STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State football team knows a win at 6 p.m. today (Fox Sports South) against the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., is the highest priority if it wants to make back-to-back postseason appearances.
The Bulldogs (3-4, 0-4 Southeastern Conference) have had two weeks to prepare for the Wildcats and to stew about the fact it’s the end of October and they are still winless in the league.
“It could be a turning-point game in the season and an opportunity to jump-start to get ourselves positioned to be in a great bowl game,” MSU coach Dan Mullen said.
MSU enters its second SEC road game as a favorite this season, but the first occurrence seems like lifetime ago. In that game, MSU was ranked No. 16 in The Associated Press poll, but quarterback Chris Relf was stopped at the goal line in what turned out to be a 41-34 loss.
Reviewing the changes from that Saturday afternoon in Auburn, Ala., MSU situation at quarterback is different. Sophomore Tyler Russell is the starter and the defense has allowed only two touchdowns in its last 10 quarters.
Kentucky (3-4, 0-4) has struggled offensively through a frustrating campaign. In the SEC, the Wildcats are last in the league in turnover margin (minus-7), third-down conversions (20 percent), and scoring offense (6.7 points per game).
“One thing we did last week is our guys played their responsibilities,” Kentucky coach Joker Phillips said of a 38-14 win against Jacksonville State. “You didn’t see a lot of the option stuff after the second quarter because we had played it so well. That is the thing you have to do. You have to take care of your business and not worry about someone else’s business.”
Kentucky starting running back Raymond Sanders is a game-time decision after he suffered a high ankle sprain last week. Leading rusher Josh Clemons already is out for the season with a knee injury.
“It’s a high ankle sprain. It’s just not one of those they think he will be out four or five weeks,” Phillips said. “But it’s definitely iffy for this coming week. We’ll have to see as days go by whether he can play, but it doesn’t look good.”
The running game has been the key in this annual rivalry game. MSU has won the past two contests thanks to performances by Anthony
Dixon, who broke the school’s all-time single-game yardage mark with 252, and Vick Ballard, who had 103 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown.
“Whenever we can get the run game going it gets the pass game going, too,” Ballard said. “Everything gets to clicking, and that’s when we start scoring points and it takes more stress off the defense to win games.”
Since Mullen took over at MSU, the Bulldogs have eight of their 17 victories on the road. Among SEC teams, only Alabama and LSU have more wins away from home.
“I enjoy playing on the road because there’s less distractions,” Mullen said. “Guys aren’t dealing with too many family members coming into town and you get rid of extra hangerson at the hotel. That’s good. If there’s anything beyond that, it’s a positive for the building for the program.”
The loser of today’s will be forced to win three of its last four games to become bowl eligible. MSU still has a scheduled home game against No. 2 University of Alabama.
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