Miss. St. honors late coach Leach in Week 1 romp
STARKVILLE, Miss.– Will Rogers threw for 227 yards and Mississippi State got rid of a sluggish start with a running game that churned out 300 lawns on the ground en path to a 48-7 win over Southeastern Louisiana in the season opener for both schools on Saturday.The game marked the
debut of head coach Zach Arnett, who coached the Bulldogs in the ReliaQuest Bowl win over Illinois to close the 2022 season after famous coach Mike Leach died suddenly last December. Leach was honored by the Bulldogs following the very first quarter with his widow, Sharon, in participation. Dr. Keenum and @zacselmon provided the Leach household with a framed jersey and a signed executive order mentioning that all flags on state buildings and grounds would be flown at half-staff for a day in remembrance of Coach Leach’s legacy … pic.twitter.com/9aU0lju8wL!.?.!— Mississippi State Football(@HailStateFB) September 2, 2023 The Bulldogs had just a 3-0 lead at the end of the very first quarter before putting up 17 points in the second to construct a 20-7 lead at the half. MSU handled to discover its footing in
the second half to pull away for great.”I believed we improved in the second
half,”Arnett stated.”I believed [Southeast Louisiana] had a great strategy. I think they did a tremendous job with their strategy. We have actually got a long way to go and it only gets harder from here. We can either get contented and believe we have actually done something special or be genuine to ourselves, view the movie and enhance.”Rogers was 20-of-29 death and passed Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel for seventh in SEC history in profession passing backyards. Rogers now has 10,916 yards and is chasing after Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray’s mark of 13,166.”I think it took a second for us to get settled in,”Rogers stated.”As a leader and a senior, you stay the course. You let the game pertained to you and I thought that we did that. With that being said, we have actually got to do a lot better. “Editor’s Picks
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Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks completed with 19 brings for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns and included four catches for 59 backyards. It was the very first time an MSU running back reviewed 100 backyards entering a game considering that 2019.
Freshman Creed Whittemore had a substantial game at pass receiver with four catches for 59 lawns and a rating and included two rushes for 57 lawns including a 33-yard rating. Vanderbilt transfer Mike Wright was also a significant element, hurrying 5 times for 95 yards.MSU outgained the Lions 525-208 and had 282 lawns on the ground. It was the first time considering that 2019 that the Bulldogs had hurried for more than 200 yards.Defensively, preseason All-SEC linebacker Nathaniel
Watson led the group with 8 tackles and 1.5 sacks.The win was the very first regular-season win for Arnett, who made his debut in Tampa on New
Year’s Day and was his very first game at home.Arnett deflected any of the attention on himself and praised his players’work. “It’s all about the players.
Players prepare. Gamers go out and prepare to play. Players make plays,” Arnett stated.
“This is a player-first program. It’s the reason season tickets are sold out here and why everyone wants to come and produce an excellent environment. I’m grateful they got to head out there, be commemorated and start the season off with a victory.”