FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Mike Leach thought it was doable.
On Mississippi State’s first drive of the third quarter Saturday at Arkansas, the Bulldogs promptly faced fourth-and-3 from their own 41-yard line. Punt? Not likely.
The Bulldogs coach said kicking struggles — Brandon Ruiz missed a 23-yard field goal early in the second quarter— factored in “maybe a little.” Regardless, it was go time.
“I thought we could make it,” Leach said.
So he handed sophomore running back Jo’quavious Marks the ball.
Marks used a second effort to surge across the first-down marker, brought down at the 45-yard line by the Razorbacks’ Myles Slusher.
“Coach Leach talks about ‘dying hard’ with the receivers and the running backs, and I think Woody’s a prime example of that,” quarterback Will Rogers said.
Mississippi State went on to score a touchdown on a 6-yard pass from Rogers to Rara Thomas, who found space in the back of the end zone to haul in the throw.
The Bulldogs’ admirable comeback from separate deficits of 10 and 9 points fell just short when Arkansas scored the winning touchdown with 21 seconds left, but the effort wouldn’t have been possible at all without both Marks and Thomas on Saturday.
The duo combined for all three of Mississippi State’s second-half touchdowns, with Thomas grabbing a pair of scoring passes and Marks catching what would be the Bulldogs’ final score of the night.
The running back finished with six receptions for 46 yards after hauling in a 15-yard pass that Rogers tossed over an Arkansas defender to a wide-open Marks in the back left corner of the end zone.
It was perhaps the only time Marks made his mark without leaving a mark on the field. Arkansas defenders smeared the 5-foot-10 sophomore into the turf time after time, including one particularly bone-jarring hit by Grant Morgan on the drive where Ruiz went on to miss a field goal.
Still, Marks — who entered Saturday’s game tied for 13th in the country in receptions — added to that total while making an impact in the run game with 11 carries for a respectable sum of 40 yards.
But it was certainly through the air where he was biggest. Marks took a short pass into the red zone to set up Thomas’ first touchdown, and he stiff-armed a Razorbacks defender backward to pick up 10 yards on third-and-10 on the first drive of the fourth quarter.
“I thought Woody especially emerged the second half,” Leach said. “He had a really good second half. I have him as kind of similar to everybody else the first half.”
On the next play, Marks rushed for 9 yards.
Thomas took it from there.
The freshman from Eufaula, Alabama, caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Rogers, snagging the ball at the 25-yard line and racing to the goal line after an Arkansas player whiffed on a tackle attempt.
Thomas has a touchdown in three straight games, catching scoring passes against Vanderbilt and Kentucky before his big game Saturday.
Leach praised Thomas’ performance, calling him the Bulldogs’ starting X receiver in a group of players who have “played keep-away” with the job this season.
“I think he’s going to be a really good player,” Leach said.
Thomas already is. Just ask his quarterback.
“He’s a guy who gets open, he catches the ball, and he scores,” Rogers said of Thomas.
Marks and Thomas couldn’t quite will Mississippi State to a win Saturday. But what more could the Bulldogs ask of them?
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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