Mississippi State has fewer than 50 scholarship players available for Saturday's game at Georgia
It'll be a severely limited Mississippi State roster taking the field in Athens on Saturday night when MSU's Bulldogs battle Georgia's.
Only 49 scholarship players are set to be available for MSU in Saturday night's 6:30 p.m. CT game, multiple sources have now confirmed to Sports Illustrated's Cowbell Corner. Robbie Faulk of 247Sports first mentioned State's limited number on Twitter. The total does not include walk-on athletes.
The exact MSU players who'll miss Saturday night's affair haven't been confirmed and State under head coach Mike Leach generally keeps personnel matters close to the vest, however it is expected that multiple key contributors on MSU's two-deep depth chart will not be available.
A multitude of issues have created State's roster crunch. Since Leach took over at MSU last January, 18 players have left the program, opted out of the 2020 season or entered the transfer portal, though not all of those players were on scholarship. Add in injuries, positive COVID-19 tests and the contact tracing elements associated with positive COVID-19 tests and it leaves MSU with its current allotment of players.
Per Southeastern Conference rules, Mississippi State wouldn't have to play Saturday's game if MSU elected to do so as the SEC allows postponements/cancellations when teams have fewer than 53 scholarship players available. However the impacted institution has the option to go ahead and play if it elects to do so and in this case, it's game on for Mississippi State at Georgia.
This marks the third straight week in which MSU's numbers have been severely impacted. State narrowly had the depth to play against Vanderbilt two weeks ago, then both MSU and Auburn had roster issues last week and that game was postponed and rescheduled for December 12.
To follow along on Cowbell Corner and comment on articles and participate in the community, simply sign up, get a username and chime in with your thoughts and questions. Also, be sure to follow Cowbell Corner on Twitter (@SIBulldogs) by clicking here, and like it on Facebook by clicking here. Thank you for coming to Cowbell Corner for coverage of Mississippi State sports.
