Week 9 Cowbell Corner MVP: WR Rara Thomas

The Mississippi State Bulldogs fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night in heartbreaking fashion in a game that ended in a final score of 31-28, with redshirt freshman kicker Nolan McCord missing the game-tying field goal as the clock wound down.

MSU left nine points off the board solely off of field goals, with veteran Brandon Ruiz missing two along with McCord’s final one. Special teams coach Matt Brock will have his work cut out for him this week, undoubtedly, as he and his staff look to right the ship.

Although it was a rough loss to say the least, there was one or two key MSU players who stood out among a whole host of unusual faces that turned in impressive performances this past weekend. Chief of these were the efforts of freshman wide receiver Rara Thomas.

Thomas poured in four total receptions for 63 yards, making sure to wrangle in the ball every time he was targeted. The young wideout also poured in half of the Bulldogs’ touchdowns, with one being a 37-yard bomb to take the lead.

Thomas has steadily made himself more and more present in the offense, growing in number of targets on an almost weekly basis.

The young receiver will undoubtedly look to improve these numbers next week, as the Bulldogs travel to Auburn to face the Tigers for an 11 a.m. kickoff.

For his efforts tonight, though, Rara Thomas deserves the title of MVP of the game and head coach Mike Leach has praise for him after the loss, saying that he thinks Thomas is going to "be a really good player" and that he's currently the team's starting X receiver.

Sophomore quarterback Will Rogers put it simply.

"He's a guy that gets open, he catches the ball and he scores."