NCAA Football Mississippi State Bulldogs

Mississippi State Bulldogs Must Overcome Unfamiliar Feeling

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By @TimLetcher

Spruce Derden, USA TODAY SPORTS

Spruce Derden, USA TODAY SPORTS

The Mississippi State Bulldogs face a situation this weekend that the program hasn’t faced many times during its long history.

Entering Saturday’s game as the nation’s top-ranked team, and facing an opponent that the nation’s best team should beat, Dan Mullen and his team must avoid being overconfident. While Mullen would say there’s no way that will happen, it’s simply human nature, given the circumstances.

Saturday’s opponent is the Kentucky Wildcats, a team with very little in the way of football tradition. Kentucky won four games combined over the last two seasons, and annually does its best to not be in the cellar of the SEC East.

However, this is not a typical Kentucky team. This year’s ‘Cats have already won five games, including a win over the South Carolina Gamecocks at Commonwealth Stadium, where Saturday’s game will take place. The Wildcats are also trying to bounce back from last week’s embarrassing 41-3 loss on the road to the LSU Tigers, by far their worst performance of the season.

The good news for Mississippi State is that the team has already proven in can win on the road in a hostile environment. The Bulldogs dominated LSU in Baton Rouge in September. The challenge in Saturday’s game is that Kentucky is not a “brand name” program like LSU. Can Mullen and the Bulldogs be excited about playing this game?

MSU quarterback Dak Prescott will lead an offense that is averaging 41.8 points per game, which is ninth in the country. The defense, while giving up yards and points, has been opportunistic in creating stops and getting turnovers.

The Bulldogs are a very good team, one of the best in the country, but they can’t afford to overlook anyone if they want to stay in the running for the SEC title and the College Football Playoff.

Tim Letcher is a contributing writer for www.RantSports.com and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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