As the final seconds ticked off the clock at Williams Brice Stadium, you could sense a level of elation that those familiar with Mississippi State football have not felt since Mike Leach roamed the sidelines in maroon and white. For the first time in a few years, Mississippi State had beaten another Southeastern Conference team on the road not named Arkansas, and really the first time that the Bulldogs had dominated another conference opponent in a few years as well. Now, with a massive home conference game on the horizon against Missouri on Saturday, the excitement is building for Coach Lebby and the Bulldogs to maybe bring an eight-to-nine win season home to Starkville this season. It’s cautious optimism, but it’s an optimism that has really started to grow legs across the Bulldogs faithful. 

Once Friday morning rolled around in Starkville, Mississippi State announced that Saturday night’s game against Missouri is a complete sellout, fueling the frenzy around Saturday’s top-25 monster matchup between the Tigers and Bulldogs. 

These two have played for three straight seasons, dating back to the 2024 matchup in Starkville, when Missouri Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz tried to run up the scoreboard on the Bulldogs in year one of the Jeff Lebby era. 

Missouri has a name that might be familiar to Mississippi State fans at quarterback: Austin Simmons, the Ole Miss transfer, is the new guy in the Missouri rotation. 

As for the game itself, the biggest question heading into Saturday night is whether Missouri can shut down Mississippi State quarterback KaMario Taylor. Through his first three games as quarterback, neither Minnesota nor South Carolina could figure out how completely Taylor took off for Mississippi State. South Carolina slowed him down early, but couldn’t stop him as he put the Mississippi State offense on his back and carried the Bulldogs past the finish line. Through his first three games as a full-time starter for Mississippi State, KaMario Taylor has 11 touchdowns, 832 passing yards, and 178 on the ground, for a combined total of 1,010 yards, and only one interception. KaMario has taken the college football world by storm: he can do it all through the air or on the ground, and he’s become the worst nightmare for opposing teams to scheme against. 

Instead of stopping him altogether, the secret might be to slow him down by bringing pressure, maybe by putting a defender on KaMario Taylor, and then making it hard for Taylor to find his receivers or for Fluff Bothwell to find the holes. 

For Mississippi State, use the sold-out Davis Wade Stadium to your advantage, and go out there on Saturday night and play the brand of football that has you in this position. KaMario Taylor will certainly get his on Saturday night; it comes down to the defense making the needed late-game stops, and then someone like a Fluff Bothwell, Zion Ragins, Anthony Evans III, or even Sanfrisco Magee stepping up and making a big play or two for the Bulldogs. 

There is certainly a chance that if Mississippi State takes care of business on Saturday night, next Saturday could highlight Bulldogs football with a possible appearance on College GameDay for the Alabama matchup. 

Mississippi State and Missouri will get underway under the lights at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday, with a kickoff slated for 6:45 P:M on the SEC Network. 

Photo Credits: Mississippi State Football on X