STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State football team’s season is far from over.
In fact, it’s just beginning.
MSU finished its non-conference slate Saturday with a 45-20 victory against Louisiana Tech. MSU (5-2, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) went 4-0 against non-league foes. That has happened five times in coach Dan Mullen’s seven years at the school. Mullen is 28-5 against non-conference opponents.
Now the attention turns back to the SEC. “We’ve got to get ourselves ready and get ready for the grind we’re about to go through over the next couple of weeks,” Mullen said. “There’s a lot of football to be played.”
With non-conference victories against Southern Mississippi, Northwestern State, Troy, and Louisiana Tech and a SEC victory against Auburn, the Bulldogs are looking to finish strong and have a chance at winning the SEC Western Division Championship.
Their quest will start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) against Kentucky (4-2, 2-2). MSU will try to become bowl eligible for the sixth-straight season.
MSU, which received votes in The Associated Press and Amway Coaches polls Sunday, is at the bottom of the SEC West standings with Arkansas and Auburn. MSU’s losses have come to LSU, which is 4-0, and Texas A&M, which is 2-1. Alabama is 3-1, while Ole Miss is 2-1 in league play.
The Bulldogs will need to win and get some help to climb out from the basement to the top, but they feel good about where they stand.
“You’ve got to be motivated and you’ve got to be ready to go for that,” MSU senior quarterback Dak Prescott said. “I think we’ll come in starting (today) with a great attitude ready to get better.”
Prescott owns every career passing record at MSU. The Haughton, Louisiana, native has passed for 1,700 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has gone 274 passing attempts without an interception, a streak that dates back to last season. He is completing just under 66 percent of his passes.
After Kentucky, MSU has its bye week. The Bulldogs will play Thursday, Nov. 5, at Missouri. MSU will finish the season with a home game against Alabama, a game at Arkansas, and the annual Battle for the Golden Egg against Ole Miss on Saturday, Nov. 28, in Starkville.
“Next week’s game is going to be as big of a game as we’ve had the whole season,” Mullen said. “They’re a much, much improved Kentucky football team. It’s going to be a huge challenge.”
The Bulldogs showed their depth at wide receiver Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. With Joe Morrow and Gabe Myles sitting out for the second-straight game due to injuries, MSU had to rely on backups. Fred Ross, Prescott’s favorite target this season, got hurt in the first half and had three catches for 36 yards.
Junior De’Runnya Wilson had seven catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns, but freshman Malik Dear had six cached for 70 yards. Junior Fred Brown had three catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. Six players caught at least three passes.
“I think our receiving corp is the deepest on the team,” Prescott said. “When guys go down, we know there are people that are going to step in and do the job well.”
Prescott has led an offense that hasn’t been able to run the ball. He leads the team with 254 yards and four touchdowns. Brandon Holloway leads the running backs with 160 yards, while Ashton Shumpert has 159. Redshirt freshman Dontavian Lee has 128 yards. Shumpert has the only touchdown between the three. Former West Point standout and redshirt freshman Aeris Williams leads all running backs with two touchdowns.
MSU’s defense has started slowly in almost every game. MSU allowed two touchdowns to Louisiana Tech and fell into a 14-0 hole in the first quarter before it rallied.
MSU defensive coordinator Manny Diaz wants to his group to get off to better starts. The Bulldogs have several new starters and still are adjusting to life without veteran safety Kendrick Market, but his replacement, Brandon Bryant, had a 73-yard interception return for a touchdown against Louisiana Tech.
“I started seeing some players start to really grab a hold of things, guys in the huddle really start to take ownership of this deal,” Diaz said. “We started to see a different look in their eye from that point on. Now what we have to do is we have to find a way to start the game like that.”
n Volleyball team loses to Texas A&M: At College Station, Texas, the MSU volleyball team lost to Texas A&M 3-0 Sunday in a SEC match on Sunday, Set scores were 25-10, 25-18, 25-15.
Alex Warren had 11 kills to lead the Bulldogs. Shelby Anderton paced MSU in assists with 15, while Blossom Sato, who left the match early with a bloody nose, had 12.
Despite the defeat, sophomore libero Payton Harris’ eighth dig late in the first set helped her reach the 1,000-career digs mark in only her second year at the school. She is 106 digs short of cracking the top 10 list for digs in a career at MSU.
“Really proud of Payton for this accomplishment, especially in only her second season,” said MSU coach David McFatrich, whose team slipped to 13-8 and 3-5 in the league. “She’s an All-American and continues to prove that on the court with her play and leadership.”
Harris had nine digs to reach the 1,000-career mark. As a team, MSU only earned one block, with Jazmyne Johnson and Warren earning the block assists.
n Men’s golf team heads to Mountaineer Intercollegiate: At Bridgeport, West Virginia, For the first time in program history, the MSU men’s golf team will play in the state of West Virginia at the Mountaineer Intercollegiate.
The event was originally scheduled as a two-day, 54-hole tournament. Due to below-freezing temperatures anticipated this morning, tee times have been pushed back to 10:30 a.m. and the holes shortened to 36 at the par- 72 Pete Dye Golf Club.
The 14-team matches MSU against uncommon opponents that includes Missouri, Akron, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Marshall, Miami University, Penn State, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Toledo, Towson, UConn, and West Virginia.
Ben Wood, Ben Follett-Smith, Taylor Grant, Jackson Dickwill, and Tim Walker will play for the Bulldogs.
n Men’s tennis team concludes run at Southern Regional: At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the MSU men’s tennis team concluded play of the USTA/ITA Southern Regional Championships on Sunday.
Freshman Niclas Braun defeated LSU’s Gabor Csonka, 7-6 (2), 6-2 in his final match in singles consolation, while junior Vaughn Hunter fell to Sam Edwards, 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.
Freshmen Trevor Foshey and Lucas Sanchez received extra matches Sunday to round out their play at the Southern Regionals. Foshey split his two matches, while Sanchez dropped three matches.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.