Mississippi State slips past No. 12 Arizona State 24-20 on late TD pass
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STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Blake Shapen threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Brenen Thompson with 30 seconds left to lift Mississippi State past No. 12 Arizona State, 24-20 on Saturday night.
The Sun Devils (1-1) scored 20 straight points, taking the lead with 1:38 left on Jesus Gomez’s 18-yard field goal. Shapen and the Bulldogs (2-0) countered with the winning five-play, 77-yard drive.
Mississippi State beat a top 15 nonconference opponent for the first time since 1991, giving Jeff Lebby his first marquee win as head coach.
“What an atmosphere, what an evening. That is Davis Wade Stadium at its finest,” Lebby said. “The funnest thing about it for our guys, everything we’ve been through in the program, to see our university show up the way that we showed up is special.”
The Bulldogs outgained the Sun Devils 209-95 in the first half to build a 17-0 lead, with Arizona State cutting it to 17-3 at the break with a late field goal. That momentum carried into the second half as the Sun Devils outgained the Bulldogs 238-59 in the second half until the final possession turned things.
“The big plays were the story of the game,” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said. “That’s a good football team and they’re explosive. They made an explosive play. We had to take away their explosives in the second half and we did it until the end there.”
Arizona State put together a 17-play, 95-yard drive just before the Bulldog score. A drive of nearly 9 minutes was stopped at the 1 yard line as Nic Mitchell led the stop and forced the field goal. Shapen and Thompson would get a score with 30 seconds left and Hunter Washington intercepted a pass to seal it.
“We emphasized going out and playing the next play,” Shapen said. “These are moments that I live for. This shows a lot about our team. The emotions are very high right now and I’m very blessed to be in this position.”
Shapen was 19 of 33 for 279 yards and three touchdowns. Thompson had six catches for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Anthony Evans finished with nine catches and 108 yards and a score.
Arizona State had 251 yards on the ground, with Raleek Brown running for 110 yards, and Kanye Udoh adding 105 yards and a score.
A year after the Bulldogs lost to the Sun Devils after surrendering nearly 300 yards rushing to Cam Skattebo, the defense would be a huge part of things on Saturday. Arizona State ended up putting together a solid day on the ground, but quarterback Sam Leavitt was held to just 10 of 22 passing for 82 yards and two interceptions while rushing for just 25 yards.
Mississippi State had six tackles for loss in the win, two sacks and two interceptions. It has already shown massive improvements in the first two games of the season after a historically bad 2024.
Takeaways
Mississippi State has been searching for a big win under Lebby. Arizona State played poorly in the first half, but nearly got out of Starkville with a marquee SEC road victory.
Up next
Arizona State: Hosts Texas State next Saturday.
Mississippi State: Hosts Alcorn State next Saturday.
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