Your Mississippi St. Bulldogs are taking on the Florida Gators as Dan Mullen makes his return to Starkville. Tonight’s game is being played at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, MS. The Bulldogs are looking to bounce back after a tough loss at Kentucky. Both teams are coming into today’s matchup with a 3-1 record. Come discuss tonight’s SEC matchup on our open thread in the comment section below.<doc-sep>STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Florida is fresh off a big win on the road at conference rival Tennessee. The stakes get even bigger on Saturday night in Starkville, as first-year coach Dan Mullen returns to take on the Mississippi State program he spent nine years building. The Swamp247 crew is on hand at Davis Wade Stadium to provide you with live updates throughout the evening from all the action, to pre-game warmup notes and injury observations, to the travel roster, to in-depth game analysis as the game progresses. We'll also have extensive post-game updates from players and coaches. During the game, you can also bookmark this page. It will be updated throughout the game with key scoring drives, turnovers and relevant stats and information. Join the discussion on our message boards at the link below. __________ __________ Scoring & Drive Highlights 1st QUARTER Gators 0, Bulldogs 3 (12 plays, 59 yards, MSU FG) 3:28... Bulldog quarterback Nick Fitzgerald only threw the ball twice in the 12 plays, MSU finally settled for a 34-yard field goal to take the first lead of the game. 2nd QUARTER Gators 3, Bulldogs 3 (15 plays, 68 yards, Gators FG) 10:24… Feleipe Franks passed for 42 yards on the drive and the Gators ran a little Willdcat quarterback for some success, but penalties struck in the last set of downs and the Gators settle for a 39-yard field goal from freshman kicker Evan McPherson. Gators 3, Bulldogs 6 (13 plays, 67 yards, MSU FG) 3:30… Fitzgerald put on a clinic for most of the drive both running and passing, but the Gators held after Jachai sacked Fitzgerald and forced a Jace Christmann 39-yard field goal. HALFTIME 3rd QUARTER Gators 10, Bulldogs 6 (6 plays, 73 yards, Gators TD) 8:26… The big play leading to the touchdown was a 22-yard option run by Lamical Perine, but the scoring play was beautiful when Franks threw backwards to receiver Kadarius Toney on the right side and Toney stopped and threw the ball down field to tight end Moral Stephens for a 20-yard touchdown reception. 4th QUARTER Gators 13, Bulldogs 6 (10 plays, 36 yards, Gators FG) 5:22… After playing the field position game, the Gators managed a few first downs but settled for a 21 yard field goal by McPherson. FINAL Gators 13, Bulldogs 6 __________ Florida (3-1) vs. Mississippi State (3-1) Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. ET at Davis Wade Stadium TV: ESPN Live Stream: WatchESPN.Com Radio: Gators IMG Network (Station List) Listen Online: HERE Live Stats Update Online: HERE __________ Game Notes • The Gators lead the nation with 14 takeaways, and they are the only SEC team with double-digit takeaways. Florida had 17 takeaways all of last season, which ranked tied for 81st nationally. • The Gators have scored 43 points off turnovers; they only totaled 44 points off turnvoers in 2017. • Florida’s ability to force turnovers this year has it ranked second nationally in turnover margin (+10). Only Kansas (+12) has a better margin, and only three other teams have a margin better than +6. • Following 2008, when it set a school record with an insane +24 turnover margin, UF has only been higher than 33rd in turnover margin three times (2009: +7, 20th; 2012: +15, t-7th; 2015: +8, t-22nd). • Fumbles have been Florida’s primary source for takeaways, as its 10 fumble recoveries lead the FBS by three, and its eight forced fumbles are tied for fourth. • Jachai Polite is tied with Oregon’s Justin Hollins for the national lead in forced fumbles (three). Polite joins Marcus Maye (5 - 2015), Dante Fowler, Jr. (3 - 2013), and Loucheiz Purifoy (3 - 2012) as the only Gators since the start of the 2011 season with three in a season. • Florida had three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries for the entire 2017 season, ranking 129th and 125th, respectively, among FBS teams a year ago. • Feleipe Franks ranks tied for seventh in the FBS with 12 passing touchdowns (three more than he had in all of 2017); he’s also thrown just two interceptions. • Among the 36 FBS quarterbacks with at least eight passing touchdowns this season, Franks ranks 10th in touchdown-to-interception ratio (6.0 / 12-2). • With three touchdown passes last Saturday, Franks became the first Gator since Jeff Driskel (2014) to throw three touchdowns multiple times in a season. • The Gators have not finished in the top 100 in scoring offense since 2014, have not finished higher than 96th in total offense since 2010 (when they were 83rd), and their only passing offense to rank higher than 85th after the 2009 season checked in at 79th (2016). • Florida appears to have the perfect man for the job of reviving its offense, though. Mississippi State ranked 42nd (420.4 yards per game) among FBS teams in total offense from 2009-17. The nine seasons before Mullen’s arrival, the Bulldogs were 114th (313.3 yards). • Mullen inherited the 114th-ranked total offense (276.0 yards per game) and 106th-ranked rushing offense (101.7) in Starkville, but Mississippi State finished the 2009 season ranked 69th in total offense (367.7) and 9th in rushing offense (224.58)--two huge upticks.<doc-sep>STARKVILLE, Miss. — Despite a 6-3 halftime lead, the #23 Mississippi State football team fell to the Florida Gators 13-6 Saturday evening at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs fall to (3-2, 0-2 SEC), while the Gators improve to (4-1, 2-1 SEC). Florida outscored State 10-0 in the second half to hold on for the Southeastern Conference win. Senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald completed 11 of 26 passes for 98 yards. He added 20 rushes for 40 yards. Florida’s strong defensive effort was good for six sacks on Fitzgerald. MSU was held to just 202 total yards of offense—104 rushing yards and 98 passing yards. Sophomore running back Kylin Hill led the rushing attack with nine rushes for 41 yards. The Bulldogs’ defensive effort kept Florida in check for most of the game, but a third quarter touchdown pass from Florida’s Kadarius Toney proved to be the game-changer. The Gators added a field goal in the fourth quarter to end the scoring for the game. Defensively, sophomore linebacker Erroll Thompson tallied 14 tackles to lead State’s defense. Senior defensive backs Johnathan Abram and Mark McLaurin added eight and seven tackles respectively. MSU remains at home for an SEC contest with No. 10 Auburn on Saturday. The game is set to kickoff at either 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. CT at Davis Wade Stadium.<doc-sep>
For the Florida Gators, it’s the next thing. For the Mississippi State Bulldogs, it’s seemingly the only thing. Those are the stakes of this Saturday’s game (6 p.m. Eastern, ESPN or WatchESPN or ESPN+) between the teams, the first since 2010: The Gators would really like to move to 4-1 and keep faint SEC Championship Game hopes alive into what should be a brutal October, but the Bulldogs are hoping to make a statement about their status in the SEC by brutalizing Florida in Starkville. Whether that transpires is up to the players on the field more than the man who will stalk another sideline in Davis Wade Stadium for the first time in a decade. But Dan Mullen, make no mistake, is at the center of this storm, having built the Bulldogs well enough to get the opportunity to rebuild the Gators. Florida fans’ potential savior was Mississippi State fans’ main man for most of what was arguably the best period in program history; his departure left a rising program at the precipice of establishing a new base camp and at risk of plateauing. What the Bulldogs do today will be widely seen as evidence of one or the other. What Florida does will be just another result in the first year of a tenure that could stretch for another decade if everything goes well. What’s at stake in this one is different for each team. But what that should do is generate a great game. And I’m excited to see it in person. Go Gators.