Kamario Taylor is kind of a big deal.
No player has made up more ground in the Heisman race over the last two weeks than the Mississippi State's quarterback, who dissected South Carolina's defense to the tune of 251 yards passing and four touchdowns during Saturday's emphatic 41-34 win on the road.
The Bulldogs were 1-15 in their last 16 SEC games coming in, but the turnaround under Jeff Lebby no longer feels like a storyline that could deteriorate at any moment. Instead, Mississippi State looks like a legitimate problem in the SEC, and this victory to open conference play was its loudest warning yet.
Mississippi State pummeled South Carolina in the second half after falling behind 16-0 early in the second quarter, thanks to brilliance offensively and timely stops. The Bulldogs played fast, dictating the game against a Gamecocks team with their own consecutive blowout wins.
Taylor owned the spotlight.
He's in the running for the nation's best quarterback and has earned a spot in that discussion. He gives Lebby everything needed to maximize this offense — arm talent and the confidence to bounce back from mistakes with relentless aggression.
The Bulldogs started 4-0 last season before going winless in the SEC. New year, different team, and that's not happening again with Taylor running the show.
Gauntlet begins for Mississippi State
Next week's tilt in Starkville against Missouri will be the first of five consecutive games against nationally ranked SEC opponents for the Bulldogs, who endured a similar stretch during their run to No. 1 in 2014 when they played — and beat — three straight top-10 teams.
- vs. No. 20 Missouri, Sept. 26
- vs. No. 10 Alabama, Oct. 3
- at No. 7 LSU, Oct. 17
- vs. No. 24 Oklahoma, Oct. 24
- at No. 1 Texas, Oct. 31
After that landmine-filled ordeal, the Bulldogs host Vanderbilt, Auburn and Tennessee Tech in November before finishing out the season with the Egg Bowl against a red-hot Ole Miss program.
If Mississippi State (3-0) gets to nine wins with several coming against ranked opponents, the Bulldogs' strength of schedule will be enough to at least get them in the conversation during the final month of the campaign.
There's not a defensive coordinator in the SEC right now who wants to deal with Taylor and Co. Ask South Carolina's Clayton White or Minnesota's Danny Collins after the Bulldogs trounced the Gophers last week, 38-13.
Signs were there
Taylor's not the only all-conference caliber talent starring for this team, either. Fluff Bothwell rushed for 115 yards against the Gamecocks, four different wideouts caught touchdown passes and Zach Arnett's defense nearly blanked South Carolina in the second half.
There have always been signs this Mississippi State team — despite a wealth of losses in the SEC — had a chance to turn the corner. The Bulldogs held fourth-quarter leads against nationally ranked Tennessee and Texas last season at home before losing in overtime, and that was prior to the Taylor Show kicking off with his first start against Ole Miss last November.
Taylor rushed for 173 yards and two scores during that loss to the Rebels, piled up more than 300 yards of total offense in a bowl loss to Wake Forest and picked up where he left off during the first two games this fall.
Whether Mississippi State has enough depth to remain in the SEC Championship conversation will be determined over the next several weeks. However, the Bulldogs do not need to reach Atlanta to alter the playoff picture.
They are built to wreck somebody else's season with a quarterback everyone wants.
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