STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) Things had a chance to unravel for Missouri early in its matchup with Mississippi State on Saturday, but a big play changed it all.

Trailing 3-0 and giving up great field position to the Bulldog offense, the Tigers got a fumble recovery from Dylan Carnell returned 67 yards for a score. That shifted the game in Missouri’s favor and led to a 39-20 win for the Tigers.

“Really, really proud of our football team today,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I think our defense flipped the script to the game with the fumble recovery for a touchdown and that allowed our offense to find ourselves because we were struggling early. We went into it early knowing that we had to control the line of scrimmage and we did that.”

The game turned into a blowout late after the Bulldogs had a chance to make it a one-possession game at the start of the fourth quarter. With momentum in hand and trailing 31-20 inside the red zone, Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby decided to go for it on fourth-and-3 instead of attempting a field goal.

After the Bulldogs were stopped short of the yard marker, Missouri put together a 14-play, 83-yard drive that took 8:43 off the clock as Marcus Carroll scored from 1 yard away.

The Tigers (8-3, 4-3 SEC) held the ball for 37:23 while the Bulldogs had it for just 18:09. Mizzou was 11-of-17 on 3rd down and averaged 6.4 yards per play.

Cook was 15-of-20 passing for 268 yards and one touchdown and had seven catches from Luther Burden for 91 yards. Nate Noel led a running back group that had 205 yards on 56 carries and Noel had 25 carries for 95 yards. Carroll finished with 14 carries for 61 yards and three scores.

“Obviously the defense got us going with the fumble return for the touchdown but it gives you a chance to play from ahead and dictates the style of the game that’s going to be played,” Drinkwitz said. “I’m sure Nate’s pretty ticked off that he did all the work between the 5’s and then Marcus finished it off. We try to really play to those strengths and they understand that.”

For the Bulldogs (2-9, 0-7 SEC), the team had just 338 yards of offense. Michael Van Buren was 16-of-28 for 191 yards and one touchdown but saw the game turn early on a fumble.

With a 3-0 lead in the first quarter and with great field position, Van Buren fumbled, and it was scooped up for a 66-yard touchdown by Dylan Carnell.

“We didn’t respond the way we needed to,” Lebby said. “Especially offensively, we really struggled after that. When we’ve played well defensively, we’ve struggled offensively. When we’ve played well offensively, it’s just the opposite. That’s the most frustrating thing to me is we haven’t found ways to keep momentum when we’ve had it and when you don’t do that, it leaves it to chance when playing good football teams.”

Davon Booth had a big game on the ground for the Bulldogs with 12 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown notching his second-straight game of 100 yards.

State finished 2-of-10 on third downs and had three red zone trips that could have led to touchdowns finish with a total of six points.

“We did not do a good job offensively making the layups,” Lebby said. “I thought we had opportunities to pitch and catch and make things incredibly easy and we weren’t able to execute. This game will punish you with lack of execution.”

Missouri is out of the playoff discussion but headed to its fifth bowl game in as many years under coach Eli Drinkwitz. The Tigers will have a chance to have another 10-win season with two more victories.

Mississippi State is on the verge of a winless SEC season for the first time since 2002.

Mississippi State plays Ole Miss in the Battle for the Golden Egg on November 29.

Missouri will host Arkansas on November 30

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