Is Mississippi State Being Slighted Across College Football Polls?
Mississippi State has started its football season off on the right foot, but the program might still be heading into the third week of competition overlooked.
The Bulldogs are going into their first conference game against LSU with a 2-0 record after taking down Memphis and Arizona. They have won by at least 22 points in each contest and have led for nearly 111 minutes out of 120 total minutes of action between the two games. Quarterback Will Rogers leads the entire SEC in total passing yards, passing touchdowns and completion percentage. As a whole, Mississippi State has seen major contributions from a wide variety of players on both offense and defense.
Despite the success that the team has had to open up the season, MSU can't seem to climb up any in both the AP Poll and the AFCA Coaches Poll. The Bulldogs received a season-high 43 votes in the Week 3 AP Poll, putting them at 31st overall. They didn't fare quite as well in the Coaches Poll, dropping three spots to No. 34 overall and receiving fewer votes than in last week's poll.
There are certainly some reasons why Mississippi State might not be ranked yet. Although the team has played against an AAC team and a Pac-12 team, neither of those programs was ranked. The Bulldogs also struggled a bit more against Arizona: the team came away with a lopsided victory, but critical mistakes made the game much closer than it should have been. Still, it's hard to argue against the numbers that the team has put up to start the year.
Given the number of upsets and near-upsets that occurred yesterday, it seemed likely that Mississippi State could crack into the rankings for the first time all season. However, most teams didn't drop quite as much as expected. MSU has not yet proven itself as better than most of the teams ranked ahead of them, but a few high-ranking programs in the latest polls are very debatable. For example, Notre Dame received more votes than State in the Coaches Poll, but the Fighting Irish are 0-2 to start the year after losses to Ohio State and Marshall. Oregon and Texas A&M are still barely clinging to the back end of the rankings in both polls despite showing signs of major problems when facing tougher competition.
Luckily for the Bulldogs, the polls simply don't matter as much at this point in the season. It will take a few weeks of tougher conference play across the nation for clearer standings to emerge, and Mississippi State could bust into the rankings with a few more solid performances. The situation might become dire as the end of the season draws nearer and postseason spots become more valuable, but for now, perhaps the slight snub will give the team a chip on its shoulder and something to work for as SEC play begins.
