After a bye week in which players were able to travel to their homes and enjoy time with friends and family, the Mississippi State football team (3-4, 0-4) returned to practice Monday to begin preparation for a crucial SEC road game this Saturday against the Kentucky Wildcats.
The Wildcats (3-4, 0-3) are coming off a convincing 38-14 victory over Jacksonville State, and Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen said although neither side has won an SEC game thus far, the winner of Saturday’s game could easily be propelled into a successful season.
“Obviously this is a big game for both teams,”said Mullen. “This could be a turning point for both of us for the season, and the opportunity to jump-start the second half of the year and to get ourselves positioned to be in a great bowl game.”
Mullen’s Bulldogs will look to build off what most would call MSU’s most complete performance of the year, a near upset of the 14th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks two weeks ago in Davis Wade Stadium.
Sophomore Tyler Russell will likely make his second career start at quarterback and looks to improve on the numbers he posted against the Gamecocks in his first career start. Russell was 11-29 for 165 yards and threw one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss and will face the SEC’s 10th-ranked passing defense this Saturday in Kentucky.
But perhaps more important than the starting quarterback, MSU will look to execute a more consistent running game against the Wildcats. The Bulldogs have scored just one rushing touchdown in their last five outings, and senior running back Vick Ballard has scored just five rushing touchdowns in the team’s first seven games, a number that has decreased from the eleven touchdowns he scored in the same amount of games last season.
To help boost the running attack, MSU offensive line coach John Hevesy said the bye week helped the starting offensive linemen heal from the bumps and bruises accumulated throughout the first half of the season.
“The older guys got some reps, and we were able to get them a little bit rested, to heal up some things with Gabe (Jackson), Quentin (Saulsberry) and Addison (Lawrence),”Hevesy said.
The MSU offense as a whole will have their hands full competing against Wildcat seniors Winston Guy and Danny Trevathan, who are the conference’s top two tacklers. Guy, who plays a hybrid safety and linebacker position, leads the conference with a whopping 79 tackles through seven games. The senior has also added two interceptions and a forced fumble to his impressive statistics. His defensive companion Danny Trevathan has been nearly as impressive, racking up 77 tackles this season, only two behind his teammate for the conference lead. The linebacker has also contributed with two sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Both Wildcats are on pace to being selected as All-Americans at the conclusion of the 2011 season.
Defensively, MSU will look to continue playing with the same amount of intensity it has in its last two games, allowing only 17 combined points and forcing four turnovers in the games against UAB and South Carolina. 
The Bulldogs are led by a pair of continually improving linebackers in senior Brandon Wilson and junior Cameron Lawrence. Lawrence leads the team with 61 tackles and is followed by Wilson with 58. The linebacking corps will face a mobile quarterback this week in junior Morgan Newton. Newton has been disappointing so far in the 2011 campaign, but showed glimpses of brilliance in the Wildcats’win against Jacksonville State last Saturday, throwing for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns and adding 75 yards and another touchdown rushing. MSU defensive coordinator Chris Wilson said when comparing UK’s film against Jacksonville State to the other Wildcat games this season, he saw a growing quarterback.
“He made a lot of throws that I hadn’t seen all week,”Wilson said. “Long balls, intermediate passes, he made really good decisions going from his first progression to his second progression, which is a big sign of maturity.”
Newton has been shaky for large portions of the season, as he has completed less than 50 percent of his attempted passes and thrown seven interceptions through the team’s first seven games. If he is not sharp and efficient against State, he could very well add to that total. The Bulldogs rank fourth in the SEC with seven interceptions, thanks in large part to junior cornerback Johnthan Banks, who is tied for second in the nation with five interceptions. individually.
Kentucky leads the all-time series with MSU 21-17, but State has claimed the last two outings under the direction of Dan Mullen, including a 24-17 thriller last season at home. The Wildcats are planning a black-out for Saturday’s game and will debut their new black and blue uniforms. The game is set to kickoff at 6 p.m. and will be televised by Fox Sports Net and can be viewed online at ESPN3.com.