TUCSON, Ariz. — Will Rogers spun away from the play and pumped his right arm hard.
The Mississippi State quarterback knew what a risk the Bulldogs had just taken.
MSU faced a critical fourth-and-3 from the Arizona 4-yard line just seconds into the fourth quarter Saturday in Tucson. After failing to draw the Wildcats offside, Rogers decided to improvise.
“I didn’t even know if we had a play on or not, but I just called something,” Rogers said.
Frantically calling for the snap as the play clock expired, Rogers grabbed the football and promptly slung it to wide Austin Williams on a slant route. Williams tucked the ball away and fell into the end zone just before safety Jaxen Turner came streaking across the field.
With no margin for error, the Bulldogs (2-0) had scored a touchdown that solidified their 39-17 win over Arizona (1-1) on the road Saturday.
“It was a pretty good momentum-shifter to be able to get seven right there,” Rogers said.
MSU led since the 5:35 mark of the first quarter, but the outcome never quite seemed certain until the final minutes, not even when Rogers found Williams in the opening minute of the fourth quarter for the important touchdown.
A host of Mississippi State mistakes — inopportune penalties and costly turnovers — kept the Wildcats in the game all evening and gave them a chance to claw back into the game late.
But Arizona wasn’t up to the challenge.
Mississippi State’s defense picked off quarterback Jayden de Laura three times, including twice in the second half, and kept the home team to just one score after halftime.
Linebacker Nathaniel Watson said the Bulldogs noticed de Laura stared down his intended target and used that to their advantage. Jalen Green intercepted de Laura off a first-quarter tip by Emmanuel Forbes, Watson nearly took a Tyrus Wheat deflection to the house, and Forbes made up for a near-pick in the end zone — ruled out of bounds — with an undeniable interception in the third quarter.
De Laura’s lone touchdown pass was a 2-yard strike to Jacob Cowing in the third to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to eight points, but Williams’ score and a late 2-yard passing touchdown from Rogers to Caleb Ducking helped MSU stretch the lead back out.
Ducking and Williams each caught a pair of touchdown passes from Rogers, who finished 38 of 48 for 297 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
The pick was no fault of Rogers’, as Ducking turned a sure catch into a pick as Arizona returned it into MSU territory. Jo’quavious Marks and Jamire Calvin each had second-half fumbles to cut Bulldogs possessions short.
“I thought it was a complete team win — offense, defense, special teams. But there were some big errors,” Mississippi State coach Mike Leach said. “They could have been magnified more except that (Arizona) made big errors as well.”
Arizona scored on its opening drive, but Mississippi State responded with a 9-yard score by Marks. Ducking caught a 9-yard pass from Rogers later in the first quarter.
Massimo Biscardi went 0 for 2 on extra points, pulling both of his PAT attempts left in the first quarter, the second further off target than the first.
He was lifted for Ben Raybon, who made field goals of 39 and 22 yards and was perfect on PATs for the rest of the game while booming touchbacks on kickoffs.
Leach said MSU will have to start looking for left-handed holders to pair with Raybon going forward after what the coach called a “dominant” performance.
“He kind of did it all,” Leach said. “I thought he had a very impressive game, and he needs to keep it up.”
So do the rest of the Bulldogs as they travel to LSU (1-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Rogers said he was happy with Mississippi State’s performance, but he knows the Bulldogs can be better — and might have to be in order to win in Death Valley.
“I’m proud of the team and things like that, but we have so much to work on,” Rogers said. “We’re about to find out what we’re made of this week, for sure.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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