Mississippi State has jumped back up into the AP Top 25 poll after dominating Kentucky to the tune of a 42-16 victory last Saturday. They come in at No. 25 in the poll, barely getting in after being the first team out last week. 

The Bulldogs have had an up and down season when it comes to the AP poll.  They have been on the edge of the poll all year, starting out the season as the first team out of the poll. After week one they entered the poll for the first time at No. 25. It was short lived however, as a loss to LSU in week two would drop them out of the Top 25. They would not get back into the poll until week five of the College Football season. 

In the fifth week of the season, MSU jumped to No. 21, their highest ranking this year.   That also did not last long as they lost to Texas A&M the next Saturday, once again dropping  out of the AP poll.

MSU has struggled to gain respect in the Coaches poll. The Coaches poll has only ranked the Bulldogs once and that was week five when they came in at No. 22. This week did not break the trend as MSU failed to crack the Coaches poll once again

In the end however, neither of these polls matter as they are meaningless by season’s end. The poll that matters, the College Football Playoff poll,  will be released on Nov. 3.

The Coaches and AP polls are  rough guesses as to how the College Football Playoff Committee will rank the Top 25 teams in the country. When this poll is released it will be the only poll every media outlet uses and  though MSU is pretty much out of the College Football playoff picture, as they have two losses, where MSU lands in this poll is important. This has a huge influence on how good of a bowl the Bulldogs end up playing in.

Sadly, the Bulldogs do not have any more games before the announcement of the initial Committee poll as they are on bye this week.

Key victories against Missouri and Alabama in the coming weeks will  ensure upward movement in the polls.