STARKVILLE - Mississippi State is trying to get back on track, and Vanderbilt arrives in town with a different kind of urgency after a bye week and a five-game skid.
The Commodores have spent much of that stretch running into quality opponents, with losses to Kentucky, Ole Miss and Georgia. But the defeats to Auburn and Arkansas are the ones that have stuck out.
Vanderbilt’s offense will again lean on freshman quarterback Jared Curtis, who has had the kind of uneven first season you’d expect from a young signal caller. Curtis has completed 65% of his passes, thrown for 1,489 yards, and posted eight touchdowns against eight interceptions.
The Commodores would also love to find more balance on the ground. Their rushing game has hovered around 106 yards per contest this year, a steep drop from last season’s 175.5 yards per game.
Senior back Sedrick Alexander has been one of the more heavily used pieces in that attack. He has 274 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 64 carries, and Mississippi State will have to account for his ability to work into the second level.
Through the air, Vanderbilt has leaned on senior receiver Junior Sherrill. He’s been Curtis’ most reliable option, piling up 49 catches for 706 yards and four touchdowns. His best outing came against Georgia, when he finished with seven receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.
That makes Sherrill a key matchup to watch against Mississippi State senior defensive back Kelley Jones. Jones has 27 tackles this season and will be tasked with helping slow down the Commodores’ passing game.
For both teams, Saturday offers a chance to break out of a difficult stretch. One side will leave with a win and a much-needed shift in momentum.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Just Got Pulled Into The Alabama Tennessee CFP Fight
The College Football Playoff committees first rankings stirred up a familiar SEC argument, and Mississippi State found itself right in the middle of it. Alabama landed at No. 5, Tennessee at No. 13, even though Tennessee beat Alabama on the field, and committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said the difference came down to the Crimson Tides collection of quality wins against ranked opponents.
For Mississippi State, the wrinkle is hard to miss. One of Alabamas most useful talking points in the committee room was a road win in Starkville, the kind of result that now carries added weight as the rankings start to sort out the SEC pecking order. Tennessees case is built around that head-to-head result, but the committees early message suggests it is valuing the broader body of work more heavily than a single Saturday in September. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Suddenly Has A Jeff Lebby Problem On Offense
Mississippi States offense has hit a rough stretch at exactly the wrong time, with the Bulldogs mired in a four-game losing streak and struggling to find any consistent rhythm. The numbers tell the story as much as the eye test: over the last 11 quarters, the attack has managed just 1.36 points per quarter, a sharp drop for a team that needs stability to stay afloat in the SEC.
Injuries have only made the problem harder to manage, with the quarterback room taking hits and the game plan shrinking along with it. Jeff Lebby is now trying to steer an offense through a month that has not been kind to him, either, as his teams have yet to win an October game during his tenure, leaving Mississippi State with both immediate questions and a familiar seasonal hurdle to overcome. [Read more 🡒]
Mississippi State Homecoming Suddenly Feels Bigger Than Anyone Expected
Saturdays homecoming game against Vanderbilt at Davis Wade Stadium has taken on a little more weight than the calendar might suggest. Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. CT, and after four straight losses, Mississippi State is simply looking for a reset in front of a home crowd that will want something to feel good about. Even the market around the game reflects the moment, with resale tickets starting in the mid-$20s, a reminder that this is not the kind of marquee SEC draw that usually sends prices climbing.
Still, the setting gives the Bulldogs a chance to steady things in a game that feels more important than expected for both sides. Mississippi States quarterback picture is unsettled because of injuries, and Vanderbilt comes in with its own losing streak, so this has the feel of a matchup where momentum matters as much as record. For a homecoming weekend that was supposed to be about tradition and pageantry, the result may end up saying a lot more about where the Bulldogs go from here. [Read more 🡒]