# SEC Football Preview: Missouri Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs **Published:** 2026-09-20 — **By:** Stacy Stanfield **Category:** games — **Type:** game-preview **Source:** https://secscouts.com/news/missouri-tigers-at-mississippi-state-bulldogs-preview **Teams:** [Miss State](https://secscouts.com/mississippi-state/), [Missouri](https://secscouts.com/missouri/) --- ## Matchup Overview Two unbeaten teams collide under the Thursday night lights at Davis Wade Stadium when the No. 20 Missouri Tigers (3-0, 0-0 SEC) visit the Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) on September 24. For Missouri, this is the SEC opener, and it arrives with a ranking to protect. The Tigers have handled their non-conference slate cleanly, but a Thursday road trip to Starkville is a different assignment than anything on their September schedule to date. A win keeps Missouri unblemished and validates its Top 25 standing heading into the meat of conference play. Mississippi State already owns an SEC victory and enters with the chance to make an early statement. The Bulldogs are unranked despite a 3-0 start, and beating a ranked opponent at home on a national stage is the fastest way to change that conversation. A 2-0 start in league play would put Mississippi State in territory it has not occupied in some time. The last meeting tilted decisively toward Missouri. The Tigers rolled to a 49-27 win in Columbia on November 15, 2025, a game in which Mississippi State could not keep pace offensively. This time the venue flips, and the Bulldogs bring the most productive individual player in the matchup. ## Keys to the Game **Missouri Tigers** Missouri's offense is built on balance, and the numbers bear that out. Austin Simmons averages 211.7 yards per game, Brunno Reus contributes 204.3 yards per game, and Jamal Roberts adds an even 100 yards per game. That is three players each carrying a meaningful share of the production, which makes the Tigers difficult to scheme against — take one away, and the other two are still on pace for triple digits. The key for Missouri is keeping Roberts at or above his 100-yard average. Sustained ground production shortens the game, keeps the ball away from Kamario Taylor, and lets Simmons and Reus work off a functioning run game rather than being asked to carry the offense alone in a hostile environment. **Mississippi State Bulldogs** Mississippi State's formula runs through Kamario Taylor, who is averaging 277.3 yards per game — the highest individual mark on either roster. Fluff Bothwell (93.3 yards per game) and Ethan Pulliam (82.3 yards per game) give Taylor two complementary pieces, but the Bulldogs' ceiling on Thursday night is set by how efficiently Taylor produces. The Bulldogs need Taylor to sustain that 277.3-yard pace against a defense that held them to 27 points in the last meeting while Missouri scored 49. Bothwell's 93.3 yards per game is the piece that has to hold up; if Mississippi State becomes one-dimensional, Missouri can commit resources to Taylor and force the Bulldogs into long-yardage situations. ## Key Matchups **Kamario Taylor (277.3 YDS/game) vs. the Missouri defense** This is the matchup that decides the game. Taylor is outproducing every other player in this preview by more than 65 yards per game. Missouri's defense held Mississippi State to 27 points in November and will need a similar performance to keep the Bulldogs from turning Davis Wade into a shootout. **Missouri's three-headed production vs. Mississippi State's ability to pick a poison** Simmons (211.7), Reus (204.3), and Roberts (100.0) combine for more than 516 yards per game of individual production. Mississippi State cannot sell out against a single player. The Bulldogs' defense must decide whether to squeeze Roberts and dare Missouri to win through Simmons and Reus, or play it straight and risk death by balance. **Fluff Bothwell (93.3 YDS/game) vs. Jamal Roberts (100.0 YDS/game)** The secondary producers on each side are nearly identical in output. Whichever one gets closer to his season average likely signals which offense is dictating tempo. Roberts holds a slim edge on paper; Bothwell has the home crowd. **Ethan Pulliam (82.3 YDS/game) vs. Missouri's third-level attention** Pulliam is the third option for Mississippi State, and his 82.3 yards per game is the number that separates a good Bulldogs offense from a great one. If Missouri's defense is fully occupied by Taylor and Bothwell, Pulliam's production becomes the swing factor. ## Players to Watch **Missouri: Austin Simmons — 211.7 YDS/game** Simmons leads the Tigers in per-game production and is the player most responsible for keeping Missouri on schedule in a road SEC opener. His output in the November meeting helped Missouri hang 49 points on this opponent; matching that pace on Thursday would go a long way toward repeating the result. **Mississippi State: Kamario Taylor — 277.3 YDS/game** Taylor is the reason Mississippi State believes it can beat a ranked opponent. No player in this game comes close to his per-game production, and the Bulldogs' 3-0 start is a direct reflection of that. If he sustains 277-plus yards against a ranked defense, the outcome is genuinely up for grabs. ## Prediction **Missouri 34, Mississippi State 27** Mississippi State has the best single player on the field in Kamario Taylor, and his 277.3 yards per game gives the Bulldogs a real chance in front of a Thursday night home crowd. But Missouri's depth of production is the deciding factor. Austin Simmons (211.7), Brunno Reus (204.3), and Jamal Roberts (100.0) give the Tigers three players who each threaten triple digits, and that balance is exactly what produced 49 points in the last meeting. The Bulldogs keep this one far tighter than the 22-point margin from November, and Taylor will have his moments. But Missouri's ability to spread the load across three productive players — against a Mississippi State attack that leans heavily on one — is the edge that keeps the Tigers unbeaten and ranked heading into the rest of SEC play. --- *Original article: [SEC Football Preview: Missouri Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs](https://secscouts.com/news/missouri-tigers-at-mississippi-state-bulldogs-preview) — SEC Scouts*