Will Rogers went 39-of-47 passing for 370 yards and three touchdowns to lead Mississippi State to a 35-34 comeback home win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
Mississippi State trailed 34-14 in the fourth quarter, but scored three unanswered touchdowns and sweated through a 46-yard field goal attempt by Jacob Barnes with two seconds left in the game that would’ve won it for Louisiana Tech.
But Barnes didn’t connect with the kick properly and the ball fell well short of the crossbar.
After falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to Jo’quavious Marks and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to Johnathan Calvin, Louisiana Tech scored 34 unanswered points.
Louisiana Tech cut its deficit to 14-7 on the final play of the first quarter when Austin Kendall hit Bub Means for a 72-yard touchdown pass.
Kendall tied the game at 14-14 on a 59-yard touchdown run with 11:55 left in the second quarter, then gave Louisiana Tech a 21-14 with 3:06 remaining in the second quarter on a 24-yard touchdown pass to Smoke Harris.
After Barnes kicked a 20-yard field goal with 3:06 remaining in the third quarter, Trey Baldwin of Louisiana Tech picked off a pass from Rogers along the sideline and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to give the Louisiana Tech a 31-14 lead with 1:50 left in the third.
Barnes hit a 33-yard field goal with 13:11 to give Louisiana Tech a 34-14 lead, but Mississippi State started its comeback, cutting its deficit to 34-21 with 12:01 left on a 1-yard touchdown run by Marks.
Mississippi State then made it a 34-28 game with 7:24 left when Marks scored on a 5-yard touchdown run, capping off a 7-play, 77-yard drive.
Mississippi State then regained the lead, going up 35-34 with 3:37 remaining on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to Jaden Walley.
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–Field Level Media