Mississippi State scores 40-straight points to upset Auburn

After falling behind 28-3 to Auburn in the second quarter, things looked grim for Mike Leach’s Mississippi State team. Auburn’s offense was clicking with 14 points in each of the first two quarters and held a four-score advantage with just over 36 minutes remaining. However, things turned quickly in Auburn.

A 10-play, 75-yard drive cut the deficit to 18 for Mississippi State heading into halftime and signaled a massive momentum shift. The Bulldogs returned to the field in the second half with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to make it 28-17 with more than 11 minutes left in the third.

Mike Leach’s Mississippi State air raid offense continued tearing apart the Auburn secondary throughout the second half, getting help from the drastically improved defense. Five straight touchdown drives were complimented by an Auburn missed field goal, three-and-out and turnover on downs as the Bulldogs went up 43-28.

The 40-straight points sucked the life out of Jordan-Hare Stadium as Auburn surrendered touchdown after touchdown. After putting up a late touchdown, Auburn went for the two-point conversation and failed, making it 43-34. A missed field goal from Mississippi State offered one final chance, which Bryan Harsin gave to LSU transfer TJ Finley, not Bo Nix.

Finley fumbled the ball on a pass attempt, allowing Mississippi State to run out the clock and walk away with the comeback win.

Will Rogers steps up

Will Rogers finished the game 44-for-55 with 415 passing yards and six touchdowns. The Bulldogs ran for just 72 yards as Rogers found 10 different receivers throughout the game. Rogers broke down Mississippi State’s comeback win during his postgame interview with ESPN’s Kris Budden.

“We just did what we did on Tuesday in practice. I can’t say enough about my teammates. … I have great teammates, great coaches – offensively and defensively.

He also broke down what Mike Leach told the team during halftime, and how the Bulldogs are able to excel in comeback situations.

“Just to do what we do. We felt like they had done some things to stop us in the first half. But I think a really key drive for us was the last drive of the (first) half when we were able to score a touchdown. And we were like ‘alright yeah, let’s just do our stuff and let’s just go down and score on these guys.”

He continued: “We can be explosive, we play a really different type of offense. I love this team… we play hard.”