Blue Preview: Is No. 22 Kentucky ‘playing for its season’ vs. No. 16 Mississippi St.?
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Preview: No 22 Kentucky vs. No. 16 Mississippi State
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Mississippi State football game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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No. 22 Kentucky vs. No. 16 Mississippi St.
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 15).
TV: SEC Network.
Announcers: Play-by-play, Tom Hart; analysis, Jordan Rodgers; sideline, Cole Cubelic.
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1.
Satellite Radio: XM Channel 81, Sirius Channel 81, Internet Channel 81.
Records: Kentucky (4-2, 1-2 SEC); Mississippi State (5-1, 2-1 SEC).
Series history: Mississippi State leads 25-24 in a series in which the home team has won the last seven games.
Most recent meeting: Mississippi State scored a 31-17 win over Kentucky on Oct. 30, 2021, at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.
Line: Mississippi State is favored by four points.
The story line
Coming off a disastrous home loss to South Carolina last week in a contest in which Kentucky played without starting quarterback Will Levis (left foot injury), UK finds itself with an acute need for a season-stabilizing victory while going up against a Mississippi State team that dominated the Wildcats a season ago.
The number to watch
Kentucky’s number of sacks allowed. Of the 131 FBS teams, only Akron (28) and Colorado State (26) have given up more quarterback sacks than UK (25). Against a Mississippi State defense whose unconventional 3-3-5 base alignment has given the Wildcats fits the past two seasons, UK will again look for some way to better protect its QB — whether that is Will Levis returning or Kaiya Sheron making his second career start.
The big threat
Will Rogers. The Mississippi State quarterback leads the FBS in passing yards with 2,110 and has thrown 22 touchdown passes vs. only three interceptions while at the controls of Mike Leach’s version of the Air Raid offense. Kentucky saw up close and personal last season what the 6-foot-2, 210-pound product of Brandon, Miss., is capable of producing. In MSU’s 31-17 spanking of UK, Rogers completed 36 of 39 passes for 344 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions.
On the spot
Mark Stoops. At the end of an unconventional week when Kentucky did not know for sure who its starting QB would be until game day, the UK head coach failed to coax a winning effort from his team vs. South Carolina. Lest the Wildcats season enter into a tailspin that will be hard to reverse, Stoops badly needs to produce a victory-deserving performance from his troops vs. Mississippi State.
The mood
Is glum. After rising to No. 7 in the AP Top 25, Kentucky has suffered back-to-back losses in which it sabotaged itself with mistakes (Mississippi) and did not play with competitive fire (South Carolina). That has deflated the excitement the Big Blue Nation had for UK producing “a special season.” What would now be considered an upset win over Mississippi State is very much needed to rekindle UK hope.
This story was originally published October 10, 2022 at 10:12 AM.
