Mississippi State's Will Rogers gets emotional talking about Mike Leach after leading to comeback victory
Mississippi State wraps the 2022 season with nine wins
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Mississippi State played Monday’s ReliaQuest Bowl against Illinois with coach Mike Leach on their mind and came out the victor 19-10 to close the book on a rollercoaster year.
The Bulldogs outscored Illinois 16-0 in the fourth quarter to propel them to victory. Will Rogers had an 8-yard touchdown pass to Justin Robinson and Marcus Banks returned a botched lateral for a touchdown to ultimately seal the deal in the final seconds.
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Rogers was 29-of-44 with 261 passing yards, a touchdown pass and two interceptions. He also engineered a nine-play, 68-yard drive to set up Massimo Biscardi’s go-ahead 27-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to give Mississippi State the lead.
The quarterback was emotional when he explained what the win meant.
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"It’s been tough. Coach and I were so close and to lose a coach like that, a friend like that, it hurt me for a really long time. It will continue to hurt, but to be able to come out here with this group of guys, my brothers, I can’t say enough about this team and this university," Rogers said.
"I definitely wanted to win this game for coach. I think we all did. I think if we would have come out here and really lost the game, I don’t think Coach would have been to happy with it. It says a lot about our team and a lot about these individuals and coaches that we were able to stick together and come out with nine wins."
Robinson finished with seven catches for 81 yards in the win.
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Mississippi State reached the nine-win mark for the first time since 2017.