Mullen Era Games vs. Kentucky

Oct 6, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs running back LaDarius Perkins (27) runs the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium. Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Dan Mullen has had the most success of his tenure against Kentucky. 5-0. He has a perfect 1.000 winning percentage against Vanderbilt and Tennessee as well, but those series have featured just one game. The Wildcats have provided him 31% of his SEC wins.

2009

You could call this one the “Anthony Dixon” game. He had 33 carries for 252 yards which was (and still is) a MSU record for most rushing yards in a game. After the game he coined the phrase “grinding for my state”.

UK was pretty good in ’09. They had a 7-5 regular season and went to the Music City Bowl.

The Wildcats had the lead for most of the game, as much as 14-3 at one point in the 2nd quarter.

28 points were scored in the 3rd quarter, but none in the 4th. The Dawgs held on late when they stopped Kentucky on downs from 1st & 10 on the MSU 21 yard line. MSU 31, UK 24.

2010

#21 Mississippi State welcomed Kentucky in for what would be another tight game throughout.

Vick Ballard ran for 103 yards but the offense struggled most of the night. Chris Relf ran in a four yard touchdown in the 4th quarter to take the lead for good.

The Bulldogs would need a defensive stop, however, to seal the game. Johnthan Banks ended a 70 yard Kentucky drive with a 1:30 to play with an interception at the one yard line. State won 24-17.

2011

This wasn’t the best played game but it had a few highlights (below).

State got out to an early lead and was up 21-6 at the half. They cruised to a 28-16 victory.

2012

Due to the quirks in the scheduling with A&M and Mizzou joining the SEC, MSU made a back-to-back trip to Lexington. It was a sunny day for the 11:30 kick. This may have been the most boring SEC game we’ve played in the last 10 years.

State had a 20-7 halftime lead and then cruised to a 27-14 win.

LaDarius Perkins had a big day with 110 yards, and Chad Bumphis was everywhere with 9 catches for 109.

2013

This was a pretty lackluster effort from MSU has given. On a cold Thursday night in Starkville, they almost gave one away to a team that finished 2-10.

Despite leading by double digits for most of the game, a fourth quarter field goal by Kentucky made the score 28-22. The lack of a consistent field goal kicker made Mullen decide to go for a 4th and 9 from the 33 yard line. Kentucky got the ball back and on a 4th and 1 Raymond Sanders had just one man to beat before clear sailing to the endzone and the lead – but that one man was Kendrick Market.  A few plays later it was a turnover on downs and the Dawgs won.