Should Mississippi State have been ranked after upsetting Arizona State?

The Bulldogs pulled off a massive win against a ranked opponent, but was it impressive enough to make the leap from receiving no votes into the top 25?

Mississippi State Safety Isaac Smith (#2) during Gameday V. Arizona State University at Davis Wade Stadium at Mississippi State University in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

When the latest batch of top 25 rankings came out Sunday it didn’t seem like a surprise Mississippi State wasn’t ranked.

It wasn’t even surprising the Bulldogs received 52 votes, which was seventh-most after the top 25 in the AP Poll and 15 votes in the US LBM Coaches Poll.

But maybe the Bulldogs exclusion was a surprise to some? Case in point:

Why isn't Mississippi State ranked?

The Bulldogs beat #12 in the country and have a win on the road.

Aren't the rankings supposed to reflect the 2025 season?

Full show: https://t.co/gkkIXQGeJH pic.twitter.com/p1ccu5nKqm

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) September 8, 2025

As expected, the AP voters take the cowardly way out and don’t rank Mississippi State. They thought so highly of Arizona State that they ranked them No. 12. So, a win should move #HailState in the top 25, no? The disrespect continues.

— Locked On Mississippi State (@LockedOnMissSt) September 7, 2025

Personally, I didn’t expect the Bulldogs to be ranked Sunday. I expected them to receive votes, which they did, and for Arizona State to take a big fall, which it did.

But a top 25 ranking? No, at least not right now.

If Mississippi State dominated the Sun Devils for an entire 60 minutes instead of the first 29 minutes of the game, then maybe. There’s also what happened in the second half when it looked like Arizona State was going to pull off the comeback.

Remember how easily the Sun Devils ran the ball on their final drives? Remember the offense ending five straight drives with four punts and turnover on downs?

An extremely exciting, game-winning touchdown pass with 30 seconds left in the game doesn’t wipe all of that away. Mississippi State played far from perfect and has things to correct. Coach Jeff Lebby that himself.

"There's stuff all over the tape where we have the ability to play better," Lebby said at his Monday press conference. "We're going to have to play better moving forward."

Even in the aftermath of Saturday's 24-20 win against then-No. 12 Arizona State, Lebby said something similar.

"We're going to see a lot of things on the tape that weren't very good," Lebby said. "We'll be able to coach really, really hard on Monday as soon as the guys get in."

The Bulldogs’ other win, on the road against Southern Miss, was by a healthy margin. But remember how close some of the fan base was to hitting the panic button at halftime when the score was 13-10?

Mississippi State is light years better than it was a year ago and being on the bubble of the top 25 isn’t a bad thing.

The other issue

OK, let’s say I’m a complete fool who doesn’t know what he’s talking about and Mississippi State should be ranked.

Who drops out of the top 25? Also, is Mississippi State more deserving of being ranked than one of the six teams who received more votes? Actually, five, we’ll say Arizona State is where it belongs (i.e., unranked).

No. 19 Alabama and No. 23 Michigan are both 1-1. Alabama lost to No. 10 Florida State and Michigan lost to No. 13 Oklahoma.

No. 24 Auburn and No. 25 Missouri are the two of the newest teams to enter the top 25. An argument could be made for one of those two since they’ve played Central Arkansas, Kansas (Missouri), Baylor and Ball State (Auburn). No. 18 South Florida is third team to join the top 25 after beating No. 13 Florida.

It may be tempting to leap up and point at the Bulls’ jump into the top 25 as a reason why Mississippi State should be ranked. But just like Auburn and Missouri, they received votes in the week two polls.

So, no, Mississippi State shouldn’t be ranked.

A 4-0 record will probably be good enough to change that, though.