Starkville - Mississippi State came out on top in obscure fashion as they defeated Auburn 39-33 in overtime.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a big 17-0 lead in the first half behind touchdowns from Caleb Ducking and Rara Thomas, but turnovers allowed Auburn to get back into the game.
Auburn began to get some pressure on Mississippi State. A strip sack by Jeffery M'ba gave Auburn good field position to get on the board with a field goal. Tulu Griffin responded with his second career kick return touchdown, but the MSU offense went stagnant after that.
The Bulldogs went scoreless on nine consecutive possessions, including a strip sack by Derick Hall and an interception by Jaylin Simpson. Punter George Georgopoulos muffed a snap which gave Auburn a short field leading to their first touchdown on a Robby Ashford run, and Archer Trafford shanked a punt leading to another Ashford score.
With the defense gassed after short possessions from the offense, Auburn running back Tank Bigsby exploded for a 41-yard touchdown to give the Tigers a 25-24 lead.
State's offense woke up at the end of the fourth quarter as they drove down to reclaim the lead with a 33-yard touchdown from Rara Thomas, but they missed the two-point conversion making it a 30-25 ballgame.
Auburn hit them right back with another touchdown drive. The Bulldog defense forced the Tigers into some 3rd and longs, but Ashford scrambled for a first down on one, and a defensive holding took away a Tyrus Wheat sack on another. Ashford picked up another big gain on a scramble, and Jarquez Hunter punched it in for a touchdown while Ashford ran in the two-point conversion to take a 33-30 lead with under a minute to go.
The Bulldogs caught a break with a facemask penalty by Auburn on the kickoff, which began their drive at the 50-yard line. A catch on the sideline by Rufus Harvey and a 14-yard run by Woody Marks put State into field goal range. After two timeouts from Auburn taking away made field goals by Massimo Biscardi, the third time was the charm as the Coastal Carolina transfer drilled the 44-yard game-tying kick.
Mississippi State went for a squib kick to limit a big return, but it bounced off an Auburn play at the front of the formation, and State recovered. The Bulldogs moved it upfield, but Biscardi's 56-yard attempt was no good.
Mississippi State won the coin toss in overtime and elected to defend. Esaias Furdge stepped up in the absence of Emmanuel Forbes and forced a pass breakup on 3rd down. Anders Carlson trotted out for the go-ahead 37-yard kick, but it was wide right, and State took over with a chance to win it.
Will Rogers took a shot to Rara Thomas in the endzone, and he drew a pass interference. Woody Marks walked it off on the next play with a five-yard touchdown to clinch a bowl game for the 13th season in a row.
1) Lightning Lideatrick
Junior wide receiver Lideatrick "Tulu" Griffin put his speed on display right from the jump returning the opening kickoff to the 38-yard line and he didn't look back.
The Philadelphia, Mississippi native lit a spark in the Bulldog offense early on. He took a 5-yard crossing route for a 57-yard gain with his impressive run-after-catch speed to set up a Caleb Ducking touchdown and give State an early 10-0 lead.
Tulu wasn't there as he took a kick 92 yards to the house in the 2nd quarter to put Mississippi State ahead 24-3 in the 2nd quarter. The blocking was perfect as Griffin went from the right side of the field to the left, giving him a 1-on-1 matchup with the kicker, who had no shot given Griffin's lightning speed.
Griffin's explosiveness forced Auburn to play scared on special teams. Their next kickoff was a pop-up that Austin Williams fair caught at the 31-yard line, eliminating Griffin from wreaking havoc again. They kicked another pop-up in the third quarter that Simeon Price muffed, but it went out-of-bounds.
2) Sloppiness got Auburn back into the game.
Will Rogers fumbled twice and threw an interception, but sloppy punting led to the blown lead in the 3rd quarter.
George Georgopoulos muffed a snap and was tackled in MSU territory, and Archer Trafford shanked a punt that went only 13 yards. Auburn capitalized on those opportunities with two touchdowns.
The offense just couldn't get anything together as the Auburn pass rush dominated the MSU offensive line in the middle of the game as they finished with five sacks
It could've been much worse but the Mississippi State defense was able to limit the damage for the most part. Auburn had five possessions that began in Mississippi State territory and only two have them resulted in touchdowns.
Outside linebacker Tyrus Wheat was the biggest playmaker on the Bulldog defense as he picked up two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. Jaden Crumedy also made a big impact in his season debut getting a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
3) Reliable Rara
Rara Thomas was one of the biggest reason's the Bulldogs won tonight, and he got going on a 22-yard touchdown in the 2nd quarter on a jump ball in the endzone.
The sophomore was Will Rogers' favorite target as he finished with six receptions for 84 yards, and his 33-yard score in the fourth quarter got State back in the ballgame. His biggest play may have come in overtime, though, as he drew a pass interference in the endzone to set up the game-winning touchdown.
Thomas now leads the team with 540 receiving yards and is second with five receiving touchdowns.
