Mississippi State Football: Kentucky is good but the Bulldogs should still win

The Mississippi State football program has put itself in a unique position that most observers aren’t accustomed to seeing the Bulldogs in.

When the Mississippi State football team takes the field against the Kentucky Wildcats this Saturday, they will do so as a double digit favorite on the road against an SEC team. These things don’t happen very often.

This isn’t an instance of the Bulldogs playing a bad team. The Wildcats are 3-0 and riding the confidence of winning against the Florida Gators for the first time in 31 years. Kentucky may not be ranked by any poll, but they are a solid team that has an excellent chance of finishing with around 7 or 8 wins and challenging for second place in the SEC East.

And despite all those things, the Mississippi State football team should still win without too much of a struggle.

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The Bulldogs are in an unusual spot. The Mississippi State football program will take the field against a few teams this year that play good, solid football, but the Bulldogs should still emerge victorious simply because they are better. This happened once with Kansas State already, and it happens again this weekend. It won’t be the last.

This is not meant as disrespect for the Kentucky football program. They have come a long way since Mark Stoops took over as their head coach. Benny Snell is one of the better running backs in the SEC. Terry Wilson is emerging as a quarterback to watch over the next few years.

But Mississippi State has a defense that should still overwhelm their opponent. Despite his talent, Snell only ran for 18 yards on 7 carries against the Mississippi State football defense in 2017. That unit is virtually unchanged from last year, and they should have similar success shutting Kentucky down.

Offensively, Nick Fitzgerald has torched the Wildcats the past two seasons. Combine that with the improvement we saw in the passing game last week against Louisiana, and there is a mountain of evidence why the Bulldogs should win without too much concern.

I would expect to see Kentucky go on to have a really nice season after they play this game. But this game against the Mississippi State football program won’t be part of the reason Kentucky fans remember the season fondly.