a deceptively giant benefit on the scoreboard.
Both groups completed with three turnovers.
“There were some big errors,” Mississippi State coach Mike Leach stated. “They could have been magnified more, except they made big errors as well.”
Rogers completed 39-of-49 passing, finishing 15 passes in a row at one level within the second half. Mississippi State completed with 426 whole yards, together with 106 on the bottom.
Mississippi State (2-0) pushed forward 25-10 early within the third quarter on a 5-yard landing move from Rogers to Williams, capping an eight-play, 75-yard drive. It was one in every of many occasions that the Bulldogs clearly had the momentum.
But the Wildcats weren’t accomplished, benefiting from a Mississippi State fumble to drag inside 25-17 on the following drive after a 2-yard landing move from Jayden de Laura to Jacob Cowing.
Arizona was driving once more later within the third quarter, however de Laura had a move tipped on the line of scrimmage by Mississippi State’s Tyrus Wheat. Teammate Nathaniel Watson plucked the ball out of the air and ran all the way in which to the Arizona 11. Four performs later, Rogers hit Williams for the pair’s second landing of the evening and a 32-17 lead.
De Laura — a switch from Washington State — accomplished 23 of 45 passes for 220 yards, one landing and three interceptions.
“I thought we were in the game the whole way through,” Arizona coach Jedd Fisch stated. “As we can continue this build, we’re going to go through some ebbs and flows. We have a lot of young, a lot of new and we’re trying to improve every single day.”
It was the primary assembly between the 2 applications.
Arizona (1-1) gained the toss, elected to obtain the kickoff, and that offensive confidence was rewarded with a fast landing drive. Michael Wiley ran 34 yards down the appropriate sideline to the tip zone for a 7-0 lead.
Mississippi State responded with the following 15 factors and didn’t path once more. The Bulldogs have been helped by an ill-advised heave from de Laura, which become an interception and a landing on the following drive.
Mississippi State took an 18-10 lead into halftime.
THE TAKEAWAY
Mississippi St: The Bulldogs are a reasonably good staff once they’re not giving the ball to the opposite staff. Leach has his Air Raid offense rolling in his third yr in Starkville and the protection made some key performs.
“We’ve got to polish things up, we’ve got to be sharper,” Leach stated. ”But guys who play arduous and have good effort often enhance, so we’ve obtained to verify we do this.”
Arizona: The Wildcats are already a lot better than final yr, once they completed with a 1-11 file. The offense and de Laura are nonetheless a piece in progress, however it’s clear Jedd Fisch has this system in a a lot better spot in his second yr.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
In per week of Top 25 upheaval, Mississippi State might come near breaking into the rankings. The Bulldogs acquired 10 factors in final week’s ballot.
UP NEXT
Mississippi St: Travels to face LSU subsequent Saturday.
Arizona: Hosts North Dakota State subsequent Saturday.
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