Mississippi State was bewildered on Saturday that its deep shot to prevent Arizona State from escaping Starkville with a win was as open as it was.
The 58-yard touchdown from quarterback Blake Shapen to wide receiver Brenan Thompson — the pair’s second of the night — came just 68 seconds after ASU had turned its 17-point deficit into a 20-17 lead with 1:38 left.
Mississippi State scores a 58-yard touchdown with 30 seconds remaining to take down No. 12 Arizona State!
Dave Flemming and Brock Osweiler with the call for ESPN2. ???️ #CFB pic.twitter.com/vigiN9VBtO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 7, 2025
Shapen told reporters postgame the Bulldogs weren’t necessarily planning on the call being to score because of ASU’s Cover 2 looks that aimed to take away the deep ball.
“There should’ve been a post safety in the middle of the field, but I guess he played more to the boundary, and so whenever Brenan caught it, there was nobody there,” Shapen said. “Very surprising, I didn’t expect that to happen.
“That’s why I kinda threw it like I did, firmly, just ’cause I was expecting a post safety to be in the middle of the field.”
So — with the caveat that it can be hard to know for sure what players are being asked to do on any given defensive play — where was ASU’s post safety?
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Myles Rowser was the furthest back before the snap, so if it was indeed a play call with two deep safeties, he was likely one of them. However, he came up to follow the receiver on a crossing route.
This meant Rowser was one of four defenders to two receivers in his area, whereas Kyndrich Breedlove and Javan Robinson were left in one-on-ones against the already proven Thompson and his teammate.
With Xavion Alford blitzing — and there’s a good chance he gets home to prevent the touchdown if he doesn’t trip on the receiver he passes — there was no back-end coverage at all.
ASU coach Kenny Dillingham didn’t get into specifics about his defense when asked postgame what he saw on the play, instead he credited Thompson for winning in isolation and Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby for the good call.
“They were trying to show something, and I think the disguise ended up costing them,” Lebby told reporters postgame. “I loved the call as soon as I saw the defense.”
Final Arizona State notes from Week 2 loss
– Dillingham attributed the offensive stagnancy in the first half to struggling on second downs. He also put Sam Leavitt’s poor first-half performance (30 yards on 5-for-15 passing) on himself and said he has to “do a better job getting him in a rhythm.”
– Running back Kyson Brown “tweaked his ankle” after starting with 11 yards on two carries in a hometown game, Dillingham said. There was no update for his Week 3 status.
– The coach also said it was an easy decision to kick the field goal after getting stopped late at the goal line.
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