Mississippi State football: 3 lessons learned from win vs. Arizona

Mississippi State football vs. Arizona lesson 3:

MSU’s veteran leadership makes a huge difference

Immediately following the win, Coach Zach Arnett relayed that the Mississippi State players overcame poor coaching by the Bulldogs staff in the game. The leadership of the seniors on offense and the play of the veterans on defense made the difference in this game.

Notably, linebackers Jett Johnson and Nathaniel Watson continued to fill up the stat sheet with tackles and notably 3 interceptions between them. In a game some would have expected to be a blowout after MSU forced several turnovers early, the veterans kept the team focused when the game was close.

While the offense struggled to turn turnovers into points, the defense stayed strong to keep Arizona from winning the game.

And when Will Rogers was called upon to put the game away, he did with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jeffery Pittman.

Maybe it comes from the experience of completing the largest comeback in team history against Auburn in 2021, but this group of seniors has no quit. They rolled with the punches in this one and gritted out a tough win over a Power 5 opponent.