Coming off an overtime loss to Kentucky in Week 6, No. 22 LSU heads into Saturday’s meeting with No. 16 Mississippi State facing a must-handle SEC test.
The league picture only sharpens the pressure. The SEC has nine teams in the AP Poll Top 25, and every one of them is ranked above LSU. If the Tigers are going to keep any playoff hopes alive, the climb starts now - and Mississippi State has a handful of players built to make that climb tougher.
At the center of everything is quarterback Kamario Taylor. The sophomore has emerged as the Bulldogs’ starter after opening two games as a true freshman, and the production has followed.
Through five games, Taylor has thrown for 1,450 yards, good for 22nd in the nation and third in the SEC. He’s also tied for third nationally and sits first in the SEC with 17 passing touchdowns.
On the ground, he has added 159 rushing yards, second on the team, while averaging 31.8 yards per game.
Taylor’s name is also showing up on the early Heisman board. FanDuel Sportsbook lists him ninth in the odds for the 2026 Heisman Trophy.
His status for Saturday, however, is uncertain. ESPN’s Pete Thamel posted Tuesday on X that Taylor is dealing with a foot injury he suffered in Mississippi State’s Oct. 3 game against Alabama.
Whether he plays could go a long way toward shaping how dangerous the Bulldogs look against LSU.
Mississippi State’s ground game also runs through Fluff Bothwell, a junior in his second year as the starter. After transferring from South Alabama in 2025, Bothwell put up 677 rushing yards and six touchdowns last season.
This year, he’s on track to top that. He’s already piled up 403 rushing yards, which ranks eighth in the SEC, along with three touchdowns.
His 80.6 yards per game rank 48th in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
The Bulldogs also have a real weapon on the outside in Anthony Evans III. The senior posted 831 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 2025, and he’s been even more productive in the current season.
Evans has five receiving touchdowns and 574 receiving yards, which rank 10th in the FBS and third in the SEC. His 114.8 receiving yards per game rank seventh nationally.
Against Alabama, he turned in one of his best outings of the year with 166 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and he’ll try to carry that momentum after Mississippi State’s Week 6 bye.
LSU will also have to deal with a couple of active defenders who have been piling up stops. Tyler Lockhart, now a sophomore, is already close to eclipsing his freshman numbers.
In his first year, he had 34 total tackles, including nine solo and 25 assisted. This season, he has 31 total tackles, which ranks 33rd in the SEC and first on the Mississippi State roster.
He logged nine total tackles, including four solo stops, in the Bulldogs’ 31-24 win over Missouri.
Then there’s Jardin Gilbert, a sixth-year senior who knows LSU well. A four-star recruit from the Class of 2021 at University Lab School on LSU’s campus, Gilbert spent two seasons with the Tigers after a three-year stint at Texas A&M.
He appeared in just three games in 2025 and finished with 11 total tackles. Now in his first season with Mississippi State, he leads the team with 17 solo tackles and has 26 total tackles, which ranks third on the Bulldogs.
LSU will need answers for Taylor, Bothwell, Evans III, Lockhart and Gilbert if it wants to bounce back from the Kentucky loss. The Tigers and Bulldogs meet Saturday at 11 a.m. in Tiger Stadium in LSU’s first day game of the 2026 season.
In Other News...
LSU Has Bigger Problems Than A Homecoming Kickoff Debate
LSUs week has turned into one long reminder that the biggest issue in Baton Rouge is not the homecoming kickoff time. After dropping to 22nd in the rankings following the loss to Kentucky, the Tigers are still trying to steady themselves heading into Mississippi State, with linebacker TJ Dottery and coach Lane Kiffin both stressing the need for cleaner execution. The schedule gripe has drawn some student reaction, but it sits well behind the more immediate concern of getting the football team back on track.
The campus mood could use a lift, and the mens basketball team provided one with an 85-81 win over UCF in a wildly thin rotation. LSU played with only six players amid an eligibility controversy, yet Donovan Dent still delivered the game-winning layup and Abdi Bashir Jr. led the way in scoring. It was the kind of gritty result that gives the program something to point to while the football side works through its own far bigger problems. [Read more 🡒]
LSUs Bounce-Back Bid Comes With One Big SEC Concern
LSU heads into Week 7 looking to steady itself at home against Mississippi State after the loss to Kentucky, and the Tigers have enough on their plate already without adding another layer of uncertainty. This is the kind of SEC game that can turn quickly if the matchup script changes early, especially with both teams dealing with injuries and LSU still trying to get back to the level of consistency that made it dangerous in the first place.
Mississippi States quarterback situation is the wrinkle LSU will be watching closely, because the Bulldogs offensive outlook shifts depending on who is available. For LSU, the path back starts with cleaner work on both sides of the ball, better execution in key moments and a sharper response than the one it showed a week ago, but the bigger question is whether the Tigers can prepare for the version of Mississippi State that actually shows up. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Could Catch A Huge Break In Mississippi State's Backfield
Mississippi State arrives on LSUs schedule with a couple of key offensive questions hanging over its backfield, and both of them trace back to the same injury-hit trip through Alabama. Quarterback Kamario Taylor and running back Fluff Bothwell were each listed as questionable for the matchup with LSU after leaving the previous game hurt, leaving Jeff Lebby and his staff to sort through contingency plans as kickoff gets closer.
For LSU, the uncertainty matters because the Bulldogs offense could look very different if either player is limited or unavailable. Lebby has already identified possible replacements, but the Tigers will be watching to see whether Mississippi State can get either Taylor or Bothwell back in time, since their status could shape how much stress LSUs defense has to absorb on Saturday. [Read more 🡒]