Jayden de Laura had an eventful first half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Three of de Laura’s first eight passes were intercepted. The Arizona quarterback was pressing, trying to force things, and Arizona was paying for his impatience. Mississippi State got its 14 points off those turnovers, but the damage could have been far worse.

Arizona also fumbled it in the second quarter.

But de Laura got a shot with 40 seconds on the clock and made something out of nothing. 

On a first-and-10 from the Arizona 44, de Laura uncorked a deep shot to Tetairoa McMillan, who brought in a diving catch at the MSU 1-yard-line.

With 13 seconds on the clock and Arizona without any timeouts, everyone expected Arizona to come to the line and spike it.

Instead, de Laura improvised.

He faked a spike and surged ahead for a 1-yard score.

That brought a truly wild first half to a close. Mississippi State threw just eight passes in the opening 30 minutes. The Bulldogs ran it 24 times.

On the other side, Arizona turned it over on each of its first four possessions.

And yet it’s a one-score game at the break.