Three keys to victory for Mississippi State football vs Eastern Kentucky

Mississippi State football takes on Eastern Kentucky to begin the 2024 season. The Bulldogs should be able to easily outmatch the Colonels, but what specifically must they do to get a win on Saturday?

Truth be told, in a game against a FCS opponent, it's far less about taking advantage of specific matchups or containing any player so that you can find a way to pull out a win. It's much more about handling your business so that you don't lose yourself the game.

So while these are three keys to victory for Mississippi State against Eastern Kentucky, these are more specifically keys to avoid having an awful start to the 2024 season.

Mississippi State must get off to a hot start

The easiest way to eliminate any chance of falling victim to a major upset is to end any chances of an upset happening as quickly as possible. Put the the game out of reach before the underdog has an opportunity to respond. Far too many major upsets happen because the favorite failed to put the underdog away early. In a perfect world, the Bulldogs lead this game 21-0 before we get the chance to blink.

The Bulldogs need to play a clean game and avoid negative plays

Another way to avoid a disastrous loss is to avoid killer mistakes. Penalties, turnovers, and overall sloppiness can gift your opponent easy points that they otherwise wouldn't have scored. The same goes with taking bad sacks or having a play blown up for a loss to put your offense out of position. Those plays kill drives and prevent you from scoring. The only way EKU will be able to stay in the game with State is if State is making careless errors.

State cannot afford to give up explosive plays on defense

Finally, the Bulldogs must prevent big plays from the EKU offense. Explosive plays are game-changers. A team like EKU isn't going to be able to consistently be able to put together sustained drives on a SEC defense (at least they shouldn't...). But if you let them strike quickly because of a busted coverage or blown assignment on defense? That's how they can stay in the game. If MSU can prevent explosive plays from EKU while playing clean and starting strong, they'll win this one easily.