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.