State Falls In Tough Battle With No. 14 Texas A&M

Saturday, October 19

Starkville

3:15 p.m.

Mississippi State

1-6 , 0-4

Texas A&M

6-1 , 4-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Texas A&M

Mississippi St.

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

State Falls In Tough Battle With No. 14 Texas A&M

October 19, 2024 | Football

Box Score

Bulldogs drop 34-24 decision to Aggies.

By: Joel Coleman, Senior Writer

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State again fought nip and tuck against a Top-15 team, but was unable to come away with a victory as the Bulldogs fell 34-24 to No. 14 Texas A&M at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday.

True freshman MSU quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., making the first home start of his career, threw for 242 yards and three touchdowns and State's offense outgained the Aggies 367 yards to 353, yet it wasn't quite enough for the Bulldogs.

Van Buren got the Dawgs off and running as State struck first against A&M. A 14-yard touchdown toss to running back Davon Booth on State's first possession gave MSU an early 7-0 advantage. Booth went on to finish with 31 yards of receiving and a team-high 79 rushing yards.

Following Booth's score, Texas A&M grabbed control. The Aggies scored 21 of the game's next 24 points to build themselves a 21-10 lead. The lone Bulldog points in that stretch came courtesy of a 24-yard field goal by Kyle Ferrie. However, State got right back in the contest.

Van Buren's four-yard touchdown pass to Mario Craver just before halftime had the Dawgs down just 21-17 at the intermission.

And while the Aggies responded by outscoring MSU 10-0 in the third quarter, Van Buren hit Kevin Coleman Jr. for a 12-yard touchdown early in the fourth to make it a one-possession game with Texas A&M up just 31-24. State got no closer from there though.

A 44-yard Aggie field goal with just 6:13 left to play set the contest's final margin.

Coleman finished with 89 yards of receiving to go along with his touchdown. In fact, three Bulldogs had over 40 yards of receiving, as Kelly Akharaiyi finished with 45 and Craver had 42 to go along with his score.

Defensively, safety Isaac Smith again paced the Bulldogs in tackles, collecting 13 of them. Nic Mitchell had 10 takedowns for State.

Branden Jennings and Sulaiman Kpaka each had half a tackle for loss for MSU, while Hunter Washington and Zakari Tillman each collected an interception.

Next Up for MSU…

Mississippi State will be back on its home field for a second straight week when the Bulldogs host Arkansas on Saturday, Oct. 26. Kickoff is set for 11:45 a.m. at Davis Wade Stadium, and the game will be televised by SEC Network.