Mississippi State gets a chance to stop the slide Saturday, and the matchup comes with a little extra intrigue.
The Bulldogs, who opened the season 4-0 and were ranked as high as No. 16 nationally at one point, have lost four straight and now return home to Starkville, Miss., to face last-place Vanderbilt. Mississippi State is 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the Southeastern Conference after a 31-3 loss to Texas last week, a game that left the offense searching for answers.
With quarterback Kamario Taylor out for the season after a toe injury suffered Oct. 24 against Oklahoma, AJ Swann handled the job against Texas. The former Vanderbilt quarterback completed 12 of 15 passes for 97 yards, and he could be in line to start again this week against his old team.
"We've got four games left in the regular season. We will dictate what the four-game stretch looks like," said head coach Jeff Lebby. "None is more important than Saturday because it's the next one and the only one that we have control over."
Mississippi State has scored only 18 points over its last three games, and Lebby made clear the offense has to clean things up fast.
"We're really frustrated with our performance offensively. We need to be better.
We have to be better. The expectation is to be better," Lebby said.
The Bulldogs have also been solid on the ground, averaging 161.6 rushing yards per game while limiting opponents to 116.5 rushing yards per contest.
Vanderbilt arrives with its own skid to break. The Commodores are 3-5 overall and 0-5 in the SEC, and they have dropped five straight since a 3-0 start. They last played Oct. 24, falling 34-17 at Kentucky.
Coach Clark Lea said the bye week gave his team a useful reset.
"It was good to be back on the field, particularly Thursday and Friday, especially with our spirit, energy and effort," Lea said. "We focused a lot of attention on the areas we wanted to improve."
For Vanderbilt, the running game has been a major point of emphasis. The Commodores managed just 15 rushing yards against Kentucky and are averaging 106.1 yards per game on the season. Sedrick Alexander leads the team with 274 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
"We're really targeting an effective run game, one that has timing and chemistry, that has been absent this season," Lea said.
In Other News...
Mississippi State Has A Prime Chance To Finally Breathe At Home
Mississippi State gets a chance to settle in at home this week with Vanderbilt coming to Starkville, and the matchup comes at a time when the Bulldogs could use a clean, confidence-building performance. Their defense showed real progress in the last game, and that matters against a Commodores offense that has had trouble finding any rhythm. For a Mississippi State team still trying to stack positives, this is the kind of SEC game that can help turn a promising effort into something more durable.
Vanderbilts quarterback situation adds another layer of uncertainty to the trip, and the Bulldogs know the visitors are not operating at full certainty on offense. Coaches and players around Mississippi State have already started to frame the game around discipline, physical play and taking advantage of the chances that come with an opponent that has struggled to finish drives. If the Bulldogs can keep that defensive edge and avoid giving Vanderbilt easy answers, they may finally get the kind of home result that lets everyone breathe a little easier. [Read more 🡒]
Kamario Taylors Rise Just Made Mississippi States Next Decision Bigger
Kamario Taylors emergence this fall has given Mississippi State something every program wants and every roster now has to manage: a breakout quarterback whose value is rising fast. Around college football, players like Oregon States Jesse Legree are already shaping their futures with return decisions, and Taylor has become part of that same conversation after a strong run that put him on the radar well beyond Starkville. For the Bulldogs, it is the kind of development that can change the tone of an offseason before it even begins.
Taylor has already signaled a commitment to Mississippi State despite the transfer chatter that tends to follow any player who flashes this kind of upside. That makes the next stretch important for the Bulldogs, who are trying to keep momentum around a player whose rise has only added to the attention on the roster. And with other names around the sport also turning in breakout seasons, Mississippi States next move with Taylor will matter just as much as his next one. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Hubbard Is Chasing Mississippi State History In A Bigger Early Test
Mississippi State opened the season with a 106-88 win over Tennessee Tech, and Josh Hubbard wasted little time setting the tone. The guard led the Bulldogs with 25 points, while Chris Jans also got a strong early lift from the rest of the rotation as the team showed plenty of offensive punch in its first game.
Hubbards start carries a little extra weight because of where he sits in the program record chase, and Jans pointed to his leadership as part of what makes him such an important piece for this group. The next test comes quickly with Northwestern State, which is coming off a loss to Baylor, giving Mississippi State another chance to build on its opener while keeping an eye on a milestone that is starting to come into view. [Read more 🡒]