Mississippi State QB Will Rogers Records a Personal Best in 45-6 Win Over Vanderbilt

Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers seemed to turn the corner against Texas A&M in the Bulldogs' first matchup of October when the team left Kyle Field with a 26-22 statement win over the Aggies.

Then, he seemed to take a bit of a step back against Alabama, completing 35-of-55 passes for 300 yards with zero touchdowns and three interceptions as the Bulldogs suffered a tough 49-9 home loss to the Crimson Tide.

But Rogers looked much better on Saturday in Nashville when he completed 42-of-58 passes for 386 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions en route to a dominant 45-6 victory over the Commodores.

Rogers was not without some mistakes, as the two interceptions on that stat line would suggest, and did hold the ball too long at times -- something that he's done at other points in the season as well.

But between he and backup quarterback Chance Lovertich (who came into the game late in the fourth quarter after MSU had already built a lead Vanderbilt couldn't possibly come back from), Mike Leach's Air Raid offense was operating at full force, with the ball distributed to 13 different targets by the end of the game.

The four touchdowns Rogers threw in the win, caught by receivers Makai Polk (2), RaRa Thomas (1), Malik Heath (1) and Rufus Harvey (1) marked a single-game career-high for the quarterback.

Before this, the most touchdowns Rogers had thrown in a single game was three, which he's done on six separate occasions throughout his young career (at Texas A&M, vs LSU, at Memphis, vs LA Tech, vs Mizzou, at Ole Miss). The four scoring passes are tied for fifth-most in single-game history for an MSU player.

On the same day, Rogers completed his first 14 passes, which broke his own school record for consecutive completions. Rogers has completed 73.7% of his passes for 2,162 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions so far this season, leading the conference in passing yards.

Leach commended Rogers after the game for the way he battled through some of the "rough patches" he hit.

"I thought he was good overall," Leach said of Rogers' performance. "We had some sloppy play in the mix there. What he did best was maintain his composure. He was ready to play the next play, the next series. I think that rubbed off on our offensive unit, maybe our whole team to a degree."

Mentality, maturity and the ability to stay in the moment and play the next play is important both to the success of the offense and to any quarterback, generally speaking, and Rogers showed all of those things this weekend.

He and the Bulldogs will be put to the test next weekend as the Bulldogs look to build off their momentum when No. 15-ranked Kentucky pays a visit to Starkville on Saturday.