No. 1 Georgia will take its newfound status as the top team in the College Football Playoff Rankings and put it on the line in a tricky road spot against Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi. The maroon-tinted Bulldogs, currently sitting at 6-3 overall, are looking to play spoiler against an SEC East foe they don’t face very often and in doing so start to get more attention from the CFP selection committee as well.
Georgia and Mississippi State have played just twice since 2012, with the Bulldogs winning 31-3 in Athens in 2017 and then winning again, 31-24, in Athens, Georgia, in 2020. This is the first time that these two teams have played in Starkville since 2010, when Dan Mullen handed Mark Richt a 24-12 defeat in Mississippi State’s first win in the series since 1974.
But the lack of familiarity between these SEC foes, which have only met in total 25 times with Georgia holding a 19-6 lead, does not change the intensity and stakes that come with having the No. 1 team in the country in town. Georgia is battling for its playoff future, while Mississippi State is looking for respect, and a better bowl position having reached bowl eligibility last week.
Georgia vs. Mississippi State: Need to know
Both teams enter coming off victories, but different kinds of victories: Georgia was one of the stars in one of the biggest games of the college football season hosting Tennessee in a matchup of No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP Top 25 poll as well as being the first-ever meeting of No. 1 in the AP poll and No. 1 in the CFP Rankings. The Bulldogs rolled Tennessee, with the 27-13 final score not even representing what was a lopsided game for much of the afternoon. That win moved Georgia to No. 1 in the CFP Rankings, gave Kirby Smart’s team the inside track on a fifth SEC East title in six years and created renewed buzz in the reigning champions’ chances to repeat. Mississippi State, on the other hand, faced a feisty challenge from Auburn in its first game since Bryan Harsin’s dismissal, as interim coach Cadillac Williams and the Tigers stormed back from a 24-6 halftime deficit to push the contest into overtime. But Jo’quavious Marks punched in the winning score in overtime and secured Mississippi State’s 13th consecutive season of postseason eligibility.
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