Kentucky gets a tough win in Starkville.
Mike Leach is going to quickly turn Mississippi State around. It may happen faster than people think. High powered offenses are what’s winning games in today’s college football world, and there aren’t much better at it than Mike Leach. The guy practically invented the air raid offense.
The Bulldogs have always been a very comparable program to Kentucky in the SEC West. They also sport an all-time losing record that’s close to .500, about every decade they have a really good team, but never really do anything significant.
Some of the best games Kentucky has had in the Stoops era have been against the Bulldogs. The all-time series is tied at 24 wins apiece for crying out loud, it doesn’t get more even than that.
These two schools have been in the same conference since 1895 and founding members of the Southern Conference in the 1920s and then the Southeastern Conference 10 years later. Today they are the permanent crossover East/West division opponents for each and since 1992 when this occurred the Bulldogs hold an 18-11 edge.
Kentucky rolls into Starkville in week nine enjoying a bye week after the Georgia game, and after that three-game stretch, they will be in desperate need of it to prepare for Mississippi State and those awful cowbells.
I foresee Kentucky’s defense getting gassed by the Bulldogs air raid offense and it just becoming an offensive war. This game will basically come down to who gets the last possession of the game, or if the opposing defense can stop the offense on the last possession. This game will be an all-out barn burner, and Kentucky will wish they had the bye week after this one.
Kentucky wins 49-42, improves to 7-1, and sits right outside the top 10.