Saturday will feature a pair of young quarterbacks looking to duke it out. Both of them played in six or more games last season but neither saw action in the LSU-Mississippi State game from a season ago. Last year’s starters in Myles Brennan (injury) and KJ Costello (NFL free agent) are gone, it turns to Max Johnson vs Will Rogers.
How do the two quarterbacks measure up?
The battle of the sophomores in our ‘Tale of the Tape’.
| Will Rogers | vs | Max Johnson |
| 6-2 | Ht | 6-5 |
| 210 | Wt | 219 |
| Sophomore | Class | Sophomore |
| 122 | Comp | 70 |
| 163 | Att | 108 |
| 74.8 | Comp % | 64.8 |
| 1,083 | Yards | 863 |
| 6.6 | Yards/Att | 8.0 |
| 8 | TDs | 11 |
| 1 | INTs | 2 |
Both quarterbacks are heading into their sophomore campaigns where they started multiple games as freshmen in 2020. Rogers played in nine games and started six. Johnson would appear in six games while starting two. Both are looking for the upper hand this weekend in Starkville. The Bulldogs throw it a lot more than the Tigers, Rogers has 55 more attempts this season.
Looking at the numbers, it appears that Johnson takes more shots down the field with slightly better yards per attempt. Both have limited the turnover throws this year, Johnson has just three in nine games. Rogers has eight in 12 games in his career.
Both defenses will need to get ready for both quarterbacks to throw it all over the field with the lack of a run game. LSU and Mississippi State are the two worst running teams in the SEC.
We will give the Bulldogs a slight edge in deep-ball passing. Rogers has nine attempts on the season with seven completions. Only one pass caught for over 20+ yards from Johnson didn’t result in a touchdown.
| Quarterback | Comp | Att | Comp % | Yards | YPA | TDs | INTs |
| Rogers, MSU | 7 | 9 | 77.8 | 207 | 23.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Johnson , LSU | 5 | 11 | 45.5 | 148 | 13.5 | 4 | 0 |
These two gunslingers might just put on a show on Saturday afternoon.