On homecoming weekend, Mississippi State football got their third win of the season after defeating the Samford Bulldogs 56-41.
Even though MSU was facing an FCS opponent, the game was anything but a blowout. MSU struggled with Samford for a large portion of the game and the fear of another South Alabama crept into fan’s minds. However, the Bulldogs were able to outscore Samford and pull out a win thanks in large part to quarterback Nick Fitzgerald and receiver Donald Gray.
Head coach Dan Mullen said the team was fired up after losing the last three games on the final play then finally pulling out a win last Saturday.
“I don’t know any team in the country that’s appreciating a win more than our guys and what we’ve been through, to lose three games on the final play of the game,” Mullen said. “Our guys were juiced up, fired up and loving it.”
Mullen has his quarterback’s effort to thank for pulling MSU through and getting the win. Fitzgerald, a sophomore from Richmond Hill, Georgia, had a record-setting game. He had 122 rushing yards on 19 rushes for two touchdowns.
He passed the ball 35 times, completing 20 passes for 417 yards and five touchdowns. He had a ridiculous stat line which put him in some lofty company.
Fitzgerald is the third player in SEC history to throw for 400 yards and rush for 100. The other two are Ole Miss’ Archie Manning, and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel. He also tied two of Dak Prescott’s school records, one for passing touchdowns with five and the other for total touchdowns with seven. Fitzgerald said it was awesome to do things Prescott did.
“He is obviously a phenomenal player now in the NFL,” Fitzgerald said. “So it is always big when you can do something as close as he did it.”
Fitzgerald has Donald Gray to thank for a lot of those yards. Gray, a junior from Memphis, Tennessee, bounced back from a rough last game with a four catch, 207 yard and three touchdown performance. The three touchdowns tie a school record set by Sammy Milner and Chad Bumphis.
Gray stood out on three plays. In the first quarter he scored on a 71-yard touchdown reception, then he went for a 74-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. He also scored on a 51-yard pass in the third quarter. His fourth reception went for a measly 11 yards. With the help of Gray and Fitzgerald, MSU put up 669 total yards, the most in school history. When Gray heard of this record breaking performance by the offense he could not help but grin.
“It feels great to be a part of that, I can’t stop smiling,” Gray said. “I’m just happy we were able to do something like that and at least we got we got the win.”
