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The Red River Rivalry and Heisman-level performances headline college football’s Week 6 action.
USA TODAY
Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald (7) is congratulated after a play late in the second quarter that was ruled a touchdown on the field, but overturned on review. Mississippi State and Auburn played in an SEC college football game on Saturday, October 6, 2018, in Starkville.(Photo: Keith Warren/For Clarion Ledger)
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Senior running back Aeris Williams caught a short pass and took Mississippi State down to the one-yard line. The Bulldogs were three feet away from scoring their first touchdown in more than over 120 minutes of action.
Then senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald plunged forward and tried to get in with his legs. Denied, twice. Sensing how momentous a touchdown would be right before halftime, State fans clanged their cowbells and begged head coach Joe Moorhead to give it another go on fourth down with four seconds remaining.
He did – without hesitation.
Fitzgerald ran right up the middle a third time, and the ball barely eclipsed the goal line. The touchdown and ensuing extra point put Mississippi State up by 10 going into the half, and the Dogs never looked back in a 23-9 win over No. 9 Auburn at Davis Wade Stadium.
“I thought that was important for us to get in the end zone there and notch a score and get the momentum knowing we’d get the ball in the second half,” Moorhead said.
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The game eerily mirrored last week’s matchup against Florida for much of the first half. Late in the second quarter, it even had the same score: 6-3. Then the Bulldogs (4-2, 1-2 SEC West) caught the type of break that hadn’t gone their way against the Gators.
Auburn’s (4-2, 1-2 SEC West) punt returner muffed a catch in Tiger territory and senior long snapper Joel Baldwin raced down the field to fall on top of it. It marked the first fumble recovery of the season for State.
The Dogs used all of the 4:23 left in the half to take the two-score lead on Fitzgerald’s one-yard run. Seven of State’s eight plays on the drive were rushes, which was the theme of the night.
Moorhead heard all week about how MSU leads the SEC in yards per carry but ranks near the bottom of the league in rushing attempts. He went about changing that Saturday night as MSU kept it on the ground 57 times.
“I think it kind of happened organically a little bit,” Moorhead said. “I think once we got it rolling a bit and the kids got confidence and we saw we were able to move it on the ground, we kind of stuck with what was working.”
Mississippi State ran the ball on more than 70 percent of its plays. And unlike the Kentucky and Florida games, Fitzgerald wasn’t the only one involved. Sophomore Kylin Hill received double-digit carries for the first time since Week 2 and for only the second time all year. He tallied 126 yards on 23 tries.
Fitzgerald was still the mainstay, though, and deservedly so. With his 195 yards, he broke former Florida Gator Tim Tebow’s record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in SEC history. And he did it against the best front seven he’s faced all season.
“Before the game, I looked at the offensive line and told them, ‘If you win in the trenches tonight, then we win,’” Fitzgerald said. “That’s exactly what they went out there and did. They went out there and dominated, opening up huge holes for the running backs and myself.”
Auburn still had its chances of striking big, similar to the way Mississippi State was a couple of plays away from winning the game against Florida last week.
Tigers quarterback Jarrett Stidham missed a wide-open receiver in the second quarter for what would’ve been a long touchdown pass. Then running back JaTarvious Whitlow fumbled on a 42-yard run just before entering the end zone. Mississippi State recovered the ball for a touchback.
Then Auburn blocked a field goal with seven-and-a-half minutes left. The Tigers only trailed by a touchdown and needed to take it just 43 yards for a game-tying score – but they couldn’t do it. State’s defense stopped them on fourth down after Auburn gained a mere 13 yards on the drive.
Sophomore linebacker Erroll Thompson said defensive coordinator Bob Shoop challenged the team to hold Auburn to 14 or less. His players succeeded, and then some.
“It was a tight-fought game the whole 60 minutes,” Thompson said. “Our coaches came in with an aggressive mindset, and I think we stuck to that plan.”
In what’s been a season of doubts and bad breaks for State, the Bulldogs silenced some critics with their rushing attack and landed on the right side of game-changing plays. The result was a win over a top-10 opponent at Davis Wade Stadium for the first time since Nov. 2016 and loads of momentum as the Dogs enter their bye week.
“Tough times don’t test your character, they reveal it,” Moorhead said. “I think our character as a team was revealed today.”
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