4. Mississippi State (-9.5) vs. Kansas State
One underrated narrative to watch in the first week of the season was the potential for the Mississippi State Bulldogs to potentially stumble out of the gate. Yes, they were playing an inferior Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks team, but they were also playing in Week 1 without star starting quarterback Nick Fitzgerald. However, that was no problem for the Bulldogs as they absolutely rolled to a 63-6 victory in the season-opener with Keytaon Thompson replacing their suspended starter. Even against a bad team, doing that with a backup quarterback is highly impressive.
Fitzgerald will be back on Saturday, however, which should make you think that this Mississippi State team could play even better than they did with Thompson. After all, the backup was just 13-of-31 throwing the football, a completion rate Fitzgerald should far surpass.
What might give you pause and why this line is likely so low is that the Bulldogs are going on the road to face Bill Snyder and the Kansas State Wildcats. Seasoned college football fans have been conditioned to think that you never bet against Snyder, especially when he’s bringing people into Manhattan. However, that shouldn’t be the case this season.
While Kansas State is 1-0, their season-opening win was anything but impressive. They needed 15 fourth-quarter points to top the South Dakota Coyotes last Saturday, which is far from anything inspiring confidence. When you pit that team up against the Bulldogs, I don’t think the results are going to be pretty. Mississippi State should cover comfortably on the road.