Mississippi State’s run defense has actually been pretty good all year. Believe it or not, but they actually rank 6th in the SEC (154 YPG). The talent is there, but against Kentucky they simply didn’t execute. Poor coaching or bad play – we’ll take a look.
In the first two weeks of the season, MSU’s rush defense held South Alabama and South Carolina both to under 100 yards. While Leonard Fournette and Kamyrn Pettway had big rushing yardage days – 147 and 169 respectively, they were both held well under their YPC average. Fournette is averaging 8.7 but only had 5.