Saturday, Oct. 25 will be a historic day for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They’ve already achieved more than they could have imagined coming into the season, and when they kick off against Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. ET, they’ll do so as the top ranked team in the nation for the first time in school history.

That No. 1 ranking comes with something: a bullseye. Teams are going to be circling Dan Mulen’s Bulldogs on their schedule for the rest of the season, and might be using multiple colors of marker when they’re hosting Mississippi State. Mullen should be familiar with that kind of attention from his days at Florida, but this is the first time he’s experienced it as a head coach.

While Kentucky got hosed last weekend, going on the road against LSU and getting pasted 41-3, they’re not the easiest team for the Bulldogs to go up against as they get used to their lofty status. Bad things can happen when you fall asleep at the wheel against Kentucky; just ask the South Carolina Gamecocks.

In Mississippi State’s last three games, all against top-10 opponents, the Bulldogs jumped out to big leads before halftime. They’ll need to keep that custom up so they can rely on their overpowering running game to put Kentucky away. The Wildcats just gave up more than 300 yards on the ground to LSU, so MSU is catching them reeling a bit.

There are few pushovers in the SEC, and more often than not teams are in for a battle every week. Mississippi State has two tough road games remaining, traveling to play Alabama and Ole Miss in the second half of the season, and they can’t afford any slip ups before then.