Will Rogers siphoned through his reads quicker than a lawman at the O.K. Corral.
But rather than unleash his six-shooter, or, in this case, his right arm, Mississippi State’s baby-faced signal-caller stepped up into the pocket and scampered 13 yards into the end zone to give Mississippi State an eight point lead it wouldn’t relinquish in Thursday’s 28-26 Armed Forces Bowl victory over No. 24 Tulsa in Fort Worth, Texas.
Donning a ten-gallon hat and bandana wrapped across his mouth as he left the football facility in Starkville earlier this week, it was Rogers, ever-the-outlaw head coach Mike Leach and a balanced offensive attack that stormed into the Lone Star State on New Year’s Eve and added one final chapter to a year and season filled with absurdity.
“I think it’s huge to get a win against a really great opponent,” Rogers said in his first media session since fall camp. “Tough weather conditions all game, we knew that coming in, And I think it says a lot about our program, a lot about the guys, especially just to come in here knowing it’s going to be cold rainy, gonna be a gross game. Just got to find a way to win.”
As rain coated Amon G. Carter Stadium and fog creeped over its outer walls, both offenses came to a freezing standstill with temperatures dropping throughout the afternoon. Rogers, who had passed for at least 221 yards in each of his last five games, mustered a meager 67 yards through the air on 9 of 15 passing in the first half and failed to eclipse the 200-yard plateau in a start for the first time in his career.
With the passing game stalled, MSU turned to the freshman running back tandem of Jo’quavious Marks and Dillon Johnson through Thursday’s slog of a first half. In return, Marks notched his longest run of the season by way of a 28-yard touchdown scamper on the game’s first drive, while he and Johnson combined for 8.6 yards per touch on their first eight carries.
“I just saw good numbers, good run boxes,” Rogers explained of why MSU audibled to run the ball as much as it did. “And if we can take five (yards) on first down in the run game we’re definitely going to do that.”
And then there were the penalties. Entering Thursday as the second-most penalized team in college football, Tulsa secured three unsportsmanlike conduct fouls in the opening 30 minutes. MSU added to the flag-filled first half with seven penalties and 44 penalty yards of its own.
Following Rogers’ Johnny Manziel-esque touchdown scamper in his maroon, No. 2-stitched jersey, it was fellow first-year phenom Emmanuel Forbes who notched third pick-six and fifth interception of the year when he jumped a Zach Smith throw before racing 90 yards to pay dirt.
Channelling the same rhythm and second half offensive ability that gave it a 99-point advantage in second halves this season, Smith and the Tulsa offense barked back. Senior running back Corey Taylor II, one of Tulsa’s three capable tailbacks who were held to 132 yards on 29 touches, brought the Golden Hurricane within a two-point conversion of knotting things up on a five-yard touchdown run, but Smith’s pass sailed through his receivers hands and slammed into the wet grass on the try.
After Tulsa’s ensuing kick off narrowly skipped out of bounds, Rogers guided the Bulldogs on a 11-play, 65-yard drive capped off by a 12-yard touchdown pass to classmate Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin, who also notched 138 kick return yards, in the back right corner of the end zone.
The Golden Hurricane came an onside kick away from one final chance after a 15-yard Keylon Stokes touchdown reception, before junior receiver Austin Williams fell on the loose kick.
“Obviously, it was slippery as heck,” Williams conceded postgame. “(The ball) slipped a little bit, definitely should’ve caught it on the first one, but I had some great blocking by the guys up front on the line to give me a chance to get it back.”
In a game that pitted two teams that had never once squared off against one another, Thursday’s contest also masqueraded as a meeting of rivals with a chippinness and genuine intensity the vast majority of the 2020 bowl slate had lacked.
Teams gathered near midfield in warmups, trading barbs and jabs before members of each coaching staff separated the effervescent undergrads. MSU receiver Malik Heath and offensive lineman Kameron Jones were pulled away from a brief dustup midway through the second quarter as both sides debated who jumped first on a snap.
Tensions finally broke after the final snap as players from both teams devolved into a benches clearing brawl. In a season that’s included everything from a global pandemic to bizarre college football scheduling, MSU closed the year not only trading parting shots, but slugging its way off the playing surface at Amon G. Carter Stadium with their first bowl victory since 2017.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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