Football Falls at Mississippi State

Saturday, November 5

Starkville, Miss.

11:00 AM

Texas A&M

7-2 , 4-2

Mississippi State

4-5 , 2-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Nov 05, 2016 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery MSST 35, A&M 28 - Final Stats (PDF)

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- Nick Fitzgerald ran for 182 yards and two touchdowns, Aeris Williams ran for a career-high 140 yards and Mississippi State used a dominant ground game to upset No. 7 Texas A&M 35-28 on Saturday.

It was a stunning win for Mississippi State (4-5, 2/3 Southeastern Conference), which was coming off an uninspiring 56-41 win over lower-level Samford. The Bulldogs had lost their previous three games against FBS competition.

It was an equally stunning loss for Texas A&M. The Aggies were ranked No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday, but will now almost certainly tumble out of contention.

Mississippi State finished with 365 yards rushing. The Bulldogs' biggest drive was a grinding 14-play, 73-yard push in the fourth quarter that ended with Fitzgerald running for a 4-yard touchdown for a 35-21 lead. Mississippi State ran 10 straight running plays at one point in the drive.

Fitzgerald was 18 of 31 passing for 209 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Texas A&M (7-2, 4-2) not only lost the game, but possibly its starting quarterback. Trevor Knight was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with an apparent right shoulder injury and didn't return.

Knight wasn't very effective when he was playing, completing just 5 of 14 passes for 43 yards. He also ran for 54 yards and a touchdown.

Mississippi State took a 28-7 lead late in the second quarter after Fitzgerald's 7-yard touchdown pass to Ross, but Texas A&M responded with Christian Kirk's 93-yard punt return for a touchdown to pull within 28-14 by halftime.

Knight's backup Jake Hubenak threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Kirk early in the fourth quarter to pull Texas A&M within 28-21. Hubenak added a 4-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds with 1:33 left, but the Aggies couldn't get enough momentum to overtake Mississippi State.

ABOUT THE GAME...
• The Aggies fell to 7-2 overall and 4-2 against SEC opponents.
• The loss was the Aggies' second straight away from Kyle Field and second straight loss in Starkville, Miss.
• The loss evens the all-time series between the two schools at 5-5.

TAKE IT TO THE HOUSE KIRK...
Sophomore WR Christian Kirk has been a game-breaker for the Aggies the past two weeks with three punt return TDs and two receiving scores.
• Kirk fielded a MSU punt inside the TAMU 10 late in the first half and returned it 93 yards for a touchdown. It tied for the the third-longest punt return TD in school history.
• The punt return TD was his third of the season, which breaks a school record owned by four players (including himself in 2015 and 2016).
• It brought his career total to five, which improves his own school record.
• Kirk's five career punt returns rank No. 2 among active FBS players even though he needs one more return to qualify for NCAA career statistics.
• Kirk also reeled in a 54-yard TD catch that drew the Aggies within seven points early in the fourth quarter.
• Kirk finished the day with a season-best 144 receiving yards on seven catches and a season-best 237 all-purpose yards. Both were Kirk's second-best single game efforts of his career.

Active FBS Career Punt Return TDs
Player, School TDs
Ryan Switzer, North Carolina 7
Christian Kirk, Texas A&M 5
Dante Pettis, Washington 5
Isaiah McKenze, Georgia 4
Williams Likely, Maryland 4

REYNOLDS GRABS NO. 25 ...
The SEC's active receiving TDs leader Josh Reynolds reeled in his 25th career touchdown to pull the Aggies within a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
• The TD catch was the seventh of the season and he's tied with Christian Kirk for the team lead.
• Reynolds now has a receiving TD in four straight games.

TAMU Career Receiving TDs
Player, Years TDs
Jeff Fuller, 2008-11 34
Josh Reynolds, 2014- 25
Ryan Swope, 2009-12 24
Uzoma Nwachukwu, 2009-12 19
Bob Long, 1966-68 19

SEC Active Receiving TDs list
1. 25 - Josh Reynolds, TA&M 2014-16
2. 19 - Fred Ross, MSU 2013-16 16
Keon Hatcher, ARK 2012-16
4. 14 - Christian Kirk, TA&M 2015-16
14 - Evan Engram, Ole Miss 2013-16

NOTABLES
• Junior QB Jake Hubenak came off the bench to replace the injured Trevor Knight and responded 222 yards and two touchdowns on 11-of-17 passing.
• Before Knight left the game, he posted his 10th rushing TD of the season. He entered the game as the SEC's rushing TDs leader.
• Junior FS Armani Watts led the team with 12 tackles and senior SS Justin Evans also posted double-digit stops with 11.
• The Aggies rushed for just 117 yards, marking just the second time the offense hasn't rushed for at least 200 yards in 2016. It was three yards off the season low of 114 vs. Alabama.
• The Aggies had two pickoffs , both in the end zone, against the Bulldogs. The interceptions were the first of the season for both Nick Harvey and Donovan Wilson. It was the fourth time Texas A&M has had two or more pickoffs in a game this season.

GAME CAPTAINS, 12TH MAN
• Game captains for the Aggies were graduate transfer QB Trevor Knight, junior WR Ricky Seals-Jones, senior LB Shaan Washington, DE Myles Garrett and senior DB Alex Sezer Jr. Texas A&M won the toss and elected to receive.
• The Aggies' 12th Man representative was sophomore LB Cullen Gillaspia (Katy, Texas) in his ninth straight start. A former walkon, Gillaspia was awarded a scholarship at the end of fall camp.