STARKVILLE — Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers entered Saturday’s game against Arkansas six completions short of the career Southeastern Conference record of 921.
The junior wasn’t thinking about it until his picture popped up on the Davis Wade Stadium JumboTron.
Rogers completed 31 passes Saturday against Arkansas, and his seventh — a shovel pass for a 38-yard gain to Dillon Johnson — set the new SEC mark.
Rogers said his father Wyatt tipped him off about the record after last week’s win over Texas A&M. After that, in the middle of an eventual 40-17 win for Mississippi State, it was forgotten.
“I really wasn’t thinking about it, and in the game I wasn’t thinking about it at all until it came up on the big screen,” he said.
Rogers is in the midst of a record-setting junior season for the Bulldogs. His three touchdown passes Saturday put him one shy of Dak Prescott’s program-record 70 career touchdowns.
The Bulldogs quarterback said he was glad to set the completions mark in front of a home crowd of 57,849.
“For it to come up on the big screen and for it to happen at home was pretty cool,” Rogers said. “It would have been cool to happen on the road or something, but for it to happen at home in Davis Wade where I’ve been watching games since second grade, it’s been pretty cool.”
Heisman case for Rogers?
Rogers is now up to 22 touchdown passes against just three interceptions this season. He’s thrown for 2,110 yards.
Leach said those numbers merit Rogers’ being in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
“I don’t think there’s any question whatsoever,” Leach said. “I’m extremely curious who somebody thinks is ahead of him.”
Leach said he believes Heisman voting to be poorly thought out. Some writers, he said, select the biggest name at the biggest school they can think of or pick someone from a school near a large media base.
“Some of them will just randomly stick a guy on a list who hasn’t even done anything,” Leach said. “That happens all the time, so you can think about the absurdity of that. That’ll certainly give you a good article to write.”
Rogers, for his part, laughed when college football’s premier honor was mentioned.
He said it was cool — “I guess” — to be mentioned among some of the best players in the country but said he hardly thought about the award.
“I think with team success, individual success will come,” Rogers said. “I’m just trying to win every week. I really don’t care about the Heisman.”
Bulldogs face another backup
Mississippi State is no stranger to facing backup quarterbacks.
The Bulldogs saw Arizona’s Noah Fifita enter late in their Sept. 10 game in Tucson. Bowling Green played the entire contest Sept. 24 with backup quarterback Camden Orth. Texas A&M replaced Max Johnson with Haynes King after Johnson suffered a thumb injury against the Bulldogs.
On Saturday, Mississippi State dealt with another backup — two of them.
North Panola native KJ Jefferson was dressed but did not play in Saturday’s game after suffering a hit to the head against Alabama last week.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said he knew by Thursday that Jefferson likely would not play.
“He hadn’t practiced a whole lot, and to be perfectly honest with you, it just wasn’t worth it to me and I didn’t want to put him out there,” Pittman said.
Cade Fortin started for Arkansas but threw just six passes, getting some snaps when Malik Hornsby was in the medical tent with an injury in the first half.
Hornsby gave the Bulldogs trouble, completing eight of 17 passes for 134 yards and running eight times for 114 more yards.
Leach said Hornsby might be the SEC’s fastest quarterback and that he was hard to tackle.
“I think the quarterback’s really good, kind of a stud,” Leach said. “He’s really fast. He’s a guy that can get all of it if you don’t keep a lid on him, and then he keeps it alive back there long enough that your coverage breaks down. Maybe not perfectly accurate, but he can throw it forever.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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