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It’ll be a clash of ranked teams going in opposite directions when No. 16 Mississippi State takes on host No. 22 Kentucky on Saturday night.
ESPN’s Matt Barrie previewed the pivotal conference clash and shared his take on how he sees it playing out:
“This one’s going to come down to the quarterback…If Will Levis doesn’t play, that’s a completely different football game…” Barrie said. “I don’t know if they can sustain any type of success for the rest of the season if Levis, the star quarterback can’t play.”
Kentucky (4-2) fell to visiting South Carolina 24-14 for its second straight loss after beginning the season 4-0. Kentucky quarterback Will Levis missed the game with a foot injury. Rival.com’s Jeff Drummond is reporting that Levis is “trending in the right direction” after practicing today.
The redshirt senior Levis has completed 97 of his 141 passes for 1,405 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions this season. The Wildcats have scored under 20 points in both of their losses. During SEC play, Kentucky has yet to amass 30 points in a game this season.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State (5-1) is riding a three-game winning streak. Most recently, the Bulldogs throttled visiting Arkansas 40-17 last weekend. The victory marked the fourth time this season that the explosive Mississippi State offense has scored at least 40 points.
Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers has been superb with a 71.6 completion percentage along with 2,110 yards, 22 touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Mississippi State leads the all-time series by a narrow margin of 25-24 after beating Kentucky 31-17 last season.
Mississippi State-Kentucky will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on the SEC Network.
