After 14 attempts, Mississippi State snapped its 12-year drought without a ranked-vs.-ranked win when it beat then-No. 19 Missouri 31-24 last Saturday.
The now-16th-ranked Bulldogs — they were No. 24 last week — will try to start a new such winning streak when they face No. 7 Alabama on Saturday afternoon in a Southeastern Conference clash of undefeated teams in Starkville, Miss.
“Gonna be an incredible challenge. But our guys are excited about that piece of it,” Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said of this week’s game. “That’s what this schedule is, that’s week in and week out.”
Before Mississippi State beat Missouri last week, the Bulldogs’ last win against a ranked opponent while also being ranked in the AP Top 25 poll was a 38-23 victory over No. 2 Auburn on Oct. 11, 2014. Mississippi State was No. 3 at the time.
This year, Alabama (4-0, 2-0) has taken care of business in Kalen DeBoer’s third season as coach. After overcoming slow starts to beat Kentucky and Florida State the prior two weeks, Alabama finally pounced early last week against South Carolina, leading 35-3 late in the second quarter and coasting to a 49-18 victory.
“I thought the improvement in a lot of areas for our football team from Week 3 to Week 4 showed up,” DeBoer said Monday. “I think our physicality shows up, and so just proud of the guys in a lot of those areas. Obviously, there’s always things we got to improve, but I thought it was our most complete game up to this point.”
First-year starter Keelon Russell seems to be coming into his own at quarterback for Alabama. He doubled his season touchdown total with four TD passes against the Gamecocks and has nine total TDs (seven passing, two rushing), with no turnovers, over his last two games after his two-pick performance at Kentucky on Sept. 12.
“I think his composure has shown up, and I think that’s directly related to his decision-making,” Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said of Russell. “… I feel like Keelon’s ahead of the curve on some of those things, and he will continue to have to work on things that are going to pop up in hostile environments like what he’ll see on Saturday.”
As solid as Russell has been, he’s not the most productive QB heading into Saturday’s game. That honor belongs to Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor, who has immediately brought electricity to the Bulldogs (4-0, 2-0) since making his first start last November against rival Ole Miss.
Taylor’s 14 touchdown passes this season are tied with Southern California’s Jayden Maiava and Miami’s Darian Mensah for the most in the country. Taylor is 10th nationally in passing yards (1,192) and has thrown only two interceptions.
Of Taylor’s 360 passing yards against Missouri, 135 came in the fourth quarter, when he led two touchdown drives to rally from a 24-17 deficit.
It’s not the production, though, that Lebby cited as Taylor’s biggest area of growth this season.
“I think he’s done a much better job of understanding not taking the unnecessary hit,” Lebby said. “Our very first goal for him was to start a minimum of 13 games, and then we’re gonna move from there. But he’s all the way in on taking care of himself and knowing how important it is.”
While Taylor has been a standout, he’s not alone in boosting the Bulldogs’ offense, which ranks fourth nationally in total offense with an average of 533.3 yards per game. Fluff Bothwell has rushed for 402 yards and three TDs, while Anthony Evans has 28 catches for 408 yards and three touchdowns.
Mississippi State will need those stars to show up to snap its 16-game losing streak to Alabama, with the Bulldogs’ last win coming in 2007.
–Field Level Media
