COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Mississippi State hasn’t played a close game this season and that trend continued on Saturday night at Texas A&M. The Bulldogs whipped the Aggies 35-14 at Kyle Field to win their third consecutive game.

“Six wins means that our guys are rewarded with one more game,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said of the Bulldogs becoming bowl-eligible with four regular-season games remaining. “Hopefully we’ll get some more.”

No one is doubting that at this point, with November still to come. Mississippi State (6-2, 3-2 SEC) hadn’t won or lost a game by less than 25 points heading into Saturday’s contest. The Aggies (5-3, 3-2) were coming off their bye week, but looked like the frazzled team between the lines on Saturday.

“Tonight was very frustrating, particularly in the first half when we had some opportunities,” said A&M coach Kevin Sumlin, whose job is on the line in College Station.

Meanwhile Mullen had a good time with anyone who picked his program to finish with only six wins this season — and there were plenty of prognosticators who did so in the summer.

“We made their predictions come true,” Mullen said, smiling. “I guess we hit that — but there’s a lot of football left to be played.”

The Bulldogs burst to a 14-0 halftime lead thanks to a run-stuffing and pass-swatting defense. Nick Fitzgerald got Mississippi State on the board late in the first quarter with a 2-yard touchdown keeper to cap a 16-play, 86-yard drive.

Late in the second quarter MSU added to its lead with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Fitzgerald to Donald Gray, the fourth play of a 53-yard drive highlighted by Fitzgerald’s 45-yard dash against a reeling defense.

After halftime MSU picked up where it left off, as Fitzgerald connected with Farrod Green on a 41-yard passing play, and then Fitzgerald hooked up with a wide-open Jordan Thomas on a 10-yard touchdown pass to lift the Bulldogs to a 21-0 lead with 11:47 left in the third quarter.

“We had a great game plan going in,” Fitzgerald said. “We knew if we could move them up front and we could run the ball, that’s what we were going to do. Obviously, it worked out for us.”

A&M finally got on the board in the third quarter on a direct snap to running back Keith Ford for a 1-yard touchdown, capping a drive highlighted by quarterback Kellen Mond’s 33-yard scramble. The Bulldogs answered quickly with an interception of Mond’s pass and, three plays later, Nick Gibson bulled his way into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown run to again push the MSU lead to a comfortable three touchdowns.

A year earlier Fitzgerald had blasted 74 yards for a touchdown on the Bulldogs’ first play from scrimmage in an eventual 35-28 MSU victory in Starkville, that squashed the national-title hopes of A&M, slotted fourth in the initial College Football Playoff rankings last season.

This time both teams were unranked, but Fitzgerald again worked over the Aggies with his legs and feet. The Bulldogs outgained the Aggies 369-285 in total offense, including 228-96 on the ground.

Fitzgerald rushed for more yards (105) than the Aggies did as a team (96).

“I’m really proud of our guys and their attitude with which they approached the game and went out and performed,” Mullen said.

Texas A&M quarterback Nick Starkel, recovered from a broken ankle suffered in the season opener, replaced a roughed-up Mond in the fourth quarter, and threw an interception returned for a touchdown by Jamal Peters. But Starkel rebounded on A&M’s next offensive series with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Camron Buckley late in the game, with the Bulldogs’ lead already well out of reach.

With the Aggies in the rearview mirror, the Bulldogs will turn their eye toward a non-conference game vs. Massachusetts this week and then a showdown with No. 1 Alabama on Nov. 11.

Fitzgerald believes the Bulldogs are in a better spot mentally heading toward the Alabama game than in their last two matchups with top 10 teams against Georgia and Auburn.

Both wound up as blowout losses.

“After the first three games, we were riding really high. The next two knocked us back down, back to where we needed to be,” Fitzgerald said. “We re-evaluated where we were as a team, and since then we’ve played pretty well.”