The Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Kentucky Wildcats will take the field in Lexington, Ky., Saturday night at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats lead the interdivisional rivalry 21-15, but the last 10 years have been an even 5-5. Last season, the Bulldogs suffered a heart-wrenching loss 13-14 in Starkville, highlighted by a couple of botched field goal attempts on the part of kicker Adam Carlson. This year, the Bulldogs look to avenge that loss and blow off some steam built up from painful home losses, and the Wildcats look to get their third win in a row.
Mississippi State (3-5 overall, 1-3 SEC) has won its previous two road games and looks to continue the road success. So far this season, MSU has been resilient in defeat and followed up close losses with inspired practice and play. Mullen said this week of practice has been no different, and fans should expect great effort against Kentucky.
“We’ve lost four pretty competitive games at home this season against nationally ranked opponents. They came out to practice yesterday and continued to maintain their focus and had the mentality to improve every day,” Mullen said. “Each individual on this team is trying to make themselves a better football player, and we will, as a team, continue to try and improve.”
Improvements have been visible the past few weeks for MSU. The shuffling of the Bulldog secondary has yielded immediate results, most notably the emergence of freshman safety Johnthan Banks. Banks had four interceptions in the past two weeks alone, tying him for the overall SEC lead in interceptions. Banks has remained focused through his recent success and claims he just wants to continue to improve.
“I’m old enough and mature enough to know my role on the team. I’m no Anthony Dixon or nobody like that,” Banks said. “I feel I was just in the right place at the right time when I made those two interceptions. So I’m going to stay humble and keep playing football and working on it every day.”
Banks may not feel like a leader, but he is leading the Bulldogs’ secondary into a new era. Mullen’s first key to winning is to “play great defense,” and Banks’ interceptions have been nothing short of great. The defense will continue to be key this week. In Bulldog wins, the defense has given up one touchdown and an average of 45.7 rushing yards per game versus 19 touchdowns and 200.2 rushing yards per game in losses. The Jekyll-Hyde like numbers implore the question, which MSU defense will show up?
Kentucky’s defense has been less than stellar but has gotten the job done at times. The Wildcat defense gives up 174.1 rushing yards per game, which bodes well for MSU running back Anthony Dixon. Dixon averages 107 rushing yards per game, which is good for 15th nationally and fourth in the SEC. Mullen recognizes the Wildcat rushing defense as a weakness but does not give the numbers too much thought.
“Sometimes, statistically you can get skewed on where you’re ranked because of who you’ve played,” Mullen said. “Their body of work has been pretty good, and they’re always a sound and physical defense.”
Kentucky head coach Rich Brooks has taken note of the matchup, calling Dixon a “big, physical running back.” However, the Wildcats have a superstar of their own in sophomore utility man Randall Cobb. Stopping Cobb will be the key for the Bulldog defense as he is the second leading Wildcat rusher and the leading receiver. Mullen is expecting matchup issues with Cobb.
“Cobb causes matchup issues for us because he is a weapon all over the field, so we will have our hands full this weekend,” Mullen said.
While the Wildcats are hoping for a third straight win and a fifth overall win, the Bulldogs know the schedule is coming to a close and each game is precious. Bulldog senior defensive back explains the Bulldog mindset going into this SEC road battle.
“We have to bounce back. We didn’t get the win last week, but it’s a new week for us and we’re going out there to get the win,” Washington said. “We try to put a lot of emotion into every thing that we do. A lot of passion into everything we do. We love this game. And this week we’re going to lock-in and prepare for another big game.”