Vanderbilt Kicks Six Field Goals and Survives Mississippi State, 25-23
Six field goals and one touchdown. That was Vanderbilt's whole night, and it was just enough. Vanderbilt beat Mississippi State 25-23, and Vanderbilt never trailed and never even saw the score tied.
Brock Taylor did the heavy lifting with his foot: 38, 36, 22, 54, 34 and 55 yards. Sedrick Alexander's 2-yard run in the second quarter was the only touchdown, and by halftime it was 16-0. Vanderbilt ran the ball 51 times for 161 yards while Mississippi State managed 19 carries for 43. The yardage was 329 to 297, so this was a grind, not a rout.
Mississippi State got back in it in a hurry. Sanfrisco Magee caught a 65-yard touchdown from AJ Swann at 11:20 of the third quarter, and 52 seconds later Will Whitson returned a fumble 14 yards for another score. Just like that it was 16-14. Taylor answered with a 54-yarder, then a 34-yarder early in the fourth, and Kyle Ferrie's 26-yard field goal cut it to 22-17 with 4:56 left. Taylor hit a 55-yarder with 1:46 to play, which pushed it back to 25-17.
Magee scored again from 30 yards out with 32 seconds left, but the two-point pass failed, and that is where it ended. Convert that try and it is 25-25. Both teams finish 4-5, and one of them gets to pretend that was always the plan.
For fantasy purposes, Magee's 23.5 points came off two catches. Two. Swann threw 36 passes for 254 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, which was good for 20.9.