State Rolls Past Missouri 51-32 To End 2020 Regular Season

Saturday, December 19

Starkville

2:30 PM

Mississippi State

3-7 , 3-7

Missouri

5-5 , 5-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Missouri

Mississippi State

MSU long snapper Paul Blackwell celebrates after recovering a blocked Missouri punt for a touchdown. The play provided a huge momentum swing early in the game.

State Rolls Past Missouri 51-32 To End 2020 Regular Season

December 19, 2020 | Football

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By: Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State ended the 2020 regular season on a very high note Saturday, as an inspired Bulldog squad rolled past visiting Missouri for a 51-32 victory at Davis Wade Stadium.

Missouri (5-5, 5-5 SEC) opened the scoring on its first possession of the game. Larry Rountree rushed for 31 yards on the drive, including an 18-yard haul into the end zone to strike first.

After failing to convert on third down on the following drive, Mississippi State (3-7, 3-7 SEC) took advantage of a muffed punt that rolled into the end zone. Long snapper Paul Blackwell fell on the ball to knot the score at 7-7. The Bulldogs went on to score on each of their next six possessions.

On State's second drive quarterback Will Rogers led the march to Missouri's seven-yard line, including an 18-yard scramble that stands as State's second-longest running play of the year. He eventually found Jaden Walley in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown pass.

Both teams traded field goals to open the second quarter, before Rogers tossed another 7-yard pass – this time to Osirus Mitchell – to cap a 75-yard touchdown drive. The march featured five consecutive passes to four different Bulldog receivers, including a 37-yard toss to Walley.

Brandon Ruiz kicked a 43-yard field goal on the final play of the half to give MSU a 27-10 lead at the break.

State's Jo'quavious Marks and Missouri's Keke Chism each scored a touchdown for their respective teams in the third quarter to bring the score to 34-18.

A Collin Duncan interception at the end of the third quarter set up Brad Cumbest's first career touchdown in the fourth. After Marks ran for 16 and four yards on two carrries, Rogers connected with Cumbest from 10 yards out.

Leading 44-25 with 5:28 to play, Emmanuel Forbes picked off Connor Bazelak's pass for his second interception of the day and returned it 29 yards to the end zone to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 51-25.

Missouri scored twice in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard run by Rountree and a 24-yard touchdown pass to Niko Hea to result in the final score.

Rogers completed 21-of-36 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Walley hauled in five of those passes for a game-high 129 yards and a touchdown, giving him four straight 100-yard games to close the regular season. Marks led the MSU running game with 70 yards on 12 carries in addition to his score.

On defense, Nathaniel Watson led MSU iwth a career-high 13 tackles. He also had a tackle for loss.

Quotable…

"Well first, I had to snap the ball for the extra point. That was really fun trying to get myself to calm down for that. Afterwards, it was really awesome to see all the guys come up and celebrate with me in my last game at Davis Wade. It always catches you by surprise whenever the returner drops the ball. Every play, my job is to be there on those situations so that if a guy does drop the ball, then I'm supposed to be the guy who recovers it. It is a surprise whenever he [the returner] does drop it, but I was just executing my job because that was the game plan." - Paul Blackwell, LS

Notables From Tonight's Game...

Offensive Output

The Bulldogs posted a season-high in scoring with 51 points, their highest total in a game since a 54-24 victory at Arkansas on Nov. 2, 2019. MSU scored 27 points in the first half, its highest first-half total this season, and the most points in a first half since scoring 38 against the Razorbacks. That half is tied with the second half at LSU (Sept. 26) for State's highest scoring total in a half this season.

State also posted a season-high 151 rushing yards and did not have a negative rushing play on seven carries (46 yards) in the first half.

Rogers' Success Continues

Rogers improved his MSU freshman-record marks in passing yards (1,828), passing attempts (316) and completions (220). His 220 completions rank fourth in MSU single-season history, and his 316 pass attempts are eighth.

The rookie turned in his fifth game with 200 or more passing yards this season, which is tied for seventh-most in a single year in program history. The five 200-yard passing games is the most in a season since Nick Fitzgerald threw for 200 or more yards in five games in 2016.

He matched his career-high with three passing touchdowns, and broke a career-long run of 18 yards.

Walley Continues To Rewrite Records

Walley tallied 129 receiving yards to increase his MSU freshman-record receiving yards total to 691 yards. Along the way he became the first true freshman in program history to record four 100-yard receiving games in the same season, and the first Bulldog with four consecutive 100-yard games since Fred Ross in 2015.

His four 100-yard receiving games are tied for fourth-most in MSU single-season history and tied for ninth in Bulldog career history.

Walley gave State it's seventh 100-yard receiving game of the season, tying the school record set in 2015.

State's Takeaway Run Continues

State took advantage of four takeaways, with each resulting in points on the board. Paul Blackwell recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for his first career touchdown. Emmanuel Forbes intercepted a pair of Connor Bazelak's tosses, one of which set up a Brandon Ruiz field goal. He returned the second 29-yards to the end zone, for his second touchdown of the year. Collin Duncan's pick off set up a Brad Cumbest touchdown.

MSU has collected at least one takeaway in 32 of their last 39 games dating back to the 2017 season at Arkansas on Nov. 18. State has compiled 64 takeaways over the 39-game stretch.

Forbes became the first Bulldog with multiple interceptions in a game since Mark McLaurin made three in the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl vs. Louisville.

Ruiz's Extra Point Streak

Ruiz made five extra points in the contest and boasts an active streak of 116 consecutive extra points made in his career.

Ruiz tied his career high with 14 points on five extra point attempts and three field goals.

Rare December Game Leads To Victory

The Bulldogs' victory over Missouri marked Mississippi State's first regular-season SEC win in December in 56 years. The last time the Maroon and White posted a victory in the final month of the calendar year was at Ole Miss on December 5, 1964. Since that game, MSU was 1-2 in non-bowl games in December.

Today's game also marked the latest regular-season SEC contest in program history, surpassing Dec. 7 of 2020 (L, 10-24 vs. Auburn) and 1918 (W, 13-0 at Ole Miss).

Christmann In The Record Books

Jace Christmann made an extra point in the fourth quarter to put him in sole possession of the MSU career record for points by a kicker with 219. Christmann has tallied 32 field goals and 123 extra points since joining the Bulldogs. The kick broke at tie with Brian Hazelwood (218 points, 1995-98).

Next Up for MSU…

The Bulldogs now await their 2020 postseason fate. Bowl game matchups will be officially announced Sunday, December 20th.

For more information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU football on its social media platforms by searching for "HailStateFB" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.