STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State is walking into Saturday morning with the kind of buzz the program hasn’t felt in a long time.
The Bulldogs are undefeated, ranked No. 16 in the country and set to host No. 7 Alabama at Davis-Wade Stadium in an 11 a.m.
CT kickoff on ABC. The game is sold out, and the weekend already has a bigger feel to it with country music star Hardy scheduled to perform Friday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
"Probably the biggest (game) I can remember just because of all the other stuff we have going into it," says Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon.
That energy has already spilled into recruiting. Football general manager Marc Votteler says the rise around Jeff Lebby’s program is impossible to miss.
"This place is buzzing like it hasn't in a long time," Votteler says.
Votteler oversees recruiting and personnel, and he’s seen the difference from Lebby’s 2-10 debut in 2024, when interest in coming to games in Starkville wasn’t exactly overflowing. This week, all the recruit tickets were gone by midweek, and prospects who once weren’t interested are now asking for a chance to come in.
"We're even getting guys who maybe in the summer and spring were like 'No, we're good.' They are now like 'Hey, how you guys doing, can I come to a game this weekend?'"
Votteler says. "We kind of laugh about it now like 'Oh, now you want to come visit?'
But it's what you build for, man."
247Sports expects another strong group of recruits to be in town, just as there was the previous weekend for Mississippi State’s 31-24 win over ranked Missouri. That victory pushed the momentum even higher, and now Alabama is the next test.
A win would give Mississippi State its first 5-0 start since the 2014 team led by Dak Prescott. It would also finally break a long run of frustration against Alabama. The Bulldogs haven’t beaten the Crimson Tide since Nov. 10, 2007, the first year of the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa.
There have been chances. Mississippi State lost 25-20 in 2014 when it was ranked No.
- In 2017, the Bulldogs had Alabama in trouble before Jalen Hurts hit the game-winning touchdown with 25 seconds left.
Since Sylvester Croom’s win over the Tide, Mississippi State has gone through five different coaches without changing the result.
This version of the Bulldogs feels different to people around the program. They point to a quarterback who could wind up as the best in Mississippi State history, what they believe is the fastest receiver group in the country, and defenders like Kelley Jones and Isaac Smith who stayed put instead of leaving.
Lebby’s path to this point has included a 2-10 debut and a 5-7 season in 2025 that featured several close losses that could have swung the other way. Now Mississippi State is in position to turn that progress into something bigger.
CBS Sports gives the Bulldogs a 22.8 percent chance to reach the College Football Playoff before the Alabama game. A win would lift that number to 43.4 percent, which would rank Mississippi State 10th nationally in the playoff race.
That matters because October brings more heavy lifting with No. 1 Texas, No.
11 LSU and Oklahoma still on the schedule. Alabama enters as a 5.5-point favorite.
Booster Heath Jenkins says he likes the setup at home.
"I would hate to play Mississippi State at home this week," says Harvus Capital chief executive officer and Bulldogs booster Heath Jenkins. "If we pull this one off and then have the off week, we'd really have some momentum."
For Mississippi State, Saturday is the chance to find out whether all the buildup turns into the kind of breakthrough the program has been chasing for years.
In Other News...
LSU Fans Will Recognize The Recruiting Path Behind Mississippi States New QB
Kamario Taylors path to Mississippi State looks familiar to anyone who watched Dak Prescotts rise in Starkville. Both quarterbacks arrived without the kind of national buzz that usually follows a SEC starter-in-waiting, and both ended up finding their way to Mississippi State after college recruiting took them on a route that was not exactly linear. For a program that has long valued development as much as pure pedigree, the comparison makes sense before Taylor has even had much time to settle in.
Prescott turned that under-the-radar arrival into a breakout 2014 season and eventually a career that carried him all the way to the NFL. Taylor is still at the point where the story is being written, but his emergence as the starting quarterback invites the same kind of conversation Mississippi State fans know well, especially when a familiar recruiting trail seems to be leading toward another opportunity to prove doubters wrong. [Read more 🡒]
Kamario Taylors Basketball Backstory Shows Why Mississippi State Fans Are So Intrigued
Before he ever became a quarterback prospect, Kamario Taylor was the kind of high school athlete who seemed to do a little bit of everything. He played football, basketball, baseball and track before eventually narrowing his focus to football, and that all-around background helps explain why Mississippi State fans have been so intrigued by him since he arrived in Starkville.
Jeff Lebby first crossed paths with Taylor on a basketball court, then nudged him toward football as the sport where his future belonged. Taylors basketball resume at the college level has been brief, with limited action in the 2021-22 season and no game appearances since, but the backstory still adds another layer to a player Bulldogs supporters are eager to watch develop. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Will Notice What Saban Is Saying Before Alabama
Nick Saban knows exactly what Alabama is walking into when it heads to Starkville, and he made clear this week that Mississippi State is never the kind of stop a team can treat lightly. He pointed to the cowbells, the setting and the challenge of playing in that environment, while also giving the Bulldogs credit for how theyve been competing with Kamario Taylor at quarterback.
Georgia fans listening closely will notice the bigger picture in Sabans comments, because Alabamas trip to Mississippi State comes before a much larger showdown on the calendar. For the Bulldogs, it is another sign that opponents are taking the current team seriously, and for everyone else it is a reminder that Starkville can still turn a routine week into a difficult one. [Read more 🡒]