No. 16 Mississippi State ran wild for 384 yards in a 31-10 win at Kansas State last Saturday despite a mainstay in the backfield not playing a single snap.

Senior Aeris Williams didn’t see the field against the Wildcats, and Bulldogs coach Joe Moorhead explained his benching during his Monday press conference.

“Playing time on Saturday is dictated by your performance during the week and accountability and all those things,” Moorhead said. “Based on this week’s body of work, we felt it was Kylin (Hill) and Nick Gibson who did the best job and deserved the repetitions on the field.”

Moorhead may have been on to something. Hill responded in a big way, rushing for 211 yards on just 17 carries and scoring three total touchdowns en route to SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Gibson, meanwhile, spelled Hill and quarterback Nick Fitzgerald with three carries for 14 yards.

But that doesn’t mean Williams is benched for the rest of the season. Moorhead said he met with Williams on Monday, and he expects the running back with 415 career carries to see many more this year.

“I expect him to have a great week and (to) be getting a good amount of snaps and contributing in a positive manner,” Moorhead said. “I love him. Great kid, and he’s going to have a great season moving forward.”

We’ll see how much Williams factors into the game plan when Mississippi State hosts Louisiana-Lafayette at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.