Should Mississippi State sneak into Top 25 despite overtime loss to Vols?

With USC and TCU faltering, Bulldogs have a strong case to climb into the college football polls this week

Mississippi State safety Jahron Manning (13) celebrates a missed catch by Tennessee wide receiver Braylon Staley (14)during a college football game between Tennessee and Mississippi State at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Miss. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Here’s a story that’ll have a short shelf-life, but want to get my opinion on record.

The major college football polls — the Associated Press Top 25 and the US LBM Coaches Poll — will be released in a few hours.

And Mississippi State should be on at least one of those, if not both.

We should be ranked.

— Brandon Walker (@BFW) September 28, 2025

Certainly, if the Bulldogs had managed to pull of the upset of No. 15 Tennessee, then they would be guaranteed to be ranked.

ICYMI: Random thoughts in wake of Mississippi State's overtime loss to Tennessee

But it’s not like Mississippi State was blown out by the Volunteers. In fact, plenty of people on social media think the Bulldogs should’ve won. It was a 41-34 final score in overtime, after all.

The question now was it a close enough game for Mississippi State to move up the rankings despite losing a game?

In order for that to happen, the Bulldogs need some of the current top 25 teams to fall out of the rankings, preferably in the 20-25 range.

And that’s what happened.

No. 23 Illinois defeated No. 21 USC and Arizona State defeated No. 24 TCU, 27-24. Also, No. 25 BYU only beat Colorado by three points. Could the Cougars fall out? (That’d be something, a team that won gets replaced by an SEC team that lost.)

The Horned Frogs will definitely fall outside of the top 25 and USC is likely to fall too. If that happens, then the next logical step is the two teams receiving the most votes outside the top 25 should move in.

In the AP poll, that’d be Auburn and Mississippi State, both of whom lost games Saturday. The next teams are South Florida (bye last week), Utah (def. West Virginia, 48-14) and then Arizona State.

Attention voters!! These teams were ranked this week and all lost. That doesn’t mean you can’t vote for them but you should be aware it happened! 🙏 pic.twitter.com/ycePkFg6dk

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 28, 2025

Auburn and Mississippi State both loss close games to ranked teams and it’s unlikely South Florida will be bumped up to the top 25 after a bye week. Utah might get back into the rankings with its win, but that’d require leapfrogging three teams.

Is beating the Mountaineers impressive enough for that? Or was losing to Tennessee in overtime more impressive?

The Sun Devils are even further back, plus they have a loss to Mississippi State. Could the voters really put them in the top 25 before the Bulldogs?

Technically, yes, they can, but I don’t expect that to happen. And if it does happen, Mississippi State fans will make their displeasure known (loudly).

I think the best argument for Mississippi State to be ranked today is USC.

The Trojans are also 4-1, like Mississippi State, but their wins are against Missouri State, Georgia Southern, Purdue and Michigan State.

None of those were ranked opponents and USC lost to the first ranked opponent it faced. The Bulldogs’ non-conference schedule is equally unimpressive, but they do have a win over then-No. 12 Arizona State.

To me, it makes sense to drop USC and replace it with Mississippi State. Whether or not that actually happens is a mystery that’ll be answered in a few short hours.