OXFORD, Miss. - Shay Hodge scored two touchdowns on a career-high 169 receiving yards and Mississippi pulled away from Northern Arizona 38-14 Saturday night.
With the Rebels' top offensive weapon Dexter McCluster getting much of the night off, Hodge scored twice, including a 65-yard strike from quarterback Jevan Snead.
The Lumberjacks (5-4) made the game interesting with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, the second one tying the score at 14 with just under 8 minutes left in the half. But the Rebels (6-3) responded with 24 unanswered points.
McCluster did not touch the ball and saw limited action as Mississippi rested the senior in anticipation of its final three-game stretch, beginning with a visit from Tennessee on Saturday (TV: WVLT, noon). But Snead threw for two touchdowns and rushed for two more, and Hodge came up with his second consecutive 100-plus-yard game.
It was the fourth time this season that Snead did not throw an interception, with three of those games coming outside of conference play. The junior completed 16 of 29 passes for 235 yards. Hodge caught nearly half of those passes, finishing with seven receptions.
Northern Arizona quarterback Michael Herrick returned to the school that signed him out of high school. The junior who did not play in two seasons with the Rebels, threw for 233 yards on 20-for-31 passing in his first action at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Conrad Meadows caught seven passes for 113 yards and Ed Berry had seven receptions for 81 yards. Northern Arizona's Alex Henderson rushed for 102 yards and the Lumberjacks had 354 yards of offense, but they could not score in the final 38 minutes.
Mississippi blocked a pair of field goals in the second half. Kendrick Lewis blocked the first and Kentrell Lockett got the second.
Most of the action came during a second quarter, when the two teams combined for 38 of the game's 52 points.
Because two of their wins have come against Football Championship Subdivision opponents, the Rebels need to win one of their final three games to become bowl eligible. They host Tennessee and LSU the next two weeks before finishing the season at Mississippi State.
"It is all hands on deck," Rebels coach Houston Nutt said. "Now we get back to the war."
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Comments » 3
WhitePineVol77 writes:
One game at a time, men. Keep your focus, and they'll try to pick on that middle linebacker position. They won't try, they'll do it. Good luck...we'll be watchin' from here in Columbus, Ohio.
monteformayor writes:
tennesse by 14, snead hurried all night, throws 2 picks one in which berry breaks the record with.tennessee wins the game with tough defense
John_10065 writes:
Monty better come up with a way to better defend the wide receiver screen. Memphis had a lot of great yardage out of it before the 2nd string came in. You can bet every offensive coordinator facing UT made a note of that.
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