All week long on SportsTalk Mississippi, I kept a theme, and that was Mississippi State was going to easily beat Kansas State because the Bulldogs would be able to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. That is exactly what came to pass at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday, as the Bulldogs came out a 31-10 victor in a game that wasn’t as close as the final margin makes it appear. State owned the Wildcat defense to the tune of 384 rushing yards, while holding the K-State offense to just 213 total yards.
THE PLAY
SIX of our touchdowns so far this season have been of 20+ yards.
Here’s the 28-yard rushing score from late in the 1st half presented by @StatewideFCU.#HailState? pic.twitter.com/IO7l801QYo
— MSU Football ? (@HailStateFB) September 8, 2018
In reality, I could have picked any of Kylin Hill’s big plays, but the sophomore sensation made it clear he is the alpha dog in the MSU backfield. Hill rushed for 211 yards and 2 scores, and added a 16 yard touchdown catch as part of his banner day. Hill showed great speed and power as he ran over and around the Wildcat defense, who simply were outmanned at the point of attack. As for Aeris Williams, it will be interesting to see what his role is going forward after not seeing the field at all on Saturday.
THE PLAYER
Kylin Hill looked dominant on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/wp6U2nOT2Y
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 8, 2018
Just can’t say enough about Hill, who looked like he will adding his name to the roll call of great Bulldog running backs sooner rather than later. We spent so much time this offseason debating how the carries would be divided up, but today, it was a simple formula, as Hill and Nick Fitzgerald toted the ball on 36 of MSU’s 39 rushes. Hill ran with great power between the tackles but showed the explosive burst that made him such a highly touted recruit two years ago. If Hill is going to be the Bulldogs’ primary running back, he is going to be an All-SEC candidate by season’s end.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT?
Most rushing yards by a QB in @HailStateFB history ✅ pic.twitter.com/CWm4uf7fuk
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 8, 2018
Fitzgerald surely didn’t show any ill effects of that ankle injury he suffered in the Egg Bowl, rushing 19 times for 159 yards. Unfortunately, he didn’t show any improvement from a season ago in the passing game, going 11 of 27 for 154 yards. He did throw 2 touchdowns, but had a bad interception that led to K-State’s only touchdown. He missed some receivers, and had some drops as well. Fitzgerald is the key to this team going from 8-9 wins to 10-11 wins, simply put, he has to be better against SEC opponents than he was today.
WHAT’S NEXT?
FINAL!
Louisiana and @coach_bnapier are 1-0.#cULture | #GeauxCajuns pic.twitter.com/88UsUkNUri
— Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns® Football (@RaginCajunsFB) September 2, 2018
Mississippi State will face Louisiana for the first time on the gridiron since 1987, when the Bulldogs defeated then Division I-AA Southwest Louisiana by the final score of 31-3. Coach Billy Napier will bring an explosive offense to Starkville, but all in all, this should be another easy win for the Bulldogs, who continue their march towards SEC play on September 22 at Kentucky. Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM at Davis Wade Stadium.
That’s all from Manhattan for me, we’ll go further into depth as to what happened today on SportsTalk Mississippi and the Thunder & Lightning Podcast. Remember if you haven’t already, follow SportsTalk Mississippi on Twitter @sportstalkMS and on Facebook at facebook.com/SportsTalkMississippi.
