Mississippi State has really high standards for its passing game.

It starts with head coach Mike Leach, and it extends to record-setting quarterback Will Rogers.

The passing game was outstanding in the Bulldogs’ 49-23 victory over visiting Memphis in the season opener last Saturday.

But Rogers wasn’t all that impressed.

“We’re not anywhere near where we need to be yet,” Rogers said.

Every player and every team expects to improve from week to week over the course of the season.

And Rogers and the rest of the team will be working this week to be better when they visit Arizona on Saturday.

They expect to be a whole lot better by the time the Egg Bowl, and presumably a postseason bowl game, roll around.

But as opening-night performances go, Rogers’ 38-of-49 for 450 yards with 5 touchdowns and 1 interception seems really good.

“There’s throw after throw that I want back,” Rogers said. “I’m kind of ticked off about it, to be honest.”

Well, the interception certainly is one he would want back. It led to a Tigers field goal.

Rogers attributed that turnover to “a miscommunication.”

Later, he would lose a fumble while trying to pass.

But otherwise, it’s hard to where there could be a whole bunch of throws that Rogers would want back, given how so many turned out so well.

Rogers connected with 12 teammates, 4 of whom had at least 5 catches each.

The Bulldogs return 72.2 percent of their receptions from last season, the 2nd-highest percentage in the SEC. And yet, even with so many experienced players returning, a lot of guys surpassed a lot of previous bests Saturday night.

Rara Thomas tied a career high with 5 receptions and had a career-high 81 yards, which was the top yardage total among the Bulldogs on Saturday. Thomas has 6 touchdown catches in his last 6 games.

Caleb Ducking had a career-long 33-yard reception. Then he topped that with a 35-yard catch, which also produced his 1st career touchdown. He finished with a career-high 73 receiving yards.

Rufus Harvey had career highs of 5 catches and 61 yards. He had a career-long 33-yard catch, which ended in his 2nd career touchdown.

Lideatrick Griffin tied his career high with 5 catches and finished with 60 yards.

Justin Robinson made his 1st career catch, which produced a 23-yard touchdown.

Antonio Harmon made his 1st career reception.

In all, State had 10 “explosive” passing plays (longer than 15 yards), which added up to 242 yards and resulted in 4 touchdowns.

As a result, the Bulldogs possessed the ball for more than half the time in each quarter, finishing with a total time of possession of 41 minutes and 11 seconds.

The player who caught the most passes from Rogers was running back Dillon Johnson, who had 6 catches for 39 yards. As long as we’re cataloguing career highs and career-bests, it’s worth noting that Johnson also had career highs with 14 rushes for 67 yards.

Another running back, Simeon Price, had his first career reception, gaining 20 yards.

Rogers already holds the school record for completions, and he passed Dak Prescott for most career attempts during the game against Memphis.

There are a whole bunch of other career lists where he’s approaching the top and probably will continue his ascension during this season.

Rogers downplayed his and the passing game’s 1st performance of the season. But it’s also worth noting that it included a weather delay of more than 2 hours that came as Rogers and his receivers were roaring out of the gate.

And they kept rolling.

“I thought he did a really good job holding things together,” Leach said of Rogers. “He really did a good job seeing the field. Probably one of the best performances I think he’s had as far as seeing the field.”