Mississippi State took care of its business against East Tennessee State as they defeated the only FCS team on its schedule 56-7.
Tulu Griffin made impacted the game immediately, taking the opening kickoff for 58 yards, and he finished off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown reception from Will Rogers.
ETSU quarterback Tyler Riddell threw an interception to Jalen Green on the Buccaneers' first drive, and it was the start of a long first half for the ETSU defense. Will Rogers went 20-22 for 217 yards, and the Bulldogs found the endzone on four of their six first-half possessions.
Rara Thomas scored his sixth touchdown of the year on an 8-yard slant in the first quarter, and Tulu Griffin scored his second of the day early in the 2nd quarter.
Emmanuel Forbes extended the lead to 28-0 with his FBS record sixth career pick-6. Forbes took it straight to the house for 76 yards after the ball bounced right to him off the ETSU receiver's hands.
Mississippi State's route of a first half came to a close with Jo'quavious Marks' touchdown rush to make it 35-0. The Mississippi State defense held ETSU to just 92 yards of offense.
Will Rogers and the MSU offense kept their foot on the gas in the second half. After Jackie Matthews had an interception on ETSU's opening drive, Rogers led the Bulldogs to another touchdown as he hit Austin Williams for a 5-yard score.
Rogers threw his 5th touchdown of the day later in the 3rd quarter as he rolled out to his right to find Justin Robinson, who got a foot in to extend the lead to 49-0. That would end Rogers' day. The junior finished with 301 yards on 30-37 passing and threw his 79th career touchdown pass, which puts him ninth all-time in SEC history. He also surpassed 10,000 career passing yards and passed Eli Manning for ninth on the SEC list.
ETSU ran a fake punt that got stuffed in the backfield and Chance Lovertich checked in at quarterback on senior day. The Jackson Prep product led the Bulldogs to a 22-yard scoring drive as he hit Rara Thomas for a first down and tossed it to fellow senior J.J. Jernighan for a 2-yard rushing touchdown.
Lovertich was stopped on Mississippi State's next drive, and ETSU finally made its way into the endzone as Ja'Varius Harrison came through to block a George Georgopoulos punt and Erek Campbell scooped it up and took it to the house.
Redshirt freshman Sawyer Robertson then got a chance at quarterback but threw an interception on his 2nd passing attempt on a deep ball intended for Zavion Thomas. His next drive ended in a punt for Mississippi State, and he finished going 2-6 for five yards passing, but he did scramble eight yards for a first down.
Mississippi State has a short turnaround as they'll head up to Oxford for the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving. The Bulldogs are 2-0 against the Rebels under Mike Leach, and they'll hope to pick up their first Egg Bowl victory and 8-win season in Leach's tenure.
