STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State football team wants to enter its bye week on a three-game winning streak.
After defeating Troy and Louisiana Tech in the past two weeks, MSU (5-2, 1-2 Southeastern
Conference) returns to conference play at 6:30 p.m. Saturday when it plays host to Kentucky (4-2, 2-2) at Davis Wade Stadium.
Following its only bye week of the season, MSU will finish the season with conference games at Missouri, vs. Alabama, at Arkansas, and vs. Ole Miss.
Seventh-year coach Dan Mullen is 6-0 against Kentucky. The last time the Bulldogs lost in the series was 2008. The series is tied at 21.
MSU and Kentucky have played some close games in the past few years. The Bulldogs’ winning margin is 9.8 points.
The Bulldogs are favorites again, but here are five things to watch:
1. Can MSU’s defense start fast?
Opponents have scored 52 points in the first quarter against the Bulldogs.
It has taken MSU a couple of series to get into the rhythm of the game, and opposing offenses have taken advantage. Last week, Louisiana Tech scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and led 14-0.
However, the Bulldogs have played better in the other three quarters, giving up 19 points in the second quarter, 43 in the third, and 12 in the fourth.
“I think we’re trying to get out of this mentality of hesitation,” MSU first-year defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “We have guys that I think get in games and are still a little unsure of themselves. For whatever reason they get in there and they get confident and all of a sudden we get into the flow of the game. I think that’s something maturity and growing up will overcome.”
2. Can MSU contain Patrick Towles?
Kentucky junior quarterback Patrick Towles showed MSU what he was made of last year.
In MSU’s 45-31 victory last October in Lexington, Kentucky, Towles threw for 390 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 76 yards and another two scores. He didn’t play in the 2013 game, but he threw for 71 yards and a touchdown against MSU in 2012.
Towles fed off the Kentucky crowd last season, but Mullen knows the Wildcats’ quarterback will see a different scene in Starkville.
“The best way to trump any quarterback is to have home-field advantage, to our student body and fans on their feet making an awful lot of noise, and making it uncomfortable for the visiting quarterback to communicate at the line of scrimmage,” Mullen said.
Towels is 123 of 200 for 1,512 yards and eight touchdowns, but he has thrown seven interceptions. MSU is allowing nearly 207 passing yards per game (seventh in the SEC). Look for the Bulldogs to key on Towles more than they did last year.
3. How will injuries affect the Bulldogs?
MSU announced Monday that Dez Harris will miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. It was reported Thursday that senior cornerback Will Redmond is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, but MSU didn’t comment about Redmond.
MSU’s secondary is already thin after senior safety Kendrick Market tore his ACL against Texas A&M. Freshman safety Jamal Peters didn’t play last week and didn’t practice due to an undisclosed injury. The Bulldogs will have to shuffle in some young players in the secondary. Look for Peters and fellow freshman safety Mark McLaurin to get more playing time.
MSU also has been without wide receivers Gabe Myles and Joe Morrow the last two games, but Mullen expects them back. He also expects junior tight end Gus Walley and junior running back Ashton Shumpert back. Shumpert (back) missed last week’s game. Walley left in the first half and didn’t return.
4. Will Dak Prescott continue to run the ball?
MSU senior quarterback Dak Prescott, who was named the winner of the inaugural MSU M-Club’s Leo W. Seal Jr. Athlete of the Year Award on Thursday, has focused more on his passing and hasn’t run the ball as much as he did last season.
In the first four games, the Haughton, Louisiana, had 121 yards on 30 carries and two touchdowns. In the last three, he has rushed for 133 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns.
Prescott has said he has been working through his progressions more and holding the ball longer than he did last year. But MSU’s running game also has struggled, which has forced Prescott to take a bigger role in the rushing attack. That move is forcing Prescott to learn when to pass and when to run.
“It is just something you feel and learn,” Prescott said. “Basically just having a time clock in my head of when to get out of the pocket.”
5. Will MSU be focused?
The Bulldogs are one win away from becoming bowl eligible for the sixth-straight season.
It won’t be easy to reach that mark this week. The Bulldogs have thought about it, but they don’t want that thought to affect their focus against the Wildcats.
MSU has higher aspirations than just a bowl game, and the Bulldogs feel they are still in the hunt for an SEC Western Division title. MSU probably will need to win out and get some help, especially because LSU is 4-0 and has the tiebreaker against MSU.
“If we play well, we have a chance to win the rest of our games,” Mullen said. “If we play poorly, we won’t win anymore. You have to come out and play at an extremely high level to have an opportunity to win when you are playing SEC games.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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