Mississippi State held off Vanderbilt last Nov. 7 in Starkville for a much-needed win after four straight losses.

And this season, the Bulldogs will likely be hoping for more of the summer after games against LSU, Texas A&M and Alabama.

MSU will visit Nashville to take on the Commodores on Oct. 23.

Editor’s note: This is the seventh installment in The Dispatch’s 2021 Scouting the Schedule series. The sixth installment was published in Friday’s edition. The series continues Monday with a look at Mississippi State’s eighth game of the season.

Vanderbilt quick facts
2020 record: 0-9
Coach: Clark Lea, first year
ESPN Football Power Index: No. 104
All-time series: 14-7-2, Mississippi State
Last meeting: Nov. 7, 2020

History
Mississippi State has won its last four games against Vanderbilt, but the all-time series isn’t quite as lopsided as one might expect. The Bulldogs still lead it with 14 wins in 23 contests, although four of Vanderbilt’s seven wins and both ties came before World War II.

The two teams have met only twice while the Commodores were ranked, and MSU pulled upsets in both contests — 1942 and 2008.

The second-most-recent game between the two schools resulted in the biggest margin of victory in the history of the head-to-head matchup: 51 points in the Bulldogs’ shutout win in November 2014.

2020 season
At 0-9, Vanderbilt had a season to forget. Texas A&M, LSU and Florida were all top-25 teams when they faced the Commodores, but Vandy lost to six unranked Southeastern Conference schools as well.

Running back Keyon Henry-Brooks totaled 494 yards, but he transferred to Louisiana Tech, which will face Mississippi State in Week 1 this season. Ja’Veon Marlow had 193 rushing yards, and Jamauri Wakefield ran for 144 yards.

Quarterback Ken Seals returns after throwing for 1,928 yards and 12 touchdowns as a freshman in 2020. Seals tossed 10 interceptions as well and will need to cut down those numbers to find success.

Cam Johnson (545 yards), Amir Abdur-Rahman (406) and Chris Pierce Jr. (371) were Seals’ favorite targets last season. All three wide receivers return in 2021.

On defense, Dayo Odeyingbo led Vanderbilt with five sacks, but he went to the Indianapolis Colts in this year’s NFL draft. Andre Mintze had four sacks for the Commodores and signed with the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent.

Key additions
Vanderbilt fired head coach Derek Mason after the 2020 season, replacing him with Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea.

So far, Lea has cobbled together the No. 49 recruiting class in the nation, with defensive lineman Marcus Bradley the only four-star prospect in the group.

The Commodores landed kicker Joseph Bulovas from Alabama in the transfer portal. Offensive tackles Junior Uzebu (West Virginia) and Re’Mahn Davis (Texas Tech) also transferred to Vanderbilt.

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.