Kentucky–Mississippi State football rivalry

Kentucky–Mississippi State football rivalry

Kentucky Wildcats Mississippi State Bulldogs
First meeting	October 17, 1914 Kentucky 19, Mississippi State 13
Latest meeting	October 22, 2016 Kentucky 40, Mississippi State 38
Next meeting	October 21, 2017 at Starkville, MS
Statistics
Meetings total	45
All-time series	Series tied 22–22
Largest victory	Mississippi State, 47–7 (1994)
Longest win streak	Mississippi State, 7 (2009–2015)
Current win streak	Kentucky, 1 (2016–present)

The Kentucky–Mississippi State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Kentucky Wildcats football team of the University of Kentucky and Mississippi State Bulldogs football team of Mississippi State University. Both universities have been members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) since its founding in December 1932 and have played against each other for a total of 43 times.

History

Kentucky and Mississippi State have been in the same conference since 1895, and were both founding members of the Southern Conference in the 1920s and their current conference, Southeastern Conference a decade later. Even though being in the same conference since the late 1800s, the Wildcats and the Bulldogs first met on the gridiron in 1914 with a Kentucky win of 19–13 in Lexington, Kentucky. The two teams met four straight years from 1914–1917 before not playing again until 1944. The two schools played six times during the 1950s before playing home-and-home series in 1972–73, 1976–77, 1984–85 and 1990–91.

In 1992, the SEC added two new members to their conference which divided the conference in two divisions, East and West. Kentucky was placed in the East and Mississippi State in the West. While dividing the conference in two divisions, the SEC created permanent cross-division opponents for its 12 members, this helped keep rivalries going such as the Alabama–Tennessee football rivalry annually, which resulted in Kentucky and Mississippi State becoming permanent cross-divisional opponents. The Wildcats and Bulldogs has then played annually since 1992 in either Lexington, Kentucky or Starkville, Mississippi. The Bulldogs are 16–8 vs the Wildcats since the cross-divisional rivalry was created.

The rivalry is one of the most evenly matched in the SEC, with the series tied at 22–22.

Notable games

• 2007: The Wildcats came in at 6–2 and ranked at #14, but the Bulldogs won a 31–14 upset victory in Lexington behind Christian Ducré's 119 rushing yards.^[1] The win brought Mississippi State to 5–4, one win away from its first bowl bid in 7 years.
• 2008: The Wildcats avenged their loss from the previous season by beating the Bulldogs 14–13 in Starkville.^[2] Mississippi State missed an extra point and a 27-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the loss. The win gave Kentucky their sixth win on the year, giving them three straight bowl seasons, and dropped the Bulldogs to 3–6.
• 2009: 3–5 Mississippi State upset the 4–3 Wildcats in Lexington on the heels of Anthony Dixon's school-record 252 rushing yards.^[3] In the post-game interview with reporter Jen Hildreth,^[4] Dixon used the phrase "Grinding for My State,"^[5] which has become a catchphrase in MSU Athletics.
• 2014: The Bulldogs, undefeated and ranked #1 for the first time, traveled to Lexington to face the 5–2 Wildcats. Mississippi State kept its winning streak alive after defeating Kentucky 45–31, handing the Wildcats its first home loss of the season.^[6]

Game results

Kentucky victories

Mississippi State victories

Ties and forfeits

# Date Location Winner Score 1 October 17, 1914 Lexington, KY Kentucky 19–13 2 October 16, 1915 Starkville, MS Mississippi A&M 12–0 3 November 18, 1916 Lexington, KY Kentucky 13–3 4 November 10, 1917 Starkville, MS Mississippi A&M 14–0 5 November 4, 1944 Memphis, TN Mississippi State 14–0 6 November 11, 1950 Starkville, MS Kentucky 48–21 7 October 13, 1951 Lexington, KY Kentucky 27–0 8 November 10, 1952 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 27–14 9 October 17, 1953 Lexington, KY Kentucky 32–13 10 October 15, 1955 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 20–14 11 November 1, 1958 Lexington, KY Kentucky 33–12 12 October 7, 1972 Lexington, KY Kentucky 17–13 13 October 6, 1973 Jackson, MS Kentucky 42–14 14 October 9, 1976 Jackson, MS Mississippi State^† 14–7 15 October 8, 1977 Lexington, KY Kentucky 23–7 16 October 13, 1984 Starkville, MS Kentucky 17–13 17 October 12, 1985 Lexington, KY Kentucky 33–19 18 October 13, 1990 Lexington, KY Kentucky 17–15 19 October 12, 1991 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 31–6 20 October 31, 1992 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 37–36 21 October 30, 1993 Starkville, MS Kentucky 26–17 22 October 29, 1994 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 47–7 23 October 28, 1995 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 42–32 # Date Location Winner Score 24 November 9, 1996 Lexington, KY Kentucky 24–21 25 September 6, 1997 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 35–27 26 November 7, 1998 Lexington, KY Kentucky 37–35 27 November 4, 1999 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 23–22 28 November 4, 2000 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 35–17 29 November 3, 2001 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 17–14 30 November 2, 2002 Starkville, MS Kentucky 45–24 31 October 25, 2003 Lexington, KY Kentucky 42–17 32 October 30, 2004 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 22–7 33 October 29, 2005 Lexington, KY Kentucky 13–7 34 October 28, 2006 Starkville, MS Kentucky 34–31 35 October 27, 2007 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 31–14 36 November 1, 2008 Starkville, MS Kentucky 14–13 37 October 30, 2009 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 31–24 38 October 29, 2010 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 24–17 39 October 29, 2011 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 28–16 40 October 6, 2012 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 27–14 41 October 24, 2013 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 28–22 42 October 25, 2014 Lexington, KY Mississippi State 45–31 43 October 24, 2015 Starkville, MS Mississippi State 42–16 44 October 22, 2016 Lexington, KY Kentucky 40–38 Series: Tied 22–22 † Mississippi State was later forced to forfeit as part of NCAA penalties.

References

1. "Upstart Bulldogs dump Kentucky; one win shy of bowl eligibility". ESPN.com. 2007-10-27.
2. "Kentucky blocks extra point to stop Mississippi State". ESPN.com. 2008-11-01.
3. "Dixon's 2 TDs, school rushing record help Mississippi St. edge past Kentucky". ESPN.com. 2009-11-01.
4. "Anthony Dixon post game interview". YouTube.com. 2009-10-30.
5. Carskadon, Bob (2010-10-22). "Anthony 'Boobie' Dixon still offering inspiration to MSU". HailStateBeat.
6. "Dak Prescott (3 TDs), No. 1 Mississippi State knock off Kentucky". ESPN.com. 2014-10-25.