November 25, 2021 Week 13 · Regular Season Belt defended

Ole Miss defends the belt, 31–21, on the road at Mississippi State.

Home · Challenger

Mississippi State 21

Away · Defending Holder

Ole MissAP No. 8 31

AP poll, week 13: Ole Miss No. 8 at Mississippi State unranked · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Ole Miss came in 12 days into reign #317, which began with a win over Texas A&M, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. It was the last defense: Baylor took the belt in the very next belt game, on January 1, 2022.

For Mississippi State this was its 21st shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before.

It was the 6th of 6 belt games between the two; going in, Ole Miss led the belt series 3–0–2; all-time Ole Miss leads 4–0–2. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Ole Miss held off a late Mississippi State surge to retain the belt with a 31-21 victory in Starkville. The Rebels' offense dominated time of possession and third-down conversions, with Matt Corral orchestrating multiple scoring drives while Snoop Conner punched in two first-quarter touchdowns to build an early advantage. Mississippi State's Will Rogers kept his team competitive through the air, but costly missed field goals by Nolan McCord in the second quarter and a late interception to Jett Johnson prevented the Bulldogs from mounting a complete comeback despite Jo'quavious Marks' late touchdown run with a two-point conversion making it close.

Snoop Conner's two one-yard touchdown runs in Q2 and Q3 gave Ole Miss an early offensive advantage
Jett Johnson's 48-yard interception return in Q4 set up Mississippi State's touchdown, keeping the Bulldogs alive
Matt Corral's 4-yard rushing touchdown in Q4 extended Ole Miss's lead to provide cushion against the comeback
Jo'quavious Marks' 11-yard touchdown with two-point conversion late in Q4 made it close but came too late

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Mississippi StateOle Miss

Total yards420388

Rushing yards84154

Passing yards336234

First downs3023

3rd down conv.4/1411/18

Turnovers01

Penalties–yards8–7511–73

Time of possession29:4430:16

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 11:46	Mississippi State	+34 yd	Nolan McCord 34 Yd Field Goal
Q1 7:07	Ole Miss	+25 yd	Cale Nation 25 Yd Field Goal
Q1 11:46	Mississippi State	+32 yd	Scott Goodman kickoff for 64 yds , Jerrion Ealy return for 32 yds to the Miss 33
Q1 11:24	Ole Miss	+29 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dontario Drummond for 29 yds to the MisSt 38 for a 1ST down
Q1 0:55	Mississippi State	+29 yd	Nolan McCord 29 Yd Field Goal
Q1 7:07	Ole Miss	+33 yd	Mac Brown kickoff for 63 yds , Lideatrick Griffin return for 33 yds to the MisSt 35
Q1 2:30	Mississippi State	+20 yd	Will Rogers pass complete to Austin Williams for 20 yds to the Miss 7 for a 1ST down
Q2 7:46	Mississippi State	+40 yd	Nolan McCord 40 yd FG MISSED
Q2 8:52	Mississippi State	+23 yd	Will Rogers pass complete to Makai Polk for 23 yds to the Miss 26 for a 1ST down
Q2 6:30	Ole Miss	+26 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Braylon Sanders for 26 yds to the Miss 48 for a 1ST down
Q2 2:21	Ole Miss	+1 yd	Snoop Conner 1 Yd Run (Cale Nation Kick)
Q2 0:11	Mississippi State	+33 yd	Nolan McCord 33 yd FG MISSED
Q2 1:27	Mississippi State	+32 yd	Will Rogers pass complete to Lideatrick Griffin for 32 yds to the Miss 28 for a 1ST down
Q3 10:24	Ole Miss	+1 yd	Snoop Conner 1 Yd Run (Cale Nation Kick)
Q3 11:33	Ole Miss	+34 yd	Matt Corral pass complete to Dontario Drummond for 34 yds to the MisSt 23 for a 1ST down
Q4 11:17	Ole Miss	+4 yd	Matt Corral 4 Yd Run (Cale Nation Kick)
Q4 11:05	Mississippi State	+20 yd	Will Rogers pass complete to Malik Heath for 5 yds to the MisSt 30 for a 1ST down OLE MISS Penalty, Personal Foul (15 Yards) to the MisSt 45 for a 1ST down. Mark Robinson ejected for targeting.
Q4 7:54	Ole Miss	+48 yd	Matt Corral pass intercepted Jett Johnson return for 48 yds to the Miss 22
Q4 7:20	Mississippi State	+11 yd	Jaden Walley 11 Yd pass from Will Rogers (Nolan McCord Kick)
Q4 5:35	Ole Miss	+15 yd	Jerrion Ealy 15 Yd pass from Matt Corral (Cale Nation Kick)
Q4 5:35	Ole Miss	+31 yd	Mac Brown kickoff for 62 yds , Lideatrick Griffin return for 31 yds to the MisSt 34
Q4 2:27	Mississippi State	+11 yd	Jo'quavious Marks 11 Yd Run (Will Rogers Pass to Makai Polk for Two-Point Conversion)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Mississippi State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Will Rogers	38/58	336	5.8	1	0	54.3
Team	0/1	0	0.0	0	0	--

