After a few years of wandering in the college football wilderness, Mississippi State football entered week three of the season with a perfect 2-0 record, carrying momentum from a dominant 38-13 road win over Minnesota. All offseason, the agenda that had been pushed was the strength of the Big Ten, but for Mississippi State, Saturday was a walk in the park, and now the nation has started to wake up to the potential of Mississippi State returning to being a competitive football program with the potential of knocking folks off as they return to a winning record and playing in the postseason. 

Last season, Arizona State was nationally ranked  at home; this year, through the first two weeks, Mississippi State delivered a dominating performance at Minnesota, seemingly shifting momentum in favor of a program many people left for dead. For the Bulldogs, the success of the first two weeks hasn’t been because of the five-star recruit, but because of a hometown hero who dreamed of putting on the maroon and white and playing football for Mississippi State, who believed in the vision of Coach Jeff Lebby, and now the Bulldogs are 2-0 with an earning votes in the top-25 poll heading into a massive SEC road test on Saturday afternoon at South Carolina. 

For Mississippi State, starting the 2026 season at a perfect 2-0, including the win over the Gophers, has seemingly flipped the script on this team’s potential. Not many people outside the walls of the Seal Center thought this Mississippi State football team had much potential, and many before that thought KaMario Taylor would have already left Mississippi State for more established programs inside the conference; yet, on both counts, those people were wrong, and now the Bulldogs are still the underdog heading into conference play but have started to earn the attention of many around the sport. A win over South Carolina on Saturday will likely push the Bulldogs over the hump back into the top-25 as they then shift the focus to the SEC home opener against Missouri next Saturday night. In an era where Mississippi State has to play nine conference games, starting 2-0 with one of those being a road win over a Big Ten opponent is a massive confidence booster for league play. 

So, what’s been different this year than in years past? 

For starters, KaMario Taylor has been everything that Mississippi State fans have expected and then some. KaMario has been lights out for the Bulldogs in his first two games as a starter, lighting up the scoreboard with video game-like numbers. On Saturday, Taylor went 16 for 22, threw for 227 yards, and ran for 86 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. In the prior week against Louisiana Monroe, Taylor threw for 354 yards and rushed for 86 yards, with a combined five touchdowns. That’s why sites like On3 and others have taken notice of his play and started listing him among this season’s Heisman hopefuls. 

Staying on the offensive side of the ball, Mississippi State’s offensive line has allowed only one sack through two weeks of play. A drastic change from the prior seasons. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Mississippi State allowed only 13 yards on the ground against Minnesota on Saturday. A remarkable feat for the Bulldogs’ defense compared to years past, when teams ran all over them, opening the way for massive yards through the air and, in turn,to more points on the scoreboard for the Mississippi State offense to keep up with, leaving the margin of error at almost zero. 

As the season continues, things will heat up quickly for Mississippi State as they enter conference play. They play a road game this week against South Carolina before welcoming Missouri to Davis Wade Stadium next Saturday night. After the Missouri game, things get real for Mississippi State as they face the meat of the schedule:home games against Alabama and Oklahoma, and road games at Texas and LSU. This season’s overall success will come down to how this team handles the adversity of the next month; with games against that caliber of opponent coming up, losses will happen; and how you respond to those losses defines a team. Just last year, Mississippi State started the season 4-0 with a win over a nationally ranked Arizona State, then followed that 4-0 start with one more win over Arkansas to finish 5-7 after a postseason berth due to a high APR. A quick 2-0 start might give the fan base some optimism, but the real test begins on Saturday night, and the Bulldogs have the pieces to finally compete in the SEC; now it’s a matter of going out and playing to that Mississippi State football standard and not allowing the adversity to come and cripple the 2026 season. 

Mississippi State will travel to South Carolina on Saturday afternoon to face the Gamecocks inside Williams-Brice Stadium with a kickoff slated for 3:15 on the SEC Network. 

Photo Credits- Mississippi State football on X