User:RahalMccall69

STARKVILLE -- The Mississippi State football team enters its bye week in unprecedented territory. The Bulldogs are the No. 1 team in the nation coming off a 38-23 victory over then No. 2 Auburn in Starkville on Saturday. That's three straight wins over top 10 opponents over the last three weeks. MSU gets to rest this week before it makes a trip to Kentucky on Oct. 25 for a game that few saw as a crucial contest on the SEC schedule before the season started. It now sets up as one of the better games left on the SEC schedule. MSU is 6-0 and 3-0 in the SEC and tied with No. 3 Ole Miss (6-0, 3-0) atop the West Division. Kentucky is a surprising 5-1 and 2-1 and very much in the hunt in the SEC East. The Wildcats travel to LSU for a 6:30 p.m. game on Saturday. The Bulldogs are No. 1 this week for the first time in school history, but head coach Dan Mullen stressed Saturday that there is still plenty of work to be done. "They don't give out a trophy for mid-term grades," Mullen said Saturday. "We haven't even guaranteed ourselves a winning record yet this season. I'm proud of what we've done in the first half of the season, but we have a lot of goals we still want to accomplish. "It's a complete season that you play. We've got to stay healthy, keep our guys healthy. If we don't get better two weeks from today, we're not going to win many more games because other teams are getting better." The one area that MSU has to clean up in the bye week is turnovers Mississippi State committed four turnovers in the first half Saturday and finished with five. Heisman Trophy favorite Dak Prescott had a pair of interceptions on poorly thrown balls, but that was the only area of concern for the redshirt junior. The most amazing aspect of MSU's victory Saturday was its ability to overcome the mistakes. If a team is to earn a spot into the new four-team College Football Playoff, it will have to overcome plenty of bad luck on the way. On Saturday, MSU showed it could be resilient. "I think every score they had, we responded with a score," Mullen said. "As a team, that was pretty special. It was a team effort. After turnovers and things go bad, the defense steps up and makes a play. If the defense gives up a touchdown, the offense responds with a touchdown. That's great team football." Mississippi State started three drives in Auburn territory because of turnovers and turned all three into touchdowns. Auburn also started three drives in Mississippi State territory due to turnovers, but only came away with one touchdown on those possessions.

"We just kept on playing hard," MSU defensive end Preston Smith said. "We know no matter what happens throughout the course of the game we have to play four quarters of football. We have to keep on playing, stick to the scheme, keep on playing hard and believe in the plays they call for us."

User:RahalMccall69

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