STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State will try to snap a four-game skid when it hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday, Nov. 7, in a homecoming game at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m., with the game on SEC Network.
The Bulldogs won their first four games of the season and climbed into the middle of the AP Top 25 poll before the slide. Along the way they lost their starting quarterback and their leading tackler for the rest of the year, and safety Isaac Smith has been ruled out for this game.
Quarterback A.J. Swann connected on a dozen of his 15 throws against Texas, good for 97 yards, then exited before halftime with an apparent arm or shoulder problem. His name did not appear on the availability report released Wednesday night.
Defense has been a bright spot. State allowed 186 rushing yards a game last season and is down to 116.5 this fall, the biggest improvement in the SEC. Against Texas, the Bulldogs held the Longhorns to 60 yards on the ground and posted a season-high five sacks.
Senior wide receiver Anthony Evans III leads all SEC receivers with 56 catches and is second in the league at 92.4 yards a game. He sits 388 yards shy of the school single-season receiving record held by Brenen Thompson. Linebacker Zakari Tillman made his first start of the season last week and finished with six tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.
Vanderbilt’s offense runs through Jared Curtis, a highly rated true freshman passer with 1,489 yards so far, plus eight touchdown throws against eight picks and a 65% completion rate.
Mississippi State is 59-24-3 all-time in homecoming games, a tradition that dates to 1937, and has won 14 of its last 16.
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