Ole Miss

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Matt Corral	26/34	234	6.9	1	1	89.1

Rushing

Mississippi State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jo'quavious Marks	8	45	5.6	1	11
Dillon Johnson	5	26	5.2	0	9
J.J. Jernighan	2	9	4.5	0	5
Will Rogers	6	4	0.7	0	14

Ole Miss

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jerrion Ealy	16	60	3.8	0	12
Snoop Conner	13	49	3.8	2	16
Matt Corral	12	45	3.8	1	15
Henry Parrish Jr.	2	5	2.5	0	3
Team	1	-5	-5.0	0	0

Receiving

Mississippi State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Makai Polk	10	98	9.8	0	23
Lideatrick Griffin	5	77	15.4	0	32
Dillon Johnson	9	62	6.9	0	18
Jaden Walley	5	41	8.2	1	12
Jo'quavious Marks	6	29	4.8	0	11
Austin Williams	2	24	12.0	0	20
Malik Heath	1	5	5.0	0	5

Ole Miss

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dontario Drummond	14	138	9.9	0	34
Jerrion Ealy	5	43	8.6	1	15
Braylon Sanders	1	26	26.0	0	26
Jonathan Mingo	4	21	5.3	0	11
Jahcour Pearson	1	3	3.0	0	3
John Rhys Plumlee	1	3	3.0	0	3

Show more stats (6 more categories)

Defense

Mississippi State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Fred Peters	14	6	0	0.5	0	0
Nathaniel Watson	13	6	1	1	0	0
Jalen Green	12	7	0	0	0	0
Jett Johnson	11	3	0	1	0	0
Aaron Brule	7	2	0	2	0	0
Emmanuel Forbes	6	4	0	1	0	0
Collin Duncan	6	3	0	0	0	0
Cameron Young	6	0	0	0.5	0	0
Randy Charlton	4	2	0	0	0	1
Martin Emerson	4	1	0	0	1	0
Jaden Crumedy	3	0	0	0	0	0
Nathan Pickering	2	2	0	1	0	0
Aaron Odom	2	1	0	0	0	0
De'Monte Russell	2	0	0	0	0	0
Tyrus Wheat	2	0	0	0	0	0
Corey Ellington	1	0	0	0	0	0

Ole Miss

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Chance Campbell	12	3	0	0.5	1	2
Jake Springer	10	5	0	0	2	0
Keidron Smith	9	3	0	0	0	0
Mark Robinson	8	3	1	1	0	0
Deantre Prince	7	4	0	0	0	0
Otis Reese	6	1	0	0	0	0
A.J. Finley	6	0	0	0	0	0
Sam Williams	5	4	2	2	0	0
Deane Leonard	4	2	0	0	0	0
Jamond Gordon	3	0	0	0	0	0
Tylan Knight	2	2	0	0	0	0
Mac Brown	2	1	0	0	0	0
Tavius Robinson	2	1	0	0	0	1
Miles Battle	2	0	0	0	1	0
Cedric Johnson	2	0	0	0.5	1	0
Isaiah Iton	2	0	0	0	0	0
KD Hill	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jonathan Mingo	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tysheem Johnson	1	1	0	0	0	0
Daylen Gill	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jaylon Jones	1	0	0	0	0	0
Zikerrion Baker	1	0	0	0	0	0
Mohamed Sanogo	1	0	0	0	0	0

Interceptions

Mississippi State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Jett Johnson	1	48	0

Ole Miss

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Lideatrick Griffin	4	100	25.0	33	0
Jo'quavious Marks	1	12	12.0	12	0

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jerrion Ealy	1	32	32.0	32	0

Kicking

Mississippi State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Nolan Mccord	2/4	50.0	34	1/1	7

Ole Miss

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Cale Nation	1/1	100.0	25	4/4	7

Punt Returns

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Austin Williams	1	0	0.0	0	0

Ole Miss

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Archer Trafford	2	93	46.5	0	1	47

Ole Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Mac Brown	2	87	43.5	1	0	45

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401282151) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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