Kamario Taylor threw three touchdown passes, and Fluff Bothwell added 177 yards of offense and two scores to lead No. 24 Mississippi State to a 31-24 victory over No. 19 Missouri in Starkville, Miss.
Taylor completed 27 of 38 passes for 360 yards, including a go-ahead 24-yard score to Sanfrisco Magee with 3:57 left in the game.
Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth, stopping each of Missouri’s four fourth-quarter possessions, including batting down a Hail Mary attempt on the final play.
Magee finished with two touchdown catches and 76 yards and Anthony Evans III had 114 receiving yards, including a 48-yard grab to set up Magee’s go-ahead score.
The Bulldogs have now started 4-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1944-45. Coach Jeff Lebby has already won more SEC games this season than the one he had in his first two seasons at Mississippi State combined.
Austin Simmons threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Cayden Lee, for Missouri (3-1, 0-1). Daeden Hopkins had 3 1/2 sacks and Lee finished with 156 receiving yards for the Tigers.
Trailing by seven in the fourth quarter, Bothwell finished a 14-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to tie the game with 7:09 left.
After a Missouri three-and-out, Mississippi State needed five plays to go 85 yards for the go-ahead score. On second-and-8 from the 24, Taylor hit Magee in the end zone.
The Bulldogs jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, with Magee scoring on a 43-yard fly pattern and Bothwell taking in an 11-yard pass from Taylor.
Bothwell gave the look of a lead blocker on a quarterback sneak before Taylor pulled up and flipped him a jump pass near the goal line.
Simmons’ first touchdown pass to Donovan Olugbode cut Mississippi State’s halftime lead to 14-10, but a 54-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter by DaMarion Fowlkes put Mizzou in position to take the lead. Lee finished the drive with the first of his two third-quarter touchdowns.
–Field Level Media
