Mississippi State's Storylines vs. Texas A&M

STARKVILLE – It's a big-time game in Stark Vegas.

Mississippi State hosts 17^th-ranked Texas A&M on Saturday. Kickoff time is set for 3 p.m. CT at Davis Wade Stadium. The contest will be televised by SEC Network with Taylor Zarzour (play-by-play), Matt Stinchcomb (analyst) and Alyssa Lang (reporter) on the call.

Fans can also listen for free online by CLICKING HERE.

Mississippi State is set to meet a ranked Texas A&M team for the fifth time since the Aggies entered the SEC in 2012. The Bulldogs have upset A&M in three of the previous four meetings.
Head coach Mike Leach is 8-4 in his career against the Aggies, winning four straight from 2005-08 as Big 12 foes while at Texas Tech. Assistant coach Darcel McBath played in all four of those games.
QB Will Rogers is coming off of his second career game with six passing touchdowns, which tied his school record. He is the only active quarterback in the country with multiple games of six or more touchdown passes in his career.
Rogers also posted his seventh career 400-yard passing game. Dating back to 2000, no other SEC quarterback has more than five in his career.
Mississippi State and Tulsa are the only teams in the FBS with multiple 400-yard passing games this season. State has 10 such games since 2020, but had just seven in the previous 1,193 games prior to Leach's arrival in Starkville.
WR Lideatrick Griffin ranks fifth in the FBS, averaging 33.5 yards per kickoff return. He is one of three players nationally with four or more returns of 30-plus yards.
State's kickoff return unit is fifth in the nation, averaging
31.7 yards per return. Since 2020, MSU ranks second nationally, averaging 27.1 yards per kickoff return. Only Texas A&M (29.7) has a better mark in that span.
QB Will Rogers has tossed a touchdown in 22 of his last 23 games with 62 scores in that span. Since 2020, Rogers has tossed multiple touchdowns in 14 different games.
Three active Bulldogs have cracked the MSU top 10 for career receptions. RB Jo'quavious Marks (151) is fourth, while WR Austin Williams (124) is eighth. RB Dillon Johnson is the latest to reach the leaderboard (122) and is now ninth.
WR Caleb Ducking is one of two SEC players and 18 players nationally to turn in multiple receiving touchdowns in multiple games this season. He leads MSU with 21 receptions, which is tied for fourth in the SEC, and his team-leading 258 receiving yards are 10th in the league.
Ducking is tied for seventh in the FBS and second in the SEC with five touchdown catches.
Nine different Bulldogs have caught a touchdown this season, which is tied for second in the FBS with North Carolina, North Texas, Kansas and UCLA. Only NC State (10) has had more receivers score.
Mississippi State has ranked among the top five Power 5 teams in the nation in yards after catch in back-to-back seasons under head coach Mike Leach, and State is currently second nationally. The Bulldogs led the nation in yards after catch in 2021, and State ranked second in the SEC and third nationally in 2020.
QB Will Rogers leads the nation in completions per game (35.0) and passing touchdowns (16). He also leads the SEC in passing yards (1,386), passing yards per game (346.5), points responsible for (96) and points responsible for per game (24.0). His completion percentage (74.1 percent) and total offense per game (331.5) rank second in the league.
Since 2020, Rogers is tied for second nationally among active players with four games of five or more passing touchdowns. He is the only active quarterback with multiple games of six or more touchdowns through the air. He also leads the nation in passing yards (8,194) and is third in passing touchdowns (63).
There are just 21 players nationally in the FBS with active streaks of 20 or more games with a catch and only three in the SEC. RB Jo'quavious Marks has the second-longest active streak in the SEC at 27 games, and WR Jaden Walley has catches in 26 straight contests.
In their last game against Bowling Green (Sept. 24), the Bulldogs turned in their longest rush (40 yards), kick return (42 yards) and field goal (53 yards) of the season.
RB Dillon Johnson is tied for fifth in the Power 5 with an 86.3 hands/drop grade from PFF this season and is tied for fourth in the Power 5 with nine missed tackles forced on receptions.
CB Decamerion Richardson boasts the No. 16 tackling grade (87.7) in the Power 5 per PFF, which is also good for fourth in the SEC. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett's unit has forced a turnover in 22 of 28 games since he arrived with 40 takeaways in that span. The
Bulldogs have 26 interceptions in Arnett's 28 games at the helm.
K Ben Raybon's 53-yard field goal against Bowling Green (Sept. 24) stands as the second-longest make in school history and is tied for the sixth-longest in the FBS this year. Raybon is one of 25 kickers in the nation and three in the SEC to be perfect (4-for-4) on field goals this year.
Under Mike Leach, the Bulldogs are 10-0 when scoring at least 30 points and 10-3 when scoring first.
According to ESPN's FPI, MSU will play the second-toughest schedule in the nation in 2022. The Bulldogs play all six SEC teams that were
ranked in the preseason AP poll.
MSU is one of the most-experienced teams in college football this fall, with a total of 16 starters returning on offense and defense from last year's squad.
MSU returns 79.1 percent of its defensive snaps from 2021. Of the 22 players on the defensive side of the two-deep, 17 have been playing for the past two years under defensive coordinator Zach Arnett. Three more have at least played a season in Arnett's system.

Mississippi State's Storylines vs. Texas A&M

Players Mentioned

Caleb Ducking

Lideatrick Griffin

Dillon Johnson

Jo'Quavious Marks

Ben Raybon

Decamerion Richardson

Will Rogers

Jaden Walley

Austin Williams

Mississippi State University Athletics

Mississippi State's Storylines vs. Texas A&M

Related News

Players Mentioned

Caleb Ducking

Lideatrick Griffin

Dillon Johnson

Jo'Quavious Marks

Ben Raybon

Decamerion Richardson

Will Rogers

Jaden Walley

Austin Williams

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