Mississippi State football returns to Lexington, Kentucky, for the first time since a painful 24-2 loss in 2020.
The 16th-ranked Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) will take on the No. 22 Wildcats (4-2, 1-2 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Kroger Field.
For more on Kentucky, The Dispatch spoke with Jon Hale, Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. It is Hale’s first year covering the Wildcats for the Herald-Leader but his 12th year covering Kentucky.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Kentucky cracked the top 10 early this season and got off to a 4-0 start. How have the past two losses — one without Will Levis — changed expectations for this team?
Hale: It’s a really interesting spot they’re in at the moment. Theoretically, Will Levis could come back this weekend, and they could beat Mississippi State. They could get healthy next week on their bye week, and then they have a really important game at Tennessee that they could win. If they win both those games, you’re right back in the same picture you were originally where you’re talking about New Year’s Six bowl games and theoretically competing for the East if Georgia were to drop a game somewhere. All those things are still on the table, but no one is saying based on the way they’ve played the last two weeks — even in the game at Ole Miss with Will Levis — that those are realistic expectations at the moment. It’s more concerning that if he misses another game, even if he comes back and he’s not 100 percent and you lose to Mississippi State, it’s hard to imagine you beating Tennessee, and you figure you’re going to lose to Georgia. Then all of a sudden, dreams of a 10-win regular season become, ‘Are you going to make it to bowl eligibility?’ It’s a really wide range of possibilities for Kentucky right now. The fans are pretty negative based on the way the last two went, especially Saturday. They just looked completely inept without Will Levis. I can’t say things are positive in Lexington, but there is at least this acknowledgement that if he is healthy, if they can build on some of the things they did in that first month of the season, there’s still a chance for a special season.
Mark Stoops called Levis day to day on Monday. Any idea what his injury is, and do you expect him to play Saturday against Mississippi State?
Hale: All they’ve officially said is a foot injury. On Saturday, Pete Thamel called it turf toe, and that’s what we had heard, too, but they have not confirmed that. On his radio show, Mark Stoops said that Levis did practice a little bit Monday afternoon. That seems to be a positive step in the right direction. My gut is he probably plays this weekend if he’s already on the practice field in at least a limited basis on Monday. We’re probably not going to know until game time. It’s going to be another day of camping out at their Cat Walk to see if he’s wearing a boot when he gets off the bus and what he’s doing in warmups, all those things again. They’re just not going to tell us one way or the other before the game.
Kentucky’s secondary ranks in the top 15 in terms of fewest passing yards allowed, but Mississippi State could challenge that. How does the Wildcats’ defense match up with the Bulldogs’ Air Raid scheme?
Hale: Two years ago when this game was played in Lexington, Kentucky shut down the Air Raid in a way that had literally not happened in Mike Leach’s entire tenure as a coach. I think it was the first time one of his teams had not scored a point — they scored on a safety, so it wasn’t a shutout, but they held the offense without any points in that game. It looked like they had kind of found the recipe. But last year, Mississippi State just completely destroyed Kentucky. They just could not do anything to stop him. I do think the defense is better. The secondary in particular has made some major strides since last season. They added a few transfers who are helping out there. The guys they brought back are a year older and more productive. But until we see them have more success against that offense than they did last year, it’s a real question. They’ve been really good in the red zone, so even if Mississippi State drives it a little bit and has success moving down the field, maybe when they get in those situations, they can hold them to field goals, force turnovers, whatever. But it’s a big concern this week, especially coming off maybe their worst defensive half of the season in the second half against South Carolina.
If you’re comfortable making a prediction, how do you see Saturday’s game playing out?
Hale: To me, it’s about whether Will Levis plays or not. Until we know if he’s playing, it’s hard to know one way or the other. If Will doesn’t play, I just don’t see any way that Kentucky wins this game. If he does play, then the question is, How healthy is he? Is he his normal self? They had some other injuries last week to their receivers that we haven’t really gotten an update on — their top guy, Tayvion Robinson, the transfer from Virginia Tech, and freshman Dane Key, who has been really productive. Both of those guys had injuries in the second half, so we’ll have to see what their level of production is. I think it’s kind of a drastic moment for Kentucky, and my gut is, if Will Levis plays and is his normal self, I think at home with the home crowd, knowing that the season’s kind of on the line in terms of if you can be as good as you thought you were going into the year, I think they find a way to win. But I just have no confidence picking one way or the other until I know whether Will Levis is going to play and what he’s going to look like out there.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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