After grinding out six straight wins, Dan Mullen’s squad will get a chance to catch its breath heading into a bye week after defeating Kentucky 24-17 Saturday night.
Saturday’s win was the prototype victory for the 2010 Bulldogs: Chris Relf and Vick Ballard leading a productive rushing attack, a passing attack that made a few big plays (and not much else) and a bend-but-don’t-break defense that held on when the game was on the line.
As usual, there were no eye-popping numbers on the Bulldog side of the stat sheet, but when Johnthan Banks’s interception ended Kentucky’s final scoring threat, only one statistic mattered.
“We had fumbled snaps, missed open receivers down the field, but we came away with a win, and that is the most important statistic,” Mullen said.
 The win bumped the Bulldogs up to No. 21 in both the Coaches and Associated Press polls, and the six-game winning streak is the longest since 1999.
To put that into perspective, there have been five university presidents, three different athletics directors and three head football coaches since the last six-game winning streak.
For defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, the streak is a validation of what he and Mullen have been telling the players since spring practice began in April.
“As a coach, you sell it, but the results on the field have to back it up,” Diaz said. “Now they’ve seen the value of their work and their mental toughness, and that’s how you win. We win ‘grind it out’ affairs.”
The biggest problem for Diaz’s defense on Saturday was Kentucky’s versatile athlete Randall Cobb. The junior racked up 293 total yards (171 receiving, 11 rushing and 111 on kick returns) and a touchdown while lining up all over the field, even at quarterback.
Sophomore defensive back Corey Broomfield, one of the backs in the rotation guarding Cobb, had his hands full most of the night.
“He’s a very big task,” Broomfield said. “He probably had every yard they got tonight. Towards the end of the game we finally got a grasp on him. He’s always in different places, so you’ve got to find out where he is first.”
Ballard made sure everyone was aware of his return to the lineup after missing the UAB game due to an ankle injury. The junior broke a 54-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
After Cobb scored on a 48-yard pass from quarterback Mike Hartline, Chris Relf responded with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Arceto Clark to extend the Bulldog lead back to 10 with 9:38 left in the second quarter.
The Wildcats added a field goal before halftime and appeared to be gaining momentum late in the third quarter when Moncell Allen scored on a two-yard touchdown reception from Hartline to tie the game at 17-17. The score capped a 12 play, 81-yard drive that saw the Wildcats convert two fourth downs.
Senior offensive lineman Derek Sherrod knew the Bulldog offense’s response to that drive would be crucial to the outcome of the game.
“They had a lot of momentum going, and we had to shut that down so we could get our momentum going,” Sherrod said.
Relf, who ran for 80 yards and threw for 111, led the Bulldogs down the field on a 7-play, 63-yard drive that ended with the junior scoring on a four-yard touchdown run to put MSU ahead 24-17. The Bulldog defense held off a final scoring threat from Kentucky, secured the win and put the team in a position to earn a bid to a better bowl game.
The win, along with a dramatic improvement in fans ringing their cowbells responsibly, made for one happy Athletic Director after the game.
“I thought tonight was awesome, it was great all around,” Scott Stricklin said.
After announcing last Monday that MSU would be fined by the SEC after the season for violations of the cowbell rules in earlier games, Stricklin and Mullen made another push to encourage fans to ring responsibly and respect the tradition of the cowbell.
The fans responded and, even on third and fourth downs late in the game, very few cowbells were heard. 
The progress made by the fans will make for a more enjoyable conversation with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, Stricklin said.
“I’m looking forward to calling the commissioner Monday and telling him our fans did their part.”