Mississippi State Erases a 16-point Hole, Beats South Carolina 41-34
Sixteen points down early, and Mississippi State still came out of it 3-0. South Carolina had three field goals from Malik Orsan and a 4-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Brown II in the bank before the Bulldogs had a point, and it was 16-0 in the second quarter. From that moment on, Mississippi State outscored the home team 41-18.
The turn came in a hurry. Kamario Taylor hit Sanfrisco Magee from 30 yards at 8:05 of the second quarter, then found Zion Ragins from 43 yards 2:49 later, and it was 16-14. South Carolina answered with a Matt Fuller touchdown run and led 23-14 at the half. Then the second half belonged to the visitors. Marquis Johnson caught a 23-yarder, Anthony Evans III caught a 5-yarder to make it 28-23 (the only lead change of the night), and a Kyle Ferrie field goal made it 31-23 going into the fourth. Backup quarterback Gracen Harris even got in on it, throwing a 7-yard touchdown to Sam West to stretch it to 38-23.
South Carolina did not go quietly. LaNorris Sellers found Fuller from 25 yards at 3:50 and ran in the two-point try to make it 41-31, and Orsan hit a 52-yarder with 0:52 left to get it to a one-score game at 41-34. That is as close as it got. The yardage was nearly even (431 for South Carolina, 408 for Mississippi State), but South Carolina threw two interceptions to the Bulldogs' one, and the Gamecocks scored zero points in the third quarter.
The records say it all: Mississippi State is 3-0, South Carolina is 2-1. For fantasy, this was a passing game in every sense. Taylor threw four touchdowns, Sellers had 282 yards through the air, and Fuller turned 7 catches into a 34.8-point afternoon.