Nathaniel Watson ejected after controversial targeting call against Max Johnson

Mississippi State saw one of their star pass rushers ejected after Nathaniel Watson was called for targeting on a hit to Max Johnson. As Johnson scrambled in the pocket on a fourth-down passing play, he delivered a pass right as Watson hit him. Unfortunately, Watson appeared to launch himself forward on the hit and hit Johnson in the helmet — leading to a targeting review and ejection.

Nathaniel Watson ejected for targeting

The play drew criticism from the Mississippi State fans as it occurred during a commercial break, as the play resulted in a turnover-on-downs with no flags on the play. During the break as the teams prepared to switch sides, the officials reviewed the play and ruled Watson was ejected from the game for targeting.

On top of losing Watson for the remainder of the game and the first half of their next game, the play cost Mississippi State possession of the ball and pushed Texas A&M into scoring range for their first points of the game. The Bulldogs defense stood tall despite a dropped touchdown pass and the Aggies finished the drive with only a field goal — bringing the game to a 14-3 lead.

After the call swung the game’s momentum in the third quarter towards the Aggies, Mississippi State’s defense and special teams continued to deliver in the tough conference matchup. The Bulldogs forced another field goal attempt by the Aggies that would have cut the lead to just eight points — before Emmanuel Forbes got through to the kicker for the block.

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As the ball rolled towards the open field, Decamerion Richardson scooped it up for the score — pushing the lead to 21-3 with just over a quarter to play. The blocked kick was the Bulldogs first field goal block in over half a decade.

Despite the Aggies offense finally finding some rhythm late in the game, the Bulldogs continued to dominate on both sides of the ball. Mississippi State went on to win the game 42-24 and improve to 4-1 on the season, while Texas A&M fell to 3-2 and possibly outside of next week’s AP Poll rankings.

The second half saw plenty of scoring compared to a relatively low-scoring first half, but the Bulldogs still outscored the Aggies 28-24 in the half. One of the biggest storylines that emerged in the game’s final moments was an injury to Aggies quarterback Max Johnson as he hurt his thumb on his throwing hand. Johnson’s hand hit a defender rushing him as he threw, and he was forced out of the game in pain