Mississippi State jumped three spots in this week’s final College Football Playoff poll, finishing ahead of Michigan State.
The Bulldogs leaped Arizona and Kansas State, who lost, and Michigan State, who also didn’t play after finishing second in the division to the conference champion.
The committee flipped Mississippi State (No. 7) ahead of Michigan State (No. 8) as part of including the Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl, one of the New Year’s Six bowls. The Spartans didn’t move from the No. 8 spot the team held last week despite its two losses, Oregon and Ohio State, winning conference championships in blowouts. (The Bulldogs also lost to Alabama, a handy conference champion in the SEC.)
Coach Dan Mullen, QB Dak Prescott and the Bulldogs held the No. 1 overall spot in the CFP poll for several weeks, but lost two of the last three games against Alabama and Ole Miss on the road.
Still, the team never has finished a season higher than No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, so it’s been quite the season for the Bulldogs.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
